- Name 31 of 70A God of Knowledge
- HebrewEl de'ot
- In plain wordsThe God who knows everything and weighs every deed
- Where to find it1 Samuel 2:3, in Hannah's song at Shiloh
When Hannah sang that the LORD is a God of knowledge, she was thanking God in a mother's song. Her words are in 1 Samuel 2:3, for the LORD is a God of knowledge
, and in Hebrew the title is El De'ot, the God of knowledge, or more fully, the God of every kind of knowing. It means God sees all the way into people, past the surface we show each other, and weighs what He finds with perfect fairness.
Misread by everyone
To feel the weight of this name, start a chapter earlier. Hannah could not have children. Year after year her husband's other wife taunted her about it. Her husband loved her but could not see why she was so sad; he asked whether he was not better to her than ten sons (1 Samuel 1:8).
Then came the worst misreading of all. Hannah went to the tabernacle at Shiloh and prayed in such deep grief that no sound came out. Eli, the high priest, sat watching her.
Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken.
1 Samuel 1:13
The most important religious leader in Israel looked straight at a woman pouring out her soul and decided she was drunk. He told her to put away her wine. Hannah answered him gently: she had not been drinking; she was a woman of a sorrowful spirit
who had poured out my soul before the LORD
(1 Samuel 1:15). Her rival mocked her, her husband misunderstood her, and the priest misjudged her. Only One knew what was really going on inside her.
A song at Shiloh
God answered that silent prayer. Hannah had a son, Samuel, and she kept the promise she had made. When he was old enough to leave her, she brought him back to Shiloh and gave him to the LORD's service, saying For this child I prayed
(1 Samuel 1:27). Think of it: a mother leaving her little boy behind. And what came out of her was not a complaint, but a song.
Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.
1 Samuel 2:3
Arrogancy is an old word for arrogance, a proud, boastful attitude. Hannah was speaking to every loud voice that thinks it has the full picture. Stop the big talk, she sang. You do not know everything. God does.
El De'ot in plain Hebrew
El is the short Hebrew word for God. De'ot comes from de'ah, a word for knowledge, and that word grows out of yada, the common Hebrew verb "to know." Strong's dictionary says yada at its root means to find out by seeing, and that it is used for many kinds of knowing: noticing, caring about, recognizing. It can describe knowing a fact, and it can describe knowing a friend. When the Bible says God knows someone, it often means He is closely acquainted with them.
The form Hannah used is unusual. De'ot is plural, and the plural of this word shows up only twice in the Old Testament, here and in Job 36:4. Hebrew sometimes uses a plural to show fullness, so the phrase can be heard as "a God of knowledges," a God of every kind of knowing: the stars, the seasons, the secrets of the heart.
The second half of her line uses a different picture. The verb behind weighed is takan, which means to measure or balance, the way a merchant weighs silver on a scale. People size each other up by guesses. God puts actions on an exact scale, motives and all.
One small detail is worth knowing. In the standard Hebrew text, the written letters of that phrase could be read as "not," while the reading passed down alongside them says "by him." The King James follows the "by him" reading, as most translations do, and it fits the sentence best.
Key King James verses about the God who knows
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.
1 Samuel 16:7
Years later, God taught the same lesson to Hannah's own son. Samuel was about to anoint a tall, impressive young man as king, and God stopped him. Countenance means face or looks. The boy God chose was David, the youngest, out in the field with the sheep.
O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
Psalm 139:1-2
Downsitting and uprising means every time you sit down and get up, the ordinary moments of a day. David found this knowledge so great that he wrote Such knowledge is too wonderful for me
(Psalm 139:6).
All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits.
Proverbs 16:2
Here is Hannah's scale again. We tend to think our own choices are fine. God weighs the spirit, the reasons underneath.
TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
Daniel 5:27
A proud Babylonian king threw a party with stolen temple cups, and a hand appeared and wrote on the wall. Daniel read the message. Found wanting means found too light, falling short. Hannah's warning to the proud came true in a palace.
Known completely, and that is good news
Maybe someone has the wrong idea about you. A teacher thinks you cheated. A coworker told a story that was not true. A relative decided long ago what kind of person you are. You might clear it up, the way Hannah did with Eli. You might not. Either way, the God of knowledge has the full file, and His opinion is the one that lasts.
This name also cuts the other way. If even a high priest could misjudge someone, so can you. Most of what you see in other people is one scene out of a long movie. Leave the final weighing to God.
And for the days when you cannot find words at all, remember that Hannah's lips moved without a sound and God still heard every word. You do not have to explain yourself perfectly to be understood.
- Bring God one hurt from being misjudged, and leave the scale in His hands.
- Before you decide what someone is like, ask what you might not be seeing.
- Pray Psalm 139:23 to 24, asking God to search your heart.
A God of Knowledge is name 31 of the 70. Before it is A God of Truth, and next comes The Strength of Israel, a name spoken to King Saul by Hannah's son Samuel. Hannah also prayed to the LORD of hosts, and you can explore more on the names of God in the Bible page.
