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Archive for the ‘Psalms’ Category

From worthlessness to pricelessness (Psalm 119:37)?

Posted in He, Psalm 119, Psalms, Uncategorized on July 9, 2012 | 2 Comments »

Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;
and give me life in your ways (Psalm 119:37 ESV).

What worthless things do you look at?  (Not counting this blog.)

I don’t think the psalmist is referring to blogs, Facebook, Twitter or youtube.  Perhaps, but not necessarily.  Worthless things lead one away from God.  The Psalms often speak of ”worthless idols” (Psa. 31:6; 96:5; 97:7).  Almost anything can become worthless if it distracts us from what’s really important.

Reading a blog can become worthless if you should be praying or spending time with your family.  (Unless the blog is encouraging you to pray or spend time with your family, like this one is.)  Posting on Facebook can be worthless, but it can also be a great way to connect with friends.  Watching youtube…well, that’s harder to come up with a good rationalization for why it’s not worthless.

When I was young (about 45), I was always confused by the words “worthless” and “priceless“.  An item’s worth and it’s price are supposed to be the same.  So, these two words should be synonyms, and yet they were antonyms.  One refers to things with no worth, the other to things with unlimited worth.

The psalmist clearly believes that life is found in God’s ways.  The psalmist tells God to divert his gaze from worthlessness to pricelessness.  God and God’s word are therefore the only things that are truly priceless.  (I should probably also say people are priceless since they are made in God’s image…)

God, help us focus on you and your word. 

So, is youtube worthless?  When?  When not?

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Battle of the translations (Psalm 119:36)

Posted in Bibles, He, Old Testament, Psalm 119, Psalms, tagged , , , , , on July 1, 2012 | 4 Comments »

Incline my heart to your testimonies,
and not to selfish gain! (Psalm 119:36).

If you don’t know Hebrew, it’s helpful to read an Old Testament verse in multiple English versions of the Bible in order to get a flavor of the different ways the Hebrew could be translated.  Quickly one realizes there are more options than one might feel comfortable with.  It’s also good to realize that Bible translation is complicated.  While I have English translations I like more than other, they all have strengths (see post, “I love them all“).  It takes a little more work to look at multiple versions, but it’s worth it.

In English, we have scores of good translations.  I typically use four translations: the English Standard Version (ESV), the New American Standard (NAS), the New International (NIV), and the New Revised Standard (NRSV).  (Speaking of revised versions, did you see the cover of Sports Illustrated with LeBron this week: “King James, Revised“?  Clever.)

Psalm 119:36 has more variety among the translations than most other verses in the psalm.  So, let’s start the battle of the translations (I’ll keep track of the score).  There are three points of difference among the four translations worth noting here:

1) The request the psalmist makes of YHWH: two translations have “incline” (ESV, NAS) and two have “turn” (NRSV, NIV).  Either word works, but I prefer “incline” because the verb here literally means “cause to bend/stretch”.  Incline is a bit more subtle, but appropriate.  So the ESV and the NAS each have 1; NRSV & NIV has 0.

2) What the psalmist is supposed to incline toward: two versions have “testimonies” (ESV, NAS), the other two have either ”decrees” (NRSV), “statutes” (NIV).  Whereas for number one, I preferred the ESV and NAS, “testimonies” doesn’t fit the context well.  How do you incline to testimonies?  Either decrees or statutes makes more sense.  You can incline to God’s statutes.  So, there’s a 4-way tie with 1 each.

3) What the psalmist is NOT supposed to incline toward: 3 versions have ”selfish gain” (ESV, NIV, NRSV) and one has ”dishonest gain” (NAS).  While “selfish gain” works here, I love the fact that the NAS puts “dishonest” in italics, since the word is really only implied in the Hebrew.  NAS puts in italics any word merely implied by the Hebrew.  So, if you add up the votes, the NAS defeats the other three versions, 2 to 1 in the battle of the translations.

Now that we’ve discussed the Hebrew, let’s focus on the content briefly.  The prayer of the psalmist in this verse involves heart re-inclination.  Toward God’s laws and away from selfish gain.  The psalmist realizes he’ll need help avoid to greed, but also realizes that the reward of statute inclination is worth the effort and it’s preferable to those potential selfish gains.

