Just in Case

I was foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before you.  Psalm 73:22  Hebrew World translation

Beast before – It’s worth noting that Asaph uses the plural word behemot (beasts) with a singular verb (hayiti).  Asaph isn’t just one animal before the Lord.  Literally, he says, “I became (was) beasts with  (not “before”) You.”  Perhaps he uses the plural because behemot is the collective noun for “cattle.”  But I think Asaph might have more in mind.  Just as Asaph doubles down with the word ballahot (terrors), now he suggests that steps away from being human do not portray us as individual animals.  No, when we move away from conscious partnership with the Lord, we move toward a kind of “group-think” that absorbs us into the herd.  The man of God stands before God alone.  Yes, his identity is tied to the community but, as Scripture tells us, every man will individually answer for his sins.  Not so the beasts.  They do not stand before God as unique creatures.  They stand with the pack.

And while we are on that subject, we should notice that the preposition is not “before.”  The Hebrew is ‘im.  It means “with, from, against or beside.”  Asaph says, “I was like beasts with You.”  This is confirmed in his next verse.  “Yet I was always with You” (Alter).  This sentence uses the same preposition.  Asaph declares that even though he saw himself as the group-think, instinct-driven herd, God did not see him like that.  Even though his behavior was driven by addictive unconsciousness, God viewed him as a person at the crossroads.  And not just once or twice.  Continually.  We might think we behaved like beasts, but God sees something else.  He sees His image, however marred, in need of guidance and care.  And Asaph once again chooses a word to describe being constantly in God’s presence that has intimations of something else.

“Continually” is the Hebrew tamid.  Its primary use in Scripture is in conjunction with the whole burnt offering made every morning and every evening.  Like clockwork (to use an anachronism), the repetition of the offering cycle reminded the people of God’s unfailing presence.  This same word is also used to describe the continual duties of the worship process, the unwavering mercy of the Lord and the need for constant praise.  Perhaps you will recognize the word in 1 Chronicles 16:11.  When Asaph chooses tamid, he brings to mind all of the constancy of God.  Perhaps Asaph felt like a herd animal, but God did not abandon him to obscurity.  God was with (tamid) Him always.  God was with Nebuchadnezzar even when he was eating grass.

There is one other reason why we need to make this translation correction.  To stand before God has the ring of judgment.  We will one day stand before Him and give account of our lives.  But Asaph is not suggesting that judgment has come.  Asaph is doing his own judging – and finding himself woefully inadequate.  In spite of his struggle with envy, a struggle that brings him to the brink of addiction, this verse suggests God’s constant care and concern, not God’s sentencing.  “I was with You” is the realization that even if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.

Every addict feels alone – totally alone.  The guilt and despair of out-of-control actions drives a wedge between the world and the addict.  Being with no one else, there is nothing left but the rote repetition.  Asaph comes right to the edge, peers over and sees where it leads.  And then he discovers that God is there too.  God is with him, even though he wasn’t aware of it.  There is no cure for addiction whether it is the addiction of envy, of pleasure or of escape.  But there is a way out.  It begins with not being alone.

Topical Index:  tamid, with, addiction, Psalm 73:21, group-think