God vs. the People
But He, being compassionate, [s]forgave their wrongdoing and did not destroy them; and often He restrained His anger and did not stir up all His wrath. Psalm 78:38 NASB
Forgave – I hope you noticed that there’s a little footnote attached to this translated verb. That footnote tells the reader that the verb is “atone,” that is, kāpar. But as soon as you realize that Asaph is using this particular verb, you’ll encounter a host of problems. Not in Hebrew, of course, but in English. Why? Well, that’s because the word “atone” didn’t actually exist until the 16th Century.[1] Obviously, its roots are not in Hebrew. Maybe we could translate this verb as “forgive,” but that also has problems, as we shall see. First, the issue with “atone.” It’s really quite simple. Atonement means that two parties have a severed relationship due to some break of expectation (usually legal) and one party needs to recompense or make reparation in order for the breech to be healed. That sounds perfectly fine when it is applied to humans. But in this verse, the text says that because God is compassionate, He made atonement. How can that be? God didn’t break the contact. We are the ones who have broken the deal. We need to make atonement, not God! The injured party does not atone for the injuring party. Maybe that’s why the translators chose “forgave.” There’s something very strange about “atone” here.
Unfortunately, this is only the beginning of the problems. If we follow the basic Hebraic idea, we immediately discover that the Hebrew God is not like any of the other ancient pagan gods. He never is propitiated or appeased. You can bring a sacrifice to Molech or some other pagan god and maybe, if you’re lucky, your sacrifice will turn away his anger. But this never happens with YHVH. Why? Because the breech between YHVH and human beings is not an emotional one that produces anger. It is a legal one. Reconciliation requires specific, legal procedures. In other words, contract law applies. That’s why God can initiate kippur, not because He’s angry but because there is specific contract procedure for repairing the breech. In this case, “forgave” means that God did what was needed to restore the contract. It does not mean that God set aside His wrath and calmed Himself down. So we end up with the same problem. God is the injured party, yet the verse says that He repairs the breech.
There’s another little piece of the puzzle here. Kāpar also sometimes means “redeem.” In this sense, God’s wrath is involved. That’s why a substitute animal takes the deserved punishment. Thus, the scapegoat. Blood on the altar is the symbolic representation of the life of the one bringing the sacrifice. When God forgives, He does not insist on the full execution of the contract terms, for as you will recall, those terms required the party causing the breech to be killed. A breech of this contract carries the death penalty. But God can’t die. If He redeems, what happens to the required punishment? Strange, again.
There’s no doubt about the intention of Asaph’s statement. God is compassionate and merciful. He acted in a way that redeemed us. He did what we couldn’t (or wouldn’t) do. But how that could happen is a kind of mystery. Fortunately, we don’t have to solve the mystery in order to benefit.
Topical Index: forgave, atone, kippur, Psalm 78:38
[1] atone (v.) 1590s, “be in harmony, agree, be in accordance,” from adverbial phrase atonen (c. 1300) “in accord,” literally “at one,” a contraction of at and one. It retains the older pronunciation of one. Meaning “make up (for errors or deficiencies)” is from 1660s; that of “make reparations” is from 1680s.