So, back to versions, what’s your favorite Bible translation?  Why? 

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Following the leader (Psalm 119:35)

Posted in He, Old Testament, Psalm 119, Psalms, tagged , on June 24, 2012 | 2 Comments »

Lead me in the path of your commandments,
for I delight in it (Psalm 119:35 ESV).

“We’re following the leader, the leader, the leader.  We’re following the leader wherever he may go.”

It’s been a few years since I’ve heard this song from Peter Pan (I’ll never admit to singing it), but it’s embedded into my memory banks.  Silly?  Yes.  But appropriate for this verse which focuses on following our leader.

But who wants to follow these days?  Leadership courses are taught everywhere (including my seminary, Biblical), but no one teaches courses on Followership.  People want to be leaders, not followers.  Being a follower even has negative connotations.

Yeah, but following the leader is a big theme in Scripture.  What’s the first thing Jesus says to his disciples, “Follow me!” (e.g., Mark 1:17; 2:14).  The tag-line of Biblical is “Following Jesus into the world.”  My brother Rich wrote a book, Following Jesus in the Real World (IVP, 1995).

The psalmist here understood that following God’s lead is crucial for people who are in relationship with him.  It’s clear that following is similar to obedience, but following is more relational than obeying.  Following suggests the follower is going the same direction, along the same path as the leader.  That certainly seems to be what’s happening in this psalm as the psalmist asks God for leadership in the path of obedience.

In the Hebrew, this verse begins with a Hiphil imperative, which begins with the Hebrew letter He (pronounced “hey”).   Seven of the eight verses in this section (33-40) begin with a Hiphil imperative.  When a verb appears in the Hiphil stem it usually makes the verb causative.  The Hebrew verb for “come” in the Hiphil stem means “cause to come”, or “bring.”  So the word translated here as “lead” could be translated literally as “cause me to march” in the path of your commandments.  Sounds like a forced march.

The psalmist requests help to go on a forced march in the path of commandments.  That doesn’t sound very attractive.  And yet, the psalmist delights in this path.  Delighting in God’s laws is a huge theme of this psalm.  The word “delight” appears 10 times in English versions of this psalm (119:14, 16, 24, 35, 47, 70, 77, 92, 143, 174).  The psalmist understands that God is leading the way and even though the way is hard, it leads to blessing and to deeper relationship with God.

God, help us follow your lead and give us deep delight in you and your word. 

Image: http://justinesimard.com/following-the-leader-leadership-in-network-marketing/

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Redundancy is good (Psalm 119:34)

Posted in He, Old Testament, Psalm 119, Psalms, tagged , , , on June 18, 2012 | 1 Comment »

Give me understanding, that I may keep your law
and observe it with my whole heart (Psalm 119:34 ESV).

How do you feel when you don’t understand something?  Frustrated?  Confused?  Angry at yourself or perhaps at the person you blame for your lack of understanding?  When I don’t understand something, I’m worried I’ll appear stupid or incompetent.  This motivates me to strive for understanding.

The psalmist desires understanding, not to avoid confusion, not to appear knowledgeable and not to avoid embarrassment, but to obey God.  He wanted to understand how to keep the law and observe it whole-heartedly.

What do you need to understand?  That God’s laws are a means of grace.  The psalmist certainly understood that God’s laws are meant to bless us.  You see this in every verse of Psalm 119 as the psalmist delights in God and God’s laws and repeatedly asks for help to obey because he knows good will result from obedience.

Is Psalm 119 starting to sound redundant?  Yes.  Are these blogs sounding redundant?  Yes.

But to paraphrase Gordon Gekko, ”Redundancy is good” (better than greed).  (And I’m not talking about getting fired.)

The book of Judges is redundant.  The synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) are redundant.  Scripture is redundant in many places.  Redundancy is good.  It’s good to repeat things that are important.  The author of Psalm 119 understood the value of repetition and this psalm is a testament to this principle.  The psalmist emphasizes understanding God’s laws by repeating the idea ten times in the psalm (27, 34, 73, 99, 100, 104, 125, 130, 144, 169).

