Never let the land vomit you for your defiling it, as it vomited the nations in front of you. (Leviticus 18:28) ARTB

A note from A. Frances Werner:

I  personally don't like the word VOMIT, because it brings up all sorts of memories of being ill.  But is the word accurate for describing the earth? Or just a literary tool to encourage us to stay away from defiling the land with idolatry?

The Hebrew word QYA (Strong's 6958 and 6893) also can relate to animals which regurgitate their food to either feed babies or to chew cud.  My thought is that the geological phenomenon that matches this word is a VOLCANO.  The spewing of the lava and hot ash in Iceland is aptly described as the earth VOMITING. 

The Gulf oil spill would not have been possible in the days of Moses when this line was written.  But it certainly fits the concept!

A note from A. Frances Werner:

I absolutely love this passage.  It captures all the drama around trying to handle an overwhelming emotional moment as if nothing was going on.  I believe we can all relate with incidents in our lives, like losing a loved one, but needing to taking care of others; or like this one, where Joseph directly faced those who had sold him as a slave, yet with the happiness of being restored to his family.

But there is another hidden gem here, the word NURTURE (Strong's 7355, 7356).  The underlying Hebrew word RAHAM occurs approximately 90 times in the OT, and interestingly, occurs over 200 times in the Aramaic NT.  It often describes Yahweh's relationship with us, so it is a very significant word. It is distinctly different than the word LOVE (AHAB, Strong's 157, 158) which occurs twice as often in the OT. 

In most other bible versions, REHEM is usually translated as HAVING-MERCY or COMPASSION, but neither of those words comes close to the real meaning of RAHAM.  To me, HAVING-MERCY means to me that I did something wrong and the other person is lovingly responding.  COMPASSION means someone is responding in love to a NEED in another person--physical or emotional. 

The key for ferreting out its true meaning is understanding that the word is related to the Hebrew word for WOMB (REHEM, Strong's 7358).  When you are a parent, your feelings about the child you carried and delivered from the womb are neither HAVING-MERCY nor COMPASSION.  Rather, it is NURTURING: Lovingly over time doing everything to help the child grow to be healthy, safe, and mature into everything God wants.  It also describes the care given when doing things like gardening--a long term commitment done in love.

I have needed to spend a lot of time meditating on the difference between LOVE and NURTURING.  I encourage you to join me.  One other insight I had is that PRAYER is a very effective form of NURTURING that God has given us, whether we are physically present or not.  This passage suggests to me that Joseph must have spent many hours NURTURING his family in prayer to have had this touching emotional response.