Language Studies

Hebrew Thoughts

Dârash - דרשׁ (Strong's #01875)
Seek, study

"And Moses diligently sought the goat of the sin offering..." (Leviticus 10:16, KJV)

Occurring some 164 times in the O.T., the root verb דרשׁ dârash (Strong's #1875) literally means to 'rub, beat, tread, trample, or thresh with the feet' and hence to 'frequent' a place or thing by regular visiting or enquiry. It appears to have little relevance to Moses going in diligent search of a goat! The pictoral image is that of making a well worn path to a particular place. The word is obviously old and middle-eastern in origin for Syriac has the same verb d-r-sh and Arabic has d-r-s 'to rub, thresh' which, as the Hebrew, is used metaphorically for study and learning. The word comes into European languages, such as German, in words like dreschen 'to thresh'. Even the Old English origins of 'thresh' and 'thrash' from threshen (where the initial 'th' or 'þ' was closer to 'd') come from the idea of treading out or stamping to separate grains from husks, and 'threshold' as that which you stamp on to go through a doorway.

דרב dârabh 'to be sharp?' hence dor'bhân 'ox goad', to keep an ox in the way
דרג dâragh 'to go on, by steps, to ascend'
דרר dârar 'to twist, fly in a circle, flow out freely, spontaneously'
תרד târadh 'to thrust, follow on, drop continuously'

Most of the above all begin with d-r which is easy to remember as the pictographic letters of a head (ר r) going out of a door (ד d). Even the 't' often replaced the more familiar 'd' in words, compare dreschen and 'thresh' above and the Greek τρεχω trechô (Strong's #5143), like 'trek'.

However, the most interesting or relevant is דרך dârakh (Strong's #1869, 62 uses) 'to tread or trample with the feet'', hence to tread out grapes or olives to express wine or oil. Israel's enemies are sometimes 'trodden on' as if they were grapes! (e.g., Isaiah 63:2-3 where it is used of the winepress and then paralleled with רמס ramaç (Strong's #7429), another Hebrew verb for 'trample', of treading on the enemies). It is most similar to dârash in Jeremiah 51:33 when used of 'threshing'.

It is first used in Numbers 24:17, "I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come (דרך dârakh) a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth", which is interpreted of the Messiah's coming.

It is used in Deuteronomy (1:36; 11:24,25) and Joshua (1:3; 14:9) of the possessing of the promised land "every where you tread".

Interestingly, it is used of God who "stretches out the firmament/expanse" and who "treads upon the waves/heights of the sea" in Job 9:8. This refers to God's holding back the waters when dry land appeared but which He unleashed again at the flood (cf. Job 38:10,11). He is also the only one who can calm the seas (Psalms 65:7; 89:9; 93:3,4; 107:25-29) and walk/tread on them. Jesus both calmed and walked on the water (Matthew 8:26-27; 14:25-26,33), something the Jews knew only God could do and which resulted in the disciples' worship. The Egyptian hieroglyph for doing something impossible is a man walking upon water. The ancient pagan god of the sea, Neptune, is not described as walking on it, as being too great a task for him, only as swimming (Cicero de Natura Deorum, l. 2).

It is often used of 'treading' or 'bending' a large bow, before fitting it with an arrow. In this way it is often spoken of in conjunction with 'sharpened arrows' and 'whetted swords', all of which are used metaphorically of the tongue as sharpened, whetted or bent, for evil talk or for teaching, (e.g., Jeremiah 9:3; Zechariah 9:13). Indeed, the verb is often paralleled with 'teaching' as in Psalm 25:5,9 (with למד lâmadh Strong's #3925) and Proverbs 4:11 (with ירה yârâh Strong's #3384).

From dârakh we derive דרך derekh (Strong's #1870), 'way, journey, path, course, mode', as in Jeremiah 6:16 "stand in the ways and ask for the old paths, where the good way is and walk in them". It is first used in Scripture of God's guarding, keeping and preserving, the way to the tree of life (Genesis 3:24), later, Jesus declares that he is the way back to the tree of life (John 14:6). These words even come through in our English word DiReCtion, TRaCK, TReK (see Greek τρεχω trechô (Strong's #5143).

Having filled in the picture, we will return to dârash. We can see therefore that these words combine the picture of treading, trampling, or journeying on a well worn path. Dârash was used of frequenting a place, of seeking out, of inquiring, for example by prayer (Psalm 34:5; 69:33; 105:4). It could be used of seeking a thing, of searching after it, of God searching the heart (1 Chronicles 28:9), of inquiring of God (e.g., Rebekah in prayer, Genesis 25:22 [2nd use in Scripture]; in prayer about the book of the Law, 2 Kings 22:13; and from the book of the Law itself, Isaiah 34:16).

It could mean 'to require, ask, demand a thing' as in its first use 3 times in one verse in Genesis 9:5 where God will require a life for a life taken. Deuteronomy 23:21 (v.22 in Hebrew) has God "surely requiring", or 'requiring requiringly' for the verb is doubled here, a vow to be upheld. However, in the next verse He says that if you don't vow in the first place nothing will be required of you - so don't vow!

It was used of making thorough inquiry before making a judgement (Deuteronomy 13:13-15), of seeking God with all your heart and being (Deuteronomy 4:29; 2 Chronicles 15:12,13,15; Psalm 119:2).

From this sense of thorough inquiry we get the idea of the verbs use for 'study'. Indeed, the rabbis noticed that the middle word of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, in Leviticus 10:16 was 'study', dârash, and that it was doubled, meaning 'thorough study/inquiry'. So they said that study was at the heart or centre of Torah, and hence is considered the highest form of worship. It is used in the sense of study in verses like Isaiah 58:2; Psalm 119:45; 1 Chronicles 28:8. In Ezra 7:10, Ezra sets his heart/mind to study the Law, to practice/do it and then to teach it, so that no study was for its own sake but always for the sake of doing and teaching. In Psalm 53:2 it is paralleled with the verb for understanding. So scripture should be well trodden and studiously studied in order to practice, do and teach.

The verb can also be used of 'taking care of', as when God takes care of the land (Deuteronomy 11:12) or when man regards God (Psalm 14:2). In Isaiah 1:17; 16:5 it is used of "taking care of justice". These are from the sense of giving due attention to something resulting in care and provision. "Those who dârash the Lord shall not lack any good" (Psalm 34:10).

These last two meanings combine to present the picture of careful inquiry or thorough study, but also draw from the original picture expression of frequently treading out a well worn path to an object or place. Of prophetic significance it is said of the gentiles that they would 'seek out' the Lord (Isaiah 58:2) and of Jerusalem/Israel that she would once more be called 'sought after' or 'cared for' instead of forsaken (Isaiah 62:12). What does God seek after? "justice, grace/lovingkindness and a humble walk" (Micah 6:8).

A well known derivative of dârash is מדרשׁ midh'râsh (Strong's #4097), the Hebrew word for 'commentary' and a rabbinic word for a form of Biblical exegesis which expounds and expands upon a passage. It occurs just twice in the Bible, at 2 Chronicles 13:22 and 24:27. The midrashim are the collections of rabbinic commentaries on and expansions of Scripture. Compare with this the similar derivative of dârakh, מדרך midh'râkh (Strong's #4096), 'a place which is well trodden', as in Deuteronomy 2:5.

So God should be sought after through regular prayer and careful diligent study, as if 'making a beaten path to God's door'.

"If a man write a better book, preach a better sermon,
or make a better mouse-trap than his neighbour,
tho' he build his house in the woods,
the world will make a beaten path to his door"

(from a lecture delivered by Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American philosopher and poet, 1803-82)

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