Playing with the Text
O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.Psalm 95:1 NASB
Shout joyfully– Put on a happy face. That seems to be the intention here, so the translators offer a positive rendering of the verb by adding “joyfully.” The actual Hebrew is simply the verb rūaʿ, which can mean either “raising a noise in ritual celebration” or “raising a noise to sound an alarm.” It’s associated with the shofar, of course. The most common usage “is in signals for war (Num 10:7) and war cries (Josh 6:10). As an extension of this last usage, it is also employed for shouts of alarm (I Sam 17:20) and encouragement, as in Psalm 95 and 98 in which it appears twice in each related context.”[1]
So David takes a war-cry word and converts it into a loud praise of God. He plays with the text. And he’s quite happy about doing so. This makes me think of what the rabbis did in the Talmud. They often played with the text, changing the spelling, reading things backwards, substituting words, etc. They enjoyed the game of finding all sorts of “secrets” in the words. They never doubted the inspiration of the text or the importance of the message, but they had a good time messing around with it. We, on the other hand, have inherited a mathematically precise notion of inspiration; a notion that is aghast at the idea that the text can be “manipulated” and “contorted” in such ways. Everything in our view of Scripture must be accurate and exact. So we struggle over one or two demoniacs, how many hours between crucifixion and resurrection, how many men David really killed and what all that end-times stuff really means. The Scriptures aren’t fun. They’re strict lessons and examples of moral instruction or salvation theory. We don’t read the Bible creatively. And if we do, someone is sure to raise questions about our “reverence for God’s Word.”
Then there’s this: “It seems probable that there is always an element of play in creative living. When this playful element disappears, joy goes with it, and so does any sense of being able to innovate.”[2]
“It is creative apperception more than anything else that makes the individual feel that life is worth living.”[3]
Do you suppose that if we treated the Scripture in the same way the authors did we would discover a lot more joy in those words? Do you think that maybe we’ve pushed the fun out of the Bible because we forgot how important it is to play?
Topical Index: shout joyfully, rūaʿ, play, inspiration, Psalm 95:1
[1]White, W. (1999). 2135 רַֻע. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament(electronic ed., p. 839). Chicago: Moody Press.
Just a quick edit:
“reference for God’s Word.”
This should actually read:
“reverence for God’s Word.”
Reverence could also mean respect, no ? Yes I enjoy the different aspects of God’s written word, but the concepts should remain the same, playing around with the meaning of the text is very dangerous, isn’t it said set a teacher is worthy of twice the judgment, I believe this is why so many people are confused, they have the Bible say what they wanted to say. We can be very knowledgeable of words and meanings but miss the idea and concept. So far skip is doing a great job of Paradigm shifts I’ve shared this with many people.
Indeed. I’ve found that people use the Bible to find answers to their problems rather than an introducing to what pleases God. Recently a couple shared with me their marital woes and they attempted to use Scripture to make their points. They were cherry picking … choosing one part and selectively ignoring another. When I shared that we are to submit to one another the cherry picking ceased followed by silence.
Thanks. Fixed it.
My personal experience in “exploring” the word in this manner has been to cultivate an ever higher regard and reverence for the scriptures and especially God. As an example, this term rua that David uses in the context of a noise of joy, is related to the term ra, which is something bad or evil. Have you ever heard a kindergarten choir? Nary a one of them can carry a tune in a bucket and it doesn’t get any better by adding additional voices, yet at the end of the song, no one boos and as they recognize the heart and purity of the effort by those small children, they clap and encourage to continue. How much like God is that to us? But I’ve noticed an increasing bent in our societies “playing” toward sarcasm and cruelty, and that’s where the danger lies, for cruelty is to gain at another’s expense while the scriptures declare the expending of ones self for mutual gain.
I have also noticed this propensity to sarcasm and humiliation. It’s not very pretty, especially when the expectation is to laugh AT someone.
On the linguistic side, if the Hebrew term is related to a war cry (danger) then it is easy to see the relationship to ra (evil)
I agree with your linguistic observation, I was just “playing” with the text as an example. 🙂 It’s just an example of what you can get from the text as, David isn’t seemingly using this term in regards to danger or evil but rather the gathering of the people of God. Here’s a funny, I personally love the sound of a shofar even though I know it’s a harsh, sometimes piercing sound. My puppy on the other hand, when I blew it yesterday took off running down the street and it took me almost half an hour to get her to come back. Maybe it’s because she was a bad dog that day and the shofar also speaks of judgement day. Isn’t there someplace where it says that the words of truth are sweetness to one and those same words to another are fear and trembling? But the shofar is a shout and ra is also an associate or neighbor. 🙂
You are right, Robert. We are in a war and the Body comprises a Mash unit. Every move in this war is a shifting of the boundary between good and evil; therefore the heralding of that shift is either going to be good news or bad news depending on which side of that particular line you find yourself at that time.
