Back to the Garden

My flesh trembles from the fear of You, and I am afraid of Your judgments.  Psalm 119:120  NASB

I am afraid – Something is wrong here.  If we follow the NASB, we think that in his current condition the psalmist is terrified of God’s judgments.  That’s what the present tense of these two verbs sāmar (to tremble) and yārēʾ (to fear) would mean.  Chabad delivers the same message of doom: “My flesh bristles from fear of You, and I dread Your judgments.”  Sefaria does no better.  Can this be right?  After 119 verses of praise, submission, and alignment with the Law, can the psalmist now be shaking with fear that God will punish him?  That just doesn’t make any sense—unless, of course, you’re following the doctrines of someone like Martin Luther who taught that we sin every day in word, thought, and deed.  No wonder Luther believed in “alien righteousness,” a process whereby God replaces our “sinful nature” with something acceptable to Him.  As natural human beings we deserve everything God can throw at us.

But I don’t think the psalmist was a Lutheran.

If I look at the grammar, I find that both verbs are qatal perfect.  That means they are past, finished.  It as if the psalmist said, “I did tremble, and I was afraid.”  But there is no reason to believe this is his current situation.  In fact, after 119 verses there is every reason not to read this verse as present tense.  There was a time when he trembled in fear of God.  There was a time when he was terrified about the possibility of God’s judgment.  But no more.  Now he stands up for God’s character.  Now he lauds God’s handiwork.  Now he praises God’s Law.  He is no longer terrified or afraid.  He is not like the first man who used the same Hebrew verb when he said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”  The grammar of Adam’s statement used the verb in the wayyiqtol vav-consecutive, imperfect.  We’ve looked at this before.[1]  It could be rendered, “I was afraid, I am afraid, and I continue to be afraid.”  But the qatal perfect does not allow this.  Nor does it allow the simple present as if the condition remains in force.  To translate it as present is to do tremendous disservice to the 119 previous verses, and to reinforce the idea that God stands over us like the divine Judge and Jury, ready to strike us down at any moment.  That might be an accurate depiction of Zeus, but it’s not a truthful description of YHVH.

What have we learned?  Well, aside from some technical information about Hebrew verb tenses, I trust that we’ve learned two things.  First, that even Jewish English translations are affected by hidden biases that often undermine the meaning of the original text, and secondly, God isn’t the Policeman in the Sky (as I often cringed to think when I was younger).  We must dissuade ourselves of the Lutheran heritage, the Reformed idea that nothing we can do will turn away His anger so we throw ourselves on the mercy of the Savior.  How tragic that this idea still invades our theological constructions.  As the psalmist often says, “I will not be ashamed.  I will give thanks to You.  Your testimonies are my delight.”

Topical Index: yārēʾ, qatal perfect, vav-consecutive, fear, tremble, Psalm 119:120

[1] https://skipmoen.com/2018/10/the-future-past/