Paradigm Shift
I will bless YHWH who counsels me. Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night. Psalm 16:7
My Mind – Would a Hebrew poet say that his “mind” instructs him in the night? Think about it. Even though the contemporary translation includes the word “mind,” the word does not appear in the Hebrew. Oh, you might say, “Well, that’s because the word in Hebrew would be lev – heart.” But guess what? That word isn’t in the text either. In fact, the text says simply, “who counsels me, also in the nights my kidneys teach me .” What in the world does this mean? Does it mean that I have to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and then I contemplate God’s goodness? I hardly think that’s what David means.
We begin with the Hebrew word kilyah. In Hebrew thought, the kidneys, not the mind, are the seat of emotions. They are the most inward part of me, the place where my deepest feelings lie. Investigation of this word shows that it comes from the root kilah which means “to complete, accomplish, end, finish, consummate.” This is an interesting connection with the idea of emotions. Do emotions bring something to an end? We usually think of emotions as propelling an action, initiating rather than completing. But maybe we have it wrong. Maybe the Hebrew view, where emotions are the last in the series of obedient acts, is more in line with reality than the Greek view, where emotions are the uncontrollable initiators of action. It’s worth considering. What would happen if you saw your emotions as the final stage of obedience rather than the opening disruption of temptations for disobedience. Maybe James’ first chapter would read a little differently too.
So, why do contemporary translations remove the word for kidneys and replace it with something like “mind?” The answer is obvious. The paradigm of the translator is Greek. When I assume that the only place of instruction is in the mind, then anything that speaks about teaching must be a rational exercise. So, I change the word to fit my assumptions, and in the process, I import an alien worldview. Does my mind instruct me in the night? For a poet who has just extolled the unsurpassed virtue of YHWH’s direct counsel, would it make sense to immediately suggest that his own mind is the source of nightly instruction? No, the introduction of the thought “my mind” comes from a different worldview, one not compatible with the Hebrew perspective.
This verse tells us something very important about the Hebrew worldview – and consequently about how we operate within God’s Kingdom. God instructs our emotions. They are not run-away step-children of human existence. They are not something to fear because they cause us to careen out of control (the Greeks believed this). They are direct links to the ways of God. In the night, when I am most at home with myself, God teaches me how to feel. And the reason He does is so I can complete the human interaction with Him. My experience with God is not a head-trip. It is not simply rational control over my circumstances or a stoic resignation to my situation. I feel – and God uses those feelings to help me close the door on one thing and open it on another. The Hebrew word-picture for kilah helps us see this. It portrays “what comes from controlling the open palm.” Emotions do not run me. They are part of the way God made me in order that I might experience what comes when He is controlling the open palm. Then, as David says, “I will bless YHWH who counsels me.”
Topical Index: emotions, feelings, kidneys, kilyah, kilah, Psalm 16:7, worldview
Like reading King Lear 🙂
Yes, yes, yes, so true!!!
When I awoke this morning, having been counseled by my emotions during the night, I had a long list of thoughts to write down to help me be more obedient. At the top of the list was that my emotions had to change before the work was done. Simply put love was being, and needed to continue to be, substituted in my life for less beneficial emotions. Once again God provided for my needs not my worth. I was not to get angry or loved out. I had to tap into that eternal love within me. When I read Today’s Word it reminded me of what was indeed happening in my deepest feelings and how the work is not done until I loved God, loved my neighbor as my self and indeed loved my self as well. That is the true test of obedience and the true test of faith is that God will give us the boldness to believe that loving is enough.
“My mind instructs me in the night”…. I am aware from several sources that the FEELING of a dream is more important than the details. Your explanation confirms this for me. Thanks for continuing to shed light on the original truth in God’s word!
Wow my kidney was injected with on overwhelming confirmatioon as I was chewing on today’s Word. In my spirit confirmation came as to the revelation of this hebrew thought. In the deepest parts of me I felt the confirmation. What joy I experience whtn the Word of God is confirmed with signs and wonders within not always by some outward ‘sign or wonder’.
Pretty funny. Why do you suppose the Hebrew worldview thought of the kidneys as the seat of emotions? Remember that the language is phenomenological. There is an interesting insight here. Do you see it?
I don’t know if I am seeing the same insight but it seems that the kidneys clean our blood and without a set of working kidney we would not last long, but I am not sure what relivance it has with emotions. I have a friend who is waiting for a liver transplant and had to be placed on a dialysis machine to clean her blood from the waste that the kidneys normals take care of. I may be off base so please direct me with your insight.
a fellow traveler on the Way,
jeffrey
Since Hebrew is phenomenologically based, I think the connection might be a bit less sophisticated. After all, I doubt that anyone in the 15th century BC realized that kidneys clean the blood. Of course, they had to know something about kidneys since they were more than familiar with dissection. But I suspect, although I cannot confirm it, that the function of the kidneys is likely to be related to the elimination of waste and the discomfort and other factors that are associated with the process. In other words, there are emotional overtones to the bodily functions and that might be the reason that kidneys were associated with emotions. Don’t know for sure, but it seems like a possibility.