OK, redundancy can be bad, like on college essays (see link for image: college essay redundancy), but I like it on the Pizza Hut sign.  I’m sure people called to ask the question.  And I like redundancy in the Bible.  It makes a point clearly.

At the risk of being redundant–this verse is the 2nd verse in the He (pronounced Hey) section of Psalm 119.

My father, Richard Lamb, helped me understand life, ping-pong, humor, gamma-ray astro-physics, the Bible and the importance of obeying God.  Happy Belated Father’s Day, dad.

God, help us understand the mysteries of your word and give us the ability to obey graciously. 

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Praying to be taught (Psalm 119:33)

Posted in He, Old Testament, Psalm 119, Psalms on June 10, 2012 | 3 Comments »

Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes,
and I will observe it to the end (Psalm 119:33 ESV).

What do you pray about?  A new job?  Health for you or someone you love?  A good blog to finally read?  I’m still praying to find my missing dumb cell phone.

The psalmist prays that God teaches him about God’s laws.  The psalmist doesn’t ask just to be taught the statutes, but the way of the statutes.  The psalmist is speaking of a path, a journey, a pilgrimage of obedience.  Where does the way go?  It moves the pilgrim closer to God.

Psalm 119:33 is the first verse in the He (pronounced ”hey”) section of the psalm (119:33-40), where each verse begins with the letter He.  The Hebrew word translated as “teach” here, yarah literally means “throw” or “shoot”.  So, you may ask, why does a word that begins with a Yod (the Hebrew “y”) start the He section?  Great question.  The verb yarah appears here in the hiphil stem which, as may have guessed, begins with the letter He, thus it fits perfectly here in the He section.  In the hiphil stem,yarah can mean “teach.”

So, the psalmist makes a deal.  If YHWH to teaches him the way of his laws, he will observe them until the end.  To the end of what?  The end of the road, which for the psalmist will be the end of his life.  What a great goal–to be faithful until the end of life.

The psalmist likes talking about the  “way”.  It appears 13 times in Psalm 119, often in clumps, three times in the Aleph section (119:1, 3, 5), five times in the Dalet section (119:26, 27, 29, 30, 32) and three times here in the He section (119:33, 35, 37).

The psalmist finishes what he starts.  I’m hoping to finish what I started in blogging about Psalm 119.  I should be done in about 3 years.

God, teach us how to follow in the way of your laws.  We want to keep them until the end of our lives. 

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Pulling on the leash (Psalm 119:32)

Posted in Dalet, Old Testament, Psalm 119, Psalms, tagged on May 27, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

I run the way of your commandments,
for you enlarge my understanding (Psalm 119:32 NRSV).

Yesterday, I took our dog Tiglath-pileser IV (named after the Neo-Assyrian ruler, TP III: see 2 Kings 15:29) along with me for a run.  We were going to leave Tig behind for the day to go white-water rafting down the Lehigh River gorge.  (It was thrilling to almost be ejected from the raft numerous times into the churning waters of level III rapids in the midst of lightning, thunder and torrential rain).

I was feeling guilty because we were going to ditch Tig, so the run together was sort of a consolation prize.  Tig loves to run.

I love to run too, just not with Tig.  While I like these activities as much as most other bipeds, I’m not quite as interested in sniffing and chasing as Tig is.  Yesterday, we saw robins, bluejays, squirrels (of course) and for a bonus, a bunny, each of which warranted the required leash tug.  “Tig, No!  Come!  Stay with me.”  Tig loves to run, but it’s hard for him to run the way of my commandments.

I wonder if that’s how God feels with us as we pull on the leash. 

While many of us are often distracted by “chasing” and “sniffing”–things that take us away from the path God has for us–the psalmist runs the way of YHWH’s commandments.  The psalmist does not just tolerate God’s laws, he runs after them like Tig runs after a bunny (no that’s not Tig in the picture, for an image of Tig click here).  Running suggests a joy and reckless abandonment in pursuit of divine direction.

Why?  God enlarges his “understanding” (NRSV above) or “heart” (ESV below).  Either translation works well.  Both communicate there’s a large blessing associated with the reckless pursuit of God and God’s word.

God help us run after your directions as enthusiastically as a dog chases a bunny.

