The Foolishness of God

Introduction

Welcome to Torah Today Ministries in our continuing series The Hebrew Key, where we look into the scriptures and we use Hebrew to unlock insights that otherwise would be closed to us. And in this episode I call “The Foolishness of God.” And you’ll notice that the title is in quotes because I did not come up with this title. I’m actually quoting Paul here from the first chapter of 1 Corinthians.

Let me give you a little background before we look at the verse we’re going to focus in on. You know, the things of God sometimes don’t look that impressive in the world’s eyes. The world is impressed by things that are big, things that are powerful, things that are attractive. And God oftentimes uses things that are weak, things that are small, things that are very humble, broken things to accomplish his purpose.

And this is never more true than when it comes to our Messiah Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ), who came as a Jewish stonemason 2,000 years ago in Israel. And he takes 12 followers, and one of those washes out, and so with 11 men who are left, he turns the world upside down.

And then Paul talks about the message of the gospel of Messiah and how it doesn’t make a lot of sense according to the world’s logic. And he says, but this is what God has chosen. He says the Jews are looking for signs and the Gentiles, the Greeks, they’re looking for wisdom, but we have something different. It doesn’t look like a sign. It doesn’t look like wisdom. It doesn’t look like power. It is something very simple that your heart will either leap at or won’t.

Foolishness and Corpse

So let’s look right into the verse. I could easily get distracted and talk about the entire first chapter of 1 Corinthians, but this is the passage — chapter 1, verses 23 through 25. Paul writes:

But we proclaim Messiah crucified. — 1 Corinthians 1:23a

Stop there for a second. Paul’s saying we have the answer for your needs, for the sin in your life, for the hopelessness in your life, for the brokenness in your life. And the answer that we proclaim is Messiah — the promised one of God, the Son of God — crucified, nailed to a cross. That’s what we proclaim. He says:

This is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Messiah is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. — 1 Corinthians 1:23–25

Now don’t think for a moment that God is in any way foolish or weak. He is not. But the things he does and the way he does them sometimes look very illogical and very ignorable. They just look foolish and weak.

Now there are several words Paul could have used in Hebrew for the word “foolishness.” Now of course Corinthians is written in Greek, but Paul was a Hebrew thinker. And I’m interested in what Paul was thinking, because he thought in Hebraic connections — of how the Hebrew language wove all through from Genesis to Malachi. And he saw connections there. And out of his Jewish mindset he would bring forth a message but then have to communicate it in Greek. But let’s peel back a level and think about what was Paul thinking in Hebrew.

Now there are about three different Hebrew words that he could have chosen for the word “folly” or “foolishness.” I want to focus in on the one that I’m sure he was thinking of, and that is the word navala (נְבָלָה). This is what it looks like in Hebrew: nun (נ), bet (ב), lamed (ל), hey (ה) — navala (נְבָלָה).

Navala (נְבָלָה) in Scripture

It’s first found in Genesis 34:7. This is in the story of Shechem and how he raped Jacob’s daughter Dinah. It says:

The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they had heard of it, and the men were indignant and very angry because Shechem had done a navala (נְבָלָה), a foolish thing, in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing must not be done. — Genesis 34:7

Isaiah 9:17 — Isaiah says:

And every mouth speaks navala (נְבָלָה), speaks foolishness, speaks folly. — Isaiah 9:17

1 Samuel 25:25 – Naval (נָבָל) and Navala (נְבָלָה)

My favorite one is in 1 Samuel 25:25. This is in the story of David and Abigail. When David first met Abigail, she was married to a man whose name was Nabal, or in Hebrew we would say Naval (נָבָל). David gets very angry at Naval (נָבָל) and his treatment of David and his men, and he’s getting ready to go up and just kill Naval (נָבָל). But Abigail, very wise, godly woman, comes down and meets David. And this is what she says to David:

Let not my lord regard this worthless fellow Naval (נָבָל), for as his name is, so is he. Naval (נָבָל) is his name, and navala (נְבָלָה) is with him. — 1 Samuel 25:25

You see, the first three letters of navala (נְבָלָה) spell the word Naval (נָבָל), which means “fool.” Navala (נְבָלָה) is “foolishness.” So Naval (נָבָל) really did live up to his name. Naval (נָבָל) was filled with navala (נְבָלָה). The fool was filled with foolishness.

Navala (נְבָלָה) Also Means “Corpse”

Now here’s how I know that this is the Hebrew word Paul was thinking of, because this Hebrew word, without changing a letter, has two very different meanings. If you pronounce it navala (נְבָלָה), it means foolishness. But if you pronounce it nevelah (נְבֵלָה) — not changing the spelling at all — it means carcass or corpse.

