Knowing Why

Give me understanding, so that I may comply with Your Law and keep it with all my heart.  Psalm 119:34  NASB

Understanding – Do you find this request a bit odd?  The general pattern of God’s instructions in Torah do not require explanation.  In fact, the methodology of Torah learning is not about figuring out why God asks what He asks.  It is about obeying His commands even if we don’t know why.  When we read “Give me understanding so that . . .” it looks as if the psalmist has switched to Greek epistemology where obedience first requires rational explanation.  That’s essentially the attack of the serpent in Genesis 3.  Has the psalmist fallen victim to the same serpentine suggestion?

Perhaps a quick review of the umbrella of bîn is in order:

Its main English usage is “understanding” or “insight.” The background idea of the verb is to “discern,” and this lies behind the derivative nouns and the close relation derived from the substantive bayin (see below) from which comes the preposition bên “between.” The combination of these words, “discern between” is used in I Kgs 3:9, “That I may discern between good and evil.” bîn includes the concept of distinguishment that leads to understanding.^[1]

Notice that the “background idea” is discernment, not explanation.  Thus, we have the following:

The verb refers to knowledge which is superior to the mere gathering of data. It is necessary to know how to use knowledge one possesses (Pirke Abot 3:12). The verb yādaʿ (q.v.) can also mean “understanding” in the sense of ability (e.g. Esau as a skillful hunter). It can also mean “to be perceptive,” (Ps 73:22). However, yādaʿ generally describes the process whereby one gains knowledge through experience with objects and circumstances. bîn is a power of judgment and perceptive insight and is demonstrated in the use of knowledge.^[2]

Now we see why the English translation in the NASB could lead us in the wrong direction.  When we read “give me understanding,” we typically think of comprehension or knowledge, and for those under the influence of Greco-Roman culture, this means intellectual conception or explanation.  If I want to understand the rotation of the planets, I seek a rational theory about gravitational influence and velocity.  But this is not the same as discernment.  Discernment does notrequire me to have a cognitive, rational explanation.  It requires me to know by some means, not necessarily rational, how to treat two or more alternatives.  If I am taught how to determine which alternative is correct, I don’t need to know why it is correct.  I just need to know that the authority-teacher has told me the truth.  When we apply this idea to God’s instructions, the status of the Teacher is the source of the correct action.  My job is to obey.  Explanations are irrelevant.  “Give me understanding” becomes “Teach me the correct choice.”

A simple example suffices to show the difference.  I sit at the table to eat.  I’m offered what appears to be a delicious swordfish steak in butter sauce with a salt rub.  Do I ask God why I should refuse?  Would His explanation matter?  Or do I choose not to partake simple because He has taught me to discern between fins and no fins?

Next time you read “understand” in your English Bible, ask yourself if the translated word is really bîn.  Maybe you’ll need to read it differently.

Topical Index:  bîn, discernment, explanation, obedience, rational, Psalm 119:34

^[1] Goldberg, L. (1999). 239 בִּין. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 103). Moody Press.

^[2] Ibid.