Nun

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.  Psalm 119:105  NASB

נֵר־לְרַגְלִ֥י דְבָרֶ֑ךָ וְ֜א֗וֹר לִנְתִֽיבָתִֽי  

¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

נִשְׁבַּ֥עְתִּי וָֽאֲקַיֵּ֑מָה לִ֜שְׁמֹ֗ר מִשְׁפְּטֵ֥י צִדְקֶֽךָ
¹⁰⁶ I have sworn and I will confirm it, that I will keep Your righteous judgments.

נַֽעֲנֵ֥יתִי עַד־מְאֹ֑ד יְ֜הֹוָ֗ה חַיֵּ֥נִי כִדְבָרֶֽךָ
¹⁰⁷ I am exceedingly afflicted; Revive me, Lord, according to Your word.

נִדְב֣וֹת פִּ֖י רְצֵה־נָ֣א יְהֹוָ֑ה וּמִשְׁפָּטֶ֥יךָ לַמְּדֵֽנִי
¹⁰⁸ Be pleased to accept the voluntary offerings of my mouth, Lord, and teach me Your judgments.

נַפְשִׁ֣י בְכַפִּ֣י תָמִ֑יד וְ֜תוֹרָֽתְךָ֗ לֹ֣א שָׁכָֽחְתִּי
¹⁰⁹ My life is continually in my hand, yet I do not forget Your Law.

נָֽתְנ֬וּ רְשָׁעִ֣ים פַּ֣ח לִ֑י וּ֜מִפִּקּוּדֶ֗יךָ לֹ֣א תָעִֽיתִי
¹¹⁰ The wicked have set a trap for me, yet I have not wandered from Your precepts.

נָחַ֣לְתִּי עֵֽדְו‍ֹתֶ֣יךָ לְעוֹלָ֑ם כִּֽי־שְׂשׂ֖וֹן לִבִּ֣י הֵֽמָּה
¹¹¹ I have inherited Your testimonies forever, for they are the joy of my heart.

נָטִ֣יתִי לִ֖בִּי לַֽעֲשׂ֥וֹת חֻקֶּ֗יךָ לְעוֹלָ֥ם עֵֽקֶב
¹¹² I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes forever, even to the end.

Lamp – Perhaps one of the most well-known verses in the Psalms, we discover now that it is buried deeply in a larger work of praise for God’s revelation to us.  One hundred and five verses into this magnum opus we come across the word nîr.  A comment on this noun provides some opportunity for investigation:

David, in turn, confessed that Jehovah was his lamp (II Sam 22:29), i.e. the one who enlightened his path through darkness (cf. Jn 3:20–21) and led him into a state of blessedness nûaḥ; cf. Prov 13:9; Job 29:3). Psalm 119:105 (cf. Prov 6:23) celebrates the word of God as the lamp to the feet of the godly. Christian readers will recognize this “leadership” of “word” and “light” as a foreshadow of Christ (Jn 1:1–13). As KD shows, Ps 132:17 uses “lamp” as a figure of the Messiah (it is parallel to the well-known figure “branch”). Thus, “lamp” is a symbol of God’s personal leading (II Sam 22:29), through his word, through his chosen king and, ultimately, through his messiah. ^[1]

Whether or not the psalmist intended to foreshadow the Messiah is of some debate, but what is clear is that we are now in the realm of the dābar, not ʾimrâ.  Does that mean we should view this as “written” word?  No, not quite.  You see, dābar(the verb) can mean “to speak, declare, converse, command, promise, sing, etc.”  In other words, all the different ways of communicating.  Consequently, dābār (the noun) covers not only the written word but also speaking, saying, speech, and “thing.”  “In any language the words which represent the basic verb for speaking and the noun for ‘word’ cannot but be of supreme importance. The verb dābar and the noun dābār have these important spots in the Hebrew Bible.”^[2]

Notice the difficulties with determining exactly what these two words mean:

These two words occur more than 2500 times in the ot, the noun more than 1400 times and the verb more than 1100. The source of the words is unclear though they are common in Semitic languages. Some words cover much territory, spreading into many areas of thought and in the process compounding problems for communicators—especially for those who try to translate ideas into other languages. In the KJV dābar is translated by about thirty different words and dābār by more than eighty. Some of these are synonyms but many are not. All, however, have some sense of thought processes, of communication, or of subjects or means of communication. The noun dābār stretches all the way from anything that can be covered by the word thing or matter to the most sublime and dynamic notion of the word of God.^[3]

Kalland provides another important insight directly relevant to our investigation of Psalm 119:

Many synonyms are found in Ps 119 where the message from God is eulogized. Doubtless the most important synonyms are ʾāmar “to say” and the masculine and feminine ʾēmer and ʾimrâ which are almost always translated “word.” In his discussion on synonyms for the word of God, Girdlestone mentions ʾāmar “to say,” millâ “word,” nāʾam “utter,” peh “mouth,” tôrâ “law,” dāt “edict,” ḥōq “statute,” ṣāwâ “command,” piqqûdîm “charge,” ʾōraḥ “way,” derek; “path,” mišpaṭ “judgment,” and ʾôd “testimony.”^[4]

What we cannot do is transport the idea of lighting the pathway into the modern world.  So, now imagine what it is like to use an oil lamp to find your way in the dark.  The light flickers.  The shadows oscillate.  You can’t see very far ahead but you can hear things out there in the dark.  Once I was in South Africa walking from our shelter to the main dining room with only a small flashlight.  I could see the pathway, but not much of anything else.  Suddenly, standing right in front of me, not even five feet away, was an Eland buck.  It scared me to death.  That experience is like the lamp for my feet.  It’s only the feet I see.  Not much of anything else.  What sense of protection do I have when I really can’t see where I’m going?  Well, for the psalmist it’s the first one hundred and four verses.  If you think God’s word should be like a lighted football field at night, maybe your need for security is out of proportion.  Maybe seeing just the next step is the real route through life.  Leave the dark to God.

Topical Index: lamp, word, dābār, nîr, pathway, Psalm 119:105

KD K. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament

^[1] Coppes, L. J. (1999). 1333 נוק. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 566). Moody Press.

^[2] Kalland, E. S. (1999). 399 דָּבַר. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 179). Moody Press.

^[3] Ibid.

^[4] Ibid.