GUILT-FREE/GUILTLESS/INNOCENT: Naqi, adjective (Strong’s 5355). From the verb naqah (Strong’s 5352) to be cleared, acquitted unpunished; and connected to the noun niqqayon (Strong’s 5356) meaning innocence.
Sounds like: naw-kee
Root: נָקִי
Oath Makers and Oath Breakers
When we think of innocence we often imagine a little infant, innocent of all the harshness that this world compounds upon us. But the earliest representations of this word in the Bible aligned innocence with oaths. When an oath was made it was attached to promises, if you broke your promises, you were guilty.
This was why YHWH got so upset with His people when they constantly broke their oath to follow Him. They continously turned to idolatry and broke their covenant with YHWH. They were guilty.
Oaths made between humans were subject to rules and regulations. If you broke your promise there were consequences and you would be considered guilty of oath-breaking. However, sometimes complications would arise and promises could not be kept due to outside influences. If he actions of outside parties stopped you from completing your oath, the one under oath was not deemed responsible to bear any guilt. If it was out of their control, they were to be considered exempt (guilt-free) from fulfilling the oath.
For example, when Abraham’s servant was sent to Laban to procure a wife for Isaac, the servant made it clear to Laban that if he would not agree to allow Rebekah to leave and become Isaac’s wife, the servant would not bear the guilt of the unfulfilled oath he made to Abraham.
The servant told Laban the conversation he had with Abraham before he left on his journey:
Genesis 24:34-41
“Suppose the woman does not follow me.” And he [Abraham] said to me, “YHWH, before whom I have walked, will send His angel with you to make your journey successful, and you will take a wife for my son from my relatives and from my father’s house; then you will be free [ti-naqeh תִּנָּקֶה֙] from my oath, when you come to my relatives; and if they do not give her to you, you will be free [innocent/guilt-free: naqi נָקִ֖י] from my oath.”
In other words, the servant would be free from the oath if he did one of two things: if he found a wife for Isaac and she came back with him, or if he found a wife and she was not allowed to come back with him. Either way, he put his foot forward and tried his best to fulfill his oath. That was all that was required to be freed from the obligations to Abraham that he promised to fulfill.
In many ways this is all that is required from us. As followers of YHWH, we make an oath to bear God’s image to this world. How others receive our reflections is not our cross to bear. We are to just put our feet forward and live the life God has always wanted us to live… showing love and compassion and mercy and kindness. To bear God’s image on this world is the oath we are called to fulfill. We think it’s up to us to change the world. It is not. We just need to represent. YHWH will work in us and through us to accomplish great things.
This concept of oath-freedom can also be found in the early part of the Joshua scroll when the Israelite spies put their trust in the Canaanite woman, Rahab. She recognized that these YHWH-followers, and their God, could save her and her family from destruction, so she bargained with them. She would rescue them if they would rescue her:
Joshua 2:15-21
Then she [Rahab] let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall, so that she was living on the wall. And she said to them, “Go to the hill country, so that the pursuers will not encounter you, and hide yourselves there for three days until the pursuers return. Then afterward you may go on your way.”
And the men said to her, “We shall be exempt [free of blame: n’qi’yim נְקִיִּ֣ם] from this oath to you which you have made us swear, unless, when we come into the land, you tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down, and gather into your house your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household. And it shall come about that anyone who goes out of the doors of your house outside will have his blood on his own head, and we will be innocent [n’qi’yim נְקִיִּ֑ם]; but anyone who is with you in the house, his blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on him. But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be exempt [n’qi’yim נְקִיִּ֔ם] from the oath which you have made us swear.”
She then said, “According to your words, so be it.” So she sent them away, and they departed; and she tied the scarlet cord in the window.
Joshua’s men made an oath with Rahab the Canaanite, and they set boundaries for its success. If she betrayed them, they would be guilt-free in breaking their oath to her in return. Also, if Rahab’s people did not follow the plan, they would not be responsible for their deaths. The translation of naqi as “exempt” makes sense. If the plan went awry because of Rahab’s family, the Israelites would not bear the guilt of whatever bad would happen as a result. If blood was spilt, they would maintain their innocence. Rahab, confident that she and her family would hold their end of the bargain, happily agreed to the terms.
Innocent Blood
The Israelites told Rahab that if she and her family followed through with their oath, then they would take responsibility for the blood of her family. Their promise: blood will be on our head if a hand was laid against anyone in Rahab’s family. In the Bible, naqi was frequently associated with blood. A highly repeated phrase in the Bible is “innocent blood”… dahm naqi.