Psalm 119:32 is the eighth and final verse in the Dalet section of Psalm 119.  After a week break, I’ll start the He (pronounced “Hey”) section of Psalm 119 (verses 33-40).  Here are links to the first post on each of the previous 3 sections:

1) Aleph (“How blameless are you?” Psalm 119:1)
2) Bet (“Got purity?” Psalm 119:9)
3) Gimel (“Let’s make a deal” Psalm 119:17)

Image from http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/outdoor-activities/hunting/traditional-methods/best-hunting-dog.htm

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The Psalmist is more like Frodo than Gandalf (Psalm 119:31)

Posted in Dalet, Films, Old Testament, Psalm 119, Psalms, Uncategorized, tagged , , , on May 21, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

I cling to your decrees, O LORD;
let me not be put to shame (Psalm 119:30 NRSV).

“Fly, you fools!”  Our son Nathan exclaimed as he was clinging onto a rock at the top of a cliff and suddenly let go, disappearing from our sight.

We weren’t really nervous, unlike Gandalf (in Lord of the Rings 1) he wasn’t actually being pulled down by a Balrog.  There was another ledge just a few feet beneath him.

But whenever we watch Gandalf let go, I like to ask, “Why doesn’t Gandalf just keep clinging to the edge of the cliff like Frodo does at the end of LOTR 3?”  Frodo doesn’t initially let go (despite having just lost a finger) because he doesn’t want to get burned up in lava, but right as he’s tempted to give up and stop clinging, Sam commands him to not let go, so he just keeps clinging until Sam helps him up.

(image http://www.fanpop.com/spots/lord-of-the-rings/picks/results/589222/saddest-part-return-king)

The psalmist is more like Frodo than Gandalf.

The psalmist desperately clings to God word and doesn’t let go.  In 119:25, the psalmist clings to the dust in 119:25 (see here).  And now, just a few verses later the psalmist is clinging to God’s decrees (or “testimonies”; see below in the ESV).

Since the Hebrew verb “cling” is dabaq the psalmist uses it at the beginning of two verses (119:25, 31) here in the Dalet section of Psalm 119 (verses 25-32) where every verse begins with the Hebrew letter Dalet. 

For Frodo, clinging meant not getting burned up in hot lava like Gollum (oops, too late, spoiler alert).  For the psalmist clinging to God and God’s laws protect the psalmist from shame (see also 119:6 here).  (Despite my unfortunate familiarity with shame, I’d still probably rather be ashamed than get burned up in hot lava.)

For the psalmist clinging involved, among other things, writing a 176 verse poem singing the praises of God and God’s laws.  For me, it involves blogging about Psalm 119 every Sunday (or in this case, Monday morning).

What other ways can we cling to God’s word? 

I hope I can be more like Frodo, than Gandalf in this regard, desperately clinging onto God and God’s word.  But all of us, a bit like Frodo, need people like Sam, who tell us not to let go, in this case of God’s word.  Be like Frodo and like Sam.

Help us, God, cling to you and your words. 

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Think Yoda: “Objects, I begin sentences with” (Psalm 119:30)

Posted in Dalet, Psalm 119, Psalms, tagged on May 13, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

I have chosen the way of faithfulness;
I set your ordinances before me. (Psalm 119:30 NRSV).

This verse is the 6th of eight in the Dalet section of Psalm 119, where every verse begins with the Hebrew letter Dalet.  In English, you might notice that five verses in this section have the word “way” or “ways” in the first half of the verse (highlighted in green below: 119:26, 27, 29, 30, 32).  The reason for this is that the Hebrew word for “way” is derek, which begins with the letter Dalet.  But you might say, ”The word ‘way’ doesn’t begin the sentence.”  Good point, but word order in Hebrew is more flexible than in English.  All of these occurrences of “way” in this section are objects, and in Hebrew it’s not a problem to begin a section with an object (think Yoda, “Objects, I begin sentences with“).  So, in Hebrew the first half could be literally translated as “The way of faithfulness, I have chosen.”

