Hog-tied

The snares of the wicked have surrounded me, but I have not forgotten Your Law.  Psalm 119:61  NASB

Not forgotten – Do you want to experience God’s rescue when evil men seek to harm you?  I’m guessing you would answer, “Yes.”  Well then, the first thing to understand is this: What are the “snares” of the wicked?  If you don’t know the signs of attack, you won’t be prepared with a defense.  In Hebrew, this word is ḥebel.  “ḥebel is a symbol of captivity or subjection . . .”^[1]  But that’s not all.  It is “used figuratively of the snares for the wicked (Job 18:10; Prov 5:22, the enslavement of sin) or set by the wicked (Ps 140:5 [H 6); 119:61). The Psalmist describes his situation before the Lord’s deliverance as one in which he was bound by the cords of death (18:5 [H 6]; 116:3).”^[2]  So now we can list some characteristics.  ḥĕblê’ are those things that tie you down, physically, mentally, or spiritually.  They hamper your pursuit of God.  They hinder your fulfillment of His instructions.  They handicap you in your desire to please Him.  The fact that ḥebel also means “band” (as in “band of brothers”) implies that these hinderances of the wicked arise from crowds.  Think of being pushed and shoved by a crowd so compact that you are unable to make your own way.  If you’ve ever had that experience, it can be terrifying.  Now imagine that same feeling when all these “ropes” are tied around you.

What’s the solution?  lōʾ šākaḥ.  To not forget.  But this Hebrew verb is not simply about a cognitive recollection.  Victor Hamilton’s discussion of šākaḥ is important: 

Interestingly though šākaḥ means “to forget,” the same root in Biblical Aramaic (in the Haphel stem) means almost the opposite, “to find,” e.g. “I have found (škḥ) a man of the captives of Judah” (Dan 2:25). One explanation for this phenomenon is that the root may originally have meant “he could not find,” a meaning reflected perhaps in Jer 50:6, “they have gone from mountain to hill, they have ‘forgotten’/they ‘cannot find’ their resting place” (Rabin). 

It is in God and man’s reciprocal relationship, that the verb šākaḥ finds its most steady use. About ten times it is used as an antonym for zākar “to remember” as in Deut 9:7, “Remember, never forget how you provoked Yahweh your God in the wilderness.” Or, šākaḥ may be used as an antonym for yādaʿ “to know” especially in Hos 2:13 [H 15]; 4:6; 13:4–6 (Wolff). To forget God is not to know God. 

More often man is the subject of šākaḥ, the one who forgets. Forgetting is not simply a psychological act of having a thought pass from one’s consciousness, a temporary or permanent lapse of memory. This is indicated by the frequent identification of the verb with an action. To forget God is to ignore his commandments (Deut 8:11). To forget God is to follow other gods (Deut 8:19); to forget God is to stand in fear of harm and danger, to live fretfully and timidly (Isa 51:13). To forget God is to challenge him (Ps 106:13).^[3]

In Hebrew the opposite of “forget” is zākar.  I find this particularly interesting, not because the verb zākar simply means “to remember,” but because the same consonants, zayin, kaf, resh, also mean “male,” that is, God’s creation of a man.  Can we suggest that remembering is what makes us human?  To forget God is to forget what it means to be human.  That’s what the snares of the wicked try to do—they make you forget how you were created and why you were created.  When the psalmist writes that he has not forgotten the Torah, he’s not simply saying that he has a cognitive recollection.  He’s saying that he remembers who he is, unhampered by the ropes of the enemy.

Topical Index: ḥebel, snare, rope, bind, band, zākar, remember, male, creation, Psalm 119:61

^[1] Weber, C. P. (1999). 592 חָבַל. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 258). Moody Press.

^[2] Ibid.

^[3] Ibid.