Think on These Things

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will achieve success.  Joshua 1:8 NASB

Meditate – Pay close attention.  This verse contains an odd coupling of ideas, a coupling that reveals how utterly different the world of Joshua was from our Western civilization.  We read this verse as if it says, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mind, but you shall meditate on it day and night . . .”  What it says, of course, is about speaking this Book, not thinking about it, but because we view “meditate” as a cognitive action, we’re likely not to see the inherent dichotomy between the actual word we read and what we think it says.  William Graham comments on this shift in meaning that happened after the Enlightenment:

“While ‘meditation’ suggested contemplation or study aimed at realizing the full meaning of a text, it did not mean simply ‘contemplation’ or ‘reflection’ as an abstract activity that could be divorced from the confrontation with a concrete portion of the scriptural word.  Nor was it a silent, interior act of mind and heart alone.  The tongue had also to be involved.  The Hebrew hāgāh, like the Latin meditare and the Greek (and Coptic, which uses the Greek) meletan, denoted in the first instance an oral activity, namely, ‘to murmur, recite or repeat aloud (from memory).’  From this developed the extended meanings, ‘to practice assiduously, study, take care with.’  Reflection on a text, like reading a text, was an audible and vocal, not a silent and purely mental activity.”[1]

Try to apply this correction to other verses in Scripture.  How about Paul’s exhortation to the Philippians:  “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is ^[a]lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (4:8).  Did you notice that the translators add “about” to the final phrase, converting it to a purely cognitive exercise? The Greek verb is logízomai; its original home is the world of commerce—to count.  Jewish Greek (Paul’s language) provides another correction: “In the LXX it takes on the nuance a. of an emotional and even volitional act, e.g., devising, or counting in the subjective sense.”^[2]  Ah, not so much “thinking about;” more like “put into practice—do something about.”

And what about David’s remark: “I will remember the deeds of the Lord;  yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds” (Psalm 77:11-12).  Do you think David means silently, mentally?  Or is he writing something to be sung, to be proclaimed?  So  what about the “Book of the Law”?  How do you meditate on it now?  Better keep in mind that hāgāh also means “mutter, moan, rumble, growl, utter a low sound.”

Topical Index: meditate, hāgāh, Psalm 77:11-12, Philippians 4:8, Joshua 1:8

[1] William A. Graham, Beyond the Written Word: Oral Aspects of Scripture in the History of Religion (Cambridge University Press, 1987), pp. 133-134.

^[2] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (p. 536). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.