And again, it’s one of those incredible and amazing things about Hebrew, how one word can have two such diverse meanings. But let me give you an example of where the word nevelah (נְבֵלָה) is used — and again, it’s spelled exactly the way navala (נְבָלָה) is spelled. In Leviticus 17:15, it says:

And every person who eats a nevelah (נְבֵלָה), a carcass, or what is torn by beast, whether he is a native or sojourner, shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. Then he shall be clean. — Leviticus 17:15

So we’re not to be eating carcasses of animals. Now, if you might be wondering, “Well, we don’t eat live animals. All the animals we eat, aren’t they carcasses?” No. By a nevelah (נְבֵלָה), by a carcass, it means an animal that has been killed one way but not intended for food — it gets hit by a car, dies of old age or disease or whatever, gets attacked by another animal — then it’s a nevelah (נְבֵלָה). It’s not to be eaten. But if you take a healthy animal and you slaughter it and you cook it to eat, then that’s not a nevelah (נְבֵלָה). All right, so let me make sure we don’t let anyone get distracted with that.

A Hanged Man Is a Curse of God

Now let me show you a very interesting way this word nevelah (נְבֵלָה) is used that will tie it back to 1 Corinthians 1. In Deuteronomy 21:22 and 23, God is speaking and says:

And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his nevelah (נְבֵלָה) — his corpse — shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is a curse of God. — Deuteronomy 21:22–23

Now there are several things here we need to look at. Let’s start with this last one: “A hanged man is a curse of God.” There are two ways you can interpret this phrase.

First, a hanged man is cursed by God, because a hanged man is one who’s done something — committed a crime punishable by death — and he has been executed. And this is considered a curse of God because he’s done something God says you don’t do. You’ve murdered someone. You’ve committed a crime punishable by death, and the curse is you have to be executed.

But “a curse of God” — in the Hebrew it doesn’t say “cursed by God,” even though that’s what’s implied. It says it’s “a curse of God.” And the rabbis make much of this. And what they say is this: this man was made in God’s image. And so when a man — when his body is nailed to a tree or hanged on a tree in some way — it almost looks like it’s God who’s been hanged and nailed to a tree.

In other words, when you don’t like someone, you can mar their photograph or their image because you don’t like the person the image represents. It’s like the high school kid who draws horns on his ex-girlfriend’s picture. So when you mistreat someone’s body, when something terrible like this is done, it’s an image of God that’s being marred.

We are to be image bearers. God wants to restore his image in us. That doesn’t mean we all become good-looking and handsome and healthy and perfect and tall and all that. He wants us to bear his image through our actions, through our words. And he wants his image to become more polished and more clear in our lives as the longer we live. But nevertheless, our bodies are made in his image. This is why we need new bodies someday, so we can bear his image as perfectly as we can.

So “a hanged man is a curse of God.” It looks like God is being cursed. It’s like we’re taking his image and we are marring it in such a way as if to say, “This is what we think of God.” God says, “Don’t leave that on the tree. You bury it before sundown. Don’t leave that up. It’s a curse of God.”

This helps explain why it was so imperative to take Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ) off the cross and bury him before sundown — because a hanged man is a curse of God. And the corpse of the person, the word that’s used here, is the word nevelah (נְבֵלָה) — the same word that means foolishness.

Foolishness and Corpse Together

Now if we take all of this and put it together, we see that the word “foolishness” is navala (נְבָלָה), and this word navala / nevelah (נְבָלָה) also means “corpse.” When we put all that together, let’s look again at our passage. Paul says:

But we proclaim Messiah crucified. — 1 Corinthians 1:23

When someone’s crucified, they are hanged on a cross, on a tree, on something. But they are hanged — in this case, with nails to the hands and the feet. So the person becomes a nevelah (נְבֵלָה). And Paul refers to this message of the crucified Messiah as navala (נְבָלָה) — as foolishness.

It’s the foolishness of God. In other words, it looks foolish to the world. Why is it — if I put my faith in this man who is perfect, who never sinned, but was executed unfairly and nailed to a tree, and somehow I have faith that this one is bearing my sin, that I’ll be forgiven of my sins and delivered and rescued by God — it doesn’t make logical sense, does it?

But that is exactly what Paul is saying. It looks foolish. It looks navala (נְבָלָה). But the navala (נְבָלָה) of God — oh, it’s so much wiser than the wisdom of men. And there’s nothing weaker than a corpse. A corpse has no strength. And so it’s like this crucified Messiah, whose strength has completely gone out of him — even that weakness of God is stronger than men.

