Shame on You

Take away my disgrace which I dread, for Your judgments are good. Psalm 119:39  NASB

Disgrace – by now we’ve learned that shame in the ancient Semitic world is not an inner psychological state.  It is public disgrace.  Now we need to know what “disgrace” means in this ancient world.  The word is ḥerpâ.

In most instances the word is used in the sense of casting scorn. In Ps 74:10 the word occurs in parallelism with nāʾaṣ (scorn, condemn) and in Prov 14:31 it is the antithesis of kābēd (honor) and may be understood as disgrace or dishonor. In Jud 5:18 the people of Zebulon are described as scorning their lives even to death. ^[1]

The psalmist tells us that this is a condition he dreads.  That is quite a powerful word itself.

yāgōr—The basic meaning is “to fear something with great dread” (similar to pāḥad q.v.). yārēʾ (q.v.) has nuances of “reverence.” Probably a byform of gûr “be afraid” (q.v.).

The root primarily describes “fear” of God’s discipline when one has disobeyed, or thinks he has disobeyed, God’s ways (Deut 28:60; Job 9:28; Ps 119:39).^[2]

Note the reference to pāḥad, a word you will want to examine much more since it shows up in the often mistaken translation of Exodus 34:7 (“visiting the iniquity upon’) and it’s also found in the very unusual description of Isaac’s God (Genesis 31:42), the God of dread.  We’ve looked at these verses in the past.  Maybe you might want to review.

Now that we find yāgōr is primarily about God’s discipline, perhaps we need to change our thinking concerning this verse.  Since we typically read it as Westerners, we probably imagine that the psalmist is appealing to God to remove the public humiliation he anticipates.  But yāgōr implies that whatever “disgrace” he fears is not from the public but rather from God.  That doesn’t mean it won’t have public consequences.  It just means that the dreaded source of this disgrace is God’s punishment, not simply the disdain of the people.  This helps us see why the second part of the verse is necessary. The psalmist proclaims that whatever decision God makes in regard to his present condition is the right one, the good one.  He doesn’t want to feel the bitter sting of God’s punishment but he knows that even if it doesn’t fall upon him, it won’t be vindictive or evil.  It will be ṭôb—good.  That alone is worth a pause.

How many of us can fully submit and acknowledge to God’s judgments as good?  Don’t we usually complain, feeling as if we are being treated unfairly?  Who among us can truthfully say, “Thy will be done”?  Especially when the outcome seems to bring humiliation.  No wonder yāgōr is the poet’s choice.

Topical Index: yāgōr, dread, pāḥad, ḥerpâ, disgrace, Psalm 119:39

^[1] Mccomiskey, T. E. (1999). 749 חָרַף. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament(electronic ed., p. 325). Moody Press.

^[2] Alexander, R. H. (1999). 843 יָגֹר. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament(electronic ed., p. 362). Moody Press.