Seeing What Isn’t There
Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, and revive me in Your ways. Psalm 119:37 NASB
Vanity – Take a look at your life. Take a hard look! How much of what you “see” is really worthless, false or empty? How much of it is just the same squirrel cage routine? How much of your time do you spend taking care of the trivial but unavoidable? Everyone has to deal with this “stuff.” Even King David.
Maybe we could expand this a bit. Maybe we should ask, “How much of my life is consumed with goals that really don’t have ‘eternal’ value?” Or, “How many things am I acquiring or hoping to acquire that really won’t make any difference in the long run (like after I’m dead)?” Don’t bother making a list. It’s probably too long. Yes, most of us also spend our efforts on “stuff” that has no real lasting value. But that’s the way life is. Just being here seems to constantly divert us toward these lesser gods.
David doesn’t deny the distractions. The verse assumes that we face the constant threat of looking at empty things. Actually, the word in Hebrew is šāwʾ. Not what we might have expected. We probably thought that “vanity” would be the word found in Ecclesiastes (“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity”). That word is hebel, not šāwʾ. What’s the difference and why did the Psalmist choose šāwʾ rather than hebel?
Hebel is used in three ways. First, it describes false gods; the worthless idols of pagan religions. Second, it “represents the individual and sometimes exasperating sentiments of individuals.”[1] Third is the “cluster of terms” found in Ecclesiastes. Here the word means failure, weakness, the disturbing paradox of injustice, senselessness and, finally, the emptiness of all life when confronted by the ubiquity of death.
But šāwʾ has a different scope. Hamilton notes, šāwʾ “designates anything that is unsubstantial, unreal, worthless, either materially or morally.[2] This word is found in the third commandment, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” (Exodus 20:7). The occurrence helps us realize that the word applies to what is spoken without due consideration, i.e., thoughtlessly. While hebel and šāwʾ overlap in descriptions of idolatry, hebel describes human emotional consequences of life’s frustrations while šāwʾ seems a better description of the human failure to place value on things that are according to God’s intentions. Hebel is the way I feel about the senselessness of life. šāwʾ is God’s perspective on what I do with those feelings.
David isn’t asking God to relieve him of feeling frustrated with the pointlessness of it all. He is asking God to direct him to respond to this feeling of pointlessness in ways that serve God’s purposes. In other words, David is praying, “I don’t need You to fix my life so that it is always clear and directed. I know it isn’t always going to be like that. What I need, Lord, is the ability to continue to look toward Your purposes instead of soothing my frustrations with my own devices.”
Things might look the same in English, but Hebrew makes a difference. For most of us, that means seeing what isn’t there in the translation.
Topical Index: šāwʾ, vanity, hebel, Psalm 119:37, Ecclesiastes 1:2
[1] Hamilton, V. P. (1999). 463 הָבַל. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (204).
[2] Hamilton, V. P. (1999). 2338 שׁוא. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (908).
“Just being here seems to constantly divert us toward these lesser gods.”…
What is a “god”? What is the final, basic, root meaning of this word, “god”?
From a pagan view, a god is “someone” who has the “power” to control “something”… and a pagan want’s to make a “deal” with that “someone” so that the pagan will have “control” over “something” that is out of his/her “control”, that is, over his/her “chaos”…
So we could say that “god” means someone who has control over something…
Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’? John 10:34 (NIV)
What is HaShem telling us in Psalm 82? Hmmm…
So the word “god” is now just another word for “judge”. Ok. I understand the word ‘divinity” to also now just be another word for anybody who can be found in heaven. Ok. So, we just lost two more words to define YHVH as exclusively YHVH. Ok.
So now I can see there are multiple true gods and many true divines that also qualify as worthy of our worship (another word that now can be applied to created beings, such as Yeshua, and to others in agency office, too). Wait; aren’t we now sounding like pagans?
I can see that we haven’t done anything to God, only to the language. We have only muddied the language, instead of saying real things about God. With all due respect to people’s true hearts and intentions, I see this exercise as being no different than the example C.S. Lewis gave in regards to the destruction of the original meaning of the word “gentleman”. So, I want to ask, how DO we talk about God Biblically, now that we find ourselves running out of God words? (Well, this may be a good thing, for all I know. I am not judging it here; just trying to quantify it.)
