Weighty Matters
Awake, my glory! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. Psalm 57:8 NASB
My glory – Did you find David’s expression a bit unusual? Is he foreshadowing Maslow or Shakespeare? Does he mean that his glory, the importance of his own self-esteem, needs to find expression (Maslow) or is he using the phrase as a euphemism for the glory of God which he will now experience (Shakespeare)? What’s the difference between kevodi and kevodeka? What do you think? Is David having a moment of self-realization or is he still extolling his God?
The answers to these questions are not so obvious. After all, kavod (found 376 times in the Tanakh) is usually a negative expression. It is used to describe what is sluggardly, dull or obstinately immovable. It is used to recount experiences and events that are viewed as disastrous or difficult. It is used to denote massive size, and all its related problems. Apparently, “glory” isn’t always what we think it is.
On the other hand, “the second major group of connotations is a further extension of the figurative use of the term. In this case the idea is of that which is weighty in the sense of being noteworthy or impressive. Common translations are ‘honorable, honored, glorious, glorified.’” [1]
The fact that kavod can have both positive and negative connotations forces us to understand the term in context, and even that isn’t always so easy. For example, is David saying that he needs to awaken his sluggishness, that he needs to break free of his immobility, or is he expressing metaphorically that his honor and reputation need to be revived? Or is he simply using a circumlocution of his recognition of God’s honor? Would it be also correct to translate this phrase as, “Awaken, my apathetic self!”? It would be much clearer if David hadn’t included that little vowel at the end, but then, of course, he didn’t. He wrote the word without the vowels and someone, a thousand years later, put the tiny mark under the dalet to make it read “my glory.” It becomes a matter of interpretation.
Perhaps that’s the lesson we can draw from this unusual linguistic and contextual issue. Perhaps the only way to distinguish between all these different meanings is our personal context. David knew what he meant. We don’t. But we do know exactly what we mean when we say something like this about ourselves. We know when we need to arouse our own sluggishness or when we need to defer to God’s glory or when we intend positive rather than negative import. We know even if our readers don’t. But that doesn’t really matter in a poem written between God and me, does it? What matters is God knows.
Topical Index: glory, kavod, Psalm 57:8
[1] Oswalt, J. N. (1999). 943 כָבֵד. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (426). Chicago: Moody Press.
I find this disturbing. What about that whole not a jot or tittle? Is this our opinion? Who is to say more yuds are not added or subtracted? It would change many things.
The false pen of the scribes.It is important to search for 2 or three witnesses to scripture passages.I find this to be especialy true in the new testament.
It seems to mean his soul — which Jacob calls his honour, Gen. 49:6 — a soul being the most honourable and excellent part of man; is the breath of God, is a spirit and immortal; has the image of God stamped upon it, which made man the glory of God, 1 Cor. 11:7.
The soul has the image of Christ stamped on it in regenerated persons; and that glorifies God and Christ. A soul is worth more than the whole world Mark 8: 36
It seems sometimes in the saints as it were asleep, and needs awaking; –it is incapable of natural of natural sleep, but asleep in a sense as when grace is not in exercise; when the soul is lukewarm to Divine things, a very dangerous place to be. A mans soul can become dull through the heaviness of worldly cares and pressured by sorrows and troubles. The disciples were found sleeping for sorrow, Luke 22:45
David had been in much distress, his soul was bowed down, Ps 57:6; he had hung his harp upon the willow, and could not sing to the Lord in the place and circumstances he was in. But then he snapped to and calls upon his soul to awake! Stop wallowing in it! He stirs up himself to get back to praise, just as Deborah did, Judges 5:12 — we have a will and can determine if we will sit still and moan under duress and dwell in gloom — or we can praise our awesome and most worthy God.
Don’t hang your harp — don’t stop singing!
http://youtu.be/gBb1r97SrXs
Hi Dorothy..
Just read your insert for this morning and I would like to say that the soul is NOT immortal. It is not a separate entity from the man . What you are seeing or believing is not Christian but Greek teaching that Paul thoroughly taught against.
Man is mortal and man does not have a soul…man is a soul with breath.
We seem to make it so complicated where it appears that GEN. 2:7 is pretty clear.
What a difference in our understanding of HIM when we receive HIS word concerning this and not the Greek Philosophers of Paul’s time and yes ,even in our time.
The soul that sinneth….it SHALL DIE so as we can see, the soul is NOT immortal as many have swallowed.
