WORD STUDY – PASSION – ‫קנא‬
WORD STUDY – PASSION –
‫קנא‬
Exodus 34:14: “For thou shalt worship no other God for the
Lord whose name is Jealous is a jealous God.”
“O’ beware my lord of jealousy, for it is the green eyed
monster which doth mock the meat it feeds upon.
Shakespeare,
Othello – Act 3, Scene 3.
In Shakespeare’s play, Othello, Othello’s servant, Iago,
sought to destroy his master by planting a seed of jealousy in
his heart. Iago placed the handkerchief of Othello’s wife,
Desdemona in Cassio’s, Othello’s lieutenant’s, room.
Just a
simple little thing, yet Iago knew that “trifles light as air
are to the jealous confirmations strong as proofs of holy
writ.”
Renaissance man had a much different view of jealousy that we
do today. That is probably why the KJV used the word jealous
when translating the Hebrew word quanna. Quanna is used only
in relationship with God. Practically any lexicon or word
study book that you look the word up in, you will find it
simply defines quanna as jealousy.
Yet, our English
translators seem to have totally ignored the fact that the
word jealousy as any student of classical literature will tell
you,
has changed over the last 500 years and that the
understanding of the Hebrew word quanna more closely fits the
word jealousy at the time of Shakespeare
understanding of the word today.
than it fits our
There are two words in the Hebrew used for jealousy, quana and
quanna. They may look the same but believe me there is a big
difference between the two.
Iago tried to make Othello
understand that he was feeling quana and not quanna. Quana is
a jealousy of envy, and rage that caused Othello to be caught
between the jaws of affection and anxiety. It eventually led
to the tragic end of the play. Note he calls it the green
eyed monster. The color green in the 15th century related to
bile.
Yet, Renaissance man viewed jealousy as Ouanna.
Sometimes this word is translated as zealous. Yet, it’s very
basic meaning is a deep passion. Jealousy was something
considered noble to the Renaissance man. It showed how deeply
he felt toward someone. To be jealous was considered a good
thing, because it showed you were so passionate toward someone
or something that you would challenge someone to a duel and
die to defend your passion or honor. Such a passionate person
was to be honored and trusted. Today, of course, we see that
as a misdirected passion.
In the Shakespearian play, Hamlet, Shakespeare challenges this
convention.
Hamlet tells his close friend Horaitio, “Give
me that man that is not passion’s slave and I will wear him in
my heart’s core, in my heart of heart as I do thee.”
Here
Shakespeare takes a pot shot at the conventions of his day. He
is challenging the notion that a deeply passionate person is
to be honored and respected by saying that if one is to trust
another with the very center or core of his heart, it is best
not to do it with one who is a slave to his passion.
All that is said to shed light on what the Hebrew idea of
quanna is.
To translate quanna as jealousy is too archaic as
we no longer see jealousy as a badge of honor. Probably the
best translation would be passion. Passion still carries a
positive feel to it. It is a man’s passion that will cause
him to lay down his life for his wife and family, it is one’s
passion that drives him to sacrifice everything for a cause.
It is one’s passion that causes one to perform at his best.
So we come to Exodus 34:14 where I am comfortable translating
quanna as passion rather than jealousy. Hence: For the Lord
whose name is passion, is a passionate God. That sounds good
but when you look at the preceding sentence, it will give you
pause: “Thou shalt worship no other God.”
The fifteenth
century viewed a jealous man as one who has such deep passion
for his lover that he gratefully exchanges his life for the
wellbeing of the focus of his passion.
Such a person was
honored and it was expected that the person receiving that
passion would treat it with great respect.
When the command is given that we should worship no other God
because our God is a jealous (quanna) God, it is not that we
fear He may just fly into a jealous rage and take a frying pan
to our head. It means that if God loves us so passionately we
must treat that passion with great respect. It means that we
are to recognize that He is so passionate in His love for us
that if we do worship (shachah – to be intimate) any other god
it will deeply wound His heart. It will in fact break His
heart. We are to respect that passion and we do not worship
any other god so that we may protect His heart which He has
voluntarily made so vulnerable in his deep passion for us.
That passion is so deep that as Iago said: a “trifles light as
air” will offend His heart. What may seem a trifle to us is
major to the One who is passionate over us.
Not that he
would challenge His rival to a duel over His passion. Come to
think of it, that is exactly what He did with His rival the
devil.