Roar- sha’ag (Strong’s 7580). Root: שָׁאַג
Growl- naham (Strong’s 5098/5099/5100/5286). Root:נַהַם
Last week I announced that today’s word would be “hidden”… but sometimes when you read the Bible you go down a rabbit hole and find yourself on another path that you didn’t intend to jump on. After having a rather terrible week at work, I found myself reading Psalm 38 and I kept getting drawn to the word ROAR. That word resonated with me. After dealing with what felt like a revolving door of bad news, I felt like roaring… and my heart kept coming back to this word. So here we are; I’m changing it up. This week we are roaring!
There are two main Hebrew words for roar: sha’ag and naham. Both words are associated with the sound a lion makes… whether it be a roar or a growl. We will explore both.
Psalm 38:8
I feel faint and badly crushed; I groan because of the agitation of my heart.
Ummm… where’s the word roar? For some reason, in this verse, many translators have used the word groan for sha’ag and agitation for naham, although almost all other moments of sha’ag indicate a roaring lion and naham tends to lead towards growling… so I suggest a better reading might be:
Psalm 38:8
I feel faint and badly crushed; I roar [sha’ag’ti שָׁ֝אַ֗גְתִּי] because of the growling [mi-na’hamat מִֽנַּהֲמַ֥ת] of my heart.
Two lion sounds… the roar of a lion, strutting its power, and the menacing growl of a hunting lion. Sometimes the growling of our heart turns into a roar.
A roar and a growl are two very different sounds, but lions do them both. Does sha’am and naham mean both? I don’t think so. If I was forced to choose, I would be inclined to associate sha’ag with roaring and naham with growling. A careful investigation of the use of naham gives us a hint:
Proverbs 5:11
And you will groan growl [w-naham’ta וְנָהַמְתָּ֥] at your end, when your flesh and your body are consumed.
At the end of a long-lived life, most end up growling and groaning, not roaring. But one could argue, that’s not always the case. Naham is the preferred term in the Proverbs and translators seem to flip-flop between identifying naham as roaring or growling:
Proverbs 19:12
A king’s wrath is like the roaring/growling [naham נַ֣הַם] of a lion, but his favour is like dew on the grass.
Proverbs 20:2
The terror of a king is like the growling/roaring [naham נַ֣הַם] of a lion; one who provokes him to anger forfeits his own life.
Proverbs 28:15
Like a growling/roaring lion [nohem נֹ֭הֵם] and a rushing bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people.
The prophet Ezekiel used naham to describe the kind of apathy Israel would experience when they fell to their enemies:
Ezekiel 24:23
You will not mourn and you will not weep; but you will rot away in your guilty deeds, and you will groan growl [u-n’ham’tem וּנְהַמְתֶּ֖ם] to one another.
Could these two Hebrew words be examples of onomatopoeia (when a word sounds like its description, such as plop or sizzle)?
Naham is a very breath-y softer word that resonates and vibrates in your ears when you say it… like a low resonating growl. Sha’ag, on the other hand, is a harsher, more intentional sounding word, with an abrupt hard g ending. Perhaps it’s a stretch, but to my ears, naham is a growl and sha’ag is a roar. You can decide for yourself.
Lions Roar!
Biblical writers liked to use sha’ag and naham both descriptively and metaphorically (as we will see), but sometimes a roaring lion was just a roaring lion:
Judges 14:5
Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and came as far as the vineyards of Timnah; and behold, a young lion came roaring [sho’eg שֹׁאֵ֖ג] toward him.
The creation-centric Psalm 104 highlighted roaring lions as players in God’s ordered world:
Psalm 104:20-24
You appoint darkness and it becomes night, in which all the animals of the forest prowl about. The young lions roar [sho’agim שֹׁאֲגִ֣ים] for their prey and seek their food from God. When the sun rises they withdraw, and they lie down in their dens. A person goes out to his work and to his labour until evening.
YHWH, how many are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your possessions.
The Enemy Roars against Us
Roaring was used metaphorically to build an image of raging lion-like enemies:
Psalm 74:4,7
Your adversaries have roared [sha’agu שָׁאֲג֣וּ] in the midst of Your meeting place; they have set up their own signs as signs… They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your name.
In describing the enemy nations, Isaiah used both sha’ag and naham to nail home the image of the relentless enemy of Israel.
Isaiah 5:29-30a
Its roaring [sh’agah שְׁאָגָ֥ה] is like a lioness, and it roars [yi-sa’ag וְשָׁאַג] like young lions; and it growls [w-yi-n’hohm וְיִנְהֹם֙] as it seizes the prey and carries it off with no one to save it.
