“Grok means "to understand", of course, but Dr. Mahmoud, who might be termed the leading Terran expert on Martians, explains that it also means, "to drink" and "a hundred other English words, words which we think of as antithetical concepts.”
Robert A. Heinlein’s 1961 Stranger in a Strange Land is a fantastic SciFi classic that changed my life and gave the word Grok to the world - a verb defined by the Oxford dictionary as the ability “to understand something completely using your feelings rather than considering the facts.”
Other definitions include: “to understand intuitively or by empathy, to establish rapport with and to empathize or communicate sympathetically (with); also, to experience enjoyment.”
Isaiah tries to persuade the reluctant Judeans now settled in Babylon to join the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and alongside that complicated project - his visions stir all the people to find faith and not get swept up in petty desires and fears.
He wants them all to grok.
And he uses a word that reimagines what it's like to better connect to the sacred and to each other - a Hebrew term that very much pre-echo’s Heinlein’s art of grokking.
But you wouldn’t know what Isaiah is proposing here from most English translations that use the word ‘seek’ - which is close but not as accurate as ‘grok’.
Isaiah even starts this bit by calling all who are thirsty to drink from the water - for free.
The metaphor may be a literal invitation to nourishment, familiar to those thirsty for actual water — but also interpreted over the years as a call towards the acquiring of wisdom, as a vital need. One of the charming ways ‘grok’ is used is Heinlein’s book is when one drinks and shares water with others. To reconnect to the source.
Isaiah’s version:
דִּרְשׁ֥וּ יְהֹוָ֖ה בְּהִמָּֽצְא֑וֹ קְרָאֻ֖הוּ בִּֽהְיוֹת֥וֹ קָרֽוֹב׃
“Seek YHWH while you can, Call out while the divine is near.”
Isaiah 55:6
In Isaiah’s original Hebrew the word ‘seek’ is ‘Dirshu’ and it is one of the first times in the prophetic texts that this verb is used - it will eventually become Midrash - the method and the main means to attain connection to the sacred source and to grok- or understand - God. Or in other words - how and why the Bible can never be a closed book - Midrash keeps it forever open.
In the old days, prophets had visions and translated those to words they uttered, mostly spoken, eventually also written down. By the time the Second Isaiah’s visions are transcribed, 6th century BCE, scribes are becoming more popular everywhere, and more available, as the value of the written word begins to rise. The word ‘Dirshu’ becomes the herald of the applied of Midrash - meaning making of the written Scriptures as the ‘oracle’ source - replacing the old prophetic path of individual inspiration. It’s a big shift.
The Second Isaiah must be familiar with this slowly emerging trend, and so he introduced this notion of Midrash as a verb that invites the people to seek-engage with-be-one-with the sacred source of life. I want to believe that he as a way to give them better footing in a complicated world and to give credence to this new form of relating to the Torah.
No need for temples, or attachments, he seems to rather radically suggest -- the connection you seek is right here. All the time.
The rabbis took different approaches to interpreting Isaiah, spanning sacred space and time. One predictable opinion, by Rabbi Jeremiah, claims that you should ‘seek God in synagogues and houses of study.” Rabbi Levi contends “Wherever and whenever you seek God - there God is.” and an anonymous later midrash claims that what Isaiah means is the High Holy Days of Awe - coming soon --the time each year in which we are invited to draw closer to the source.
In the garden of redemption, Isaiah promises the seekers and those hesitating to join him in Jerusalem - there will be no thorns, just cypress trees and myrtles. Free like water, wisdom is available, and we, reminded by Isaiah and Heinlein, are always invited to grok. Drink up.
Image: Drinking Water from Street Pump, New York City, 1915
Goodbye Isaiah, Hello Jeremiah
NEXT BELOW THE BIBLE BELT ZOOM TALK:
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