on afflicting the soul

And YHVH spoke to Moses, saying: Also on the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the day of atonement; there shall be a holy convocation to you, and you shall afflict your souls; and you shall bring an offering made by fire to YHVH. And you shall do no manner of work in that same day; for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before YHVH your God. For whatever soul that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from his people. And whatever soul that does any manner of work in that same day, that soul I will destroy from among his people. You shall do no manner of work; it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; in the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, shall you keep your sabbath. {p} Lev 23:26-32 JPS modernized

What does the Scripture mean when it says we are to afflict our souls? Let’s apply the teaching tools of Scripture and find out.

Hebrew root: afflict

Strong’s H6031 ענה anah, a primitive root meaning “to bestow labor upon, to plow, to depress, to oppress.” The pictographs are ayin + nun + hey:

ayin ע = the eye, thus watch, know, shade
nun נ = the seed, thus continue, heir, son
hey ה = the man with upraised arms, thus look, reveal, wonder, worship, breath

The story the ancient pictographs are telling, is of watching (ayin) continually (nun) because one is invested  (hey) in the outcome. How do the lexicons get to its stated definitions from that?

To bestow labor upon: when you are invested in the outcome, you carefully watch over the progress of the work.

To plow: man’s earliest labor with which he was invested, was growing food (Gen 3:17-19). So the corollary meaning of to plow is from the labor of implanting the ground with seed.

To depress, oppress: a corollary of “to plow,” because in order to plant the seed, a depression must be made in the ground with the plow share. The plowshare forces a depression in the surface of the ground, just as an oppressor forces his will on the ones he oppresses. Let’s keep this tucked into the back of our minds for now and we will come back to it.

Lev 23:26-32 {p} chiastic structure

Here is the explanation for the structure, why it falls out the way it does. With the chiastic structure explained, we can go back to what it means to be afflicted.

Common theme

One of the foundational axioms of proper Scripture interpretation is to let Scripture interpret Scripture. Scripture will tell us what it means to be afflicted. The same root word, anah, is indicated by the bold text:

And He said to Abram: Know of a surety that your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; Gen 15:13

But Abram said to Sarai: Behold, your maid is in your hand; do to her as it pleases you. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face. Gen 16:6

And the angel of YHVH said to her: Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hands. Gen 16:9

Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. Exo 1:11

And Moses and Aaron came in to Pharaoh, and said to him: Thus says YHVH God of the Hebrews: How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me. Exo 10:3

And you shall have on the tenth day of this seventh month a holy convocation; and you shall afflict your souls: you shall not do any work on it. Num 29:7

And you shall remember all the way which YHVH your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, and to test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments, or no. Deu 8:2

Moreover I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as before. 2 Sam 7:10

And the afflicted You do save; but Your eyes are upon the haughty, that You may humble them. 2 Sam 22:28

You have also given me the shield of Your salvation: and Your condescension has made me great. 2 Sam 22:36 (Condescension in this context: voluntary descent from one’s rank or dignity in relations with an inferior. – Webster’s)

Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of Him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance. Ezr 8:21

For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither has He hidden His face from him; but when he cried to Him, He heard. Psa 22:24

It is good for me that I was afflicted; that I might learn Your statutes. Psa 119:71

Surely He has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Isa 53:4

Is this such a fast that I have chosen; a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? Is not this the fast that I have chosen; to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Isa 58:5-6

Notice that the same root word in Hebrew can carry a negative spin – to oppress, afflict; or a positive spin – to humble, to submit. And this is I think the key to the meaning of afflict your soul, which Isaiah unlocks for us.

On the day of Atonement we are to solemnly afflict our souls; that is, to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, to submit ourselves to Him, and His ways, and His commandments. We have just gone through 40 days of teshuvah, or repentance, in preparation for this day. It is to examine ourselves, to see if there be any wicked way in us, so that we may repent of it and depart from it.

It is a day we remember that we have been freed from the oppression of the enemy, from the oppression of sin (oppression being one of the meanings of affliction from the Hebrew) by the blood of Messiah Yeshua, the High Priest of our confession, who bore His own blood into the Holy of Holies in heaven (Heb 9:11-12). He bore our affliction so that we might be free from affliction.

But the haughty might just go through the motions, and do a fast, and call the day observed, without ever becoming freed from the oppression of sin, or freeing others from their own oppression.

The key is the state of our heart, as it always is. The heart truly humbled and contrite will receive atonement. Amen? This is the gospel of grace, and why a solemn rest – a sabbath of sabbaths – is commanded for us. We do not earn our atonement, and we remind ourselves of this fact by resting from work(s) on the day of atonement.

The proud and haughty, who do not afflict or humble their own souls, will be cut off, even if they fast.

Those who so are so afflicted, will then be delivered from affliction with the return of Messiah Yeshua.

Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire. 1 The 1:6-7 WEB