A Sacrificial Life

I have leaned on you since my birth; You are He who took me from my mother’s womb; my praise is continually of You.  Psalm 71:6  NASB

Leaned on – The Hebrew word tāmak means “to grasp.”  The word sāʿad means “to sustain.”  Neither one is used in this verse, but it’s important to see the difference.  Here the word is sāmak, and while it can be translated “lean on,” its primary use is in sacrifice.

The best known use of this root is in the laying on of hands. In the Levitical regulations regarding the sacrificial offerings, the offerer brought his proper sacrificial animal in person and laid his hand upon its head, thus expressing identification with the offering, its surrender to God and in the case of guilt, its transfer to the animal (cf. specifically Lev 16:21).^[1]

It’s true that the word is also used in the sense of reliance (cf. Amos 5:19) but just for a moment let’s suppose that the psalmist has Levitical ritual in mind.  What do you think that implies?  Perhaps it will remind you of another man who wrote about this theme.

“Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship” Romans 12:1).

The living sacrifice.  A contradiction in terms.  Sacrifices were killed.  But occasionally, after the worshipper brought a living animal and it was accepted by the priest, a previously unnoticed blemish was discovered.  The animal could not be sacrificed, but it also could not be returned to the owner.  It was already offered to God.  So, the animal became the property of the Temple and it lived out its life as a “living sacrifice.”  Do you suppose the psalmist has this circumstance in mind?  If he does, he might have written a prose statement something like this:

I was born to serve You.  From my birth, I’ve always wanted to be useful to You.  But you and I both know that my life has not been blameless.  I’ve got plenty of spots.  Even when I want to dedicate myself to Your praise, those blemishes remind me that I’m not a worthy sacrifice.  So, let me just stay near to You.  Let me live in Your company.  At least then I will be able to honor You.

Does the psalmist “lean on” God?  Yes, but perhaps not in the way we would normally think.  Perhaps this word points us toward leaning on God’s mercy to allow his blemished life to still be in God’s company.  Perhaps his intention to lean on God isn’t about support but rather about acceptance.

Like me.

Topical Index: lean on, sāmak, living sacrifice, laying on hands, Romans 12:1, Psalm 71:6

^[1] Patterson, R. D. (1999). 1514 סָמַך. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 628). Chicago: Moody Press.