Do you see the connection here? Navala / nevelah (נְבָלָה) — foolishness and a corpse. Because a hanged man is a curse of God, and so his nevelah (נְבֵלָה) — his corpse — is to be buried.

The Perfect Image Bearer

I hope you can see that connection there. I’m tempted just to keep talking about what’s going on here, but I want us to consider one thing. Of all the human beings who have ever lived in this world, there’s only one who is perfect — utterly sinless, utterly pure. And that is Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ), our Messiah. He indeed bore the image of God perfectly.

And so when we look at this word — the foolishness of God, the navala (נְבָלָה) of God — we can almost substitute the word nevelah (נְבֵלָה): the corpse of God. I’m not saying the dead body of Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ) is God, but we do know that the fullness of God dwelt in him physically. And if there was a corpse that was the image of God, that was the corpse. That was the nevelah (נְבֵלָה) — the perfect human being who bore God’s image flawlessly. And he’s hanged on a tree. He’s nailed to a tree. And his body becomes a nevelah (נְבֵלָה).

And God says, “Through that navala (נְבָלָה), I’ll bring salvation to the world. I’ll deliver mankind from their sins.” It’s an incredible thing. So I hope you can begin to get a glimpse of what I see being spoken here through this Hebrew key.

Messiah Redeemed Us from the Curse

I want to take it one step further though. I want us to go to Galatians 3:13, since we’re talking about a man who’s hanged on a tree and Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ) being hanged on a cross. Look at what it says here in Galatians 3:13. Now here Paul is quoting the passage in Deuteronomy. He says:

Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the Torah. — Galatians 3:13

Now let me stop there for a second. Some people have been trained to read this as if the Torah (תּוֹרָה) is cursed and he’s delivered us from the cursed Torah (תּוֹרָה). That is not at all what it’s saying. The Torah (תּוֹרָה) is not a curse. It’s an incredible blessing. And over and over and over we’re told this throughout the scriptures.

When it’s referring to the “curse of the Torah” (תּוֹרָה), it’s referring to the Torah’s curses. The Torah (תּוֹרָה) contains blessings for those who follow its commandments and curses against those who openly violate God’s commandments. And we have all violated God’s commandments. We have all come under the curse pronounced by the Torah (תּוֹרָה).

But Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the Torah (תּוֹרָה) by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.” — Galatians 3:13

Now here let’s look at the Greek of the word “hanged.” The root word is kremannumi (κρεμάννυμι). That is the word for “hanged.”

On These Two Commandments Hang All the Torah

But as I was reading last week — and that’s what became the spark that led to this teaching I’m doing here — I was reading in Matthew 22. Yeshua’s (יֵשׁוּעַ) been asked, “What is the greatest of the commandments?”

The reason rabbis ask each other this question is because they realize some commandments are heavier and some are lighter. Some take precedence over others. And so when one commandment conflicts with another one, we have to decide which one do we follow. For example, we’re to rest on the Sabbath. But what happens if your ox falls in the ditch on a Sabbath? We’re supposed to help our animals, but we’re supposed to keep the Sabbath. Which one takes priority? Which is the heavier commandment?

And so they’re asking Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ), “What is the heaviest of all the commandments? What’s the biggest and most important one of all?” And this is what he said — and you’re familiar with this:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. — Matthew 22:37–39

Now they didn’t ask, “What’s the first two commandments?” He said, “What’s the greatest commandment?” But Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ) had to answer the question by giving two, because you can’t keep the first without also keeping the second. It just doesn’t work.

He says, “This is the great and first commandment, and the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” So — love of God, love of your neighbor. Why is it important to love your neighbor? Your neighbor is in God’s image. You say you love God but you mistreat the images of him that surround you? What kind of love of God is that? “I love God, but every time I see a picture of God I draw horns on it or an eye patch or put a mustache on it.” You don’t mistreat God’s image. But every human being is in the image of God. So if you say you love him, we need to show love and respect for his images, no matter how marred they may be by sin and by the world.

So “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” And this is why we have two tablets. The first tablet had five commandments about love of God. The second tablet had five commandments about our relationship with man. Love of God, love of neighbor.

Then look what he says:

On these two commandments hang all the Torah (תּוֹרָה) and the prophets. — Matthew 22:40

And it’s the same word for “hang” — it’s our word kremannumi (κρεμάννυμι).

The Word Made Flesh, Hanged on a Tree

So Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ) was hanged on a cross. And on these two commandments hang all the Torah (תּוֹרָה) and the prophets — the entire word of God.

