Ai Defeated and the Covenant Renewed at Mount Ebal

יָרֵא (yare) is the Hebrew verb for fearing, being afraid, or standing in reverence. Its sense depends on the object and setting: it can describe ordinary fear, dread before danger, or reverent fear of God. The local Hebrew index currently counts about 329 H3372 occurrences in the OT.

Genesis 22:12 uses the verb when the angel tells Abraham, 'now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.' In this scene Abraham's fear of God is demonstrated through costly obedience during the test. The verse does not reduce fear of God to this single action, but it joins reverence and obedience closely.

Deuteronomy 10:12 places fearing the Lord alongside walking in his ways, loving him, serving him wholeheartedly, and keeping his commands. The verb therefore belongs within a full covenant response rather than functioning as a synonym for panic.

Psalm 130:4 uses a passive form of the verb in the confession, 'with you there is forgiveness, so that you may be feared.' Forgiveness does not make reverence unnecessary; in the psalm it provides a reason for God's people to stand in awe of him and hope in his word.

The related noun יִרְאָה (yirah, H3374) carries the fear-of-the-Lord formula in wisdom texts such as Proverbs 1:7 and 9:10. Those related forms illuminate this verb, but they remain distinct lexical identities.

For the preacher, יָרֵא helps distinguish disabling dread from the reverent fear of God that expresses itself in trust and obedience, while allowing each passage to determine the precise sense.

נָתַן (nātan) is one of the Hebrew Bible's most frequent verbs, commonly meaning to give but also to put, set, appoint, assign, or hand over. Genesis 1:17 says God set the lights in the expanse, Genesis 3:6 says the woman gave fruit to her husband, and Genesis 18:7 says Abraham gave a calf to a servant for preparation. These ordinary uses show why no theological conclusion follows from the verb alone; giver, gift, recipient, purpose, and result must all be identified.

Divine giving becomes central in covenant promises. In Genesis 12:7 God promises to give Abram's offspring the land, and Genesis 15:18 places that gift within covenant. Deuteronomy 6:10 recalls the land sworn to the ancestors. Yet gift does not mean unrestricted possession or moral entitlement: the surrounding covenant includes worship, obedience, justice, memory, and judgment. Second Samuel 12:8 recounts what God gave David precisely while exposing David's abuse of power and taking of what was not his.

Other passages broaden divine giving. Solomon asks for a discerning heart in 1 Kings 3:9. Isaiah 9:6 announces a child given to the people. Jeremiah 29:11 speaks of giving an exiled community a future and hope within a letter that also names a long wait in Babylon. Ezekiel 36:26 promises a new heart and spirit within Israel's restoration. These gifts can inform Christian hope, but none turns nātan into a promise that every desire, possession, office, or favorable outcome has been individually guaranteed by God.

מִזְבֵּחַ (mizbeach) is the common Hebrew noun for an altar. It is related to the verb H2076 זָבַח, to sacrifice or slaughter, but altar function depends on the passage. Scripture describes patriarchal altars, the bronze altar for offerings, the incense altar, restored or profaned altars, memorial settings, and illicit altars. The noun itself does not guarantee that an altar is authorized or that every altar has the same function.

Genesis 22:9 says that Abraham built an altar and placed Isaac on it before the Lord stopped him and a ram was offered instead. The narrative directly presents a substitute in place of Isaac and names the place through the Lord's provision. Hebrews 11:17-19 later emphasizes Abraham's faith that God could raise the dead. A connection with Christ's sacrifice can be made canonically, but the New Testament does not explicitly call Genesis 22 the most direct altar prophecy of the cross.

Exodus distinguishes an earth or uncut-stone altar in 20:24-26, the bronze altar of burnt offering in 27:1-8, and the incense altar in 30:1-10. Their different locations and uses must remain distinct. The uncut-stone command is a divine construction requirement; treating it as a complete doctrine against human achievement goes beyond what the verses explicitly say.

Isaiah 6:6 describes a seraph taking a coal from the altar to touch Isaiah's lips, after which guilt is removed and sin atoned for. The vision directly connects the altar coal with purification, but it does not explain which sacrifice supplied the coal or say that the fire would otherwise have destroyed Isaiah. Malachi 1 condemns priests who offer defiled food and unacceptable animals, grounding altar application in the covenant worship violations the oracle actually names.

תּוֹרָה (torah) can name instruction, a particular ruling, priestly teaching, the law associated with Moses, or the Torah as a recognized body of Scripture. Context determines the scope. The noun should not be defined only from a proposed connection with the verb 'to instruct' and then made to mean whatever a teacher prefers. In Deuteronomy, torah shapes Israel's covenant life.

Psalm 119 delights in God's instruction as trustworthy guidance. Isaiah envisions instruction going out from Zion, Ezra devotes himself to studying, practicing, and teaching the Torah, and Jeremiah 31 promises God's torah written within. These passages resist two opposite reductions. Torah is not a ladder by which sinners earn God's favor, but neither is it an obsolete burden with nothing to teach.

The New Testament presents Jesus as fulfilling the Law and Prophets and teaches believers to read Israel's Scriptures through His person and work. Responsible application distinguishes Israel's covenant setting, enduring revelation of God's character and purposes, and the commands' fulfillment in Christ rather than forcing every statute directly onto the church.

בְּרָכָה (berakah) is the Hebrew noun for blessing — the covenant favor of YHWH that speaks and conveys what he gives. The local Hebrew index currently counts about 69 occurrences and is grounded in the Abrahamic covenant: YHWH made Abraham a berakah (Gen 12:2), and through him all the families of the earth would be blessed. From that Abrahamic anchor, the berakah flows through the Mosaic covenant (Deut 28), the priestly blessing (Num 6), the prophetic promises, and the Psalms — and the NT shows it arriving fully in Christ.

Genesis 12:2 gives berakah its Abrahamic foundation: 'I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a berakah.' YHWH's purpose is not merely to bless Abraham but to make him a berakah — a blessing to others, a conduit of the divine favor to all families of the earth (v. 3: 'and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed'). The berakah is not private: it flows through the recipient to others.

Numbers 6:24-26 gives berakah its priestly form: 'YHWH bless (yevarekh) you and keep you; YHWH make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; YHWH lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace (shalom).' This is the great priestly berakah — the official channel through which YHWH's blessing flows to his people. Three lines, six verbs, one source: YHWH himself places his name on his people through this blessing (v. 27, 'so shall they put my name on the people of Israel, and I will bless them').

Deuteronomy 28:2-3 gives berakah its covenant-obedience form: 'And all these berakot shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of YHWH your God. Blessed (baruk) shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.' The berakot of Deuteronomy 28 are comprehensive: city and field, fruit and livestock, basket and kneading bowl, going out and coming in (v. 3-6). The covenant berakah is not one category of blessing but the totality of flourishing in every domain of life.

Psalm 3:8 gives berakah its congregational use: 'Salvation belongs to YHWH; your berakah be on your people!' David's psalm in flight from Absalom ends with this request: not just personal salvation but the berakah on all of YHWH's people. The berakah is communal as well as individual — it belongs to the covenant people as a body.

Malachi 3:10 gives berakah its covenant-faithfulness promise: 'Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says YHWH of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a berakah until there is no more need.' The berakah is the response to covenant faithfulness — YHWH is the source, Israel's obedience is the channel, and the berakah flows according to his covenant purpose.

For the preacher, בְּרָכָה (berakah) gives the congregation the word for what YHWH's favor accomplishes: not just a wish or a feeling but an effective reality. The blessing YHWH pronounces is a berakah — it does what it says.