Changing the Tune

Let me hear joy and gladness, let the bones You have broken rejoice.  Psalm 51:8  NASB

Joy and gladness – I love to listen to the Blues.  For years the plaintive cries of those lyrics have echoed my own struggles.  They remind me of M. Scott Peck’s famous opening sentence, “Life is difficult.”  Yes, it is.  And it doesn’t seem to be getting any easier.  Oh, I’m not complaining about the “things” I do.  After all, I travel the world.  I live in an idyllic town in Italy.  I write about things that are interesting and important.  I take photos.  Who can complain about that?  But it’s not these external circumstances that haunt me.  It’s the internal, spiritual struggle, dare I say “emptiness,” that drives me to the Blues.  Unfortunately, the Blues don’t provide an answer.  They just put to music what I’m feeling.

I need a new tune.

So did David.  Instead of funeral dirges, weeping laments, and the relentless condemnation of remembered infractions, David asks for “joy and gladness.”  In Hebrew, the words are śāśôn and śimḥâ.  But both words can mean “joy” and “gladness.”  Why employ two words instead on one?

The first is śāśôn.  “This masculine noun makes twenty-two appearances in the ot, and almost universally it speaks of human happiness and abounding delight.”^[1]  So, we discover that David asks for something that will change his tune from lament to delight, to exuberance, to human cheerfulness.  Let me hear music that lifts my spirit!  A heavenly aria, a romantic lyric, something that reminds me that life really is worth living, that there is hope, that a new day will dawn, that something wonderful is going to happen.

And then there’s śimḥâ.  “The root ś-m-ḥ denotes being glad or joyful with the whole disposition as indicated by its association with the heart (cf. Ex 4:14; Ps 19:8 [H 9]; 104:15; 105:3), the soul (Ps 86:4); and with the lighting up of the eyes (Prov 15:30).  Many occasions and objects cheer a man . . .”^[2]

Why do I need this word in addition to śāśôn?  Because I don’t want temporary relief.  I don’t want to be cheered up for the moment, only to return to the Blues.  I need a constitutional change, a completely different outlook.  śimḥâ is a “whole person” joyfulness, a jouissance, an enjoyment of living that pervades every part of who I am.  The Blues are life’s pessimism.  śimḥâ is life’s optimism.  I am reminded of Heschel’s comment that he chooses to be an optimist despite his better judgment.  That’s right.  It’s a choice.  For too long I’ve let the music make my choices.  Like David, I’ll need some help to leave the hexatonic scale behind.

Topical Index: Blues, śimḥâ, śāśôn, joy, gladness, Psalm 51:8

^[1] Cohen, G. G. (1999). 2246 שׂוּשׂ. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament(electronic ed., p. 873). Moody Press.

^[2] Waltke, B. K. (1999). 2268 שָׂמַח. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament(electronic ed., p. 879). Moody Press.