Other topic: in regards to “playing with the text” I find that it plays with me much more. It twists and turns ME and shows me ever new facets of myself in the process of showing me new facets of the Author and of His creation. I find myself fascinated and humbled on a continual basis. The Word is truly the good seed of the Sower, ready to come alive through the Spirit it is infused with in every receptive heart’s soil to bring forth fruit, as per our design. Fruiting is the real fun, y’all!
Don’t get me wrong, I love word play as much as anyone.
The give and take. The nuances. The “artistic license” to
dance around the core meaning, or even “scatting” like
Ella Fitzgerald did for effect.
But the Bible ends on a disturbingly different note.
“I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of
this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him
the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words
away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him
his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described
in this book.”
I recognize this warning refers to the book of Revelation but Moses
also gave a similar warning in DEUT 4:1-4. How far is too far? And who decides?
“Meet them where they are at”… God does it, Yeshua shows us. No condemnation, sans judgement… to be there to lift up, listen. Compassion and mercy as Yah tells us. No boxes allowed. Yah tells us through the prophets and Yeshua explains… you will hear the Spirit of Yah, his holiness, his righteousness sent to teach, comfort and guide. Who? Each one of you. And all of creation too.
Humanity is his creation as nothing else ever before. Even the angels marvel at us and they sing joyfully when we turn back to Yah. How awesome is that? They make a joyful noise and yet they fiercely battle on behalf of the Kingdom of Yah… his and only his glory!
Who are we that he should care so much? We are his amazing new race made in his incredible, unspeakable image. As a potter on his wheel, his hand is on the making, refining, curing and ordering his good pleasure for our use. We are one of marvelous and majestic thoughts.
Take a look around… all of creation, his design, his and only his. And then realize his vast, unfathomable mind as we are made. Who’s to say how we understand him? How he speaks to each one of his creation. For me, Yah orders my steps and in true love, I look back and see his wisdom in it all. I bow my head and bend my knees with deep, heartfelt tears of humility and gratitude.
All this reminds me of a discussion I was having with one of the brothers in my group of friends. We would talk about scripture passages and then he would say, “oh that doesn’t mean that !” OR “ that word was added by the translator but wasn’t in the original “. I got a little ticked, not necessarily because he seemed to be shooting down what I had previously believed or at least questioning it, because I could handle the challenge of new thoughts and input. But my concern was for those in the body of Christ, who due to one reason or another are not educated in the word of God. I guess Paul describes them as babes, never developing the ability to eat meat, so to speak . Maybe in retrospect, the church in a sense has remained infantile or maybe even aged and brittle, inflexible? Safe and secure (?) in their neat little box. We have to be careful in our advanced (?) thinking that it doesn’t move us away from love and compassion . I have to remind myself that God has called me to love his body, nourish and cherish it, not stand in judgment . As Graham Cooke says,“ it’s not what’s wrong, it’s what’s missing”. Reminded here of what Paul says in First Corinthian’s 13, “ if I have the tongues of men and of angels ( pretty lofty!) but don’t have love, I have NOTHING!”. We still need to be able to fit and be involved in building up the body of Christ .
I know I went off course here a little….. I have to ask myself, how does what I know affect how I live out today….. otherwise, it’s all a “ clanging gong or a tinkling cymbal”!
Shalom Larry… it’s your journey and you will see things along the path I don’t see although we are on that narrow walk. You’ll catch the sunset and I’ll see the glistening rocks… we’ll share, and in awe of Yah with Yeshua before us, we will smile, be filled with joy as only Yeshua says he’ll give us. And when I stumble, as my brother, you’ll be there. Thanks my brother.
Thank you so much for that Lucille. I needed the encouragement. Sometimes after I write something I debate ( certain amount of insecurity ) whether I should send it but once you push send, it’s history! We are called to build up the body of Christ. That’s my great desire and to show the love of God to the world who are in desperate need of love !
“Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart”…. Psalm 37:4 Shalom my brother!