Feather Pillows

The arrogant ^[z]have forged a lie against me; with all my heart I will comply with Your precepts.  Psalm 119:69  NASB

Forged – I’m not sure why the NASB translators decided to use the English verb “forge.”  The Hebrew is ṭāpal, “to smear, to plaster over.”  It’s only used three times (the other two are in Job 13:4; 14:17).  Those two verses are:

“But you smear me with lies; you are all worthless physicians” (Job 13:4).

“My wrongdoing is sealed up in a bag, and You cover over my guilt” (Job 14:17).

Perhaps NASB translators were influenced by the preposition ʿal, which they translate “against,” but it is translated thirty different ways in the English Bible, including beside, concerning, on, over, upon, because, or although.  Alter gets it right with “The arrogant plaster me with lies.”  We could also write, “The arrogant smear me with a lie.”  You get the idea.

But that raises another question.  Who are these people?  Who are the “arrogant”?  The Hebrew is the plural of zēd.  Once again, the poet picks a particularly unusual word.  “Because the root form does not appear in the ot, its spelling, whether with middle yod or waw, is not certain. The verb appears only in the Qal and Hiphil stems, with no clear distinction in meaning between them. In the sphere of the physical, it means ‘to boil’; in the sphere of personality, ‘to act in a proud manner.’ With its derivatives, the word appears a total of forty times in the ot.”^[1]  In this verse the word appears as an adjective, not a noun.  There is no definite article.  The literal translation would be, “Smeared over me a boastful lie, I with all heart continually observe (nāṣar) Your precepts (piqqûdîm).”  Without the noun, we have only the action to determine who these people are, but what we know is that the verb “is used eight times in reference to the personality, and three of the derivatives are used only in that connection. The basic idea is pride, a sense of self-importance, which often is exaggerated to include defiance and even rebelliousness”.^[2]

In the literal sense, it is not the people that the poet has in mind but rather the character of the lie (šeqer).  What characteristic of this word for lie helps us understand the poet’s complaint?  šāqar “is used of the breaking of a promise, being false to a treaty or commitment, hence an empty promise.”^[3]  Now we see.  The attempt is to smear the poet’s promising-keeping, to portray him as untrustworthy.  This is a serious concern in a world where shame is the loss of public reputation.  It isn’t the people who propagate such lies that he emphasizes.  It’s the lie itself that’s the problem.  God can and will deal with the people, but who will deal with the lost reputation?  Two examples highlight the issue.  The first is the story of a rabbi, the second a scene from a movie.

Here’s the story:  CLICK

And here’s the video: THE INTERNATIONAL  True Hearted

The interpretation seems obvious, doesn’t it?

But what about that hidden knowledge thing?  All of this investigation seems so straightforward.  Where’s the hidden part?  Perhaps what’s hidden is the odd contrast.  How can continuing to watch, guard, and observe God’s piqqûdîm have any effect on libel?  It seems as though once the libel is proclaimed, it’s done.  Feather pillows.  No undoing even if it’s false.  Wouldn’t we expect the psalmist to ask for vindication, restitution, or revenge?  But he doesn’t ask for any of that.  Instead he simply says that he will continue to observe God’s oversight.  Oh, and now we get it.  The lie cannot be undone.  That’s true, but it was already within God’s supervision.  It was somehow part of the engineering of the psalmist’s life.  In other words, as long as God is in charge, even vicious lies play a role.  How that happens hidden from us.

Topical Index: šāqar, lie, piqqûdîm, precepts, ṭāpal, smear, plaster over, Psalm 119:69

^[1] Wood, L. J. (1999). 547 זִיד. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 239). Moody Press.

^[2] Ibid.

^[3] Austel, H. J. (1999). 2461 שָׁקַר. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 955). Moody Press.