Word Study - bitterness

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BITTERNESS

by Darren Langston

6/26/03

I believe one of my biggest hindrances in walking in the fullness of Christ has been my attitude. I had been asking God," If He already accomplished everything on the cross, why is it that I don’t feel free? Why does it take me so long to enter in to the holy of holy’s?" And the response I got was that I cannot take my resentments with me. If I wanted to fly a little higher I would have to let go of the bitterness I had carried with me so long.

Proverbs 31:1

The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. 2What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my vows? 3Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings. 4It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: 5Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. 6Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. 7Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.

The Hebrew word for “heavy” here is: mar / maòraòh. And it is only translated “heavy” here. Most to the time it it translated "bitterness. It means: bitter (literally or figuratively); also (as noun) bitterness, or (adverbially) bitterly:— + angry, bitter (-ly, -ness), chafed, discontented, X great, heavy. This is very interesting to me because in A.A they say that resentment is the number one offender and it says in

Proverbs 31:6 Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.

In other words, there is a strong correlation between drinking strong drink and holding bitterness in your heart!

The Greek word for bitterness is “pikria” pik-ree'-ah and it means acridity (especially poison), literally or figuratively:—bitterness. extreme wickedness 1b) a bitter root, and so producing a bitter fruit, 1c) metaphorically bitterness, bitter hatred

This Greek word is only used four times in the New Testament, Acts 8:23, Rom 3:14, Eph 4:31, Heb 12:15. but it comes from the root word pikros pik-ros' and is translated bitter in James 3:11 and 3:14 and this is the only two times this Greek word is used in the New Testament.

Bitterness does not have to be expressed. If that be the case, where does it get stored? I would have to say it gets interwoven into our souls and eventually our bodies, which explains a lot of the need for antacids.