Once Upon a Time

Behold, I long for Your precepts; revive me through Your righteousness. Psalm 119:40  NASB

Long – Well, it’s not exactly a hapax legomenon, but it might as well be.  tāʾeb, translated “long for,” is used only twice; once here and once in verse 174 (which we will eventually examine).  Since it is only found in this extended poem, we can’t be sure of its meaning.  There are no “outside” references to help us determine that.  But “long for” seems to express the apparent emotional angst of the poet so it works here and in verse 174.  With tāʾeb out of the way, we should ask, “Why does the psalmist long for God’s precepts?”

By now you’re familiar with piqqûdîm (precepts), the word for oversight.  Once we know this word, the answer to our question is readily available.  This whole section has been about a deep desire to have God change our ways.  “Teach me, give me understanding, make me walk, incline my heart, turn my eyes, establish Your word, take away my disgrace;” all pleas for divine intervention.  Why?  Why does the poet plead so fervently for God’s direct assault on his free will?  Because behind the ability to choose independently is an even greater motivation; the desire to be whole, the hunger to have a God-directed life.  Oversight, not compulsion.  Supervision, not constraint.  A partnership, not of equals but of equally oriented.

“Revive me” writes the poet.  But perhaps that’s not quite right.  “Revive” implies renewal, the need to resurrect something once fervent but now fading.  The verb is actually ḥāyâ, much stronger than “revive.”

חָיָה (ḥāyâ) live, have life, remain alive, sustain life, live prosperously, live forever. Also be quickened, revive from sickness, discouragement, or even death. . . The Qal conveys the basic meaning “to live or have life” whereas the two derived stems overlap in their meaning of “giving or restoring life.”^[1] This verb is in the Pi’el.  That makes the translation even more difficult.  The Pi’el stem:

 . . . has always remained somewhat elusive to Semitic grammarians.  The factitive or declarative quality of the stem is understood as making a declaration or pointing to a state of quality of something.[2]

So, we have a near hapax legomenon plus a particularly difficult verb.  Maybe what the poet is saying is something like this: “I desperately desire Your oversight, give me life through Your righteousness.”  And, of course, that last word, “righteousness,” is ṣĕdāqâ, precisely the term used to describe conformity to God’s standard.  Moses again: “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have placed before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

Topical Index: tāʾeb, long for, piqqûdîm, oversight, ḥāyâ, life, ṣĕdāqâ, righteousness, Psalm 119:40

^[1] Smick, E. B. (1999). 644 חָיָה. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 279). Moody Press.

[2] Todd Murphy, Pocket Dictionary for the Study of Biblical Hebrew, “Piel.”