"Happy" word study

From PM:

Quote

I've been studying "happy" in the KJB and I just got to Psalm 137:8-9 and I'm stuck. Is it supposed to be a symbolic meaning?

OK... so, not knowing off hand what those verses said, this is what I did:

First I went to blueletterbible.com and did a word search on "happy"... as I read briefly through all the verses there I skipped to the verses in question and thought... Oh! Yeah... that is odd isn't it. Immediately it brought to mind the skepticsannotatedbible.com which is full of terrible commentary on the text, but which often (quite well I might add) betrays common misunderstandings in the text held by "skeptics" (haters) and "Christians" (fan boys) alike.

So, the next thing I did was what I call "vocabulary algebra." Its the game where you take the key word out of all the texts and try to figure out what word would fit well in all the texts. Sometimes you can find one word that will work in all the texts, but more often than not you find more than one meaning, and need two or more words.

Here is an approximation of what I did:

Gen 30:13 And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.	I am _____ because the daughters will call me blessed... hmmm... blessed is the obvious answer, but... satisfied, pleased possibly vindicated
Deu 33:29 Happy [art] thou, O Israel: who [is] like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who [is] the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.	"Cheekily delighted" does not fit here... nor does the typical definition of "happy" seem to work. Maybe vindicated, again, or honored... possibly satisfied.
1Ki 10:8 Happy [are] thy men, happy [are] these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, [and] that hear thy wisdom.	Once more, "Happy" seems too trite. Like a bunch of elves prancing around some Santa Claus... hearing his "wisdom." But this is the Queen of Sheba asserting that her skepticism was wrong. That Solomons men were _______ to hear his wisdom day in and day out. Satisfied? Established? Blessed.... in some way made great, made great in a way that was desireable to others... like the chosen students that are selected to study under a great teacher.
2Ch 9:7 Happy [are] thy men, and happy [are] these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom.	""
Job 5:17 Behold, happy [is] the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:	Happy is definitely not right here... at least "what a happy baby!" happy does not work. Again, established... the idea is that some do not get the chastening of the Lord, so, the idea of "special" or "selected" is here, but there is more. Probably "made great" is part of it. A person that despises the chastening of the Lord is evidently in jeopary of losing it... so, maybe "meekly willing to accept the chasening of God that such a man might be ________" Established, honored, vindicated. I think these words well fit all the uses so far considered.
Psa 127:5 Happy [is] the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.	Happy could be the interpretation... "Oh, I am so happy I have 17 kids!" but... lol... that doesn't seem to be it. These children will speak with / dispute with the enemies in the gate... apparently with success since the father will not be ashamed. Vindicated is definitely accurate here... honored, satisfied.
Psa 128:2 For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy [shalt] thou [be], and [it shall be] well with thee.	The broader context here is a man that fears the Lord and walks in His ways. He is blessed and as he is blessed so he blesses. This is called "happy" in the text... but what we have so far established seems to work here as well: vindicated, established, honored
Psa 137:8 O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy [shall he be], that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.	So now we get to the weird verse. There is no way that this is Sponge Bob happiness here. If it is, something has gone badly wrong. However, if we substitute the definition which we have so far discovered: O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; ~~happy~~ vindicated / honored / established / satisfied [shall he be], that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. This makes sense. Babylon came and, according to Hosea, "their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up." So, for the one that does this to Babylon, he will be vindicated. Justified... even honored in doing so.
Psa 137:9 Happy [shall he be], that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.	Again, vindicated... satisfied. Its still a terrible picture... but if you are the woman who is thus treated by a man who himself has a wife... I think no one would be able to stay the sword that repays in kind. In any case, the only one that might have right to stay that sword would be the woman being first killed in such a way. She could forgive her murderer. This doesn't mean that the vengeance would be stayed.
Psa 144:15 Happy [is that] people, that is in such a case: [yea], happy [is that] people, whose God [is] the LORD.	I then read through the rest of the verses to see if there was a significant difference in any of them... I didn't find any, but found two useful corroborations as noted below.
Psa 146:5 Happy [is he] that [hath] the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope [is] in the LORD his God:
Pro 3:13 Happy [is] the man [that] findeth wisdom, and the man [that] getteth understanding.
Pro 3:18 She [is] a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy [is every one] that retaineth her.
Pro 14:21 He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy [is] he.
Pro 16:20 He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the LORD, happy [is] he.
Pro 28:14 Happy [is] the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.
Pro 29:18 Where [there is] no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy [is] he.
Jer 12:1 Righteous [art] thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of [thy] judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? [wherefore] are all they happy that deal very treacherously?	A very interesing verse as it presents an irony... or an example of something that is not right.
Mal 3:15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, [they that] tempt God are even delivered.	Here is a very interesting verse as it appears to make these words rough synonyms: happy, set up, and delivered
Jhn 13:17 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.
Act 26:2 I think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews:
Rom 14:22 Hast thou faith? have [it] to thyself before God. Happy [is] he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.
Jam 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
1Pe 3:14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy [are ye]: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;
1Pe 4:14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy [are ye]; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

So, in this case, all the instances in the whole Bible, NT and OT (which is rare, in my experience) all seem to mean the same thing: vindicated, delivered, set up, honored, established.

OK... so the next thing I do is I usually go to the lexicon to see what the common scholarly view point is. In blueletterbible, at the top of the "happy" study there is a checkbox that says, "Show Strong's." If you click this all the strong's numbers will appear in the text, and you can see (by number) if all the words in English are translated from the same Hebrew word, and you can click on the number to see the the word along with the Strong's concordance entry and a quote from Gesinius (Most would say, the most reliable lexicon). So... for Psalm 137:8 and 9, the words translated, "happy" are the same word:

'esher

happiness, blessedness
- often used as interjection
- blessed are

In the KJ, translated "blessed" 27 times and "happy" 18 times.

Note that what we got from the "vocabulary algebra," direct context, and the Bible's own offering of synonyms is somewhat different from what the scholars suggested.

Interesting.

Note that any 10 year old can do this. Just believe that you can do it, take the time to work through it, and see what the Bible has to say about itself.

If I wanted to study the idea further, I would have looked at all the uses of "'esher " to see if there was more specificity... and I also would have looked at, shalah (similar to shalom, "peace" or "rest") which is translated "happy" in Jeremiah... and I would have gone into the Greek uses as well...

--gabe

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