Contagious

“Remove Your plague from me; because of the opposition of Your hand I am perishing.”  Psalm 39:10  NASB

Am perishing– There’s a lot of important vocabulary here.  There are also a lot of “connect-the-dots” clues.  Let’s start with “remove.”  The verb is sur, here in the imperative, ha-ser.  In other words, David doesn’t ask.  He demands. “YHVH, turn aside!”  Does this sound like a repentant soul, desperate for forgiveness and restitution?  The verb is in the Hif’il, a causative tense.  It’s not just a command.  It’s an impassioned ultimatum to cause something to happen.  What is supposed to happen?  The plague David experiences must be lifted.

Suddenly we are back in Egypt.  But David isn’t feeling like the enslaved Hebrews.  He’s feeling like the Egyptians.  God’s plague rests on him.  He is the victim and he is dying.  The word he uses for “plague” is nega’.  This word is about contagion.  It describes disease that is transmitted by touch.  In other words, for David the hand of God rests on him as king, and because it rests on him, he is afflicted.  God’s plague is transmitted to God’s anointed.

Perhaps we’ve never thought of the hand of God in this way.  We often pray that God’s hand will touch us with blessing, that He will offer His hand of protection or prosperity.  We view the touch of God as a powerful benefit.  But David’s words are the other side of the blessing coin. The hand of God is contagious. God’s dismay with human beings, His disgust at betrayal, His anger at sin is also communicated.  Just ask the prophets.  They were touched by God, and for most of them, the ensuing disease shattered their lives.  Who among us can truly endure both sides of God’s hand?  Perhaps only the Messiah, and his encounter with the other side of God’s hand in the Garden was almost fatal.  No wonder David pleads for this plague to be removed. It is not the removal of some punishment.  It is the removal of awareness; awareness of the true heart of the Father, shattered by the deceit of His creations.  Isn’t this precisely the situation of David as king? Everyone in the royal court is there because of David’s choice.  He is the “father” of Israel, and these are his “children.”  And now, as father, he looks upon them with a broken heart, for they conspire against him, they seek his demise.  What father can endure the betrayal of his children? This plague is the direct result of standing as God’s regent in the world.  If you and I are going to stand up for God, do you suppose we will be exempt from the plague of His discouragement?  If God should allow us to feel as He feels, won’t we experience a soul sickness of unparalleled intensity?

“Because of the opposition,” translates the Hebrew mittigrât.  It’s a word about war.  The root is connected to the throat.  The imagery is graphic.  David feels as if God is clutching his throat, as if he is about to feel the blade slice his neck.  This is war with the Holy of holies; a war that no man can win—or lose. Jabbok looms in the background. Jacob/Israel struggles with men and God in a fight for his life; a fight he loses—and wins.  David’s poetry pushes us from Egypt back into time to the crossing of the brook, to the beginning of “Israel.”  It’s worth noting the dual character of the crossing, also captured in David’s choice of kālâ, “perishing,” for the word means both “to accomplish” and “to consume,” “to finish” and “to fail.”  Isn’t this Jacob once more?

Did you think becoming part of the family meant peace and happiness?  Think again.  How much of God’s anguish have you allowed to plague you? Are you aware of the bi-polar disease spiritual contact with the Father brings to life?  Are your accomplishments also your failures?

Topical Index:  ha-ser, remove, nega’, plague, contagion, tigrâ, strife, war, kālâ, perish, Psalm 39:10