Exodus 35 · Symbol · Generosity
The Words Nadab and Haplotes
Nadab in Hebrew is the heart that moves a person to give of his own will, and haplotes in Greek is the single heart that gives without holding back.
The people gave so much for the tabernacle that Moses had to send word through the camp to stop them.
So all the men and women of the Israelites whose hearts prompted them brought a freewill offering to the LORD for all the work that the LORD through Moses had commanded them to do.
- The word
- נָדַב (nadab), H5068
- First appears
- Exodus 25:2 “Tell the Israelites to bring Me an offering.…”
Summary
Scripture's words for a generous heart describe the giver's will more than the size of his gift. The Greek word is the one Paul chose when he wrote to Rome about the gifts of grace and to Corinth about the collection for the poor in Jerusalem. The Hebrew words reach from the law of offerings to the psalms and the prophets.
- The Hebrew verb gathers around two events, the tabernacle offering in Exodus and David's offering for the temple in 1 Chronicles.
- Nadab, nedabah and nadiv together stand 72 times in the Hebrew Bible.
- Half of Paul's uses of haplotes describe giving, and the rest describe a sincere heart.
The Heart That Moves a Person to Give
The first use of nadab is God's own call for an offering that no one was made to bring.
Generosity is one of the values Scripture asks of God's people, and the Bible names it with a small set of Hebrew and Greek words. The sense of each word decides what a verse asks of the giver. A reader who wants to know whether God cares how a gift is given, as well as how much, finds the answer in these words.
This study takes the Hebrew family of nadab, nedabah and nadiv and the Greek word haplotes in turn, with the Greek words for cheerful and for a bountiful gift beside them. Every count is the store's count of the tagged Hebrew and Greek text. Adam Clarke and the commentary of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the key verses.
In Exodus 25:2, the first verse where nadab stands, the Hebrew of the last clause is asher yidbennu libbo, whom his heart moves. The store's lexicon gives nadab the sense to be willing, and its gloss is to impel.
The name Nadab, borne by Aaron's eldest son, is spelled with the same three Hebrew letters, and his story is told in Nadab and Abihu, the Unauthorized Fire.
Eight Words at a Glance
Three Hebrew words and five Greek words carry the willing gift, the noble giver and the single heart.
The eight words differ in reach, from a single use to twenty-nine.
| Word | Strong's number | Sense in the lexicon | Uses | A verse where it stands |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| nadab, to be moved to give | H5068 | be willing; to impel | 17 | Exodus 25:2 |
| nedabah, the freewill offering | H5071 | voluntariness; spontaneity | 26 | Exodus 36:3 |
| nadiv, noble or willing | H5081 | noble, willing; voluntary, generous | 29 | Isaiah 32:8 |
| haplotes, singleness, generosity | G572 | openness; sincerity or generosity | 8 | Romans 12:8 |
| haplous, single, clear | G573 | sound | 2 | Matthew 6:22 |
| haplos, without reserve | G574 | without reserve; bountifully | 1 | James 1:5 |
| hilaros, cheerful | G2431 | cheerful | 1 | 2 Corinthians 9:7 |
| eulogia, blessing, bountiful gift | G2129 | praise; fine speaking | 16 | 2 Corinthians 9:5 |
hilaros, cheerful, eulogia, blessing, bountiful gift
Nadab and the Freewill Offering
The verb and its noun follow the offerings of the wilderness years and of the temple's building, and one prophet turns the noun to the LORD.
And everyone whose heart stirred him and whose spirit prompted him came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the Tent of Meeting, for all its services, and for the holy garments.The people come with their offerings when their own hearts and spirits move them.
and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the LORD has commanded us to do.” After Moses had given an order, they sent a proclamation throughout the camp: “No man or woman should make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing more,The report shows how far the willing hearts of verse 21 went.
“The people bring much more than enough - With what a liberal spirit do these people bring their free-will offerings unto the Lords! Moses is obliged to make a proclamation to prevent them from bringing any more, as there was at present more than enough! Had Moses been intent upon gain, and had he not been perfectly disinterested, he would have encouraged them to continue their contributions, as thereby he might have multiplied to himself gold, silver, and precious stones.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible · on Exodus 36:5Evangelical
Seven of the seventeen uses of nadab stand in 1 Chronicles 29, where David and the leaders give for the temple his son would build.
And the people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given to the LORD freely and wholeheartedly. And King David also rejoiced greatly.The verse ties the joy of the whole assembly to the way its leaders gave.
But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? For everything comes from You, and from Your own hand we have given to You.David confesses that every gift came first from God's own hand.
The law set this offering beside the tithes and the vowed gifts and left its size to the giver (Deuteronomy 12:6). Hosea uses the same word of God's love for His people.
I will heal their apostasy; I will freely love them, for My anger has turned away from them.The LORD says that He will love Israel freely, using the word for a freewill offering.
Where nedabah stands, book by book1 table or figure
Leviticus holds five of the 26 uses of nedabah, the most of any book.
