Ruminate His word in me

06/24/13

Hebrews 4:2

For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard [it].

https://www.olivetree.com/learn/articles/meditating-on-gods-word.php

Chewing the Cud

The English word muse, though only a translation of the biblical word in Psalm 77:12, mentioned above, offers a window into a life of interacting with God in the Scriptures. Coming from a Middle French word that means to idle or loiter, to muse means “to become absorbed in thought” (Webster’s Third New International Dictionary), and its primary synonym is the word ruminate, from a Latin word which meant to chew the cud. This is the natural process whereby some animals, many of them domesticated, chew and chew and chew their food, then swallow, regurgitate, and chew some more. By this means, they obtain the maximum nourishment from what they eat, digesting it thoroughly. Not without significance, animals in the Old Testament were considered clean and suitable for food if they split the hoof and chewed the cud (Lev.11:3). By analogy, we could say that a person who “chews the cud” in relation to God’s word is made clean and fruitful by the word (John 15:3,7); just as Christ’s glorious church is cleansed by the washing of the water of the word (Eph 5:26).

Though the word ruminate may not be found in your Bible, the concept of chewing is a biblical one, for the Greek word used by the Lord in John 6:57 for eat may imply to chew, masticate, gnaw, crunch, or nibble — more or less constantly, like snacking:

“As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he that eateth me, he also shall live because of me.”