The Problem with Consonants
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Psalm 37:7 NIV
Wait patiently – What do you do with a messy grammar? Do you stick with traditional readings? Or do you entertain alternatives? And what do you do when there’s no real way to decide which is correct?
That’s the issue with this verse. There are two possible verbs here and we really can’t tell which one is correct because Hebrew grammar often drops certain consonants in some verb tenses, but which consonant is dropped isn’t always clear. Here’s the sentence in Hebrew:
דּ֚וֹם֙ | לַֽיהֹוָה֘ וְהִתְח֪וֹלֵ֫ל ל֥וֹ אַל־תִּ֖תְחַר בְּמַצְלִ֣יחַ דַּרְכּ֑וֹ בְּ֜אִ֗ישׁ עֹשֶׂ֥ה מְזִמּֽוֹת
What do we do with the verb highlighted in red (וְהִתְח֪וֹלֵ֫ל Hebrew – ve-hit-ho-lel )? What is the root of this verb? Various lexicons show two completely different verbs.
יָחַל (yāḥal) wait, hope[1] TWOT, TLOT
חִיל chîyl, kheel; a prim. root; prop. to twist or whirl[2] Strong’s, BDB, HALOT
Jewish commentaries don’t offer much help. וְהִתְח֪וֹלֵ֫ל has two different meanings according to the rabbis. Rashi, Metzudas, Radak, and Malbim say it comes from the word “Yachel,” “to hope,” meaning “put your hope in Hashem.” However, Ibn Ezra and Rabbi Hirsch say it comes from the word “Cheil” or “cholel” “to bring to birth,” meaning either “allow Hashem to make you reborn, anew,” (Rav Hirsch) or “Make yourself reborn for his sake” (Ibn Ezra). There is really no way to decide. English translations tend to go with the first version following Rashi, but the second is just as valid.
You might say, “Hey, what’s the big deal? We’ll just remember that both are possible.” Good answer, except—the meaning isn’t quite the same depending on your choice—and no English translation bothers to tell you that there’s a consonant problem with this verse. Even Robert Alter’s translation doesn’t mention it. I guess you’ll have to wait until someone comes along and points it out. 🙂
Topical Index: hit’holel, wait, twist, Psalm 37:7
[1] Gilchrist, P. R. (1999). 859 יָחַל. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 373). Chicago: Moody Press.
[2] Strong, J. (2009). A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible (Vol. 2, p. 37). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
And thereby we see the relative ambiguity provided by the text of Israel’s testimony that, by its inspired character, serves as witness to Israel’s historical experience in relation to YHVH.
Is this problematic? Perhaps it is— for those of us who have been suffused with a Western/Greek rationalistic mindset by living within such a culture. Yet the testimony serves both the “Jew,” and also the “Greek” concerning its purpose of bearing witness by testifying to the acts of God in his own assumption of the work necessary for sinful mankind’s redemption and restoration to be “God’s people” as “the people of God”— “For [in this encompassing purpose/intent] there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is lord of all, who is rich to all who call upon him. For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord [YHVH] will be saved. (Cf. Romans 10:12)
But Israel’s testimony within its own cultural context was by hearing; moreover, it was also a hearing with the expected response of faith in God’s own faithfulness. Nevertheless, Isaiah, YHVH’s prophet to Israel boldly says, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I became known to those who did not ask for me.” But about Israel he says, “The whole day long I held out my hands to a disobedient and resistant people.” (Cf. Romans 10:20-21)
“How then will they call upon him in whom they have not heard? And how will they believe in him about whom they have not heard? And how will they hear about him without one who proclaims him to them?” (Cf. Romans 10:14)
How? Graciously, by the great and generous mercies of God, which are extended even to those of us who are of “the nations” and whose Western/Greek culture shapes minds that are predominantly set upon textual precision alongside a rationalistic critical analysis of that text, for the Truth of the consequential reality of our experience is that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Cf. Romans 10:17)
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This one was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and apart from him not one thing came into being that has come into being. In him was life, and the life was the light of humanity. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.(Cf. John 1:1-5)