Stuck on You
My soul clings [e]to You; Your right hand upholds me. Psalm 63:8 NASB
Clings – You know this verb. It’s used in the famous marriage verse, Genesis 2:24. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.” Of course, the NASB translation changes the Hebrew from “cling” to “join,” I suppose because the translators thought “cling” wasn’t modern enough. But the Hebrew verb is still the same, dābaq, and we need to know this because David uses this “marriage” verb in a powerful, poetic way.
But before we investigate his metaphorical application, we should clear up the terrible translation “soul.” Alter notes: “But it is always a misleading English equivalent because there is no biblical notion of the soul, and the several concretely physical meanings I have just listed reflect a rather different conception of the living human body.”[1] He points out that nefesh can mean breath, life-breath, life, appetite, throat, and neck. It should be obvious that “soul” imports Platonic Greek philosophy into this text. It just doesn’t belong here.
And now that we’ve recognized how physical the Hebrew word nefesh really is, we can appreciate that dābaq is “used quite often in the [Old Testament] of physical things sticking to each other, especially parts of the body.”[2] It’s the glue word.
dābaq also carries the sense of clinging to someone in affection and loyalty. Man is to cleave to his wife (Gen 2:24). Ruth clave to Naomi (Ruth 1:14). The men of Judah clave to David their king during Sheba’s rebellion (II Sam 20:2). Shechem loved Dinah and clave to her (Gen 34:3) and Solomon clave in love to his wives (I Kgs 11:2).[3]
In Hebrew, dābaq comes first: “Clings my nefesh to You.” Glue is the most important thought so it’s in the primary position. We should also notice something about “to You.” The Hebrew is a bit odd. It’s ʾaḥareka. Remember that “H. W. Wolff has likened the Hebrew conception of time to the view a man has when he is rowing a boat. He sees where he has been and backs into the future.”[4] Is David simply saying that his entire person clings to God? I don’t think so. He uses a term that paints the picture of hanging on as someone passes by, of grabbing the tassels of a man’s garment in order to get attention. The NASB footnote mentions “after You” rather than “to You.” I don’t know why they changed it. When they did, we lost the connection. David is glued to whatever he can get of God’s passing presence. Does that remind you of a story in the Gospels? Or maybe even that funny fight at the brook in Genesis? There’s a lot going on here, isn’t there?
Topical Index: cling, dābaq, nefesh, soul, ʾaḥareka, Psalm 63:8
[1] Robert Alter, The Art of Bible Translation (Princeton University Press, 2019), p. 48.
[2] Kalland, E. S. (1999). 398 דָּבַק. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., pp. 177–178). Chicago: Moody Press.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Harris, R. L. (1999). 68 אָחַר. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 34). Chicago: Moody Press.
