There’s a word in the Bible that I think many of its non-Hebrew readers sadly misunderstand. The Hebrew word is “shuv” or spelt, alternatively, “shoob”, often translated “repent”.
TURN BACK/RETURN/RESTORE/REPENT: Shuv. Verb. (Strong’s 7725).
“The Hebrew word שׁוּב (shuv) primarily means “to turn back,” “to return,” or “to go back.” It can also signify repentance or turning away from sin. The noun form of “shuv” is teshuva (תְּשׁוּבָה), which is commonly translated as repentance.
Here’s a breakdown of the different aspects of “shuv”:
Return/Turn Back:
This is the most basic meaning, referring to a physical or metaphorical return to a place, state, or condition.
Repentance/Turning Away from Sin:
In a spiritual context, “shuv” signifies turning away from a sinful path and returning to God. This is a key concept in Jewish tradition, especially during the High Holy Days (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur).
Movement:
The word can encompass various forms of movement, including turning, returning, going back, or even changing direction.
Source/Origin:
“Shuv” can also imply a return to one’s source or origin, as seen in Genesis 3:19 where God tells Adam he will return to the dust from which he was taken.”…
“No one and no thing in this universe can turn back what God has done. YHWH moves forward and creation moves forward. There is no turning back. YHWH is the Creator, the Rescuer, and the Saviour, and no one can take that from Him.
Nevertheless, YHWH gave humans the gift of choice. We can choose to follow after Him and we can choose to turn away from Him. No one can reverse what God has done, but we can certainly ignore it.”…
“Turn Back to God: Repent and Return
Shuv was a well used word for the prophets. It was the core of the repeated message: Stop the way you are going and turn back to YHWH! If you continue on the bad path, no good will come of it:”
“Let the wicked abandon his way, and the unrighteous person his thoughts; and let him return [w-ya-shov] to YHWH, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” Isaiah 55:6-7
“All through history humans have done things to upset YHWH, but He has always been merciful to those who make an effort to follow Him. The message was quite simple. For those who turned back to Him, YHWH would turn His anger away from them:”
Hosea 14:1-4 (see also Isaiah 9:12-21)
“Return [shuva], Israel, to YHWH your God, for you have stumbled because of your wrongdoing.”
“Take words with you and return [w-shuvu] to YHWH. Say to Him, “Take away all guilt and receive us graciously, so that we may present the fruit of our lips. Assyria will not save us, we will not ride on horses; nor will we say again, ‘Our god’ to the work of our hands; for in You the orphan finds mercy.”
“[YHWH:] I will heal their apostasy, I will love them freely, because My anger has turned away [shav] from them.”
(Sourced from https://hebrewwordlessons.com article “Shuv, restore, TURN BACK,” dated 30 May 2021)
The word “shuv” and its derivatives are used throughout the Old Testament in many contexts to convey the idea of returning to the Lord. Like sheep, His people continually wandered from the path, forsaking the Lord and His covenant and turning to the idols of their neighbours…and so He called “Come back to the path. Come back home.”
The concept of “shuv” in Scripture is bound up in the history of Israel’s journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. For forty years, God’s people journeyed through a vast, hostile, and uncharted wilderness, dependant only on the presence of God in the pillar of fire at night and cloud by day. There were landmarks along the way which also aided their passage through the unknown territory.
These Hebrew people understood language according to their experience, not abstract but from what was experiential, visible and tangible. So, they understood life as a journey through an uncharted wilderness, full of dangers and the unknown. To navigate their way, they would need to follow the landmarks and stay on the path, guided by the One whose presence was with them.
God had given them His covenant, His “Torah”, His instructions which were the “landmarks” they were to follow if they were to stay on the path. If they strayed from the path by disobeying His instructions, they were in danger of dying in the wilderness, lost and without provisions or directions for the journey.
A common misunderstanding of repentance in the western mind has an emotional content not found in the Hebrew word, the idea of feeling sorrow for sin, almost apologising to God for what we have done, as if that were enough to set the record straight.
To “shuv” then, was not to say sorry to God for being lost but to return to the path of obedience from which his people have strayed. This is the background to God’s plea through Isaiah’s words…
Isaiah 30:15 NIV
[15] “This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.”
To complete our Biblical understanding of repentance, we must also examine the Greek word, “metanoia”, translated “repentance”, used in the New Testament writings.
“In Greek, metanoia (μετάνοια) primarily means “a change of mind” or “repentance”. It signifies a fundamental transformation of one’s perspective, a turning away from old ways of thinking and acting, and a reorientation towards a new way of life. In a theological context, it often refers to a spiritual conversion or a turning towards God.” (Google definition)
Before we can return from the wilderness of rebellion and disobedience, we must be convinced that God is right and we are wrong. This demands a choice, a deliberate change of mind about our state before God…then follows our return to the path of obedience to God’s instructions, a return from darkness to light.
So, on the day of Pentecost, Peter called the Jews assembled from every part of the Roman Empire to celebrate the ingathering of the harvest, to “shuv” by giving attention to the truth about Jesus, their Messiah, changing their minds about Him, and returning to the full revelation of God’s mercy through Him.
Acts 2:37-38 NIV
[37] “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” [38] Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Since, in the course of life from early childhood, we have gathered ideas and beliefs about ourselves and God that are wrong and misleading, repentance isn’t just a once-off decision but a lifestyle of change. Every time we encounter a conflict between error and truth, we return to the path by exchanging our false beliefs for the truth we learn in Jesus. It’s an ongoing process as we grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes, the revelation of truth and the joyful transformation it produces may be the reason for a flood of tears but tears are not repentance. They are the fruit of repentance, a grateful response to God’s mercy that has not condemned but redeemed the reoentant heart.