And it will growl [w-yi-n’hohm וְיִנְהֹ֥ם] against it on that day like the growling/roaring [k-na’hamat כְּנַהֲמַת] of the sea.
Jeremiah also used both words (sha’ag and naham) in his prophecies:
Jeremiah 51:37-38
“Babylon will become a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, An object of horror and hissing, without inhabitants. They will roar [yi-sh’agu יִשְׁאָ֑גוּ] together like young lions, they will growl [na’aru נָעֲר֖וּ] like lions’ cubs.
Jeremiah 2:15, 17
“The young lions have roared [yi-sh’a’gu יִשְׁאֲג֣וּ] at him (Israel), they have roared loudly delivered their voice. And they have made his land a waste; his cities have been destroyed, without inhabitant… Have you not done this to yourself by your abandoning YHWH your God when He led you in the way?”
Sometimes the enemies were not foreign invaders, but those from within their own borders:
Zephaniah 3:1-3
Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled, the oppressive city! She obeyed no voice, she accepted no discipline. She did not trust in YHWH, she did not approach her God.
Her leaders within her are roaring [sho’agim שֹֽׁאֲגִ֑ים] lions, her judges are wolves at evening; they have no bones to gnaw in the morning.
At the crucifixion, Yeshua found that His harshest enemies were His own people. In the midst of His suffering He quoted Psalm 22:
Psalm 22:1a
My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Although Yeshua only quoted the first line of Psalm 22, any Jewish man listening would have recognized, and perhaps cited in their own heads, the rest of this poem written by king David:
Psalm 22:12-13, 18-21
My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?… Many bulls have surrounded me; strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They open their mouths wide at me, as a ravening and roaring [w-shoreg וְשֹׁאֵֽג] lion…
…They divide my garments among them, and they cast lots for my clothing. But You, YHWH, do not be far away; You who are my help, hurry to my assistance.
Save my soul from the sword, my only life from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion’s mouth…
In the B’rit Chadashah (New Testament) Peter spoke of the ruler of all enemies behaving like a roaring lion:
1 Peter 5:8-11
Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring [Greek: ōryomenos ὠρυόμενος] lion, seeking someone to devour. So resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brothers and sisters who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in the Messiah, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.
God Roars!
The enemies might roar like lions, but God can roar right back:
Job 37:2-5
“Listen closely to the thunder of His voice, and the rumbling that goes out from His mouth. Under the whole heaven He lets it loose, and His lightning travels to the ends of the earth. After it, a voice roars [yi-sh’ag יִשְׁאַג]; He thunders with His majestic voice, and He does not restrain the lightning when His voice is heard.
God thunders wondrously with His voice, doing great things which we do not comprehend.”
Jeremiah 25:30, 38
“Therefore you shall prophesy against them all these words, and you shall say to them,
‘YHWH will roar [yi-sh’ag יִשְׁאָג֙] from on high and raise His voice from His holy dwelling; He will roar forcefully [roar roar: sha’og yi-sh’ag שָׁאֹ֤ג יִשְׁאַג֙] against His fold. He will shout like those who tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth… He has left His hiding place like the lion; for their land has become a horror because of the fierceness of the oppressing sword and because of His fierce anger.”
Hosea 11:8b-10
[YHWH:] “My heart is turned over within Me, all My compassions are kindled. I will not carry out My fierce anger; I will not destroy Ephraim again. For I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.”
They will walk after YHWH, He will roar [yi-sh’ag יִשְׁאָ֑ג] like a lion; indeed He will roar [yi-sh’ag יִשְׁאַ֔ג], and His sons will come trembling from the west.
Joel 3:16-17a
YHWH roars [yi-sh’ag יִשְׁאָ֗ג] from Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth quake. But YHWH is a refuge for His people, and a stronghold for the sons of Israel. Then you will know that I am YHWH your God, dwelling on Zion, My holy mountain.
Amos 1:2
And he said,
“YHWH roars [yi-sh’ag יִשְׁאָ֔ג] from Zion, And from Jerusalem He utters His voice; and the shepherds’ pasture grounds mourn, And the summit of Carmel dries up.”
Amos 3:4, 7-8
Does a lion roar [ha-yi-sh’ag הֲיִשְׁאַ֤ג] in the forest when he has no prey? Does a young lion growl (give forth his voice) from his den unless he has captured something?
…Certainly the Lord YHWH does nothing unless He reveals His secret plan to His servants the prophets. A lion has roared [sha’ag שָׁאָ֖ג]! Who will not fear? The Lord YHWH has spoken! Who can do anything but prophesy?
