Yodh – On the Runway

Your hands made me and fashioned me; enable me to understand, and I shall learn Your commandments.  Psalm 119:73 Chabad

Fashioned – First, the acrostic section that begins with yod.

יָדֶ֣יךָ עָ֖שׂוּנִי וַיְכֽוֹנְנ֑וּנִי הֲ֜בִינֵ֗נִי וְאֶלְמְדָ֥ה מִצְו‍ֹתֶֽיךָ

יְרֵאֶיךָ יִרְא֣וּנִי וְיִשְׂמָ֑חוּ כִּ֖י לִדְבָֽרְךָ֣ יִחָֽלְתִּי

יָדַ֣עְתִּי יְ֖הֹוָה כִּי־צֶ֣דֶק מִשְׁפָּטֶ֑יךָ וֶֽ֜אֱמוּנָ֗ה עִנִּיתָֽנִי

יְהִי־נָ֣א חַסְדְּךָ֣ לְנַֽחֲמֵ֑נִי כְּאִמְרָֽתְךָ֥ לְעַבְדֶּֽךָ

יְבֹא֣וּנִי רַֽחֲמֶ֣יךָ וְאֶֽחְיֶ֑ה כִּ֖י ת֜וֹרָֽתְךָ֗ שַֽׁעֲשֻׁעָֽי

יֵבֹ֣שׁוּ זֵ֖דִים כִּי־שֶׁ֣קֶר עִוְּת֑וּנִי אֲ֜נִ֗י אָשִׂ֥יחַ בְּפִקּוּדֶֽיךָ

יָשֽׁוּבוּ־לִ֥י יְרֵאֶ֑יךָ וְ֜יֹֽדְעֵ֗י (כתיב וְ֜יֹֽדְעֵ֗ו) עֵֽדֹתֶֽיךָ

יְהִי־לִבִּ֣י תָמִ֣ים בְּחֻקֶּ֑יךָ לְ֜מַ֗עַן לֹ֣א אֵבֽוֹשׁ

 Perhaps you recognize the plural possessive of yād, “your hands,” as the first word of this verse.  Good.  Now let’s consider the two verbs, ʿāśâ and kûn, “made” and “fashioned.”  Actually, both verbs could be translated “made” or “fashioned,” so why does the psalmist use both?  The answer to this question is a return to Genesis.  “Let us make man” uses ʿāśâ, as we would expect.  But the verb kûn isn’t part of that story.  It doesn’t show up until Genesis 41:32 (the interpretation of Pharoah’s dream).  “The root meaning is to bring something into being with the consequence that its existence is a certainty.”^[1]  Accordingly, God didn’t just make me.  He made me with a certain purpose in mind.  I am deliberately created.

As if that weren’t enough to make us pause, there’s something else happening here.  The first verb is a present tense perfect—a finished action.  God’s act of creating me as a human being is complete the moment I am conceived.  But that’s not the end of the story.  The second verb, kûn, is a Polel verb, once again a rare form, and it expresses action in multiple ways: simple, intensive, resulting, or causative.  In other words, it’s not just the fact of my existence that matters.  It’s the way that the creative act is accomplished, that is, its purpose, its intensity, its casual ability.  Furthermore, this verb is a vav-conversive imperfect.  So, I was fashioned; I am fashioned; I will be fashioned—all together—and by the way, it’s an imperfect, an incomplete, continuing action.  I am being made according to God’s purposes.

“Wait a minute,” you complain.  “The translation is past tense.  ‘You fashioned me.’”  Yes, that’s the translation, but the Hebrew isn’t quite the same.  Even if the verb weren’t a vav-conversive, it would still be an imperfect which means that the action of fashioning is on-going.  You and I were made for a purpose, but that purpose is unfolding as we become human.  It wasn’t finished on the day God said it was all very good.  This is the divine version of epigenetics.  History, plural and singular, is the record of the vav-conversive imperfect verb kûn.

Topical Index: made, fashioned, ʿāśâ, kûn, vav-conversive, Psalm 119:73

^[1] Oswalt, J. N. (1999). 964 כוּן. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 433). Moody Press.