Laurita. I’m using the word “god” without a capital letter. That is the way God uses it too in Torah. I’m quite sure that God uses the word “god” in such a way that we should be aware that these “gods” do not have real power at all.
BTW, I have not used the word “divinity” in any of my comments so far, as far as I can remember. But I could be wrong. 🙂
What I need to understand is if there is more than one ‘real’ God, and what makes God real; is it the fact that He is God? Or is it the fact that only He has power, and if only He has power, than can we safely conclude all other judge/power wannabe’s under the designation “false”, or if that is not true; if more than He holds the power to judge, does anybody who has the power to judge qualify (legitimately) for the term “god”, in which case only the ones who have no judging power disqualify as a god? Is the step to godhood as short as qualifying as a judge (in which case the rest of the world probably has had this much more right than we have)?
Are gods “false”, as per the First Command because they think they have the power to judge at all, or are they only false if they are not subservient to YHVH? If they are in subservience to YHVH should we then conclude that we are free (obligated, even) to worship them as our judges? Or is worship only for really great created beings that are more direct agencies, and if so, then how do we know when they are great enough agencies, so as not to disobey that Command? Do we owe created beings homage if they judge us, and how do we tell whether or not it is legitimate judging so as to know whether or not we are to worship them? Is the onus of that possible sin on us or on them?
I need someone to tell me this again, as I used to think I was clear on it, but now I think I am confused. If we can all be gods, then what is the difference between us and YHVH (other than much more (by degree) massive power to judge)? Are there sliding scales of godhood that I was not aware of? I feel I have been missing something.
I’m truly sorry Laurita that my comment has given you these feelings. Please forgive me.
I’ll try to address some of your concerns, using my current understanding (I might be totally wrong, partially wrong, little bit wrong, only He knows):
1. Our Father is the One Who has all the Power.
2. There is no other Power outside of Him.
3. Actually, I think there is nothing outside of Him.
4. He shows His Power in the way He chooses to do it.
5. We can only feel, understand, know, etc. whatever He choses to let us, and He has done it in many ways, both as a group of people (assembly) and personally.
6. We can try to know more about Him by reading Torah, by reading about Yeshua, but I think the best way to know more of Him is by trusting Him. Having Emunah.
7. All we can do is fully trust Him!
8. He has given Yeshua a task, and power, and wisdom, and everything needed to complete that task. So we can also trust Yeshua!
I know there is more to this issue, but I’m trying to be as consise as possible. As I said above, I might be totally wrong, partially wrong, little bit wrong, only He knows!
Alfredo, I am comfortable (squirm! goes my flesh) with realizing that NONE of us really ‘know’ because that, for us, would be the experience of face -to – face which none of us have actually had, (even though some of us may seem to think we have).
You helped a lot. Practice IS everything, and the practice of trust is what it consists of.
That being said, I think I see that, according to what you said, because only our Father in heaven “has all the power” then ALL others who claim to be judges or powers would be in the “false god” category; therefore not to be worshiped. There are no other legitimate judges; only those who are trying to make a power grab; self-styled judges. I guess for us today, that would have to be all of us who have set ourselves up as little judges (gods), which is the essence of rebellion. There are no earthly agencies (like the self styled Pope) to worship, right?
Only God is to be worshiped, but there is only one God, so we only have to worry about worshiping One, as per that first Command, right?
To recap: any time the Bible refers to elohim in any other context than YHVH, it is not being prescriptive (agreeing with the ‘judge’ status being referred to), but merely descriptive. In other words, heaven considers all other elohim as false rivals. Right? In which case, I will relax and go back to what I thought I knew before.
I understood that the reference to being gods is all about how individuals chose to view themselves… Better and more worthy than others. And yes I think we often fall into this trap when we expect others to first get our approval. Instead of us desiring to share our mistakes to help others not repeat them.
Then again even when I consider less worthy than the Jones then I make the Jones a god. Even that new pair of shoes I devote my work and savings to own… Becomes my god as I dedicate my life to owning it…
Or am I reading too much into the scriptures again?
