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Two For The Money

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 | Author: Skip Moen

YHWH, in Your strength the king rejoices and in Your deliverance how he rejoices greatly!   Psalm 21:1 (my translation)

Rejoices – English just doesn’t cut it.  English is a language focused on things.  So, we have dozens of words to distinguish slight variables in things.  Just think about the many different words we have that all point to an automobile.  Every year the industry introduces us to more car vocabulary.  Hebrew doesn’t seem to be in love with these kinds of subtleties, but it often makes distinctions where we use only a single word.  This is one of those cases.  Here, David uses two different words for rejoice.  The first is gyl, the second is samach.  The puzzle is why there are two words and what the difference is between them.

First, let’s connect gyl to something more familiar.  Abigail is a name that means “my father is joy.”  You can see it in Hebrew – ab for father coupled with gyl for joy.  This might not be a popular name in our culture, but it certainly has a wonderful meaning in Hebrew.  Who wouldn’t want a daughter with a name like this?

Thirty-six times in Scripture, gyl and samach are found in the same sentence.  Twenty-five of those times, samach comes first.  Scholars believe that this indicates that samach covers a wider range of joyful expression than gyl.  It is also significant that gyl is not found in the Torah.  Almost all of its occurrences are in the prophets and in Psalms.  Finally, while gyl has a secular use, when it is used theologically, it is usually about God.  It describes rejoicing in God’s deliverance, loving-kindness (hesed), judgment and glory. 

Samach occurs in almost all the Old Testament books.  Although you might find this odd, samach occurs quite often in Ecclesiastes.  In the consummate book on the vanity of life, joy seems to play a rather significant role.  Like gyl, samach is a typical Hebrew verb that describes actions that result from emotions.  Nearly two-thirds of its uses are theological. 

Now we’re ready to note the difference between gyl and samach, and why the psalmist uses both so often.  Samach is a word that implies external motion as a result of internal emotion.  It is about clapping, dancing, shouting and singing.  It is joy out loud.  Gyl seems to express a more limited, and more internal experience, often associated with reflection on the character of God.  Gyl is never used “to express individual, isolated events in the past.” It is a present tense, existential experience of overflowing emotion, often resulting in physical action.

Here’s what we learn.  First, our language doesn’t capture all that Hebrew teaches us about rejoicing.  Second, the Hebrew concept of rejoicing covers both internal experience and external action.  Third, rejoicing is ultimately tied to a recognition of the character of God.  When David says that the king rejoices, in both samach and gyl, he says that the king finds the character of God and God’s benevolence so wonderful that his soul is thrilled and his body moved.  He just can’t help clapping and singing, dancing and shouting because what’s happening inside him is more than he can contain. 

Is that how you feel about God?  Are you so filled with His wonder that you just can’t stand still?  Is your rejoicing unbound?  Or are you a mental giant of Greek cognition who can’t quite make your feet move?

Topical Index:  rejoicing, samach, gyl, Abigail, joy, Psalm 21:2, Psalm 21:1

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Double Down

Monday, March 23rd, 2009 | Author: Skip Moen

YHWH, in Your strength the king rejoices and in Your deliverance how he rejoices greatly!  Psalm 21:2 (Hebrew text, my translation)

Strength / Deliverance – It’s Oz, but there’s no wizard.  It’s deliverance but there’s no background music.  Of course, you have to be “old” to understand these allusions.  I won’t apologize for that.  Age is the grist of insight.  It takes a certain amount of hindsight to be able to see the forest from the trees.

