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Bible Notes: Thanksgiving
Originally appeared on spirituality.com
Hebrew: 1 Chronicles 29:13 Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.
This verse closes one of the best loved and known praises of the Lord in the Old Testament. Thank is yadah (yaw-daw’), which has a primary meaning of to throw, cast, but in causative forms becomes to give thanks, to praise, confess, thank, and can also be translated extol, or acknowledge. Thanksgiving is often paired with hallal (haw-lal’), which means praise. When paired with the ending, yah, we get Hallellu-jah, or Praise the LORD. The works of the God of Israel were encapsulated in His name, shem, which in ancient cultures expressed the reputation and essential quality of a deity. The Israelite name for God was a verb that arguably means self-creative, self-existent being, and this verb for what God also indicated that he was the only self-creative, self-existent Being. Consequently to praise His name is a kind of shorthand for acknowledging all that God is and does.
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Greek: 2 Corinthians 9:11 Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.
The Greek word for thanksgiving is eucharistia (yoo-khar-is-tee’-a). Yes, you guessed it, eucharist is its English descendant, which brings forth the interesting possibility that holy communion is a form of thanksgiving. Eucharistia is a compound word composed of a prefix eu which means good, and charis (khar’-is) grace—simply good grace. Charishas the active dimension of good will manifested in help, good deeds, benefaction ordivine favor, and in some cases is virtually synonymous with divine power, glory, andknowledge. Charis also expressed the attributes of graciousness, the graceful or attractive, and includes being grateful, expressing gratitude, giving thanks. In Luke’s healing of the lepers, the one who returned to Jesus to give thanks first lifted up his voice to glorify God (Luke 17:12-19).