Patience (Part 2)

This is the second study in a series on the subject of patience.

What impressions do we get from these photographs?  What emotion is being communicated?  How do we recognize it?

The web site simplebodylanguage.com describes the characteristics of an angry face.  Two of the characteristics that the site mentions are relevant to this study.

• Nose wrinkle - the nose is pushed up as the brows furrow.
• Nostrils flare - the nostrils are wider and are pulled up.

In the last study on this topic we looked at the Greek word makrothymia (G3115 – noun) and the related word makrothymos (G3115.1 – adjective) that is used in the Septuagint Old Testament and is often translated as slow to anger.  

Exod 34:6 ESV -  The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger (G3115.1 / ארך אפים – erekh apayim), and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,...

Prov 14:29 ESV - Whoever is slow to anger (G3115.1 / ארך אפים – erekh apayim) has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.

In these texts in the Septuagint, the Greek word makrothymos translates the Hebrew phrase  erekh apayim.  This phrase is composed of the word erekh  and apayim.  Erekh (H750) is defined as long or slow in Gesenius's Lexicon.  In addition to the singular (one) and plural (many) grammatical forms that we are familiar with in English, Hebrew has a dual form (two) that is used to express the concept of a pair.  Apayim is the dual form of the word aph (H639) which has the primary meaning of nose or a breathing place (nostrile) in Gesenius's Lexicon; thus, apayim is a pair of nostrils.  The phrase erekh apayim could be translated literally as slow of nostrils.  Since nostril flare is an important facial indicator of anger, this phrase is an appropriate figure of speech to communicate the concept of a restraint from anger at an offence (Prov. 19:11).  This manner of speech is typical of Hebrew; it often uses concrete, physical expressions ("he lifted his eyes") to communicate ideas for which we use abstract words.

The Greek word makrothymos (G3115.1) that is used in the Septuagint to translate erekh apayim (slow to anger) is a compound of the Greek words μακρος (G3117 – makros)and θυμος (G2372 – thymos).  Macros means long and thymos which is defined as passion or angry heat in Thayer's Lexicon; the component parts of the word match the corresponding Hebrew words in meaning.

In the previous study on patience, I mentioned the word leniency as one of the definitions for makrothymia.  The dictionary defines leniency as permissiveness or willingness to lower standards of strictness when it comes to imposing discipline.  I don't think that fits a Biblical picture of God.  Exodus 34:7 makes that clear— he "will by no means clear the guilty."   "The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." (Heb 12:6)  The following text adds balance to the picture— God is forebearing, longsuffering and restrained, but he is not permissive or indulgent.

Nah 1:2 ESV - The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. 3 The Lord is slow to anger (‏ארך אפים – erekh apayim / μακροθυμος – makrothymos) and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. 4 He rebukes the sea and makes it dry; he dries up all the rivers; Bashan and Carmel wither; the bloom of Lebanon withers. 5 The mountains quake before him; the hills melt; the earth heaves before him, the world and all who dwell in it. 6 Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.

The story of Eli the Priest is a good illustration of a character that permissive rather than patient.  It also shows that God is patient rather than permissive.  The text says that Eli "kept hearing" a bad report about his sons.  A "man of God" came to Eli and warned that "the days are coming" when he would be punished.  God then speaks to Samuel and said "I am about to do a thing... I am about to punish [Eli's] house."  1 Samuel 3:19-21 ("And Samuel grew...") suggests that some time passed  before Eli died (chapter 4).  Eli was warned and had plenty of opportunity to repent.  We see in this story a contrast between a patient God and a permissive father.

1 Sam 2:12 ESV - Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord.... 17 ... the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the Lord, for the men treated the offering of the Lord with contempt.... 22 Now Eli was very old, and he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who were serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 23 And he said to them, "Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all the people. 24 No, my sons; it is no good report that I hear the people of the Lord spreading abroad. 25 ... But they would not listen to the voice of their father,...

1 Sam 3:11 ESV - Then the Lord said to Samuel, "Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. 12 On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. 13 And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. 14 Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever."

The story of the Golden Calf (Exodus 32) also provides a contrast between patience and permissiveness.  

Exd 32:21 ESV - And Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?" 22 And Aaron said, "Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. 23 For they said to me, 'Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.' 24 So I said to them, 'Let any who have gold take it off.' So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf." 25 And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies), 26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, "Who is on the Lord's side? Come to me." And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. 27 And he said to them, "Thus says the Lord God of Israel, 'Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.'"

Just shortly before, Moses had been begging God to relent from destroying the people, but now he is calling for punishment.

Exod 32:9 ESV - And the Lord said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. 10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you." 11 But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, "O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people.

Ezekiel 33:11 describes well the balance between God's patience and justice.

Ezek 33:11 ESV - "Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?