Hebrew word study – from your head – mere’shitho מראשיתו mem resh aleph shin yod taw vav

Ecclesiastes 7:8: “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.”

“Nothing ventured, nothing win—Blood is thick but water’s thin—In for a penny, in for a pound—It’s love that makes the world go round.” Iolanthe – Act II Lord Chancellor – Libretto by W.S. Gilbert, Music by Sir Arthur Sullivan

“In for a penny, in for a pound, it’s love that makes the world go round.” Those words from the comic/satire opera about a fairy falling in love with a mortal by Gilbert and Sullivan is the best commentary I found on Ecclesiastes 7:8.  Of course under fairy law in this opera, it is forbidden to marry a mortal unlike the law of God where that is our ultimate end, to fall in love with God and be married to Him.  Deuteronomy 6:5: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all they heart, soul and might.”

“In for a penny, in for a pound” is an English idiom dating back to 1695 by Edward Ravenscroft’s comic play Canterbury Guest. It came into our American vocabulary unchanged where it should really say; “In for a penny, in for a dollar” rather than the British pound sterling. It has the idea that once you’ve started something you need to stay with it. You quit now you just get a penny, but if you stay with it to the end, you will get a dollar.  This leads to another English idiom birthed in the London Stock Exchange at the beginning of the 19th Century: “Cut your loses and run.”  In other words, get out before you lose everything.

This expresses our Christian walk.  When we accept Jesus as our Savior there is no guarantee what the road will be like that we will walk.  The Apostle Paul had a good life before he met Jesus. He was wealthy, married, influential, one of the youngest men to sit on the Sanhedrin and he was well respected.  He found Jesus and he lost his reputation, position, wealth, wife actually he lost everything and became an itinerate preacher depending on the faithful to provide for him. In other words, he lost everything and all he got in return was Jesus. Despite his losses he did not cut and run but he knew he was in for a penny and in for a pound for it was the love of God in Christ Jesus that made the world go around.  When things got really bad and he found himself in prison God sent an angel with a message: “Get ready Paul, it will only get worse.”  Yet, Paul heeded the advice of a wise king who lives a thousand years before he came upon the earth and he knew he would stay the course until the end. He would not bailout for the penny but stay for the pound. Two thousand years late that message still remains from the wisest man on earth who put it this way: “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.”   

However, when we examine this in the Hebrew we find an even deeper understanding, a secondary message buried in these wise words. The word end is ‘achar which is means the future or the ultimate.  Better is the ultimate result of a thing.  But the word ‘achar also has the idea of leaving something behind. In other words, you could read this as: “Better is it to leave a thing behind than to start a beginning.”   That is don’t start a beginning until you have left behind the past.  

This is really an expression of our commitment to Jesus Christ. When we get saved, we commit to him for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer and in sickness and in health. We might accept Jesus as our Savior for the immediate reward of a penny but we so realize that if we stick it out, like the Apostle Paul there is a pound waiting for us at the end of our spiritual journey.  We do it because it is love, the love God has for us and we have for Him that makes our world go around. The ultimate racham of God is our pound at the end of our journey.

Yet, if we cling to the past, that is ‘achar and try to reach our end without leaving out past behind, it will only hinder our spiritual journey.  It is better to leave it behind.  The word better is tov which is a word to describe something that is in harmony with God.  So, we don’t just leave all of our past behind, only that which is not in harmony with God. We can’t use the excuse that we don’t know what is in harmony with God and what isn’t.  God gives us His Holy Spirit to show us. Colossians 3:15: “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts,” The word rule in Greek is brabeueto from the root word brabeuo which means to umpire or to confirm. When you are troubled over whether something is in harmony with God or not, odds are it is not in harmony with God as you would not be troubled by it.  Paul instructs us to let the peace of God confirm what is in harmony with Him.  

I am a bit curious, however, about this word for a thing, it is the word davar. The word davar means words spoken from the heart. This gives this verse an even deeper layer of understanding.  Words spoken from one’s heart are true words, the truth of what we really feel or believe.  It is in harmony with God to speak what is in our hearts (for it is the truth) than the beginning thereof. The word beginning is not the word bereshith like you would expect, as in Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning.” It is the word mere’shitho from the root word rosh which means head. This literally translates as from your head.  

So, let’s drop down one more layer of understanding of this verse where we learn that the wisest man in the world told us that it is more in harmony with God to speak from your heart than from your head or your mind.  Your mind will fashion lies, but your heart will speak the truth. 

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