Even now, with those who believe the GREAT I AM.. eternal life is the gift that we are STILL waiting for . I will die and I will await the coming of the LORD who has delivered me from the CURSE of the law which is eternal death. But as yet , I have the promise of eternal life and in the world that is coming in and coming down..I will be clothed with IMMORTALITY AT HIS COMING for which I long for.
Romans 2:7
Thanks to everyone who is an active participator here. I am not..but I do look forward to the read of the day. THANKS to all !
Good Morning, Carol,
Many Scriptures in both Covenants leave no doubt in my mind that the human soul is immortal:
Psalm 22:26; 23:6; 49:7-9; Ecc. 12:7; Dan. 12:2-3; Matt. 25:46; and 1 Cor. 15:12-19.
“Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.”
Jesus Himself said that the wicked “will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life” (Matt. 25:46). The wicked and the righteous have an eternal/immortal soul, and will exist in one place or the other forever.
I am NOT saying our souls are eternal in the same way that God is. God is the only truly eternal Being — He alone is without a beginning or end. God has always existed and will always continue to exist.
Our souls did for certain have a beginning, but now that we are in existence, there will NEVER be a time we cease.
No amount of talk (my heart is fixed on what I see in the Word) will make me believe we will not exist forever, either in perfect joyous life with God — or separation from Him in hell. The decisions of that day will be final, irreversible, unending.
You are apparently fixed as well, and are completely free to believe your way.
Skip generously keeps an open blog for sincere debates, and, of course, agreement is not required, else there would be no point to posting at all. smile. May we all grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ — to Him be the glory at all times.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Roderick Logan, I’d hit the LIKE button 10X if there was one
Dear Dorothy,
While I am sure you are convinced of what you have been taught and what you believe, it is abundantly clear from the history of ideas that the “immortal soul” is a result of Platonic thought, not biblical thought. The fact that it is completely absorbed into Christian thinking does not make it biblical. It only makes it Platonic-Christian. See Jacques Ellul’s comment on this (citing a a TW of some time ago). Scholarship demonstrates where the idea comes from. You may choose to believer otherwise, and as a Christian you may choose to believe that this is a biblical idea, but if you investigate the HISTORY of the idea, you will find its arrival via Plato in the 2nd Century BC, which probably explains why there is virtually no mention of an afterlife in the Tanakh and why the Bible does not support the idea of a “soul” existing apart from a body.
You are right, of course, that this is a place for debate, so I am challenging you to investigate where the idea came from, and not simply provide me with a list of verses which are used to support the idea. After all, if the verses were abundantly clear, there would be no debate.
Very Good Skip !
I am not a scholar nor do I pretend to be. I have no bible college degree . I am a woman that does seek the best and the BEST being in the LORD JESUS CHRIST.
I guess I am one of those fanatics..smiles.
But I am thankful for the things that the LORD has taught me through other patient teachers who have committed their life to HIM as well.
We are in so much need of the LORD exposing what the Enemy has stolen from the Body; His church.
So many are so steeped in Greek myth and to even try to talk to them about it.. their mind is made up. I could not afford to be that tightly closed as I know that we can be duped. The minute we think we can not be duped.. we are.
SO I do thank you for that comment and the history of its origin.
May others be encouraged to do their homework and to know that the LORD is more than willing to open HIS WORD to those who seek HIM.
FOR JESUS SAKE..
Once again, your view of the soul is thoroughly Greek, including the thought that it is the most honorable and excellent part of man. Hebrew has no word for “soul.” The person is nephesh – not divisible into parts as in Greek. The image of God is not a noun-based attribute or substance. The image of God is a verb – God is what He does and so we are in His image when we do what He does. The idea of a “thing” (the soul) being STAMPED with an image (ikon) is entirely a Greek conception.
Your further comments about awakening reflect Plato via Augustine via Luther, and the impact of Augustine’s formulation of sinful nature and depravity. None of this is biblical. Please remember that the English Bible translation of words reflects the ENGLISH meanings of the words, not the Hebrew meanings. We must always strip away our own elaborations in order to understand what the AUTHOR meant.
As a child I learned what happens when you over-fill a wheel barrow and then try rolling it. Just because it appears to have a large capacity doesn’t mean that I have the capability to roll that weight; especially over the difficult terrain of a construction site.