Skip
Good Morning!!!
Maybe a good place to start searching is in the fourth level of the PARDES, Sod. There we can find a lot of good information about this theme. Besides, we must remember that our soul has five levels. The first three, are related with our organs. From bottom to top:nefesh (physical aspect); ruach (emotional aspect) and neshamah (mind of mental aspects). If someone want to learn more about how function our soul, one book that can be read is: Mindind the Temple of the Soul by, Tamar Frankiel.
Thank you very much…blessings.
For those who are not familiar with the rabbinic kabbalah teachings, Ismael’s reference to the five levels of the soul are from kabbalistic interpretation of the Hebrew hayah and yehidah. His reference to the levels of PARDES are rabbinic concepts of interpreting Scripture. PARDES is an acronym for P’shat (the grammatical, historical and cultural level of a text), Remez (the allegorical interpretation of a text), D’rash (the parabolic, deeper meaning of a text) and Sod (the secret, mystical level of the text.)
Not everyone agrees with this method, nor with the conclusions, but there are some illuminating results on occasion.
I don’t see a spot to put prayer requests, & my request seems most applicable here so please tell me if there is a better place to post it:
” … God instructs our emotions. They are not run-away step-children of human existence. They are not something to fear because they cause us to careen out of control (the Greeks believed this). They are direct links to the ways of God. In the night, when I am most at home with myself, God teaches me how to feel. And the reason He does is so I can complete the human interaction with Him. … ”
WOW ! I could use some extra prayer in the next weeks/months.
Received my latest test results today and my Babesia numbers (my other tick-borne disease) have steadily decreased but are still showing evidence that these critters are living and multiplying. Babesia must be completely gone in order to eradicate Lyme disease.
My specialist is one of the two “best” lyme doctors in the US. He says my most recent med quit working and I need to change to “Larium”. Like my past meds, Larium is an anti-malarial (since Babesia operates almost exactly like malaria). He said my first dose will be a “loading dose” and many times stronger than the following twice-daily doses will be. It is very common to have hallucinations with the loading dose, rage issues, & depression along with the normal nausea (emphasized by the doxy that I will also resume, making me predictably vomit 30min after each pill), diarrhea, dizziness & headache. When I went to these websites
http://www.drugs.com/sfx/mefloquine-side-effects.html and http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=19591&name=LARIAM
I found out a lot more. The doctor didn’t mention that many people have YEARS of psychiatric consequences after very few doses of this med; sometimes after only the first loading dose. It is so bad that there have been numerous suicides & there is a current lawsuit against the pharmaceutical company. I have already been dealing with “musical” hallucinations due to inflammation in my brain creating pressure on the auditory processing unit, but the larium-induced hallucinations almost always involve terror and panic. Also, the onset of these psyc symptoms can be delayed by weeks and months, but once they start they only intensify, and they almost always continue for weeks, months, or years after dropping the meds.
I called the doctor this week telling him that (after some research) I disagreed with his decision of “Larium” for my next medication. I asked to go back on my most recent set of meds. His reply was that these have quit working; we’ve exhausted the other options to kill the Babesia, and he is sure it will be okay.
What’s the use of having a top expert in the field if I don’t follow through with his instructions? I said I would do it. But this is kind of scary … I think I need some prayer support.
-Truthful L. Kindness & Blessing the wheelchair Service Dog
truthfulkindness@sbcglobal.net
Hey Patrick,
Yes, let’s figure out a way so that prayer requests are broadcast to everyone. Great idea.
This was a post from my blog written to a dear brother that was advocating replacement theory, i.e the church has replaced Israel because of Israel’s rejection of Jesus. He had responded to one of my comments about God’s covenant being with Israel and not with America. He asked the question: “Has not God’s blessing been passed on to the Gentiles?”