Proverbs 6:16-19
There are six things that YHWH hates, seven that are an abomination to Him:
Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood [dahm naqi דָּם־נָקִֽי], a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who declares lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers.
A frequently repeated commandment was, “do not shed innocent blood”.
Jeremiah 7:3-6
This is what YHWH of armies, the God of Israel says: “Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you live in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘This is the temple of YHWH, the temple of YHWH, the temple of YHWH.’ For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a person and his neighbour, if you do not oppress the stranger, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood [w-dahm naqi וְדָ֣ם נָקִ֔י] in this place, nor follow other gods to your own ruin, then I will let you live in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.”
People were to, individually, take responsibility for their actions.
Death, bloodshed, was sometimes accidentally caused and those accused could find refuge in one of six sanctuary cities in Jerusalem. Families demanding blood vengeance could not kill as long as the accused remained in one of the six cities:
Deuteronomy 19:9-13
…if you carefully follow all of this commandment which I am commanding you today, to love YHWH your God, and to walk in His ways always—then you shall add three more cities [of refuge] for yourself, besides these three. So innocent blood [dahm naqi דָּ֣ם נָקִ֔י] will not be shed in the midst of your land which YHWH your God is giving you as an inheritance, and guilt for bloodshed will not be on you.
“But if there is a person who hates his neighbour, and waits in ambush for him and rises up against him and strikes him so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, then the elders of his city shall send men and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. You shall not pity him, but you shall eliminate the guilt for the bloodshed of the innocent [ha-naqi הַנָּקִ֛י] from Israel, so that it may go well for you.
Under this early law, calculated murder was not eligible for sanctuary. Only the blood of the innocent could be spared. Also, the community of people would not be held responsible for the actions of murderers. If a murder occurred and the murderer was not caught, no one had to fill in for the punishment:
Deuteronomy 21:6-9
And all the elders of that city which is nearest to the person killed shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley; and they shall respond and say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see who did. Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, YHWH, and do not place the guilt for innocent blood [dahm naqi דָּ֣ם נָקִ֔י] in the midst of Your people Israel.’ And the guilt for bloodshed shall be forgiven them. So you shall remove (the guilt for) the blood of the innocent [ha-dahm ha-naqi הַדָּ֥ם הַנָּקִ֖י] from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of YHWH.
Taking the blood of the innocent was a wicked deed. In the blessings and cursings given at Shechem, the plan to attack innocent blood was on the list of things to be cursed:
Deuteronomy 27:25
“Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to attack an innocent person [literally “a soul of innocent blood”: nefesh dahm naqi נֶ֖פֶשׁ דָּ֣ם נָקִ֑י].” And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
When the Biblical authors described “the wicked”, shedding innocent blood was often at the top of their list:
Isaiah 59:7-8
Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood [dahm naqi דָּ֣ם נָקִ֑י]; their thoughts are thoughts of wrongdoing, devastation and destruction are in their paths.
They do not know the way of peace, and there is no justice in their tracks; they have made their paths crooked, whoever walks on them does not know peace.
Solomon begged his son to resist those who sought to shed blood:
Proverbs 1:10-16
“My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, ‘Come with us, let’s lie in wait for blood, let’s lurk secretly for the innocent [l-naqi לְנָקִ֣י] without cause; let’s swallow them alive like Sheol, even whole, like those who go down to the pit; we will find all kinds of precious wealth, we will fill our houses with plunder; throw in your lot with us; we will all have one money bag.’
My son, do not walk on the way with them. Keep your feet from their path, for their feet run to evil, and they are quick to shed blood.”
Perhaps the most horrific shedding of innocent blood was the wicked’s indulgence of child sacrifice:
Psalm 106:37-41
They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons, and shed innocent blood [dahm naqi דָ֪ם נָקִ֡י], the blood of their sons and their daughters whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was defiled with the blood.
So they became unclean in their practices, and were unfaithful in their deeds. Therefore the anger of YHWH was kindled against His people, and He loathed His inheritance. So He handed them over to the nations, and those who hated them ruled over them.
When David’s kingdom was split and the leaders followed their own hearts and desires, instead of YHWH’s, much blood was spilt. We read that Manasseh was so bloodthirsty with child sacrifice and senseless death that Jerusalem was “filled with innocent blood from one end to another” (2 Kings 21:16a).
