Command or Request?
Make me know Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. Psalm 25:4 NASB
Make me – Robert Alter’s translation of this verse carries a decidedly different tone. Alter translates the verbs as petitions; the NASB translates them as imperatives. Our previous citation from TWOT establishes the biblical emphasis on choice.[1]You are responsible. Not even God can make you follow His ways. But that doesn’t stop us from wanting Him to do the work.
Alter’s translation actually retains the Hebrew word order. “Your ways” opens the verse and keeps the acrostic pattern. This line begins with the letter dalet in the word derakeka (ways of You). The NASB reorders the words, ignoring the acrostic. But, of course, the English translation can’t retain a Hebrew acrostic anyway. Some things just don’t translate. Nevertheless, given the place of choice in human-divine relationships, I wonder if hodieni (from yada’) isn’t a bit too forceful as “make me know.” Can I really command God to cause me to know His dereke (ways)? Or do I plead with Him that He will be gracious enough to instruct me?
It comes down to this: Am I eternally grateful to God that He cares enough about me to reveal His directions for living? If you answered, “Yes,” doesn’t that mean you actually do what He tells you to do? How could you assert that you are eternally grateful that He tells you how to live and at the same time live according to another set of instructions? Ah, if we could only be robots! Then we wouldn’t have to even consider these difficult questions. God gives us instructions. He shows us His direction. He asks us to follow His ways. He is the only god of the ancient world that actually provides guidance for living. He doesn’t leave us wondering what we must do to please Him and be blessed. His instructions are our freedom. Why wouldn’t we want to know them and follow them?
Perhaps the principle reason we are so resistant to His ways and His path is our fear of change. We’ve held on to our idea of freedom and grace for so long that we just can’t imagine God’s view isn’t the same as our view. We are afraid that if we really admit we need to change, we will lose the faith we have so carefully protected. We don’t change our ways because we can’t change our ways and still hold on to what we think we should believe. We don’t realize that we don’t know today what we may know tomorrow, but we can learn. We want a faith that is fixed. God offers a faith that grows.
Topical Index: make me, hodieni, yada’, instructions, path, way, Psalm 25:4
[1] “The way which one chooses determines one’s destiny. There is such a thing as the “road” of no return (Job 16:22). Bildad speaks of the “fate/ path” of all that forget God (Job 8:13). Interestingly, the LXX translates ʾōraḥ here as ta esʿhata “the end.” Proverbs 1:19 indicates, “Such is the ‘way/end’ for those who are after dishonest gain,” that consequences of evil behavior are intrinsic to that action and are not superimposed as a penalty. Thus the Bible can say that the way (derek) of the transgressor is hard.” Hamilton, V. P. (1999). 161 אָרַח. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (71). Chicago: Moody Press.
