Forever Certain

For His kindness has overwhelmed us, and the truth of the Lord is eternal. Hallelujah!  Psalm 117:2  (Chabad)

Overwhelmed – When was the last time you felt overwhelmed by God’s graciousness?  Have you given any thought to the amazing blessing of being alive today?  Does a tune of thankfulness hum in the background of your consciousness? Earlier today I had a conversation with a Muslim friend.  He spoke of his frustration about saying the prayers while attending a football game.  What impressed me was not his struggle to find a clean, quiet place.  It was his willingness to leave the action of the game, move from the stands, look for a place to pray and actually fulfill his obligation despite every incentive to ignore the commandment just this one time.  I know that many Christians consider such “slavish” obedience to be a sign of unthinking compliance, but I wonder if we feel any of the holiness of moments during our days.  I wonder if our faith isn’t just a weekend routine rather than a daily reminder.  I wonder if we haven’t replaced God’s overwhelming kindness with the next text message or Instagram photo.  Let’s see if we can recover some of the psalmist’s intensity.

First, the Hebrew:

כִּ֥י גָ֘בַ֚ר עָלֵ֨ינוּ | חַסְדּ֗וֹ וֶֽאֱמֶת־יְהֹ֘וָ֥ה לְ֜עוֹלָ֗ם הַֽלְלוּיָֽהּ

The syntax is different than the English translation.  Literally, it reads, “For great toward us His ḥesed and the truth of YHVH everlasting.  Haleluyah.”  The word “overwhelming” is not in the Hebrew text.  What is in the text is גָ֘בַ֚ר, gābar, “be mighty, have strength, be great.”  This isn’t quite the same as “overwhelmed.”  Perhaps the translators chose their verb because of the desire to capture an emotional response, but the poet is more sedate, especially since there is no copula here.  The key, perhaps, is the preposition, kî.  It has a very wide range of meanings: “as though, as, because that, but, certainly, except, for, surely, since, that, then, when, etc.:^[1]  We could read the text as “Certainly toward us,” or “Since toward us,” or “When toward us,” or a number of other possibilities.  Each one alters the meaning.  By translating kî as “for,” the verse is pushed to explain our reaction rather than a description of a fact.  Consider the difference between “For great toward us His ḥesed” and “Since great toward us His ḥesed.”  We could raise a similar issue with the translation of עָלֵ֨ינוּ (ʿalênû – the preposition ʿal coupled to the pronoun “we”).  ʿal has a wide range as well: on, over, in front of, before, above, more than, on the side of, on account of.  So, is the verse, “Great before us His ḥesed,” or “On account of us His great ḥesed,” or “Great above us His ḥesed.”  You see the problem.  It comes down to the translator’s choice.

The NIV sticks closer to the Hebrew text:  “For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.”  You will notice the rendering “great,” “faithfulness,” and “forever.”  All of these words are legitimate alternatives to the Chabad translation.

Now that we’ve looked at this opening phrase, we should examine וֶֽאֱמֶת־יְהֹ֘וָ֥ה, the next two words.  You will notice that the second word is the personal name of God, YHVH.  The first word is the combined conjunction (the vav) with the word ʾĕmet.  But this raises a question.  What is YHVH’s truth?  Whatever it is, it is ʿôlām, and as we know, ʿôlām means “an indefinite temporal period, not particularly future.”  This is the equivalent of saying, “YHVH’s truth to (towards) a long time.”  Again, no copula “is.”  That’s provided by the translator.  In Hebrew, this absence of the copula really means that YHVH’s truth doesn’t just by accident last for a long time.  It is essentially temporally lengthy.  When I say, אֱמֶת־יְהֹ֘וָ֥ה, I mean something that does not have a discernible temporal limit.  I can’t imagine it ending.  This makes it all the more important to know what אֱמֶת־יְהֹ֘וָ֥ה means.

We are familiar with the Hebrew ʾĕmet.  Jack Scott notes:

The basic root idea is firmness or certainty. In the Qal it expresses the basic concept of support and is used in the sense of the strong arms of the parent supporting the helpless infant. The constancy involved in the verbal idea is further seen in that it occurs in the Qal only as a participle (expressing continuance). The idea of support is also seen in II Kgs 18:16, where it refers to pillars of support.

In the Hiphil (causative), it basically means “to cause to be certain, sure” or “to be certain about,” “to be assured.” In this sense the word in the Hiphil conjugation is the biblical word for “to believe” and shows that biblical faith is an assurance, a certainty, in contrast with modern concepts of faith as something possible, hopefully true, but not certain.^[2]

Notice Scott’s remark about the participle in the Qal.  This underscores the connection to ʿôlām, in other words, the typical use of ʾĕmet already includes the idea of extended temporal duration.  What, then, is this truth?

We might first notice that YHVH’s everlasting duration is the first characteristic of His truth.  He does not end; neither does His will or intention.  The certainty of His existence guarantees the certainty of His truth, and that is simply His will.  His will is ʿôlām.  It endures.  With this in mind, we can now begin to elucidate what constitutes His will—and what we discover is that every intention, every command, every promise, every divine act is YHVH-truth.  It is the firm foundation of all that is.  It does not fade, falter, or fail.

Take a moment to reflect on this fact.  Nothing God intends, commands, or promises goes away.  There is no substitution, alteration, or re-interpretation of ʾĕmet in the description.  And this leads us to ask, “How much of God’s Truth have I altered, ignored, or displaced is my life?”

What do you suppose the psalmist would say?  Ah, well, you could read Psalm 119 to find out.

Topical Index: ʾĕmet, ʿôlām, truth, certainty, forever, everlasting, gābar, strong, Psalm 117:2

^[1] Oswalt, J. N. (1999). 976 כִי. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 437). Moody Press.

^[2] Scott, J. B. (1999). 116 אָמַן. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 51). Moody Press.