Happiness is not experienced before entry into the promised land
That surprised me – and I spend a lot of my time studying those texts.
I recently looked at every use of the Hebrew word meaning “love” in the first five books of the bible. I published that here on August 27.
I then wondered what the same sort of analysis of the Hebrew word for “happy” might show. I think it is equally interesting.
The Hebrew word expressing the various meanings of “happy” is formed using the three-letter root sin-mem-chet. So samach (sah-mach) is a verb meaning to be glad or to rejoice, sameach (sah-may-ach) is the typical adjective meaning happy or joyful, and simcha (sim-cha) is a noun meaning joy, or gladness, or happiness.
A search for all words (using Sefaria.com) formed from that root in the books of Genesis through Deuteronomy yields the following results.
The word happy in Genesis
There is only one instance of the Hebrew root for happiness in the Book of Genesis.
In Genesis 31:27 Jacob’s uncle, Lavan, chastises Jacob for leaving Paddan-aram in secret. Lavan says that he “would have sent him off with festive (happy, b’simcha) music …”
Here the word describes the quality of the music or the character of the send-off. It does not describe a person.
The word happy in Exodus
There is only one instance of the sin-mem-chet root in Exodus.
In Exodus 4:14, in the burning bush encounter, God tells Moses that his brother, Aaron “will be happy (v’samach) to see you.”
There the word is used in reference to a person, but it is used prospectively. The word is not used to describe the actual meeting of the two brothers.
The text describing the meeting of the two is at Exodus 4:27 which tells us that Aaron “kissed him,” which is reminiscent of the reunion of Jacob and Esau. There, Esau “ran to greet him (Jacob) … and falling on his neck, he kissed him …” (Genesis 33:4), which gets mixed interpretations by the commentators. Some suggest there is a hint of violence in the encounter.
In any case, the only instance in Exodus is prospective. It is not current experience.
The word happy in Leviticus.
There is only one instance of the word in Leviticus.
In Leviticus 23:40, the people are told to “rejoice (be happy; u’semachtem) before the Lord your God” on the festival of Sukkot. But that festival will only be celebrated after they have entered the land (see Lev 23:9).
Here, too, the rejoicing or happiness is prospective. The word does not describe a current experience.
The word happy in Numbers
The book of Numbers contains a restatement of the command regarding observance of holidays. At Numbers 10:10 there is a general command. “And on your joyous occasions (simchatem) – your fixed festivals and new moon days – you shall sound the trumpets …”
The festivals and new moon days referred to are those celebrated once the people have entered the promised land. The happiness referred to will be experienced only after entry into the land.
The word happy in Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy is as unusual in the frequency of its references to happiness as it is in the frequency of its references to love. In the first four books of the bible, forms of the word are found only four times, but in Deuteronomy there are twelve instances.
The first does not appear until the twelfth chapter. Deuteronomy 12 begins, “These are the laws and rules that you must carefully observe in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you to possess …” That establishes the context. The commands that follow are prospective. They apply once the people are in the land.
The first instance of the word is in Deuteronomy 12:7, which is subject to a further condition, one of specific place. It is to be observed only at “the site that the Lord your God will choose amidst all your tribes …” The verse itself says, “…you shall feast there before the Lord your God, happy (u’semachtem) in all the undertakings in which the Lord your God has blessed you.”
This establishes the pattern of the use of the word in Deuteronomy – the pattern of prospective command and promise.
In 12:12, again referring to the time when in the land, “you shall rejoice (u’semachtem)…”
In 12:18 regarding the tithes required when in the land, “you must consume … happy (u’semachta) before the Lord your God.”
In 14:26 there is another reference to the law of tithes using v’samchta.
In Chapter 16 there are three references to being happy or rejoicing on the festivals of Shavuot and Sukkot – again, only once in the land – using v’samachta, v’samachta, and sameach.
In 24:5 a reference is made to the laws of war that are to apply once the people have entered the promised land. The law provides that a man who is in the first year of marriage is not required to go to war. He stays home “to give happiness (v’simcha) to his bride.”
In 26:11 the Shavuot obligation is repeated: to “enjoy (v’samachta) all the bounty that the Lord your God has bestowed upon you …” Again, this is prospective.
Chapter 27 provides that “as soon as you have crossed the Jordan into the land” certain actions were to be performed. Among those are sacrifices to be accompanied in 27:7 by “rejoicing (v’samachta) before the Lord your God.”
And, finally, in Moses’s last blessings before his death to the various tribes, he charges Zevulun specifically to “Rejoice (be happy, semach) Zevulun, on your journeys …” This is also clearly prospective.
Conclusion
The surprising finding of this little study, which is neither difficult nor sophisticated for those with some background in the Hebrew text, is that there is no present experience of happiness recorded in the first five books of the bible.
All references to happiness are prospective.
All but two – which don’t contradict the conclusion – refer to conditions that are to be experienced in the land.
The prospect of happiness in the land has a motivational aspect that, at least initially, seems to be unfulfilled. There are no instances of the Hebrew root sin-mem-chet in the book of Joshua!
Not until we reach the prophetic text of Isaiah, set six centuries (and more) after entry into the land – where forms of the word are found twenty-one times – does happiness become a theme of the biblical text.
No personal experience of happiness is recorded in the bible before the people Israel enter the promised land.