We are still in Exodus chapter two with our word for today which are actually two words both in our chapter translated the same way. אָנַח groan, sigh, to vocally indicate pain, discomfort, or displeasure, almost always inarticulate. It is used 13 times in the Old Testament. Our other word is נְאָקָה groan, crying out, the act of groaning or expressing pain or disapproval by utterance. It is used 4 times in the Old Testament. Our first word אָנַח is used in the context of mourning a challenging situation. Isaiah 24:7 The new wine dries up and the vine withers; all the merrymakers נֶאֶנְח֖וּ sigh. Lamentations 1:4 The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to her appointed festivals. All her gateways are desolate, her priests נֶאֱנָחִ֑ים groan, her young women grieve, and she is in bitter anguish. Proverbs 29:2 When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people יֵאָ֥נַֽח groan. This is exactly how our word is used today in our chapter. Exodus 2:23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel וַיֵּאָנְח֧וּ groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. Our other word נְאָקָה is used in the next verse in our chapter for today. Exodus 2:24-25 And God heard their נַאֲקָתָ֑ם groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew. This word is used in this same sense of expressing pain and disapproval during the times of the Judges and the judgment of Pharaoh through the King of Babylon. Judges 2:18 Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented because of their מִנַּֽאֲקָתָ֔ם groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them. Ezekiel 30:24 I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put my sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will וְנָאַ֛ק groan before him like a mortally wounded man. And the last usage is again used in the context of the slavery of God’s people by Pharaoh. Exodus 6:5 Moreover, I have heard the נַאֲקַת֙ groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.
When this fallen, messed up, broken, corrupted place knocks the wind out of us. We can be encouraged because God is at work even interpreting our prayers when we are so hurt we can only groan. That is an amazing truth about being in Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. I’ll close with this amazing promise that reminds us we can’t lose being in Christ. Romans 8:22-23, 26-27 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies… In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