Likewise with understanding the truth of Scripture. Each genre of biblical literature is designed to carry a particular weight. The legal structure of Leviticus has a different weight limit than the poetry of the Psalms. The letters, words, and sentence structures can have enormous capacities; but if I can’t manage their depth, then what value is it? Perhaps finding sufficiency with what can be grasped is today’s manna. And in time my capabilities will increase. It is true a mountain is best moved one shovel full at a time; but it is also true one straw too many breaks the camel’s back.
Psalm 57:7
My heart is ready God
my heart is ready
I mean to sing and play for you
awake my muse
awake lyre and harp
I mean to wake the Dawn
In my view of the translation in my Bible
My heart, God, and Dawn will occupy the same space
At the same time
Muse is a sign of God, and like music it is playful and joyous
Dawn, the time, has come
Skip,
As always, your teaching causes us to look deeper and deeper into the CONTEXTUAL meaning. Oh how my husband (Ric) and I would love to be able to read, speak and comprehend ancient Hebrew. Alas, we don’t, and so your statement here is a truth that is comforting:
“Perhaps the only way to distinguish between all these different meanings is our personal context. David knew what he meant. We don’t. But we do know exactly what we mean when we say something like this about ourselves. We know when we need to arouse our own sluggishness or when we need to defer to God’s glory or when we intend positive rather than negative import. We know even if our readers don’t. But that doesn’t really matter in a poem written between God and me, does it? What matters is God knows.”
Roderick, you said it perfectly! Thank you for your eloquent, practical post.
BTW, we live on a little hobby farm and I’m STILL over-filling the wheel-barrel!
William Carlos Williams
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
~ Very truly I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life ~ (John 5.24)
“Has eternal life?” “Has crossed over?” If we could but see and remember the tense, we wouldn’t be so tense!
And also.. Is “eternal life” – a quantity or a quality – or both?
Is “eternal life” – a quantity or a quality – or both?
The spiritual afterlife is referred to in Hebrew as Olam Ha-Ba (oh-LAHM hah-BAH), the World to Come, although this term is also used to refer to the messianic age. The Olam Ha-Ba is another, higher state of being.
The place of spiritual reward for the righteous is often referred to in Hebrew as Gan Eden (GAHN ehy-DEHN) (the Garden of Eden). This is not the same place where Adam and Eve were; it is a place of spiritual perfection.
Hmmm
Doesn’t eternal life have to be a quantity less than, greater than, or equal to everyday life?
Must be both a quantity and a quality
I’m having a bit of trouble following this comment. Are you quoting someone in the first part and replying in the second? If you are, then I would raise an objection about the olam ha’ba being the world TO COME. The phrase is THE WORLD COMING. It does not imply a HIGHER, MORE SPIRITUAL existence. That would be a Greek idea from Pythagoras and Plato. Let’s not mix the cultures when we try to answer questions about linguistic meanings.
The spiritual afterlife is referred to in Hebrew as Olam Ha-Ba (oh-LAHM hah-BAH), the World to Come, although this term is also used to refer to the messianic age. The Olam Ha-Ba is another, higher state of being
Hi Skip,
I see your point; the quote above is from Judaism 101 online
Which seems to have gone through some form and content changes
Over the last year or two
On the other hand, I tend to think in terms of the song by the Call
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi-CfLsgLyk
Wherever you go it’s the same presence of God
“Raise me up”
“Every where I go I think of You”
“Keep that promise that you made”
BY faith….. we have eternal life.
As yet , I do not have it .
Romans 2:7 speaks to me and yes, it is in the WORD that I too believe.
We will be clothed with immortality when Jesus comes but NOT before the Resurrection of the DEAD from the dead. WE are all appointed to die once and then the judgement.
As yet, bodily resurrection and the judgment unto eternal life or unto eternal death has not happened.
If I believe that all are IMMORTAL.. then even those who are outside of CHRIST get clothed with immortality.
Lots to look at here people especially if we think we can die and be in two places at a time.
While living.. I can only be in one place at at time and death does NOT offer me more than life.
Death is still the enemy.
No question that death is the enemy. It is also the paradigm example of the continuing reign of the enemy, which is why it had to be defeated. But it seems pretty clear that eternal life (whatever that is) is the immediate consequence of faithfulness. However, it is also coming, in the fuller sense. I participate in its modality now and await its full arrival later.
“Awake, my glory!”