So, the way is chosen.  The way of faithfulness, in contrast to the ways of deception that the psalmist requested help avoiding in the previous verse (see last week’s post here).  The word “faithfulness” = ‘emunah comes from the same root that the Aramaic word ”amen” comes from.  (No, the word doesn’t actually mean, “I’m done praying now.”)

The ordinances of God are set before the psalmist, like a carrot before a horse, urging the psalmist forward, not just toward YHWH’s laws, but ultimately toward YHWH himself.  Earlier in the Psalms, the psalmist declares, “I have set YHWH before me” (Psalm 16:8).

God, help us set your laws always before us.

Yoda image above from http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Yoda.  My highlighted text below.

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Deception Temptation (Psalm 119:29)

Posted in Dalet, Films, Old Testament, Psalms, tagged , , on May 7, 2012 | 1 Comment »

Put false ways far from me;
and graciously teach me your law (Psalm 119:29 NRSV).

False ways are close enough to the psalmist that he* needs divine help to have them removed.  The psalmist is essentially confessing a temptation to deception.  Deception is a difficult habit to break.

My wife Shannon and I attended an excellent seminar entitled “Loving Teenagers“ at our church over the weekend.  The speaker (Kevin Huggins) said that teens need space to be creative and use their imagination.  If they have no healthy creative/imaginative outlet, they are more likely to give in to deception as a way to express creativity.  If deceptive patterns are established during adolescence they are difficult to break, as the psalmist here realizes.

For antidotes to deception, in addition to imagination the psalmist here would add prayer and a divine Torah tutorial (see also my earlier post on Psalm 119:26).  The psalmist wants YHWH to teach him the law.  But notice, he requests a gracious tutorial.  We all know what it’s like to have a mean teacher.  Fortunately, God is slow to anger and abounds in steadfast love.  That makes him a great teacher.

The psalmist typically alternates between stating facts about the law and making requests to God.  Both lines of this verse are requests (“put”, “teach”), which is unusual.  The psalmist focuses in the first half of the verse on what to say no to, and in the second half, what to say yes to.  (This is the 5th verse in Dalet section of Psalm 119.)

God, continue to teach me your law. 

So, why the image of Jim Carrey?
*I’ve avoided using masculine pronouns for the author of Psalm 119 for 28 verses, but I’m going to start now, even though it’s not ideal.  All of the other options are awkward, and therefore even less ideal:
1) Referring to the “psalmist” multiple times in the same sentence.  Clunky.
2) Using the passive voice.  Weak.
3) Using the 3rd person plural.  Inconsistent.  Psalm 119 uses too many 1st personal singulars (“I”, “me”).
4) A combination of these three.  Clunky, weak and inconsistent.
So, while I don’t like using the 3rd masculine singular it’s the least awkward.  The psalmist may be a “she,” but it’s far more likely he’s a “he.”
Other suggestions?

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A soul-melting sorrow (Psalm 119:28)

Posted in Dalet, Old Testament, Psalm 119, Psalms, tagged , , , , on April 29, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

My soul melts away for sorrow;
strengthen me according to your word (Psalm 119:28 NRSV).

What do you do when you’re depressed?  The psalmist writes a poem of prayer, describing to God the pain of a soul-melting with sorrow.  (Despite his blue, melted body, the guy in the picture doesn’t look too bad.) I usually just watch TV.  The psalmist’s plan is probably better.

In Hebrew the verb dalaph (“melts” or “weeps”) begins this fourth verse of this fourth section of the psalm (119:25-32) where every verse begins with the fourth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, dalet.  So, it could be translated literally, “Weeps my soul from sorrow…”

So, what’s the cause of the psalmist’s sorrow?  It’s hard to know, and there’s not a clear connection between this verse and the previous one where the psalmist ended by meditating on God’s wonderous works.

In any case, the psalmist knows help is needed, so the request is for strengthening according to the word of YHWH.  How is the word going to lift the depression?  Again, it’s not clear, but two things are clear.  First, when the psalmist is struggling with sorrow, prayer (“strengthen me”) is the remedy chosen.  Second, the prayer itself focuses on God’s word.  Sounds like a good prescription for health.  Prayer, Scripture, God.

God, in our pain, help us remember you and your word. 

Image from http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/cool-eco-campaign-climate-change-melts-man-in-buenos-aires.html

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