The Measure of a Man

BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

And see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.  Psalm 139:24 NASB

Hurtful way– What is the purpose of inviting God to search my inner thoughts?  David spells it out.  David isn’t going to God for an annual well-being check up.  He’s going to God the surgeon.  He’s asking for a specific type of spiritual tumor to be removed.  What kind of tumor is it?  It’s derek ʿōṣeb, the path of sorrows.

What are the symptoms of this tumor?  The Hebrew synonyms fill in the meaning:

The root ʿāṣab relates to physical pain as well as to emotional sorrow (cf. ʿăṣîb in Biblical Aramaic, “sad”). Words similar in Hebrew are ḥîl/ḥûl “to writhe,” ḥārâ “to be hot (with anger),” yāgâ Niphal “to grieve,” lāʾâ “to become tired, weary,” kāʿas “to be irritated, angry,” mārar “to be bitter, despairing,” qûṭ “to feel a disgust,” qûṣ “to feel a disgust,” tāwâ II, “to trouble” (Ps 78:41), and the noun rōgez “turmoil.”[1]

David asks YHVH to examine him in order to find any:

  1. cause of others’ physical or emotional pain
  2. anger
  3. grievous behavior or attitude
  4. wearisome practices leading to despair
  5. irritation
  6. bitterness
  7. disgust
  8. trouble for himself and others
  9. cause of turmoil inside and out

David considers any and all of these symptoms signs of wickedness.  If any are present, he wants the surgeon to cut them away.

What is the purpose of this radical psychological and behavioral surgery?  Ah, the poem comes full circle.  What began as anxiety about God’s intimate knowledge of deeply personal experience is now seen as the necessary examination to find derekʿôlām, the path of everlasting.

Maybe we have come to this place too.  Maybe the God who sees all is the only One Who knows where to cut.

Topical Index: derek ʿōṣeb, hurtful way, derek ʿôlām, everlasting way, Psalm 139:24

[1]Allen, R. B. (1999). 1666. 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.) (687–688). Chicago: Moody Press.

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Brett Weiner B.B.( brother Brett)

It is true,Ye s h u a spoke of a baptism of suffering if I remember correctly he said not many may pass this way. Is this one in the same? This continues to be a form of reference, in my life This continues to be a form of reference, in my life. It began with and why do the nation’s rage they Rage Against The Lord’s Messiah. Psalm 2 verse 1. It is my understanding that it is a reference to the suffering of Israel. She is ever before the eyes of the Lord.

Rich Pease

Are we talking about God the surgeon removing a “tumor”
or providing a new heart?

Richard Bridgan

I’m thankful, whether it’s the need for removal of a “tumor” — or a heart transplant — that God knows precisely where and how to cut.

Carol

For me, God restoring me to a place of forgiving is a deep cutting necessary to my recovery from which and for much of the anxieties I feel… Most times when I feel anger, the hardness(of my heart) that I sense, is in need of a soften… I quiet myself enough to hear the lovingkindness of God’s spirit…These words might not be quiet what is meant(God who sees all knows where to cut), but in the mist of certain circumstances, listening for God’s words of instruction and or comfort gets one out of that wicked/hurtful way of feeling or being, HELPS! Therefore, the necessary examination to find the path of everlasting for me being reminded that God has indeed hedged me behind and before and know how to restore me.

Satomi

I love David’s desire that he be upright before the Lord and his willingness for YHWH to examine his heart. Understandably YHWH can say of David that he is a man after His own heart? It challenges me to question whether I truly have this same attitude as David. It sets my soul at peace to think I do allow the Lord to examine my heart but how deep is that surrender?

Mark Parry

Greetings brethren. Been refreshing myself in these words (and numbers of other T.W. this Shabbat morning.) A busy season in my world. Thank you Skip for your faithfull service in the word and my condolences on your families loss. This word inspires me to share the following as it seems appropriate.

From

https://worksofwords.live/2017/03/18/dappled-light/

Dappled light with the razor’s edge of cutting shadows,

Dawn has gone now; morning yet wanes.

Place within my skull a new thought; a new appreciation of your work,

Your hand in my life and my time.

Rip away the fog and dismay that are my thoughts,

My actions and plans are a cancer: a leprosy which brings corruption and an abiding stench I no longer wish to smell.

I give you the knife and like a master surgeon, you cut the dead and corrupted flesh away. My life has been sucked from me by these dead and withered limbs,

Procrastination and pride, arrogance and vanity.

I will strive no longer with these shadows and specters of the darkness.

My life and my time are in you – there is no room for shadows of yesterday

or fears for tomorrow:

It is done.

Oh gentle hand, skilled physician, there is no pain when that which has died is removed,

Only the stench lingers for a moment.

Open now the windows and let the breeze of the waning spring be the herald

of the fruitful summer you call into my life.

The blossoms are no longer tender on the vine, but flower now, for you have formed the time and the season, the rhyme that is my life, the song to the maker supreme,

Let it ring oh Lord, let it ring!