In the previous post, a dear brother who I love in the Lord asked the question that is the topic of this posting: Has not God’s blessing been passed on to the Gentiles? Although it would be quite impossible to provide in this brief posting a complete answer to this question, I will attempt to point readers to where to find the answer. The essential difficulty is that the church since the time of Constantine in the 4th Century has promoted much anti-Semitism. Constantine was instrumental in separating the Christian church from its Jewish roots. The early church was a Messianic congregation with both Jews and Gentiles worshipping side by side. Do you think that Paul wrote to the church at Corinth? The word Paul used was ekklesia, which in classical Greek referred to a town council or called out ones to govern. The word had no religious connotation. However, in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament recognized as a legitimate version during the time of Jesus and Paul), ekklesia was the word used to translate the word q’helah (a Hebrew word that means an assembly – usually understood in the LXX as synagogue, which, by the way, is another Greek word). When Paul, who also was a Jewish rabbi, used ekklesia, he would certainly have used the word with its religious overtones as opposed to the secular usage of the word. What is the point? The point is that Paul was writing to the q’helah (synagogue) at Corinth, not the “church”. It is the bias of Gentile translators that has corrupted the true meaning. If you question this, look at Acts 7:38: “This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us….” (KJV) The word “church” is ekklesia. The King James translates this correctly, implying that the “church” had its origins with Moses. But check other modern translations and you will find that this word is altered so that it does not read “church”. That’s because of the influence of the two-covenant theology which views the church’s origin at Pentecost – in spite of what the text actually says. In an effort to show that the church replaced Israel, the modern translators put the “congregation” in the wilderness instead of calling it the “church.” But the Greek word is identical.
It must be remembered that God’s covenant was with Abraham to create a great nation to bless the world with salvation. The covenant with Israel is with the nation of Israel, not individuals. Individuals are personally born from above when they become a disciple of Jesus Christ through faith in His sacrifice. One is not saved because they are born Jewish. Salvation comes through Jesus Christ alone. That is a distinct issue from the covenant with a nation. Where do you find the first reference to the New Covenant? If you guessed anywhere from Matthew to Revelation, you don’t know where it is. The “New Covenant” is found in Jeremiah 31:31: “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah….” Who is the new covenant with? It is with the house of Israel and the House of Judah, not with the Gentiles. That is why, when a Gentile becomes a member of the body of Christ, he or she becomes a part of the covenant with Israel. The covenant that leads to salvation is the covenant God made with Israel and Judah. As a side note and far beyond what can be addressed in this brief post, the word translated “new” is the Hebrew word hadash and it means to renew or repair. A derivative of the word means a new moon. Every 30 days or so when we get a new moon, is it new or is it the same moon being renewed by making a reappearance?
Right before he died, Martin Luther made horrific statements concerning the Jewish people. He died shortly thereafter. You can draw your own theological conclusions. However, the point is, that God has not abandoned Israel. We, as Gentile believers, have been grafted into the olive tree. That olive tree represents Israel. Are we spiritual Israel? No, we are righteous Gentiles who have found salvation in Yeshua (He was never called Jesus while He walked the earth; His name is Yeshua). God has not passed over the nation of Israel; He has made an everlasting covenant with them and God never breaks His covenants. There is so much that could be said on this subject. I want to point you in the right direction. Gentile believers would be well served by learning about their Jewish roots. Yeshua was a Jewish rabbi, most all the Bible was written by Jews to Jews, and we must fight our indoctrination to think that somehow the plan of God is centered around the Gentiles. That is simply put, the result of 1700 years of bad teaching.
Check out this sources:
http://www.eshavbooks.org This site promotes the teachings of Messianic Rabbi Bob Gorelik. It is excellent. I have several of his teachings.
http://www.jerusalemperspective.com This is a very good site that explores the Jewish background of the life and teachings of Jesus.
There are many others, but these will provide a good foundation to see the truth about our faith that has been hidden from the Gentile church. Walk in the dust of these teachings (old rabbinic saying) and you will be amazed at what you didn’t know that you thought you did.
Gentile believers would be well served by learning about their Jewish roots. Yeshua was a Jewish rabbi, most all the Bible was written by Jews to Jews, and we must fight our indoctrination to think that somehow the plan of God is centered around the Gentiles. That is simply ! put, the result of 1700 years of bad teaching.
Hi Barry,
As a gentile, I could not agree more with your point above. And before I go on to my question, I want to make clear that your knowledge of this text is far greater than mine. But, with all due respect, the following statement does not ring true to me. Are you saying that Jews that believe in God/Torah but not Jesus cannot be saved? This seems a bit too academic to me 🙂
Salvation comes through Jesus Christ alone.
Good Morning!!!
This analysis give us the opportunity to get in touch with Jewish mystical teachings about the mind. They teach that, to heal the mind, three powers must be functioning. To some extend, these powers are present in all mental work, but in normal life they are often not in balance. These are called chochmah or wisdom; binah or understanding; and daat or knowledge. Each helps in as different way to relate the mind to both soul and the body.
Thank Dr. Moen for this space to share our opinions with each other.
I was reading Psalm 16 today at Blueletterbible.com and was wondering about what “reins” are. I used the concordance http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Psa&c=16&v=1&t=KJV#conc/7 and was so surprised to see the word “kidneys” as the translation– and the translation that is used most often. I saw in Latin the word is “renes” (from which we get “renal”). I really want the L-rd’s direction in some specific areas— so this is interesting to me. I am thankful that according to verse 7, He gives me counsel– and even at night, He will use my body (if this is a metaphor) or my kidneys (if it is not) to teach me. Thank you, L-rd.