YHWH spoke through the prophet Ezekiel complaining about Israel’s prophets acting like ravenous lions, tearing the people apart. In response, God roared back at the injustice:
Ezekiel 22:23-31
And the word of YHWH came to me, saying, “Son of man, say to her, ‘You are a land that is not clean or rained on in the day of indignation.’ There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst like a roaring [sho’eg שׁוֹאֵ֖ג] lion tearing the prey. They have devoured lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in the midst of her. Her priests have done violence to My Law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the common, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have closed their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am defiled among them. Her leaders within her are like wolves tearing the prey, by shedding blood and destroying lives in order to make dishonest profit. And her prophets have coated with whitewash for them, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘This is what the Lord YHWH says,’ when YHWH has not spoken. The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery, and they have oppressed the poor and needy, and have oppressed the stranger without justice. I searched for a man among them who would build up a wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one. So I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; I have brought their way upon their heads,” declares the Lord YHWH.
God found no one to stand in the gap, and redeem the people, He let them fall under their own destructive powers. But God wouldn’t abandon them to their fate… He would provide a part of Himself to stand and take the brunt of divine retribution. He would send His son, Yeshua, to stand in the gap and take the hit from an angry mob of raging people:
Matthew 27:22-25
Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Crucify Him!”
But he said, “Why, what evil has He done?”
Yet they kept shouting/roaring all the more, saying, “Crucify Him!”
Now when Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this Man’s blood; you yourselves shall see.”
And all the people replied, “His blood shall be on us and on our children!”
The people roared for death and God did not stop their desire for control and power. Yeshua succumbed to His fate and died to saveus. He conquered death and became the Saviour and Redeemer, giving life beyond our mere existence to all those who roar alongside Him.
Roaring for Injustice
The enemies can roar, but God can roar louder. It’s okay to have days where you feel like roaring! God understands. When He saw injustice, He roared too! But I think we tend to growl more than we roar. We complain about things but rarely take action to fix what we’re complaining about. A roar is a loud, bold, action… announcing, for all to hear, our displeasure. And sometimes it’s warranted, and sometimes it’s not.
C.S. Lewis, in his novel The Magician’s Nephew, told the story of Narnia’s creation. The great Lion king, Aslan, sang the world of Narnia into existence. It was a wonderful, life-giving song, and every note brought about a new aspect of life… from stars to buttercups. In the book there were witnesses to this extraordinary event and they were awe-struck. But one of the witnesses, Uncle Andrew, couldn’t believe what he saw or heard. As soon as he saw that the singer was a lion, he couldn’t believe it and he convinced himself that he wasn’t hearing a song at all.
And the longer and more beautiful the Lion sang, the harder Uncle Andrew tried to make himself believe that he could hear nothing but roaring. Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed. Uncle Andrew did. He soon did hear nothing but roaring in Aslan’s song. Soon he couldn’t have heard anything else even if he had wanted to. And when at last the Lion spoke and said, “Narnia awake,” he didn’t hear any words: he heard only a snarl. (The Magician’s Nephew, chapter 10)
Uncle Andrew became so close-minded to the magic surrounding him that he could no longer hear the words of Aslan. And to make matters worse, when he saw the beautiful world placed in front of him, all he could think of was how to exploit it.
“I have discovered a world where everything is bursting with life and growth…The commercial possibilities of this country are unbounded… I shall be a millionaire!… The first thing is to get that brute shot.” (The Magician’s Nephew, chapter 9)
Uncle Andrew stopped believing in what his eyes and ears could see and hear and started believing in self-generated power by taking and exploiting the world that was placed before him. And the first thing to do was to kill the thing that made it, so he could take it for himself.
Here’s the thing… if you’re going to roar, roar for the good things in YHWH’s beautiful created world. Roar for the well-being of others, and roar against those who want to crush the life out of this world. Be an advocate for the unfortunate, the poor, the orphan, the widow, the foreigner, the down-trodden, the judged. Don’t roar for yourself in order to gain more power, money, or notoriety. Your voice is meant for justice, not injustice. Don’t be like Uncle Andrew. Don’t be blind to the voice of God. He calls on us to roar on His behalf!
Listen, God can hear even your quietest prayer, but in this busy and loud world it’s easy to go unnoticed by everyone around us. We are called to be advocates and protectors of every bit of God’s creation. It takes courage to live up to our calling, especially in this world that seems to idolize domination and power at the expense of God’s beautiful earth and the earthlings within it. Sometimes growling about things just isn’t enough… sometimes we have to roar to be heard!
Next week: Sermon- Rediscovering Scripture (2 Kings 22)