I would like to think, ‘my glory’ as in addressing ABBA as his kavod- awaking to His kavod, that he ought to be out of hiding that YHWH be allowed to reveal His kavod. 🙂
“Perhaps the only way to distinguish between all these different meanings is our personal context.”
It always has to be our individual perspective, how we perceive to understand what it means to US.
Perceptions from various angles may not be in error, as in looking at the same item, but it is the insistence that I AM RIGHT, is in error, refusing to see it from another perspective, e.g. at this blog where we are being led to leave deceptive Greek philosophy which clearly leads us AWAY from Hebraic perspectives in which The Scriptures were written in, that give a better and surer word.
Why do we insist on bringing in Greek thinking and not willing to change in spite of the many comments made here, e.g. the ‘soul’/nephesh is separate from the spirit, is immortal??
Rebellion/resisting truth is as witchcraft/divination, and stubbornness as iniquity and idolatry, we are reminded. 1Sam 15:23
Let us desire to move on and not hang on to “another Ἰησοῦς Iēsous (pronounced as Yesous) nor “another gospel” as Shaul wrote in 2 Cor 11:4
Shalom!
~ In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them ~
Blinded the what? – the mind. The Greek mind? The Hebrew mind? No. The mind. Mind your mind. The mind is a terrible thing to waste. Do you mind if I ask,- what mind?
This is your brain. This is your brain on sin. This is your mind before Christ. This is your mind after Christ. The battle (assuredly) IS for the mind.
Before I do anything- I think about it. Where does this thinking take place? In the mind. I think, I plan. I prepare, etc.
My desires, my will, – where do these originate? In my liver? No- all are contained within the mind of man. Introducing “the brain.” Selah.
Selah? Isn’t that a Hebrew word? A word meaning what? Stop.- and think about that! – it is the “pause that refreshes. ~ Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long ~ (Psalm 119.97) David, you do what? You meditate? Doesn’t meditation involve the mind? But David, – I thought you were Hebrew and didn’t think about anything but just automagically obeyed God as easily as turning on a light switch. You actually ~ think on these things? ~
Which reminds me of.. No, wait a minute- If I have been reminded- this “remembrance” takes place where? ~ Let this (?) be in you which also was in Christ Jesus? ~
Mind vs. action is bah-loney. This is leaping without looking. This is jumping off the front porch wearing rollerskates without thinking about the potential consequences. I remember my daughter’s broken arm and I’m sure she does too! “Sweetheart, – what were you “thinking..”- (or were you thinking at all..)
~Bringing into captivity every (?) to the obedience of Christ? Every what? Every “thought?” Oh, how Greek!
~But the Comforter, which is the Holy Breath, whom the Father will send in My Name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you ~ (John 14.26)
To your remembrance? Doesn’t remembrance involve the mind? the brain? I thought so..- but there I go thinking again..
~ And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance* of Me ~ (Luke 22.19)
~ My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are ONE ~ Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him ~
Why? Was He who He said He was? – Is He who He says He is? ~ Who do men say that I, the son of man am?~
Mattityahu 16:13-20
Orthodox Jewish Bible (OJB)
Now, having arrived in the district of Caesarea Philippi, Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach began asking his talmidim, saying, Who do men say that the Ben HaAdam am?
And Moshiach’s talmidim said, Some say Yochanan of the tevilah of teshuva, and others say, Eliyahu HaNavi, but still others say, Yirmeyah or one of the Neviim.
He says to them, But you, who do you consider Me to be?
And, Shimon Kefa said in reply, You are the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, the Ben Elohim Chayyim!
And Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach said in reply to him, Ashrey atah (happy are you), Shimon Bar Yonah, because basar vadahm (flesh and blood) did not give you this hisgalus (revelation), but Avi shbaShomayim. And I also say to you that you are Shimon Kefa [Petros] and upon this TSUR I will build my Kehillah, my Chavurah (the Community of Moshiach) and the shaarei Sheol (gates of Sheol) shall not overpower it.
I will give you the maftechot Malchut HaShomayim (keys of the Kingdom of Heaven); and whatever you shall bind as asur (prohibited) on haaretz shall be bound as asur (prohibited) in Shomayim, and whatever you shall loose as mutar (permitted) on haaretz shall be loosed as mutar (permitted) in Shomayim.
Then Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach gave the directive to his talmidim that they should tell no one that He was the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach.
Carl, that was one of the first things my Pastor taught me concerning the MIND.
