Before Before
Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word. Psalm 119:67 NASB
Before – Well, before we look at “before,” let’s review what we learned about this verse before. Here are the previous three investigations:
April 25, 2005 the word “afflicted”
April 26, 2005 the word “astray”
April 27, 2005 the word “keep”
Go ahead. Review. I’ll wait. . . . . . . . . .
What did you learn?
1) Affliction is positive confirmation of God’s intervention and care. Those who never experience humbling are the most tragic creatures of this world. God has abandoned them to their own directions.
2) Unintentional sin reveals God’s mercy—once. You can’t go astray with the same sin twice.
3) Keeping God’s word is a cooperative effort of love. It will take lots of effort but the effort will be spent getting yourself out of the way of God working through you.
Now that we’ve reviewed all this, what’s left to say? Well, how about ṭerem. TWOT has an interesting remark:
טֶרֶם (ṭerem) טְרוֹם (ṭĕrôm), not yet, before that. Adverb of time. Not found in cognate languages.[1]
Do you understand what it means to say, “Not found in cognate languages”? This is a particularly Hebrew word. It doesn’t have an etymology reaching back to other Semitic cultures. It’s used fifty-five times in the Tanakh with the most occurrences in Genesis and Isaiah. As you can see, sometimes it is best translated as “not yet;” other times as “before that.” The psalmist gives us a timeframe here. Life is by-and-large a before-and-after process. In this case, the “before” is what most of us want. Life without affliction. No hinderances. No oppression. No humiliation. Peace and quiet. Doing things my way. The psalmist tells us that this idealized state isn’t helpful! It’s a fantasy world—and ultimately a tragic one—because in this state we are not awake to God’s calling. We’re living in the Garden, or at least we think we are, but life as the human agent of God begins after affliction. You have to be expelled from Paradise before you can fulfill God’s intentions. What does the psalmist say? Before I was humbled and oppressed, I went astray. šāgag, a synonym for “sin.” “The verb is used only four times. Leviticus 5:18 and Num 15:28 are verses dealing with the sin of ‘ignorance/inadvertence.’ The remaining two are Ps 119:67, ‘Before I was afflicted I went astray’; and Job 12:16, ‘ “the deceived” and the deceiver are his’ (KJV).” [2] Before God woke me up, I just went along my merry way without realizing how wide the road was. In the end affliction was the best thing that ever happened to me.
Ah, back to the hidden meaning of tet. Or maybe we should call it the paradox of suffering.
Topical Index: before, ṭerem, šāgag, go astray, suffering, affliction, paradox, Psalm 119:67
[1] Harris, R. L., Archer, G. L., Jr., & Waltke, B. K., eds. (1999). In Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 353). Moody Press.
[2] Hamilton, V. P. (1999). 2324 שָׁגַג. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament(electronic ed., pp. 903–904). Moody Press.
In the ancient mid-eastern culture (and even to the present) sheep were not driven before the shepherd; they learned to follow him to find the life-sustaining reward of green pastures and still, cool waters. Those that did otherwise were met with the harsh realities of desolation, wasting, and a final ravaging destruction.
One must never lose sight or stray from the way by which our Chief Shepherd leads us as the One who eternally goes before us in the paradox of suffering and seeming affliction that actually serves to deliver us from the realm of death and into the realm of rest, peace, joy, and life forevermore.
The fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil serves to present a taste that must be acquired before one can experience the savory delicacy of the fruit of the tree of life!