The Company You Keep
Leave me, you evildoers, so that I may comply with the commandments of my God. Psalm 119:115 NASB
Leave me – soor. Leave, go away, depart. Yes, but also “to turn off (lit. or fig.):—be [-head], bring, call back, decline, depart, eschew, get [you], go (aside), × grievous, lay away (by), leave undone, be past, pluck away, put (away, down), rebel, remove (to and fro), revolt, × be sour, take (away, off), turn (aside, away, in), withdraw, be without.”[1] Oh my, one Hebrew word for so many nuanced English words. What are the three rules of translation: Context, Context, Context. That’s how to decide that this is “leave me” or “go away” rather than “lay away” or “put away.”
Now that we have that settled, don’t you find this request (command?) a little strange? If you are in the company of those who are preventing you from observing (that’s what nāṣar means here) the commandments (miṣwot), what would you do? Would you tell them to leave or would you leave them? If they truly stand between you and observance, do you think they’ll gladly comply with your request to have them leave? Or are they more likely to say, “Hey, it’s your problem. If you don’t like it, leave.”
Perhaps these “evildoers” are the polite kind. “Oh, we’re so sorry we’ve offended your religious sensitivities. Of course, we’ll leave.” Does that sound right? I’m sure you have such well-mannered evil ones, right? Just remember that the base root of “evildoer” is a word that means to be morally and ethically opposed to God’s will. Of course, that doesn’t mean they can’t appear to be nice! Recent political actions have demonstrated what “civilized” evil looks like.
I’m pretty sure that the demand is socially backwards—on purpose. If the psalm said, “I will leave evildoers” it offers no challenge to the group. I don’t have to say anything. I just go away—and fulfill my religious duty without making a fuss. But if I say, “Leave me,” I invite rebuttal. Now I have to explain. Now I have to stand up for something in the midst of those who show no regard for God. Since I cannot ensure that they will leave, I have to be prepared to justify my demand. I might have to be forceful about it. But no matter what, I’ll have to be public about it. I can’t observe the commandments in private in a world rife with those who oppose God’s ways. Oh, I could, of course. I could flee to the desert (some did), or maintain a secret community, or shut the door on my “prayer closet,” but those acts avoid the intended confrontation. The psalmist makes it clear that confrontation is part of what it means to be observant. We don’t like that possibility. After all, we’re taught to “get along with everyone.” But the psalmist knows that this is impossible if we’re going to be public observers.
So, what are you going to do about this?
Topical Index: evildoers, commandments, leave, depart, soor, public, Psalm 119:115
[1] Strong, J. (2009). In A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible (Vol. 2, p. 82). Logos Bible Software.
O, that I might simply be left to fulfill my enjoyment of knowing God in his presence apart from engaging a “world rife with those who oppose God’s ways.”
But now is the time— God’s time— to work…by word and action…to confront opposition to God by the empowering means of His righteous, sovereign and all-powerful authority. Only by this means may the will and the action— the work of His good pleasure— be displayed in the true light of His glory in power and in truth. Opposition to God forces confrontation… may we be counted among those who are “public observers.”
“…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For the one at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure, is God.” (Cf. Philippians 2:12–13)
“…[Jesus] rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and enter into him no more!” And it came out, screaming and convulsing him greatly…” (Cf. Mark 9:25–26)
The work of God’s people across the ages, and now — in the final days of God’s work of redemption— is to be the house of God, where God resides in their midst. Moses’ work was designed by God to furnish a witness to the final stage of God’s relationships with his people… as consummated in Christ… whereby one single ‘house of God’ is the final result of God’s redemptive work.
In this light is made known also the given work of His people: that is, to preserve, safeguard, and honor the house of God as His own sacred place of residence and worship, which, according to the Scriptures, He now occupies and is present—the one single ‘house of God’—the final and eschatological result of God’s redemptive work.
How then could the people of God not confront those egregious assaults presented against the sanctity of the ‘house of God’? Just as it was the work assigned to Adam, even so it has now been assigned to the people of God to counter the lie that is intended to impugn the sanctity of “the house of God.” And it is therein the people of God find their ultimate unity… in their oneness with God himself.