For You are my rock and my fortress, therefore for Your name’s sake lead me, guide me. Psalm 31:4 (Hebrew text)

Lead me, Guide me – It is unfortunate that our efforts to produce a smooth-flowing English translation often result in hiding subtleties in the Hebrew.  It’s unfortunate because those subtleties help us understand the depth of expression.  When they are lost, we might find the translation easier to read, but we will have missed something God wanted us to know.

In Hebrew, David is crying out for guidance.  He is desperate for God to show him the way.  He employs two closely related verbs, nahah and nahal.  Each verb expresses a particular nuance for David.  In a pictograph, nahah means “what comes from a fence around life.”  To be led by God is not to be given a goal to achieve.  It is to be circumscribed in our behavior.  God’s guidance fences me in!  Far too often we tend to think that leading is sending us out on a path.  But here David makes it clear that leading (guiding) is really enclosing my behavior.  “God, put a fence around me.  Lead me in the paths of righteousness.  Close me in.”

Nahal also expresses guidance, but in this case the verb means “to lead someone by the hand.”  It is the quintessential action of a shepherd, a gentle heading beside still waters.  In fact, this verb is found in the phrase, “He makes me lie down in green pastures.”  The pictograph means “to control the fence around life.”  So we see that David’s view of God’s direction isn’t simply drawing a circle around us.  It is also controlling the fence that encloses us.  God sets the boundaries and He is the only one who is in charge of them.  My job is to run inside the fence – and stay there.  That is exactly what David says in the second verse.  “I take refuge in You.”

There is one more facet of these verbal synonyms that we must recognize.  They are not in the same tense.  Nahah (lead me – fence me) is a Hebrew form that indicates causation.  In other words, David is saying, “God, cause this to happen.  Make a fence around me.”  But the verb nahal is a Hebrew form that indicates a declaration of something that is the case.  In other words, once God fences me, He becomes my controlling sovereign.  He rides the fences.  I enjoy the safety and protection from the inside.

Oh, yes.  Both verbs are imperfect.  That means they express an ongoing, fluid action.  Fences don’t fall.  God’s concern doesn’t quit.  As Abraham Heschel said, “We are an object of God’s concern.”

Topical Index:  lead me, guide me, nahah, nahal, Psalm 31:4