Thank YHVH for the Jones’ and the shoes, as well as the life you have to interact with them with, give them all (your association with them) to YHVH, and ask Him to give back to you what He wants to. Rinse and repeat. This dance is more like breathe in, breathe out. We enter death when we forget that it all is supposed to be a shared exchange and think we can quit breathing – I do mean dancing.
You bless the Jones’ and the shoes when you add God to the equation, then remember to stop, look and listen/obey. What was perfectly fine last minute can become a god this one if we let it cut us off from the Life Giver.
I have tried that and found that all I am promoting is that which I should sacrifice.
My view is if we add God to something he did not make is creating a demi-god if I use the Greek view. Separating myself from that which is not from God is what blasphemy… As I cannot see God’s hand in it. 1 John 2 has been my guide…
We are all far away.
As I understand it, the word shalom, meaning nothing lost, nothing broken. Would mean that pursuing peace could be a very profitable call. It would also confirm that Yeshua is the Prince of Peace. And we are in a kingdom of peace. Seek his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. Hope this helps someone.
I trust this will be an appropriate place to present my struggle as it seems at least tangential to this post. This post touches on the implications of a balanced philosophy in association with correct theology. I define philosophy as what one determines works within the confines of a personal and corporate reality and theology as what is generated from and in alignment with absolute truth= YHVH. My time dinning at this gracious table has been helping me discern and ferrite out the differences between Hebrew philosophy and theology and Christian philosophies and theologies . It seems to me much of each is summed up as christanity is largely about being right and behaving properly while the true Hebrew way is about becoming a real human who is fully alive. But I think Malcome Muggeridge sums these dichotomies up best on the bottom of page 130 and the top of 131 in his book “Jesus the man who lives”. ” Jesus sumarized all his teaching for us in two great propositions. Which have provided Christiandom with, it’s moral and spiritual axis. The first and greatest commandment , he said was: thou shalt love thy God with all…and the second …love thy naighbor as thyself…on these two He insisted hang all the law and the prophets. His manner of presenting them indicates their interdependence; unless we love God we can’t love our neighbor, and corrispondengly, unless we love our naighbors we can’t love God. Once agin their is the balance…balanced obligations-to God and Caesar, to flesh and spirit, to God and naighbor…Happy the man who strikes the balance justly; to its imbalance are due most of the our miseries and misfortunes, individually as well as collectively. “
I loved listening to Malcolm Muggeridge on TV during my era in England 50 years ago. His quaint infectious delivery style was instantly engaging. He and Chesterton were both late comers to Christianity (RCC) and opposites in style. His summary is exactly on point as we all know; Shema, the perfectly balanced command for our relationship with God and His with us. Hear, (be holy as I am holy; i.e. devoted to each other) and obey, DO unto to others as I have done to you). Not one, not the other, BOTH. Balanced. In a devoted relationship with each other.
“Things might look the same in English, but Hebrew makes a difference. For most of us, that means seeing what isn’t there in the translation.” – Skip
“Things are not always what they seem; the first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden.” – Phaedrus
We could talk about “vanity”, or we could talk about the technicalities of interpreting the Scriptures, or we could talk about the nature of YHWH, what He does, and why He does what He does. Personally, I could really use an insightful, knowledgeable, understanding and wise discussion about vanity OR how to rightly interpret the Scriptures. But at least equally substantial to me is the nature of YHWH. So, because I don’t have time right now to meditate on the meanings and implications of the various meanings of “vanity”, or how to rightly interpret the Scriptures, as crucial as these issues are for me, I would like to start a discussion about the nature of YHWH as related to Skip’s comment, “Things might look the same in English, but Hebrew makes a difference. For most of us, that means seeing what isn’t there in the translation.”
Does anyone else?:
If you do, try out this topic, please?
Does YHWH want Himself, His Word, His ways to be “all Greek” to many of us? Does He “carefully hide” knowledge, wisdom, insight, understanding…..truth…..about Himself, His Word, His ways? Has He just inspired His word to be written in such a way to keep the “intelligent” adequately intrigued, entertained, challenged, engaged? Is He a teasing, cruel, or tyranical God who doesn’t want us to know everything He knows, so He keeps things hidden? Does He just favor the “intelligent” and want to keep things from the less intelligent so He can entrust the ruling of His kingdom to the “intelligent”, even though He says, “knowledge puffs up”. And if so, why?
