mibṭâch

mibṭâch is used 15 times in the Old Testament and is actually translated as hope only once or twice, depending on the version you have. It is also translated as:

• confidence (9); trust (4); sure (1)

Examples

By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness,
O God of our salvation,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas;
the one who by his strength established the mountains,
being girded with might;
who stills the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
the tumult of the peoples,
so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs.
You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.
(Psalm 65:5-8 ESV)

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
And whose hope is the LORD.
(Jeremiah 17:7 NKJV)

Meaning

Based upon its root word, mibṭâch is better defined as refuge or security. Imagine your deepest, safest place.

We often speak of the place of refuge as the final stronghold, deep within a castle or fortification. If you’ve seen The Lord of the Rings films you’ve seen the place of refuge known as Helm’s Deep. When you approach it you first encounter a strong gate and a wall that is tall and strong, encircling it. If the wall is breached you move into the first fortified area with another wall, still guarded by a gate, harder to maneuver and fight within, except for those trained to do so, knowing their stronghold. Should the enemy again overtake you can run into a cavern carved in the rock of the mountain. It is impenetrable and inaccessible except by one strong, heavy door.

In our times of peace this refuge is a quiet place. We often forget about it, walking freely in the less fortified areas of our lives and hearts. But in the time of danger it becomes so dreadfully necessary that to forget or ignore it is to fall to our enemies.

This refuge, this deep, inner sanctuary must constantly be supplied with the necessities of life. Imagine if you were a king and needed to take refuge but found yourself with stale, diseased water and rotten, worm-filled food. How long would you be able to hold out against your enemy? But if you had fresh vegetables and fruit, salted meats and a spring for water, you would better be able to withstand a siege.

Hope is our stronghold, our refuge. Specifically, as shown by these Scriptures, it is our hope in God. We cannot forget about the refuge in the days of peace and prosperity. We must keep hope prepared for those days when our strength and safety fail us.

What About Your Hope?

It is true that we must have hope even in the good times. We need it present in our lives to build faith, and through faith build love. It is foundational to health as spiritual beings.

But it in our darkest days, hope must shine the brightest. Otherwise we forget, we fall away.

Where do you need your hope to grow?

• tôcheleth + śêber – Expectation
• yâchal – Patience, even when it is a painful waiting (longing)
• tiqvâh – Attachment, tying it to you so strongly so that it cannot be lost
• miqveh – Confidence, specifically in God over any other substitute
• kesel – Gut feeling, an undeniable conviction
• mibṭâch – Refuge, security

kesel

kesel is used in the Old Testament (KJV) as “hope” only 3 times. It is also translated as:

• flank (6); folly (2); loins (1); confidence (1)

Examples

For He established a testimony in Jacob,
And appointed a law in Israel,
Which He commanded our fathers,
That they should make them known to their children;
That the generation to come might know them,
The children who would be born,
That they may arise and declare them to their children,
That they may set their hope in God,
And not forget the works of God,
But keep His commandments…
(Psalm 78:5-7 NKJV)

Meaning

I mentioned what may be strange examples of other definitions of kesel. It seems like a pretty random idea that it would be used as a word for hope, doesn’t it?

Then I began to think about what it means to have a gut feeling about something. You know what I mean; it’s that gnawing in the pit of your stomach that gets to you in certain situations or when dealing with issues or investigating truths. You have this – thing, this feeling – deep inside and you cannot get away from it. We call it a gut feeling. I think the writer here was talking about the same thing.

In our culture we talk about the heart as the seat of our emotions. In the Old Testament culture, it was the loins, the bowels. When struggling with something, dealing with it on a personal level, you could say that there was a battle within one’s gut to make it right.

What popular television series could help us understand this gut feeling? If you’re a fan of NCIS, you’ve already figured it out. One of the key characters is Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. He is known for his gut feeling that nags at him, leading him down different leads. There are times when all of the investigative evidence screams that his gut is wrong, but when he trusts it he knows he will be led to the truth.

The example above is from Psalm 78. It talks about God setting up a testimony so that the generations to follow would not forget God but hold their trust in Him. The goal was to embed God so deeply within them that they could not get away from Him, regardless of contrary teaching or difficult circumstance.

miqveh

miqveh is used translated as “hope” 4 times in the Old Testament (KJV), and is also translated as:

• linen yarn (4); gathering together (1); pool (1); plenty (1); abiding (1)

Examples

And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, addressed Ezra: “We have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, but even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this.
(Ezra 10:2 ESV)

O you hope of Israel, its savior in time of trouble, why should you be like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night?
(Jeremiah 14:8 ESV)

O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water.
(Jeremiah 17:13 ESV)

Meaning

miqveh is rooted in the word qavah, and would literally be translated as confidence.

In the ESV, “hope” is found 6 times in the book of Jeremiah. Half of these use this word, miqveh, and are the majority of its use as hope. In each case it is in reference to God, who is the hope of Israel.

We spoke this morning about misplacing our hope. We have the ability to choose in what or whom we will place our trust. It could be our family, our workplace, ourselves, our God. For Jeremiah, the only true confidence for Israel was God.

God used Jeremiah to speak to the nation of Judah (the southern tribes of Israel) that they would suffer destruction if they didn’t turn from their evil ways. Before Jeremiah’s eyes, all of the earthly confidences we hold on to crumbled. The king and was taken as a permanent guest in Babylon, replaced with a brother of the king who would later see his own sons killed and have his eyes put out before being dragged off to Babylon himself. The Temple of God, the place of His presence on this earth, after having its prized decorations given as tribute, was later pillaged and torn down. The people scattered or were taken as slaves.

When the world came crashing down, it was obvious to Jeremiah that the only true confidence in this world is God Almighty.