The so-called people of God were not bearing the image of God. Instead they were bearing the image of their pagan neighbours. YHWH handed them over to the rulers they really represented and the ones they idolized. The result was that the kingdom of Judah would fall to foreign invaders:
2 Kings 24:1-4
In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and revolted against him. And YHWH sent against him bands of Chaldeans, bands of Arameans, bands of Moabites, and bands of Ammonites. He sent them against Judah to destroy it, in accordance with the word of YHWH which He had spoken through His servants the prophets. It indeed came upon Judah at the command of YHWH, to remove them from His sight due to the sins of Manasseh, in accordance with everything that he had done, and also for the innocent blood [dahm ha-naqi דַּֽם־הַנָּקִי֙] which he shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood [dahm naqi דָּ֣ם נָקִ֑י]; and YHWH was unwilling to pardon.
Why would YHWH be unwilling to pardon them? Because the people of Judah did not repent of their own guilty actions:
Jeremiah 2:34-35
“Also on your skirts is found the lifeblood of the poor innocence [n’qi’yim נְקִיִּ֑ים]; you did not find them breaking in. But in spite of all these things, you said, ‘I am innocent [niqey’ti נִקֵּ֔יתִי]; surely His anger is turned away from me.’
Behold, I will enter into judgment with you because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’”
What was God communicating in this passage? Judgement would be severe because they were not being honest with themselves. They were denying culpability but, if they took responsibility, they could and would be forgiven.The lesson: submit, be honest, and be free.
John may have had Jeremiah’s passage in mind when he wrote the following:
1 John 1:8-9
If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Only God can truly clean us up, make us blameless and free us from the guilt we’ve placed upon ourselves. It’s up to us to accept our pardon.
The Innocent Accused
Sometimes in life people can be accused of a sin but they are really innocent. Maybe this has happened to you. In the Bible, Job faced this dilemma. His once successful life became instantly wretched, and his friends made the devastating assumption that Job’s tragedies must have been the result of some grave sin that he committed.
Job 4:7-9 (see also Job 22:19 & 30)
[Eliphaz to Job:] “Remember now, who ever perished being innocent [naqi נָקִ֣י]? Or where were the upright destroyed? According to what I have seen, those who plow wrongdoing and those who sow trouble harvest it. By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of His anger they come to an end.”
Did Eliphaz really never see an innocent person suffer and die? I would suggest that most of the people we know are not wicked or deserving death, but all will die. Innocent people suffer all the time in this world. Is it because they deserve it? No!
Job’s suffering was more than most, but he was as innocent as a human being can be. His friend, Eliphaz, must have led a pretty sheltered existence to demand life be explained in such black and white terms. He told Job that he was suffering because he must have done something to deserve it. He was very wrong.
Job stood firm on his innocence, but he struggled to understand his plight. Did this God, on whom he put his faith, cause suffering? Does God mock those who suffer?
Job 9:19-24
[Job regarding God:] “If it is a matter of power, behold, He is the strong one! And if it is a matter of justice, who can summon Him?
Though I am righteous, my mouth will condemn me; though I am blameless [tam ani], He will declare me perverse.
I am blameless [tam ani]; I do not take notice of myself; I reject my life. It is all one; therefore I say, ‘He destroys the blameless [tam] and the wicked.’
If the whip kills suddenly, He mocks the despair of the innocent [n’qi’yim נְקִיִּ֣ם]. The earth is handed over to the wicked; He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not He, then who is it?”
Job wondered if God was the orchestrator of human suffering, and if it was not God, then who? This was the question that the scroll of Job attempted to answer. At the beginning of the story we are told who was pulling the strings. God allowed the Adversary (ha-Satan) to do his worst to Job, knowing that Job would, in the end, put his faith in YHWH and reap the rewards.
The text in Job, frequently used the word blameless, which is another word (synonym) for guiltless. In Hebrew, blameless is tam. The phrase, tam ani, means I am blameless [תָּֽם־אָ֭נִי]. As followers of YHWH, it’s a phrase we should say with confidence.
Psalm 26:1-7
[David:] Vindicate me, YHWH, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in YHWH without wavering. Examine me, YHWH, and put me to the test; refine my mind and my heart. For Your goodness is before my eyes, and I have walked in Your truth.
I do not sit with deceitful people, nor will I go with pretenders. I hate the assembly of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked.
I will wash my hands in innocence [b-niqayohn בְּנִקָּי֣וֹן], and I will go around Your altar, YHWH, that I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving and declare all Your wonders.
If we follow YHWH and do our best to be His image bearers on this earth, we too can wash our hands in innocence and walk free.