Hi. I don’t think that He is hiding, playing or teasing all “greek” of us… He chose to manifest Himself to a group of people in an specific time using a specific language. All we need to do is go back to that time, to that group of people and to that specific language, and get the original message. That’s all to do. Don’t bring all that to the present time… go back to that time…
By the way, Hebrew is a fantastic language. I think HaShem had a great first round pick on Hebrew…
And thinking in “hebrew” instead of “greek” is a great way to see the world…
And walking the way HaShem wants us to live, should be easier than walking the way “modern society” wants us to walk… can we get rid of “smart phones”, “social networks”, “hollywood”, “huge enterprises”, “cars, buses and traffic”, and so on? Isn’t that a simpler, happier life to live?
Alfred your on to something here however to me it’s not about disconecting from the world as it is but rather as it seems to be. We are faced in effect with living now, while it is yet today within the frame work of a Greek lie or the Hebrew truth. It is simply a matter of perspectives. I have said before, the kingdom of this present world system and the kingdom of YHVH are simultaneously coexisting while mutually exclusive!
Shalom Mark.
I understand your point. We cannot disconnect ourselves from this world. Actually, that is what Yeshua asks Father for us in John 17.
What I mean, is that I truly think that the world has always wanted to wrap, surround, tie us in a way that we should do whatever the world leads us to do… So we need to be aware of that situation and live accordingly to Yeshua’s teachings…
He never let Israel’s leaders (political and academic) to tie him up! Not until it was His time to fulfil His purpose!
And not even at that time, since He told Pontius Pilate : “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.”
So we need to live in this world, but not according to this world’s rules…
Alfredo. And what is the rules of this world? 1 John 2 : 16-18…
Correct. We should be aware of anything and anyone who goes against God and His Mashiach.
That is pretty much 90% of human life today. And about 98% of what I end up doing though I do not desire doing it…
Same here!
Hi Alfredo. Sounds fine for “intelligent” people. Doesn’t sound so “fair” for everyone else, though, does it? And if it is, then maybe “cracking the code” isn’t as important as to Him as “intelligent” people want to think it is. And what of calling Him “the Name”? Is that Hebrew truth or just Jewish religiousness? Is that how He wants us to know Him, talk to Him, and refer to Him in talking with others?
Hi Jerry and Lisa!
I use HaShem as Jewish people do as a custom in a very ligthed way. I talk to Him as my Father.
I think that if I use “my Father” with most people, they might think that I am bragging. So I don’t use it, unless I’m talking with people who really knows me well.
I think that Skip has done a great, great job on teaching us how to think in “hebrew”. He has done it in a way that you don’t really need to be that much “intelligent”. I think it only takes some time of reading very carefully what Skip has written in his “Thirty Days of The Hebrew Worldview” mail series and begin to think and practice that thinking while reading Torah.
I can also share with you that in the last 3 o 4 months, it has helped me a lot, to treat and read Torah as if it is a “teaching” book, that Father has written for us. He is instructing us how to live, and how to behave as He wants us to behave. If we can see Yeshua as a Teacher, a Rabi, then we can also see Father as a Teacher, a Rabi.
Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. John 5:19
Intelligence as a result; not as a ’cause’. I like it! Everybody can be included!
May we all grow in it!
Great phrase! “Intelligence as a result; not as a ’cause'”!!! 🙂
Spiritual “intelligence” isn’t the same as what the world or natural man would call intelligence because it’s preceded by humility. So it’s not a matter of whether God “wants” to hide something from us as much as it is a matter of our inability to discover it because of our refusal to truly seek Him. As to the question of why, probably more to it than we realize but my thoughts are that simply put, the knowledge of God, which includes His ways, is true power. Why would God allow an impure heart to acquire something that would destroy not only him, but those around him as well?
I just got enough cud to chew all day, now, Robert. Thank you!
Repentance (taking responsibility for the fracture) is what we have been told we have to do before we receive power (reconnection of those fractures). We have to hand over what didn’t work before we get what does. Humility before honor. The cross before the resurrection.
