Word Girl Hebrew Drop: נָבוֹן - Navon (nah-VOHN)

Scripture tosses this word around like everyone knows what it means. Spoiler: we don't.

Navon gets translated "discerning" or "understanding" in most of your English Bibles and then we all just nod and move on. But the root underneath it is בִּין - bin. And bin doesn't mean understanding the way WE mean understanding. It's not just intellectual comprehension. It's not only knowing facts. Bin is the ability to distinguish between two things. To look at a situation and see what's actually there versus what appears to be there.

It's perception but with some traction.

So when Proverbs keeps calling the navon person wise, it's not talking about someone who’s read a lot of books. It's talking about someone who can read the room. Someone who can hear what's being said and also hear what isn't being said. Someone who looks at a situation and sees the difference between what's presenting itself and what's true.

Joseph gets called this in Genesis 41. Pharaoh just heard his dream interpreted and he looks at Joseph and says he needs someone navon to manage Egypt through what's coming. He didn't say brilliant. He didn't say educated. He said discerning. Because a famine requires someone who can see the difference between what's visible right now and what's actually on its way.

Here's what gets me though. Love this! Proverbs 1:5 says that a navon person, someone who already has this quality, will still keep listening and keep acquiring guidance. The person who can already read the room is described as the one most eager to keep learning how to read it better.

Discernment, real discernment, apparently makes you more teachable. Not less.

Which is a word for somebody today!