Guilt-free by Forgiveness
How is any human innocent or guiltless? Have we not all fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)? Without the freedom of forgiveness, we remain chained to our guilt.
The story of Joseph gives an excellent example of forgiveness. Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery. Years later, after Joseph rose up in the ranks in Egypt, his brothers came to Egypt to seek assistance in their struggles during a famine. Without knowing who he was, they asked Joseph for help. Joseph had an opportunity to save his brothers, but he would use the time to teach them a valuable lesson. He would set them up for a fall by planting a valuable cup in the youngest son’s bag and then accuse them of theft:
Genesis 44:7-13
And they [the brothers] said to him [Joseph], “Why does my lord say such words as these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing! Behold, the money which we found in the opening of our sacks we have brought back to you from the land of Canaan. How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house? With whomever of your servants it is found, he shall die, and we also shall be my lord’s slaves.”
So he said, “Now let it indeed be according to your words; he with whom it is found shall be my slave, but the rest of you shall be considered innocent [n’qi’yim נְקִיִּֽם].” Then they hurried, each man lowered his sack to the ground, and each man opened his sack. And he searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest; and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. Then they tore their clothes in grief, and when each man had loaded his donkey, they returned to the city.
The brothers recommended that the guilty one be killed and that the rest of the brothers would be slaves to the “Egyptian”. Although Joseph agreed, he changed the sentence. The guilty one would be his slave and the rest would be n’qi’yim (innocent/guilt-free). Of course Joseph knew that the older brothers were actually guilty of sentencing him to slavery all those many years ago. Benjamin, the youngest, was innocent of this deed, so by placing the silver cup in his sack, he became the innocent bearer of the sins of his many brothers. Sound familiar? It’s not surprising that Yeshua often talked about bearing “the cup”.
Joseph eventually admitted who he was to his brothers. There was a wonderful, tearful, reunion of forgiveness that is reminiscent of God’s forgiveness of us. We humans have repeatedly broken our oaths with YHWH by turning away from him and bowing down to various forms of idols. We tried to kill His Son and thought we succeeded when we placed Him on the cross. We are guilty of much slaughter and slander when it comes to our relationship with God. We are not innocent. But here’s the thing, naqi is less about “being innocent” and more about being “guilt-free” regardless of innocence. In the end, Joseph gave all the brothers what they needed to live and the freedom to live it. In his eyes his brothers were to live guilt-free of their past sins against him. YHWH feels the same about us.
Innocent Sons and Daughters
David, the kingly ancestor of the Messiah, was associated with innocence, but he was hardly perfect. In fact, his sins were many, but his faith and devotion to YHWH meant that he was set free from the guilt of his many discretions. When Jonathan’s father, king Saul, wanted to kill David, Jonathan reminded his father of David’s beneficial allegiance:
1 Samuel 19:4-6
Then Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul and said to him, “May the king not sin against his servant David, since he has not sinned against you, and since his deeds have been very beneficial to you. For he took his life in his hand and struck the Philistine, and YHWH brought about a great victory for all Israel; you saw it and rejoiced. Why then would you sin against innocent blood [b-dahm naqi בְּדָ֣ם נָקִ֔י] by putting David to death for no reason?” Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan, and Saul vowed, “As YHWH lives, David shall not be put to death.”
Saul, out of jealousy and fear, wanted David dead, but Saul’s son, Jonathan, stood up to defend his friend. Jonathan called David “innocent blood.” The result? Saul promised that David would not be put to death. Although we know that Saul was not being completely truthful, it was a prophetic statement alluding to the Messianic line and the promise of eternal life through the genealogy of David. “As YHWH lives, David shall not be put to death.” As YHWH lives, so will all who put their trust in Him.
Later in the story, David’s nephew murdered Abner, Saul’s cousin. David quickly announced that he and his kingdom were innocent of the murder:
2 Samuel 3:27-28
So when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the middle of the gate to speak with him privately, and there he struck him in the belly, so that he died on account of the blood of his brother Asahel. Afterward, when David heard about this, he said, “I and my kingdom are innocent [guilt-free: naqi נָקִ֨י] before YHWH forever of the blood of Abner the son of Ner.”
David refused to take the guilt of Abner’s blood upon himself or the kingdom he ruled. The murder of Abner was a revenge killing. Long before this event, Abner had killed Joab’s brother, Asahel, in battle. Joab, alone, was responsible for the guilt of his actions and David refused to bear his guilt. This stands in contrast to Yeshua (Jesus), David’s descendant, God’s Anointed One, who would, indeed, bear the guilt of all of us when he bore our sins on the cross.