Apparently the archangel, Lucifer, was created with the job of coordinating everybody else into one big symphony, or hallel; connection with all. Massive ability! As the gifts of God are without repentance (He does not take them back), apparently that rebellious archangel still has that capacity to use for ill. In other words, he has the ability to sin really big time. Sin uses force to affect unholy alliances as well as to seek unholy control over the free will of others. Sin seeks to overcome the limiting curses in the desire for power (ability to choose) that those curses hobble. Sin takes that power (of choice) away from others so as to have it for self.
I see the curses as fracturing us from reality for the purposes of limiting the damage we can do through our disobedience. I consider vanity to be one of those curses; in other words, we basically go stupid in the process of seeking the service of self. I see fools (purveyors of vanity) being kept alive in spite of their foolishness by means of the gift of grace. In fact, grace (which I think is only needed, or, made possible by, the villifying curses) is what I see the whole world is staying alive by means of, because it is clear we are all so fractured we would all be dead without Someone coloring in enough connections (by means of grace) for us to live in spite of our fracture from reality in all dimensions.
We don’t have access – or, connection with reality – because our sins have separated us; therefore, we lack the destructive capacity (power) we could effect through that access (vulnerability by all to all) to the rest of that reality . Not to say we wouldn’t LIKE to have it; hence, that incessant search for that ‘secret’ knowledge, which usually results in doing deals with the devil (who has that capacity) at the crossroads at midnight. Without holy love connecting us, we still must have the power that connection affords us, so we seek other ways to ‘cure’ the curse of the fracture. However, we desire hidden knowledge (to subvert the curse of that useless, vacuous vanity) to our own peril; and, as you, Robert, point out, the peril of all around us.
I think vanity, like every other result (curse) of the fall, is designed to be heavy; so heavy that it drives us to seek for the wisdom that should be there, instead. Vanity is SUPPOSED to be shameful and appear stupid and give us emptiness of soul (dry cisterns), thus driving us to seek the water of life, which is the wisdom we need to grow into nourishing trees. We are right to seek wisdom, but only seekers who have repented for fracture will want wisdom for the right reasons, which will all be to be able to better serve the will of God, which is that vital connection (which is effected by vulnerability, or trust, to love) by all with all.
Wisdom, rightly gained, will always be gained “in the fear of God”, which only repentance can return us to. Sinners need not apply.
But even the pure in heart cannot acquire such things if they are not “intelligent” enough to do so. In which case, it begs the question of why He has created those who are of much less “intelligence” as they are.
Maybe this needs to be considered:
“Yet God chose the foolish things of the world so He might put to shame the wise; and God chose the weak things of the world so He might put to shame the strong; and God chose the lowly and despised things of the world, the things that are as nothing, so He might bring to nothing the things that are—so that no human might boast before God.” [1Co 1:27-29]
I’ve known “mentally retarded” people who are believers in Messiah, who display more fruit of His Spirit than much more “intelligent” people, including myself, that it puts them (us) to shame. And they even have the capacity to know even that there is a “Greek mind-set” or a “Hebrew mind-set”, not to speak of other languages other than English.
Maybe a life “in the Spirit” is superior to a life with the correct understanding of the original language and the original text and all the other correct biblical hermeneutics. You know, “ever growing in knowledge but never coming to the knowledge of the truth”, and, being “puffed up” in knowledge?
Well said. Like Robert said, its purity of heart that qualifies us for the wisdom of heaven.
I guess I perhaps don’t understand your first sentence in light of the rest of your statement. Perhaps it’s a rhetorical tongue-in-cheek set up for your subsequent point (which I wholeheartedly agree with)?
My whole family I fellowship with except one other believer is mentally disabled. I have concluded that us two are far more mentally disabled than they are . Supposed intelligence is more of a stumbling block I think. What a shalom time we have. No guile whatsoever in them they just overflow in love continually and they never are competitive in their thinking when it comes to the things of The YhWh they adore him and Yahoshua. Like one of them says you don’t have to explain Yahoshua to me I KNOW HIM. Out of the mouth of a pure heart.
