God Will Take Care
With my many cares within me, Your consolations delighted me. Psalm 94:19 Robert Alter
Many cares – Aretha Franklin’s rendition of “God Will Take Care of You” is found on the best selling Gospel album of all time. It’s powerful and worth listening to (CLICK HERE). Since music is such an emotional experience, perhaps we need to hear this song before we look any further into the Hebrew of this verse. I’ll wait.
Okay, let’s continue. The Hebrew translated “many cares” is rōb śarʿappay. You know rōb, from the verb rābab, “be(come) many.” It’s the familiar expression toda raba (“thank you very much”). You might not be acquainted with śarʿappîm (שַׂרְעַפִּים) because it’s only used a few times, but you will be reminded of the sound of it from Exodus 34:6 (“ʾerek ʾappayim”—slow to anger, literally, a long face/nostril). Let’s pretend that we’re living in the 10th Century B.C.E. and reading what David wrote. It is in Paleo-Hebrew, of course. The consonants are Sheen-Reysh-Ayin-Pey-Yod-Mem. Something like:
Consume or destroy
A person, the head of a person
To see, know, experience
To speak, a word, to open
Work, deed, make
Chaos, massive
How do these pictographic symbols become “anxious thoughts”(NASB) or “many cares”? Roughly, the consonants might be strung together as “experiencing words or deeds of chaos bent on destroying a person.” We should point out that Alter’s translation doesn’t limit these cares to the cognitive realm. There are other things besides thoughts that cause “many cares.” Anything that tends to cause chaos in our lives, that has the potential to bring us to ruin, whether word or deed, is captured in śarʿappîm. Look at Job 4:13 and 20:2, or at Psalm 139:23. I’m sure you get the feeling!
What is David’s resolution? God’s consolations. The word is tanḥûm from a surprising root, nāḥam. Why is this surprising? Because the verb means “to be sorry, to regret” and “to be comforted.” A derivative in Hosea means “compassion.” “The origin of the root seems to reflect the idea of ‘breathing deeply,’ hence the physical display of one’s feelings, usually sorrow, compassion, or comfort.”[1] Breathing deeply is a bit like God’s own description in Exodus (ʾerek ʾappayim). Perhaps the ultimate comfort is the fact that God waits for us.
The second primary meaning of nāḥam is “to comfort” (Piel) or “to be comforted” (Niphal, Pual, and Hithpael). This Hebrew word was well known to every pious Jew living in exile as he recalled the opening words of Isaiah’s “Book of Consolation,” naḥămû naḥămû ʿammî “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people” (Isa 40:1). The same word occurs in Ps 23:4, where David says of his heavenly Shepherd, “Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.” [2]
Once again David sets the paradoxical stage. Because of our anxieties, we can experience God’s comfort. In fact, the more we try to take care of ourselves, the less comfort life offers. What was that Twelve-step insight? Oh, yes. Let go and let God.
Topical Index: cares, anxious thoughts, śarʿappîm, comfort, tanḥûm, nāḥam, Psalm 94:19
[1] Wilson, M. R. (1999). 1344 נָחַם. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 570). Chicago: Moody Press.
[2] Ibid.
We are to come boldly to the throne of God’s grace in time of need; this is the genuine way of “doing theology”.
The futility of a person’s desire for anything by which there is the impossibility of being fulfilled is clearly stated (in Deuteronomy 28:20;29). The term also characterizes sin’s desire for Cain (Genesis 4:7), the woman’s desire for her husband (Genesis 3:16) as well as the lover’s desire for his beloved (Song of Solomon 7:10). The Hebrew term translated desire seems to imply a longing for intimacy, which would include being understood and loved on the deepest levels.
Through the propitiation of the covenant curses— wrought by Christ’s “becoming a curse for us” by being “hung upon a tree”— all those whose faith now rests on Christ’s (i.e., God’s Messiah) bearing the covenantal curses of God’s people, the covenant curses can now descend on one only as they are now accompanied— that is to say, as they are now accompanied also with a genuine hope of restoration… which is also now extended to the created order (cf. Romans 8:20-30).
“Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow, because tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34)
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)
“Therefore let us approach with confidence to the throne of grace, in order that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)