A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.
(Isaiah 42:3-4) KJV
We asked the question: is depression in the Bible? The word depression doesn’t occur, but the medical condition must surely be mentioned since pastors and preachers for generations have told us that the Bible covers all life situations.
We found the spirit of heaviness and have equated this with the emotional condition of being depressed.
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
(Isaiah 61:3) KJV
Now we need to dig a little deeper and see what else we can find out about depression in the Bible. The word we found in Isaiah 61:3 heaviness, is an Hebrew word that occurs in several places in a medical context. It is used in describing the diagnosis of leprosy. It also occurs in the passage above which is significantly more interesting. It’s the word translated as smoking. This is the wispy trail of smoke after a flame has been quenched.
If the featured passage is an example of a Hebrew couplet, then the expression a bruised reed, and the smoking flax, have the same meaning. They’re both depicting the same thing. The word translated as bruised in verse 3 occurs in verse 4 translated as discouraged. This is a somewhat roundabout way of confirming our hypothesis that the spirit of heaviness is what we call depression, and a more easily understandable form of it is discouragement.
Be discouraged: יָר֔וּץ – ratsats
- fut.
- to break, bruise, crush
- trop. to treat with violence, to oppress
- intrans. to be broken, Ec. 12:6
- Niph. to be broken, bruised.
- Po. to oppress, Ju. 10:8
- Hiph. to break in pieces, Ju. 9:53
- Hithpo. to struggle together, Ge. 25.22
- masc. a fragment, piece, Ps. 68:31
- fem. oppression, Je. 22:17
Davidson Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon page DCXCI
There are 19 occurrences of this word in the Old Testament. It’s translated as to break, bruise, crush, discourage, oppress and struggle together. Anyone who has experienced depression will be able to relate to each of these words. So, rather than attempt to find an analogue of depression in the Bible, perhaps the key here is to let the Bible define depression.
What is depression? In modern life it’s an illness that you can be diagnosed with so that a physician can prescribe you a course of treatment which, most likely, is pharmaceutical medication. The world wants you to believe that depression is a chemical imbalance which you inherited. You can’t do anything about it. If you have it, it’s because you were born with it, and if you can’t manage it on your own you’re going to need support and medication. That’s the world. And what is the world? A system designed to oppress you and keep you under control. What’s oppression? It’s part of the Biblical definition of depression. So the world wants to depress you and then treat you for it. Go figure.
Modern medicine is about the bottom line. There’s no money in healthy individuals who aren’t suffering. Suffering is where the money is. If the world can make a healthy individual think that they’re sick, then the world can make that person pay to feel better. Apparently, mental illness is a public health issue. That’s because it’s big money.
So the question should be: if the Bible does indeed discuss depression as an emotional state, the equivalent to a medical condition, then what does it say is the cure? It’s in Isaiah 61:3. The passage gives three sets of opposites:
- Beauty for ashes,
- the oil of joy for mourning,
- the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
The opposite of the spirit of heaviness is to put on the garment of parsie. You want to cure your depression? then praise the Lord!
The cure for depression is to praise the Lord, so if you’ve used SciPop to convince yourself that there’s no Lord, then you’ll have to pay for drugs that SciPop concocted to make you feel better.
We know a lot of people are skeptical when we say that we have attacked popular science (SciPop), but SciPop isn’t looking that great anymore. How do you treat discouragement? On one hand you can go get your self diagnosed with depression and take drugs that will make you feel as if your head has been filled with molten lead. On the other hand you could repent, call upon Jesus Christ and be saved, then start praising the Lord for he is great!
Matty's Paradigm 