📖 Biblical Definition
Hebrew ratzon, will / good pleasure / favor / delight, used in OT theology both of God's sovereign will and of the favorable disposition His people seek from Him. The dual usage is significant: when ratzon is the LORD's, it is His sovereign and benevolent will, the good pleasure of His own counsel by which He determines all things (Psalm 145:16, Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing; Psalm 51:18, Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion); when ratzon is the worshipper's object, it is the favorable acceptance of his offering or his person before the LORD (Leviticus 1:3, the burnt offering offered for his acceptance; li-r'tzono). The Aaronic blessing's central petition (The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee, Numbers 6:25) is essentially a request for the LORD's ratzon. The acceptable year of the LORD (Isaiah 61:2; quoted by the Lord Jesus in Luke 4:19) is the year of the LORD's ratzon. The patriarchal-Reformed reader recovers ratzon as the integrated concept: the LORD's sovereign good pleasure is the cause of His people's gracious acceptance; the believer prays for and receives the favor of the LORD whose own counsel has freely chosen to be gracious.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Hebrew ratzon (H7522), will / good pleasure / favor / delight; both God's sovereign benevolent will and the favorable acceptance His people seek from Him.
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RATZON, Hebrew noun (H7522; will, good pleasure, favor, delight) From ratzah (H7521, to be pleased with, accept favorably). Used both of God's sovereign benevolent will (the good pleasure of His counsel determining all things) and of the favorable acceptance His people seek from Him. The Aaronic blessing's central petition (Numbers 6:25, the LORD make his face shine upon thee) is essentially a request for the LORD's ratzon. The acceptable year of the LORD (Isaiah 61:2; Luke 4:19) is the year of the LORD's ratzon. Integrated concept: the LORD's sovereign good pleasure is the cause of His people's gracious acceptance.
📖 Key Scripture
Psalm 145:16 — "Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing."
Isaiah 61:2 — "To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn."
Numbers 6:24-26 — "The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace."
Ephesians 1:5 — "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
No major postmodern redefinition. The principal contemporary mishandling is the soft-evangelical reduction of God's will to His permissive will for individual life-direction, losing the sovereign-decretive force of ratzon.
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Ratzon as a Hebrew term does not undergo lexical corruption. The principal contemporary mishandling is the soft-evangelical reduction of God's will to questions about personal life-direction (what is God's will for my life?) detached from the sovereign-decretive dimension that the OT term carries. Ratzon in OT usage is most often the LORD's own sovereign benevolent counsel by which He chooses to bless or to withhold — the cause of the worshipper's acceptable standing rather than the answer to the worshipper's life-direction question. The Reformed-confessional doctrine of God's decretive will (Westminster III, V) is the systematic articulation of the OT ratzon theology: God's sovereign good pleasure determines all things, and the believer's acceptance rests on the LORD's freely chosen favor.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
H7522; from ratzah (H7521); LORD's sovereign benevolent will and the favorable acceptance His people seek.
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['Hebrew', 'H7522', 'ratzon', 'will, good pleasure, favor, delight']
['Hebrew', 'H7521', 'ratzah', 'to be pleased with, accept favorably (verbal root)']
['Greek', 'G2107', 'eudokia', 'good pleasure (NT equivalent)']
Usage
"Ratzon: God's sovereign benevolent will; favorable acceptance."
"Aaronic blessing requests the LORD's ratzon (Numbers 6:24-26)."
"Acceptable year of the LORD: the year of the LORD's ratzon (Isaiah 61:2)."