I am thankful indeed that he did because I know that the enemy can not have me as I have been bought and paid for in full…………..but he still desires to have my mind and if I allow such a thing to happen.. my witness FOR JESUS is out the window and rewards are at risk and great loss can be my end.
GUARD your mind and GUARD your heart and let us be known by the fruit of the SPIRIT: the very character of GOD ALMIGHTY.
I do not know if this is GREEK thinking or HEBREW thinking but it is the mind of CHRIST to uplift all that the SON uplifted while HE had HIS stay upon the earth for redemption purposes.
We will be known for our love for one another even if we are not at one with some of our understanding.
Shalom Carl,
You have been going on and on regarding the word-MIND/THINKING, in this post as well as in others.
So, here are a few samples of its meanings in Hebraic culture which this blog is about.
Do read them carefully and try to understand.
Also, please explain your understanding of what you have posted in the last paragraph? I can’t figure out what you are trying to point out? Thank you.
Happy studying…..
“Around 800 BCE, a new culture arose to the north. This new culture began to view the world very much differently than the Hebrews. This culture was the Greeks. Around 200 BCE the Greeks began to move south causing a coming together of the Greek and Hebrew culture. This was a very tumultuous time as the two vastly different cultures collided. Over the following 400 years the battle raged until finally the Greek culture won and virtually eliminated all trace of the ancient Hebrew culture. The Greek culture then in turn influenced all following cultures including the Roman and European cultures, our own American culture and even the modern Hebrew culture in Israel today.
As 20th Century Americans with a strong Greek THOUGHT influence, we read the Hebrew Bible as if a 20th Century American had written it. In order to understand the ancient Hebrew culture in which the Tenack was written in, we must examine some of the differences between Hebrew and Greek thought.
Greek thought views the world through the MIND (abstract thought). Ancient Hebrew thought views the world through the SENSES (concrete thought).
Concrete thought is the expression of concepts and ideas in ways that can be seen, touched, smelled, tasted and/or heard. All five of the senses are used when speaking and hearing and writing and reading the Hebrew language.
An example of this can be found in Psalms 1:3; “He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, and whose leaf does not wither”. In this passage we have concrete words expressing abstract thoughts, such as a tree (one who is upright, righteous), streams of water (grace), fruit (good character) and a unwithered leaf (prosperity).
Greek thought describes objects in relation to its appearance. Hebrew thought describes objects in relation to its function.
A Greek description of God would be “God is love” which describes God in relation to God. A Hebrew description would be “God loves me” describing God in relationship to myself.
Passive vs. Active Nouns
Greek nouns are words which refer to a person, place or thing. Hebrew nouns refer to the action of a person place or thing.
Heart ~ lev
Here is an example of our modern western culture still using a concrete object to express an abstract idea. We often associate the heart with emotions such as love and kindness as in “He has a good heart”. This is also true with the Hebrews who saw the heart as the seat of emotion.
But unlike us they also saw the heart as the seat of thought whereas we see the brain as the seat of thought.
To the ancient Hebrews the heart was the mind including all thoughts including emotions. When we are told to love God with all our heart (Deut 6:5) it is not speaking of an emotional love but to keep our emotions and all our thoughts working for him. The first picture in this Hebrew word is a shepherd staff and represents authority as the shepherd has authority over his flock. The second letter is the picture of the floor plan of the nomadic tent and represents the idea of being inside as the family resides within the tent. When combined they mean “the authority within”. By Jeff A. Benner
———————-
Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon-
Definition
inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding
inner part, midst
midst (of things)
heart (of man)
soul, heart (of man)
mind, knowledge, thinking, reflection, memory
inclination, resolution, determination (of will)
conscience
heart (of moral character)
as seat of appetites
as seat of emotions and passions 1a
as seat of courage
לָשִׂים לֵב
mind(verb)
to pay attention to or obey
————-
Hebrew Mind vs. Greek Mind-
by Brad Scott
This section is devoted to the study of the differences in western thinking (Greek, Hellenistic) and Eastern thinking (Hebrew, scriptural). The Scriptures, Old and New Testaments, are penned by Hebrew authors from an Hebrew culture. They cannot be properly understood outside of this perspective. It is our contention that modern Christian teaching filters Scripture through Greek or Hellenistic glasses.
http://www.wildbranch.org/teachings/hebrew-greek-mind/lesson1.html