I hit the disagree button on your comment Jerry and Lisa because I vehemently disagree with the first statement. God can both give and take away intelligence or any other “physical” thing he desires. Did you know that donkeys don’t physically have the vocal chords to speak, and I’d suspect they don’t have the cognitive ability to engage in human conversation either. Whether someone has intelligence in the Kingdom isn’t even an issue because if God deems it nessecary to have it, they will get it. On the other hand if it isn’t deemed so, they won’t, but it’s Gods choice and as s citizen of that kingdom I should be ok with His decision not what I think is important.
Hey Robert. Keep hitting the “thumbs down” button. I didn’t “thumbs down” your comment, btw. I appreciate you having the courage to express your disagree button and explain yourself, and that you actually considered what I had to say. Sort of a moot, or even relatively unrelated, point though that you’re making, isn’t it? How many donkey’s have YOU heard talk? I said, “donkeys”, not otherwise. I’ve heard plenty and even been one of those you know whats, and still am sometimes, but that’s for another TW thread. This isn’t about what YHWH CAN do as much as how things naturally ARE, and why, and what does it mean that they are that way. My point is that we emphasize so much here about knowledge and understanding of Hebrew, and I don’t understand why it is so necessary if YHWH is apparently quite accepting, pleased with, and so highly esteemed by the lives of so many people that don’t have “vocal cords”, so to speak, and aren’t miraculously given the ability to “speak”, not to mention being able to “read between the lines” and understanding the “hidden” meaning of things because of not knowing Hebrew. Why, even trying to understand Skip’s explanations is sometimes too difficult for even us people of “superior intelligence”.
No one here was making anybody do anything, as far as I have been able to tell. I am learning things because I want to (amazing concept).
I was taught in Alanon a new way to approach things: to “take what you like and leave the rest”. That way, its not necessary to shoot the vendor.
Don’t agree with your interpretation. Not discussing it but recommend re-reading and pondering an alternate one with less over-personalizing.
No, it’s not moot or unrelated. If you are unwilling to make the connection, that’s on you, not me. Going back to the original languages is important as well as the gift of understanding those languages, but to be able to learn Hebrew and to be able to understand the Hebrew scriptures are 2 entirely different matters. Superior intelligence isn’t even an issue, we have what we’ve been given. Seeing one gift as superior over against another isn’t in alignment with the operation of the kingdom and is a cause of division. (so says Paul) Not everybody is a mouth, but whatever we are, we are admonished to use it to the building and edifying of the body. In other words, share it, for the good of others, not the tearing down.
I hear you. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Good points to consider.
I believe God has a place for all kinds of believers. We should find inspiration in each other inasmuch as we have been given responsibility in the Body–we are not all eyes, we are not all little fingers, etc. Each of us is needed. The intellectually challenged who know only that God is good, the scholars who study the wonders of language and history–both are needed
sorry….meant to say “and they DON’T even have the capacity to know even that there is a “Greek mind-set” or a “Hebrew mind-set….”
Okay, let’s see if I understand this day’s Today’s Word. I might see life as being senseless, but God, who says that our ways are not His ways, wants us to understand that He has a purpose for everything, even that which seems futile and incomprehensible to me.
Is He hiding things? He is my Sovereign! If He wishes to hide something, then perhaps it is only until the time comes when He feels He can reveal it. In the meantime, my job is to practice justice, mercy and faith.
You nailed it Thomas!
I’m grateful for the 8 other people who replied here to my questions and interacted with the comments of others, about 20 times (not even counting all my own replies). It’s been helpful to consider other perspectives. And I’m grateful for Skip starting it out. 13 people and 42 replies in all. Obviously it’s a topic of significant interest. And to think, there are a good number of other lines of discussion that could develop from Skip’s starter. I really hope we can come back to the topic of VANITY, itself, another time. I expect their is so much meat there to eat. Makes me wonder why I didn’t choose to explore it in the first place, myself. It’s so much more of a personally challenging topic, I guess. Not so good that I didn’t pick that option, I think.