The ten counts as a table
| Book | Uses |
|---|---|
| Leviticus | 5 |
| Deuteronomy | 4 |
| Psalms | 4 |
| Ezra | 3 |
| Exodus | 2 |
| Numbers | 2 |
| 2 Chronicles | 2 |
| Ezekiel | 2 |
| Hosea | 1 |
| Amos | 1 |
10 bars from zero, one for each book of the Hebrew Bible where nedabah (H5071) stands, in the order of their counts.
Adam Clarke, 1 Chronicles 29:9, 1 Chronicles 29:14, Hosea 14:4
Nadiv, the Noble Heart
The adjective most often means a noble or a prince, and in a few places it means the willing heart that gives.
Nadiv stands 29 times in 26 verses. Its tagged gloss is most often noble, as in the nobles and princes of Psalm 113:8, and in Exodus 35 it is the willing heart of the giver.
Take from among you an offering to the LORD. Let everyone whose heart is willing bring an offering to the LORD: gold, silver, and bronze;Moses calls for gold, silver and bronze from everyone whose heart is willing, where willing renders nadiv.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit.David asks to be sustained with a willing spirit, and the word for willing is nadiv.
But a noble man makes honorable plans; he stands up for worthy causes.Isaiah uses the word three times in this one line.
Verse 6 had said that the fool "leaves the hungry empty and deprives the thirsty of drink", so the noble man of verse 8 is the one who gives.
Haplotes, the Single Heart
Paul uses one word for a heart without guile and for giving without holding back.
if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is giving, let him give generously; if it is leading, let him lead with diligence; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.Paul lists giving among the gifts of grace and says it is to be done with haplotes.
The Greek reads ho metadidous en haploteti, the one sharing, in generosity. The lexicon gives haplotes a sense that runs from singleness and sincerity to generosity, the giving of a heart with no second aim.
In the terrible ordeal they suffered, their abundant joy and deep poverty overflowed into rich generosity.The Macedonians' deep poverty overflowed into rich generosity, where generosity renders haplotes.
You will be enriched in every way to be generous on every occasion, so that through us your giving will produce thanksgiving to God.Paul tells the Corinthians that God will enrich them so that they can be generous on every occasion.
“Compare 2Co 9:8. bountifulness--Greek, ‘single-minded liberality.’ Translated ‘simplicity,’ Ro 12:8. causeth through us--literally, ‘worketh through us’; that is, through our instrumentality as the distributors. thanksgiving--on the part of the recipients.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible · on 2 Corinthians 9:11Reformed
Haplous, the adjective from the same root, describes the good eye in the Sermon on the Mount.
The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.Jesus speaks of the good eye just after He tells His hearers where to store their treasure.
Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.James uses the adverb haplos for the way God gives wisdom to those who ask.
The eight uses of haplotes and the store's gloss at each1 table or figure
Four of the eight uses of haplotes are glossed generosity, and all four stand in Paul's words on giving.
| Verse | The store's gloss |
|---|---|
| Romans 12:8 | generosity |
| 2 Corinthians 1:12 | openness |
| 2 Corinthians 8:2 | generosity |
| 2 Corinthians 9:11 | generosity |
| 2 Corinthians 9:13 | generosity |
| 2 Corinthians 11:3 | simplicity |
| Ephesians 6:5 | sincerity |
| Colossians 3:22 | sincerity |
Ephesians 6:5, Colossians 3:22
2 Corinthians 9:11, Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Matthew 6:22, James 1:5
Cheerful and Bountiful
Two more Greek words in 2 Corinthians 9 say that a gift is a blessing and that God loves the one who gives it gladly.
So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you beforehand and make arrangements for the bountiful gift you had promised. This way, your gift will be prepared generously and not begrudgingly.Paul calls the Corinthians' promised gift a bountiful gift and asks that it be ready and not begrudged.
Paul's Greek in verse 5 calls the promised gift a blessing, twice in that verse and twice more in verse 6. Proverbs 11:25 uses the Hebrew word for blessing of the giver in the same way.
Each one should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not out of regret or compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver.Paul says that God loves a cheerful giver, the only place in the New Testament where the word hilaros stands.
The Strong's gloss of hilaros sets the English word hilarious beside it, and its sense in the lexicon is cheerful. In Romans 12:8 Paul uses its noun, hilarotes, for showing mercy cheerfully.
One Kind of Giver
The freewill offering, the willing spirit and the cheerful giver describe one kind of giver.
Each of these words describes a giver whom no one compels. Scripture names God as that kind of giver first, and His people give as He gives.
Sources
Scripture is the Berean Standard Bible.
- STEP Bible, Translators Brief lexicon of Extended Strongs for Hebrew and for Greek (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, with the Strong's glosses the store holds, and the Tyndale House tagged texts.
- Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible (1832), on Exodus 36:5.
- Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871), on 2 Corinthians 9:11.
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