8 & 9 Feb 2025 (Pastoral Page) ‘HAGAH’ THE BOOK OF MATTHEW

By Dn Deborah Lim

Some time ago, my CARE group (Kings) had a somewhat humorous but very passionate debate about the correct way to cut and eat an orange.

Some would only eat the orange when it is cut into wedges through the naval. Others always horizontally sliced their oranges while holding it with the naval face up. And then there were those who would only eat oranges that were completely peeled so that they could pop them into their mouth without having to deal with the skin!

Despite strong opinions that ‘our way of cutting oranges was the best way to enjoy an orange’, we lovingly concluded that there is indeed more than one way to eat an orange!

In ‘Eat This Book - A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading’, Eugene H. Peterson writes that ‘Hagah’ (הָגָה) is a word that our Hebrew ancestors used frequently for reading the kind of writing that deals with our souls… we taste and savor, anticipate and take in the sweet and spicy, mouth-watering and soul-energizing morsel words - “O taste and see that the LORD is good!” (Psalm 34:8). ‘Hagah’ can also mean ‘growl or roar’ (see Isaiah 31:4), describing the sound a lion makes, anticipating its enjoyment of slowly digging into its prey.

Let’s abandon our Singaporean efficiency of trying to do or read as much as possible in the shortest span of time or speed-reading through Scriptures so that we can check off one more item on our to-do list. Instead, we want to reciprocate our Father’s extravagant love for us by being indulgent with the time we spend reading our Bibles.

How can we ‘eat this book’ (of Matthew) in 2025? If you have been reading God’s Word in the same manner every time, I challenge you to try something different. Just as there are many ways to enjoy the sweetness and juiciness of an orange, here are some ways to ‘hagah’ the book of Matthew:

Read

Try reading the text in different translations or read through the book in one sitting.

Listen

Listen to an audio recording of Matthew as “there is far more involved in listening to a living voice than reading a written word… Words are first of all an oral / aural phenomenon. Most of the words in our Scriptures were not formed first in writing - they were spoken and heard.”[1]

Various ones in Kings CG have testified to being blessed by listening to the audio Bible. As a group, we have also been practising this. Psalm 40:6 says “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire - but my ears you have opened” or more literally ‘ears thou hast dug for me’. In Peterson’s words, we want to be a ‘prayerfully listening community’ that encounters a ‘personally speaking God’.

Watch

Do a film critique of a dramatisation of the gospels. A series that seeks to be faithful to the source material is ‘The Chosen’ (available on YouTube). Watch some episodes, taking note of what you liked / didn’t like and what surprised you. You will appreciate the political environment of the New Testament period better and have a feel of the emotions involved in each scene.

Write

Journal your reflections on what you sense God is saying to you. When we study the Word of God, we sometimes dissect it using our tools, as one standing above the Word. Let us also be mindful to stand under it, letting it search us and allowing God to mold us.

Guigo the Second, a European monk in the twelfth century, likened this whole process of coming under God’s Word to how many of us enjoy our food, “Reading, as it were, puts the solid food into our mouths, meditation chews it and breaks it down, prayer obtains the flavour of it and contemplation is the very sweetness which makes us glad and refreshes us”.

Echoing our Pastors’ prayers for the church this year, let us overcome the ‘tyranny of busyness’ that plagues many of our schedules. Instead, let us deliberately carve out time to ‘seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness’ (Matthew 6:33). As you slow down, and ‘be present’ during your ‘meal time’ with God, may it transform your life!

[1] Eugene H. Peterson, Eat This Book (Grand Rapids, Mich: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co, 2006), 85.