Makes me imagine, what a great thing it would be if YHWH was able to weigh in with a RED “thumbs down” button and explain His disagreement or ESPECIALLY to point out when a comment is just VANITY! Maybe He’d do it even with this comment. I wonder how we each would feel about that and how that would impact our comments. I think the RED “thumbs down” has the potential to be the most helpful and beneficial, IF people would give their explanations too and not just “disagree”. Same goes with the GREEN “thumbs up” button. Not as helpful to push the button but not “open the mouth”. The more truth the better. The less editing, filtering, withholding, or trying to get others to communicate how they “SHOULD” communicate, the better, I think. I think I’ll try that even more in marriage. Not sure I can see Messiah trying to control what or how others are trying to communicate. He might protect the weak by stepping in, but otherwise, I don’t think He would. I think He is someone who tends to mostly just speak when spoken or asked to speak, and not to butt in unless necessary. And I don’t think He would do much to try to defend Himself or the strong, though He would try to confront things that are not the truth! No matter who it’s about.
The fall splattered reality into innumerable pieces.
While we can’t put those pieces back together, God can. And does.
First, He forgives our situation, then He leads those of us who are willing
by the hand through this lifetime moment by moment. If we truly walk with Him,
we will experience our learned obedience slowly overtaking our innate obstinacy.
As we go and as we are transformed, we “see” the errors, the emptiness and the
uselessness we’ve come through. And with those “new eyes” we begin to see
as He sees. Indeed, we become new creations as He tells us.
It’s an amazing journey to be sure. Some might even say it’s miraculous!
FWIW, here’s the word and definition in the HALOT (Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament). All Hebrew in the remarks/definitions is transliterated, except the one bracketed section (in order to compare the Hebrew with the transliteration); bold added for emphasis, except the main definitions under -1 and -2 which are bold in the original [the HALOT defines the usage in Ps 119:37 as in -2.a below]:
שָׁוְא, šāwᵉʾ
General remarks: In Ps. Stud. 1: 56 Mowinckel maintains that the essential elements of the word šāwᵉʾ consist of injustice and deception, triviality and lying. On p. 57 he summarises his conclusions on the sbst. [substantive] with the sentence, “We therefore conclude that šāw very often stands as a straightforward term for magic and a magic spell, and that in this sense it comes to include those who perpetrate injustice as well as sinners, those who break the covenant, and the ‘false ones’; also any trivialities or lapses of the chief of the magicians which give him a false reputation.” This thesis of Mowinckel has been well summarised by Giesen loc. cit. 165. To what extent (if at all) the idea of magic, or rather of a magic spell, has to be considered as the origin for this aspect of the word is a matter of judgement, for which on the one hand see Klopfenstein Lüge 315f, and on the other hand THAT 2: 882f. In KBL the essential ideas of the word šāwᵉʾ are summarised in the head-words, something bad, evil, worthless.
—1. worthless: a) with minḥaṯ Is 1:13; b) lašāwʾ futile, inconsequential Jr 2:30 4:30 6:29 46:11, Ps 139:20, on which cf. Kraus Jes. 1092; c) ḏaḇer-šāwᵉʾ unrestrained speech Is 59:4 Ezk 13:8 Ps 12:3 41:7 144:8.11; nāśāʾ šēm lašāwʾ to utter a name in vain, unnecessarily to abuse a name in an evil way (in a magic ritual or in an oath) Ex 20:7 Dt 5:11; on the third commandment see now e.g. Hossfeld Dekalog 77ff, 243–247 (with bibliography); see further Crüsemann Bewahrung 50–53; see also THAT 2: 883: lašāwʾ “with disastrous consequences, abusively”; d) šēmaʿ šāwᵉʾ hasty, false (rumour) Ex 23:1, equivalent to ʿēḏ šāwᵉʾ Dt 5:20, on which see e.g. W.H. Schmidt VTSupp. 22 (1972) 203, and Crüsemann Bewahrung 73–75; e) šāwᵉʾ vanity, triviality Jb 15:31a (šāw equivalent to šāwᵉʾ [שָׁו equivalent to שָׁוְא]), or rather what is trivial, meaning idols Jr 18:15, haḇlê-šāwᵉʾ trivial idols Jon 2:9 Ps 31:7.
—2. meanings which it is not always possible to distinguish clearly from those under 1: šāwᵉʾ worthless, unrestrained: a) deceit Ezk 13:6.9.23 21:34 22:28 Ps 24:4 60:13 = 108:13 119:37 Lam 2:14.