Today’s word, ‘mach•mad ey•nai’, is identical to the biblical word, except for the references in Bible which relate to plural while we use the first person reference, my. ‘mach•mad ey•nai’ is then, the delight of my eyes. This ‘ai’ sound ending indicates first person singular possession of plural nouns (eyes, in this case). In other words, ‘ai’ is the suffix for all plural nouns that are mine.
Old Testament example of ‘mach•mad’:
‘Also, you son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the delight of their eyes, and that on which they set their minds, their sons and their daughters’
New Testament example of ‘mach•mad’:
‘Therefore, my brothers, beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.
Please note that ‘mach•mad’ is derived from a root that if far from being delightful. It share the root, ‘chamad’, with the verb ‘to covet’, as we saw in the ten commandments:
‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.’.
The distance in Hebrew between legitimate liking and illegitimate coveting is very minute, just as it is in real life. Often, only biblical ethics serve as a reminder of the fine line drawn between what we like a lot and is legitimate and delightful, and what is not.
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