Archery
Teach me Your way, O YHWH, and lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies. Psalm 27:11
Teach – Did you ever take a class in archery at summer camp? It isn’t as easy as it looks, is it? You have to learn about holding the bow and the arrow correctly. If you don’t have the right grip, when you let the arrow fly you might end up with an injured finger and a missed target. If you’re going to hit the bull’s eye, you’ll need some instruction. “Teach me,” says David. The Hebrew verb he uses is yara, a verb about shooting arrows. But David isn’t asking for archery lessons, so why does he choose this verb?
Yara has two verb constructions in the Tanakh. The first is called the qal structure. It is close to our idea of present tense active. In this form, the verb means “to cast, to throw, to shoot.” It’s used for casting lots, throwing stones and shooting arrows. The emphasis of the verb is on the control of the action. But yara is also found in the hiphil, a form that changes the present to the causative sense. Now it means something like “to cause to shoot or to cause to throw.” Since it is still about the control of the action, the hiphil of yara takes on the sense of teaching. That’s the way David uses it here. Lord, cause me to learn Your way. For a man who knew a lot about weapons, yara is the perfect verb. Take my skill with the instruments of death and convert it into instruments of life. Let me shoot straight according to Your intention. This concept of hitting the target is also found in the Hebrew idea of sin because sin is literally missing the mark.
But this isn’t quite the end of the story. You see, yara is the verbal root of another Hebrew word, torah. You can be sure that David was well aware of this connection. When he asked the Lord to teach (yara) him, he is at the same time expressing his desire to know torah, God’s “teachings.” David isn’t asking God for a personal revelation or a mystical insight into heaven. He is asking God to illuminate Torah so that he might know the smooth path of living in harmony with the Lord. David isn’t demanding a special “word from the Lord.” He is acknowledging his need to understand God’s already-revealed instructions.
The Scriptures tell us that David was a man after God’s own heart. In spite of David’s sins, God considered David a friend. In fact, David’s relationship with the Lord was so firm that God deferred punishment on many generations after David for the sake of David’s faithfulness. Clearly, David’s appeal to be taught the way of YHWH had significant results.
Isn’t that what we want? Don’t we want to aim right at the center? Then join David. Let the Lord teach you His torah. Practice doing what He says and your aim will get better and better. One day you’ll shout, “Bull’s eye!” with a big smile on your face.
Topical Index: Topical Index: yara, torah, shoot, teach, Psalm 27:11
There is something to be said for the new comer to preaching. One of my earliest sermons was from Paul’s letter to the Romans on “Missing the Mark.” I think that in my naivete I was maybe closer to the truth than I knew.
Instead of Romans I should have said Philipians 3:14
Skip … well stated! I thought you might find the following of interest given the similarity in positions!
Excerpt from “The Seven Churches Of Asia” … P.R. Otokletos …. 2007
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[“So what then is really the best way to view Hebraic or Biblical Torah if not simply as the series of
laws, commandments, precepts, and judgments extracted and codified from the first five Books of Hebrew Scripture?
The Hebrew word Torah comes from the Hebrew root word yarah. Yarah means to throw, to shoot (as an arrow for example), to aim at. Yarah then is the directional process taken by a propelled object. Yarah certainly implies: a starting point, a traveling process, and an end point. As a derivative of the word yarah, Torah means much more than a legal code or set of rules. Torah implies a starting point, a progression in a specific direction, and a final ending point.
By association of ideas Torah means guidance and instruction and must not be interpreted in a solely legalistic (commands and statutes) sense! It is a way of life derived from the covenant-relationship between ELOHIM and Israel. That Torah is not only law can be seen from the fact that it is equally well prophetic utterance (i.e. Isaiah, Psalms) and the counseling of the wise (i.e. Proverbs,). It would appear when viewed objectively that commandment is supplementary to Torah but not identical with it.
As such the usual English translation of the Hebrew word Torah (law) can be seen to be much narrower than the meaning of the word itself and not very accurate. Subsequently a much better English translation of the Hebrew term “Torah” might be Instructional Journey or The Way!
Still further it should be clear that Torah can not realistically be defined as or limited to any sub-set of Holy Scripture, such as the first five books of the Hebrew Tanakh (a.k.a. Hebrew Old Testament). Torah then is more accurately: the collective revelation of knowledge from ELOHIM to mankind through the inspired Hebrew writings which constitute Holy Scripture! In plain terms; The Hebrew Scriptures/Bible is Torah; the Tanakh as well as the B’rit Chadasha.”]
When Torah is viewed more in lines with “the path/way” and coupled with the concept of a propelled object, Yeshua’s commentary about the straight and narrow path seem to make much more sense.
From a strict Hebraic sense one could argue that we are in fact not even the shooters or propellers of the object but rather the object itself. How often do we hear the beleiver’s cry …”more of You Lord and less of me”! If Ruach HaKodesh then is actually the propeller of the object can we then say that ELOHIM is responsible for our off course direction? Of course not … the point being then that it is the yetzer ha’ra which gets in between Ruach HaKodesh and us. It is the yetzer ha’ra which seeks to determine not only the target but also the direction that should be taken … this is how we end up with “relative” targets, standards and a whole bunch of trouble.
Missing the Mark
Most of my life the thought of associating the expression Missing the Mark with the Hebrew poet David would never have entered my mind. Now it gives me great pleasure.
Most of my adult life I have associated Missing the Mark with “Zen archery” or the “Zen of tennis.”
Although I never took an archery class, my favorite tennis teacher taught me long ago to always aim at the Eye of the Tiger.