Let’s try to sum all of this up. In John 1:14, it says:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. — John 1:14

The word of God — the Torah (תּוֹרָה) and the prophets — hang on the commandment to love God and love your neighbor. The word of God hangs on the commandments to love God and to love your neighbor. Let me say it one more time: the word of God — fulfilling the word of God, doing God’s word — it all hangs on love of God and love of our neighbor.

The Word became flesh. And the flesh of Messiah was hanged on a tree. What held him there? It wasn’t the nails. It was his love of God — his obedience to God. He said, “Let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will but your will be done.” It was love of mankind. And as he hanged there on the tree, he said, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.”

So the entire word of God hangs on the commandments to love him and to love one another. And the flesh of Messiah — the Word made flesh — was hanged on a cross because he loved God and he loved you. And he died there. And he became a nevelah (נְבֵלָה) — a corpse hanged on a tree. And that nevelah (נְבֵלָה) looks like navala (נְבָלָה) to the world — looks like foolishness.

Ah, but it’s the power of God. It’s the strength of God. And if we can look deeply into what God has done, we see God’s humility and his power dwelling side by side.

I hope this teaching is a blessing to you and I hope this Hebrew key has helped to unlock something about God’s love, God’s salvation, and the gospel of our crucified Messiah. So until next time, I wish you shalom (שָׁלוֹם) and may God bless.

Teaching Material

Hebrew Word Studies

• Navala (נְבָלָה) — “Foolishness, folly”; spelled nun-bet-lamed-hey. The same consonants, pronounced nevelah (נְבֵלָה), mean “corpse, carcass.” This dual meaning is the Hebrew key of the entire teaching: Paul’s “foolishness of God” (1 Corinthians 1:25) connects directly to the corpse of the crucified Messiah hanged on a tree. — Strong’s H5039
• Nevelah (נְבֵלָה) — “Corpse, carcass”; same spelling as navala (נְבָלָה) but different vowels. Used in Leviticus 17:15 for an animal not slaughtered for food, and in Deuteronomy 21:23 for the body of a man hanged on a tree — which must be buried before sundown because “a hanged man is a curse of God.” — Strong’s H5038
• Naval (נָבָל) — “Fool”; the first three letters of navala (נְבָלָה). The name of Abigail’s husband in 1 Samuel 25 — “as his name is, so is he. Naval (נָבָל) is his name, and navala (נְבָלָה) is with him.” — Strong’s H5036
• Kremannumi (κρεμάννυμι) — “To hang, to suspend”; the Greek word used both in Galatians 3:13 (“cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”) and in Matthew 22:40 (“on these two commandments hang all the Torah and the prophets”). The same word for Messiah’s hanging and for the Torah’s hanging. — Strong’s G2910
• Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ) — “Salvation”; the Hebrew name of Jesus. In this teaching: the only perfect human being who bore God’s image flawlessly, whose body (nevelah) was hanged on a tree, and whose navala (foolishness) is wiser than men. — Strong’s H3442
• Torah (תּוֹרָה) — “Instruction, teaching, law”; not a curse but a blessing. The “curse of the Torah” refers to the curses pronounced against those who violate God’s commandments — from which Messiah redeemed us by becoming a curse for us. — Strong’s H8451
• Shalom (שָׁלוֹם) — “Peace, wholeness, completeness.” — Strong’s H7965

Scripture References

Open All Scripture in Bible Gateway

• 1 Corinthians 1:23–25 — “We proclaim Messiah crucified… the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men”
• Genesis 34:7 — First occurrence of navala (נְבָלָה): Shechem “had done a foolish thing in Israel”
• Isaiah 9:17 — “Every mouth speaks navala (נְבָלָה), speaks foolishness”
• 1 Samuel 25:25 — Abigail on her husband: “Naval (נָבָל) is his name, and navala (נְבָלָה) is with him”
• Leviticus 17:15 — Nevelah (נְבֵלָה) as carcass: “every person who eats a carcass… shall be unclean”
• Deuteronomy 21:22–23 — “His nevelah (נְבֵלָה) shall not remain all night on the tree… for a hanged man is a curse of God”
• Galatians 3:13 — “Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the Torah by becoming a curse for us — cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”
• Matthew 22:37–40 — “On these two commandments hang (kremannumi) all the Torah and the prophets”
• John 1:14 — “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us”
• Matthew 26:39 — “Not my will but your will be done” — love of God held him to the tree
• Luke 23:34 — “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing” — love of mankind held him to the tree

External References & Further Study

• Torah Today Ministries — Home of The Hebrew Key and other Torah-centered teachings