The Hebrew word for strength is ‘oz.  The word be.az.kha converts the root to “in Your strength.”  You can see the root in the middle to the word.  It’s not just anyone’s strength.  It’s not the strength of weapons, wisdom or wealth.  It’s God’s strength.  That implies, of course, that it is my weakness.  I don’t need God’s strength if I am doing just fine, thank you.  Of course, that is the claim of the fool.  The only strength capable of rescue (our next word) is the strength of the Lord Himself.  The letter to the Hebrews (a nice commentary on the Psalms) reminds us of this fundamental truth.  “that He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives” (Hebrews 2:14-15).  That’s us!  We were subject to slavery all our lives because no power on earth can overcome the terror and threat of death.  Deliverance from death takes a power from outside this world.  It takes az.kha (Your strength).  The king rejoices in that truth.  So do we.  We’ll have something to say about rejoicing as we look deeper into this psalm.

What is the purpose of God’s strength.  Once again, we are reminded of the Hebrews commentary.  Deliverance!  Rescue!  Salvation!  That’s how God uses His strength on our behalf.  The Hebrew word here is yeshu’ah.  Surprise, surprise!  The very name of the purpose of God’s strength is the name of our Messiah.  No wonder the king rejoices greatly. 

Notice, if you will, that this word (and this name) is translated not only as salvation but also as deliverance and rescue.  This is important.  In the Christian world, we have nearly obliterated the nuances of this word.  We think only in terms of guilt and forgiveness.  But that is not the “home” of this word.  The word is at home in the throes of battle.  The word finds its first application where a man needs reinforcements.  The word comes to life when life itself is threatened.  This is first and foremost a word about rescue. 

Rabbi Bob Gorelik often says that if you ask a Jew if he is saved, he will respond, “Was I in trouble?”  His first interpretation of your question will be in regard to the need to be rescued.  Deliverance, salvation and rescue mean nothing unless I first realize that I need help, and the most obvious way that I realize my need for deliverance is when I perceive a threat.  Christians have shifted the meaning of the term so that it is no longer understood as reinforcements arriving to save me.  It’s too bad.  Jesus understood the word in its Jewish context.  His deliverance is much more than dealing with our guilt.  Perhaps we need to reconsider the fuller implications of “strength” and “salvation.”  Maybe the God who is a Rock and a Fortress is also a God who shows up when the battle is almost lost.  He is ‘oz without a wizard, yeshu’ah without a halo.

Topical Index:  Strenght, ‘oz, salvation, rescue, deliverance, yeshu’ah, Psalm 21:2, Psalm 21:1

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Fearful Joy

Saturday, February 11th, 2006 | Author: Skip Moen

Worship the LORD with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Psalm 2:11

Trembling – What a strange combination? Joy is supposed to be accompanied by contentment and peace, not a protective adrenaline rush. We tremble when fear grips us. But the Biblical accounts paint a different picture. “Woe is me” says Isaiah. He trembles before the Lord, but not from joy. He trembles in fear of his life. Daniel is struck by fear in the presence of God. Peter, James and John experience the same dismay at the Transfiguration. Bravado is replaced with fear for their lives. There is no rejoicing here. So why does David, a man who knew well the power of the Almighty, mix these clashing colors? How can he say, “My canvas is covered with exuberant well-being and terrible dread”?

We worship an all-too-familiar God, a God tamed by proper etiquette, sanitized by spiritual correctness. We don’t enter into His gates in terror, afraid to die if we should accidentally glimpse His face. We come boldly. We are instructed to do so. But our boldness too often gives way to presumption. The fact that we are no longer afraid to die is not because we have the earned the right of an audience. Lest we forget, a holy God is not a familiar God. A God of majesty, power and wrath still occupies the throne of heaven. David was perfectly right to choose ra’ad, the Hebrew word for earthquake trembling.

Jesus gives us privilege, not priority. It is on His standing that I enter the throne room of the Most High. He vouches for me, not because I have now appeased the God in whom there is no darkness but because He chooses to love me in spite of my inner disgrace to the Father of Creation.

What would worship be like if God ever pulled back the veil? Would His dazzling brilliance blind us? Would His radiance burn away our flesh? Would we despair of lives lived so disobediently, even after grace? Would we, at last, tremble with joy because we would finally see how wide is the gap that the Son crossed to bring us into the presence of the One we cannot bear to face?

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