The Sad Truth
Who will rise for me against evildoers, who will take a stand for me against the wrongdoers? Psalm 94:16 Robert Alter
For me – Be sure you read this verse as it is written, not as you might expect it to be written. What I mean is that we might expect “Who will rise with me against evildoers?” but that’s not what it says. The Hebrew is the contraction of the preposition lĕ and the pronoun ʾănî, that is, li (highlighted in red in the text below).
מִֽי־יָק֣וּם לִ֖י עִם־מְרֵעִ֑ים מִֽי־יִתְיַצֵּ֥ב לִ֜֗י עִם־פֹּ֥עֲלֵי אָֽוֶן
The subtle difference is quite important. As the text stands, the question is rhetorical. The answer is “no one.” The next verse confirms this fact. Only God is always there to defend His own. Others may profess commitment, but in the end every human being is alone—except for divine involvement. Other than David, this truth is probably best expressed by Ya’akob at the crossing of Jabbok. The experience is summarized in the Hebrew word lebaddo. You might remember our investigation of this term a few years ago (CLICK HERE ). That investigation began like this:
“Man is meaningless without God,” wrote Abraham Heschel. He could have written, “Man is totally alone without God.” That’s more than just man is alone. We all know we are alone. Yes, of course, we have friends, family, lovers, but there is still something in us that has been alone ever since we were expelled from the Garden. Man without others is tragic. Man without God is suicidal. “With God” is our last refuge of personal identity. “Without God” is a self-aware animal lost in the abyss of accident.
David faces the same ontological abandonment. His question implies the experience of traumatic solitude. There is no one he can count on—no one in this world. If God doesn’t show up, he is overwhelmed, not just by his enemies but by life itself. Pointless. Frustratingly empty. Thrown into the world without choice and terminated without notice. Is there no one for me?
David’s answer is also a reflection on Ya’akob’s encounter with the “man” in the night. If you’ve read my book Crossing(and you should), you’ll recognize that Ya’akob isn’t wrestling with God, as most English Bibles suggest in paragraph headings. He’s wrestling with all that he has made of himself in his effort to create an identity that has meaning. And he loses. It’s Heschel again. “Man is meaningless without God.” When Ya’akob loses the battle he wins the war. His identity is tied to the purposes of God from that point on. It is God who rescues us from that inner dread of being totally alone. If I try to force my will on the world in order to fill that empty space, I will fail. Death erases all my efforts. But if God is for me, then who can be against me? Oh, it appears that Paul also understood lebaddo and offered the same solution as David (Romans 8:31).
Look in the mirror today. Does that face staring back at you hide your emptiness or does it hint of a divine connection? Does it resonate with the rhetorical or with the sublime?
Topical Index: lebaddo, alone, for me, Ya’akob, Romans 8:31, Genesis 32:24, Psalm 94:16