[By the way… just for fun… there is a bit of poetic wordplay here. David literally says, “guiltless am I”, which is naqi anoki [naw-kee anoh-kee], two words that sound very familiar to each other. If you add, “and my kingdom” you get naw-kee anoh-kee u-mam’lak’tee. With kee-kee-tee endings, it’s a tongue-twister!]
The third time we come across naqi in David’s story we are presented with another example alluding to David as Yeshua’s fore-bearer. Again, the story involved a murder. David’s eldest son raped his half-sister (David’s only named daughter), Tamar. Tamar’s full-brother, Absalom, in retaliation for the rape, killed his half-brother, Amnon. Knowing that the deed would probably cost him his life, Absalom escaped to his maternal grandfather’s kingdom in Geshur.
After three years of separation, Joab, Absalom’s cousin and David’s nephew (the one who had killed Abner), tried to patch things up. He found the wise woman of Tekoa and asked her to speak to king David and resolve the separation between father and son. She agreed:
2 Samuel 14:4-14
Now when the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground and prostrated herself, and said, “Help, O king!”
And the king said to her, “What is troubling you?”
And she answered, “Truly I am a widow, for my husband is dead. And your servant had two sons, but the two of them fought in the field, and there was no one to save them from each other, so one struck the other and killed him. Now behold, the entire family has risen against your servant, and they have said, ‘Hand over the one who struck his brother, so that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed, and eliminate the heir as well.’ So they will extinguish my coal which is left, so as to leave my husband neither name nor remnant on the face of the earth.”
Then the king said to the woman, “Go to your home, and I will issue orders concerning you.”
The woman of Tekoa said to the king, “My lord, the king, the guilt is on me and my father’s house, but the king and his throne are guiltless [naqi נָקִֽי].”
So the king said, “Whoever speaks to you, bring him to me, and he will not touch you anymore.”
Then she said, “May the king please remember YHWH your God, so that the avenger of blood will not continue to destroy, otherwise they will destroy my son.”
And he said, “As YHWH lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground.”
Then the woman said, “Please let your servant speak a word to my lord the king.”
And he said, “Speak.”
The woman said, “Why then have you planned such a thing against the people of God? For in speaking this word the king is like one who is guilty, in that the king does not bring back his banished one. For we will surely die and are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up. Yet God does not take away life, but makes plans so that the banished one will not be cast out from Him.”
I love this passage. There’s so much great dialogue here with some pretty hefty messaging. God does not take away life, but makes plans to rescue the banished ones so they won’t be cast away from Him, but will instead return to Him. David, as one of YHWH’s image bearers, is meant to represent YHWH. If YHWH does not banish His sons and daughters (even if they are not innocent), why would David banish Absalom?
When it appeared that the woman from Tekoa was telling her story, she called David “guiltless” but when she revealed that she was telling David his own story, she said that David was “like one who is guilty” because he did not bring back his banished son. It’s a shocking revelation to David and he concurred and allowed Absalom to return.
However, David didn’t quite get it right. Although Absalom came back, David refused to see him for another two years. The forgiveness wasn’t evident to Absalom and eventually the relationship broke down to such a point that Absalom rebelled and tried to take over the kingdom. Had David welcomed Absalom home, had a feast, and joyfully proclaimed full forgiveness, the end result would have been remarkably different. Partial forgiveness is not enough, it’s all or nothing.
When Yeshua told the parable of the Prodigal Son, we get a glimpse of the kind of fully forgiving Father-God we are blessed to have:
Luke 15:25-32
“Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.’
But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him. But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you never gave me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’
And he said to him, ‘Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’”
The son deserved to be banished for the things he did, but his father welcomed him home with open and forgiving arms. Truth be told, both sons were guilty… one was drenched in the sin of self-indulgence, the other was cloaked in the sin of jealousy, but their father was willing to relieve them of their guilt. Their sins (one rather public and the other hidden) could and would be forgiven, allowing them to live like innocents in their father’s house.
In the same way, regardless of the guilt we all bear, we can live like innocents in the presence of YHWH. Yeshua paid the hefty entrance fee for us to enter freely into God’s Kingdom. We are all naqi… free of any guilt that we have place upon ourselves. Yeshua sacrificed His physical life so you could live innocent and free… and, honestly, you should live like you believe it!
Next week: an interview… if it’s posted. If not, wait and see!
Hebrew Word Lessons 