The Double Portion

For You aremy rock and my fortress; for Your name’s sake You will lead me and guide me.  Psalm 31:3  NASB

Lead/ Guide– nāḥâ and nāhal.  Why does David use two different verbs (alliterative) to convey God’s direction? Perhaps it’s because the first “represents the conducting of one along the right path”^[1]while the second “denotes a shepherd’s loving concerned leading of his flock, especially those with young.”^[2]  In other words, God doesn’t just give us an instruction manual and say, “Okay, now you know what to do.  Have a nice day.”  No, He not only provides leadership, He also provides the tender loving care necessary to bring us toward Him in every circumstance.  He’s not just the safe haven we desperately need.  He’s not only the place where I discover my basic worthiness.  He is actively seeking my benefit.

Too often we treat the Bible as if it were a manual for survival.  We act as though God is the deist’s lawmaker, disengaged from the actual struggles of life, sitting on the throne of heaven as the executive producer, watching us try our best to bring about His objectives. A theology that embraces the ex-temporal, omniscient, immutable otherness of the God of Medieval thinking perfectly represents the estrangement of God from the world in the doctrine of impassibility.  God simply doesn’t get involved.  Why should He? We are the problem, not the solution.  If we begin with a transcendent God (as the philosophers did), we will soon come across the unbridgeable gap between divinity and humanity.  That leads directly to the necessity of a God-Man.

But the God of the Bible is never represented this way.  David makes it absolutely clear that this God, YHVH, is not the cosmic lawmaker sitting on a judge’s bench watching human victims struggle with a broken world.  No, this God, YHVH, is right in the mix, leading His people by day and by night, and rescuing the lost and young with the tender care of a shepherd. In the ancient world of the Middle East, this God is unique.  There were plenty of transcendent deities.  They set up the rules and punished the offenders.  But there was only one who took on the responsibility of managed care.  He set the rules and then held the hand of each of His chosen during their attempts to follow.  And when they fell, He lifted.  Yes, we need both nāḥâ and nāhal.  Either one without the other isn’t enough.  It is God’s character to give the double portion to every human heart.

Now imagine that you are God’s verb (as you were intended to be—“in his image”).  You must also provide nāḥâ and nāhal.  It’s not enough for you to disseminate the information. It’s not enough to list the rules and provide the goal.  You must also manage the care of those who follow.  You must also hold hands, grieve, laugh, listen and lift. That’s what it means to be in His image.

Finally we should notice that the first verb, nāḥâ, is a Hifil form while the second, nāhal, is a Piel form.  Why is this important?  Because the Hifil form is about causing something to happen while the Piel form expresses intensive action.  David is basically saying, “Cause me to be led” and “Guide me!” (exclamation point). These are two separate but conjoined actions. You will need both.

Topical Index:  lead, guide, nāḥâ, nāhal, Proverbs 31:3

^[1]Coppes, L. J. (1999). 1341 נָחָה. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament(568). Chicago: Moody Press.

^[2]Coppes, L. J. (1999). 1312 נָהַל. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament(559). Chicago: Moody Press.