The Necklace
You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Psalm 139:5 NASB
Enclosed– There’s not much wiggle room here. ṣûr, the Hebrew verb used in this expression, is related to words meaning, ‘besiege, bind, tie down’ and ‘encircle.’ The psalmist’s choice seems to make it abundantly clear that God Himself puts restrictive fences around our lives. But perhaps we are looking at this from the wrong point of view. You see, ṣûr is about making secure a valuable object. The fence is not there to keep you out. The wall of the city is not there to prevent you from entering. It is there to protect you from danger. You are on the inside!
We noticed the same change of perspective about the tree in the Garden. Rather than viewing God’s commandment as a restriction, we need to adopt a Semitic view and see the commandment as protection. The reason God doesn’t want Adam and the woman to eat from the tree is because doing so will harm them. Our typical reaction to this commandment (and perhaps to all commands) is resistance because we have an inherently Western Roman view of rules. Down deep we think of rules as restrictions to our freedom. This attitude prevents us from seeing that God’s instructions for life are exactly that—instructions of life! The point of God’s “rules” is to provide life. The rules protect us from things that would destroy us. Remember ṣûris about protecting something valuable, and that’s what God constantly has in mind.
But our emotional reaction doesn’t always follow this logic. Often we chafe at the bit, believing we should have the freedom to do what we want. And “rules” stand in our way. We can ignore them, of course, but that leads to consequences. What we would prefer is “no rules at all.” Unfortunately, we discover that no rules at all is anarchy, not good for anyone, especially those who aren’t at the top of the pile.
The logic is correct. The feelings aren’t. Oh, the feelings are real. That’s the point of this verse. There is no denying the feelings. Sometimes we do feel as if God has boxed us in. Especially if we are trying to live a Torah-observant life through sheer willpower. Then the bit is very uncomfortable. The requirements of Torah probably can’t be lived by willpower alone. You and I can’t just force ourselves to keep doing what the commandments requires as long as we believe that they restrict our freedom. The desire for freedom will win out, even if that desire is illogical. When the Psalmist wrote that God has boxed him in, he is admitting his frustration with rule-based behavior. The admission is crucial. Emotions cannot be healed or changed if they are denied.
This isn’t the end of this little emotional outburst, as we will see. We aren’t enclosed by rules alone. Other things are at play, “behind and before.”
Topical Index: commandments, rules,ṣûr, protection, Psalm 139:5
Skip, that was an impeccable journey. Thank you!
We are hardwired for life, love, freedom. Sin, “taking advantage of this law”, tempts us through lies that tell us that death, fracture and slavery are life, love and freedom. The key to recovery, then, is the ability to tell the lies from the truth.
I think emotions and beliefs about what constitute these two opposing sets of data are set in the experiences of our past, but we are called to capture these thoughts and feelings and trust, or, subject them to, heaven, which can then sort them out for us. How can we distinguish what is truly life, love and freedom from what seems to be? We need to learn how to tell the difference. David, it seems, is modeling the sorting process. This is so helpful!
I am reminded of the gate some of us positioned at the stop of the stairs when our children were young. The idea is that small children don’t know the dangers ahead of them; falling down the stairs in this case. The gate only becomes a problem when it’s still there after they’ve matured, understood …. Peter thought he was mature enough or tough enough to handle the mob coming after Yeshua. Yeshua informed Peter that he (Peter) was not “ready for this moment.” We know that Peter would eventually become that ready rock who would be bold and face some of life’s most challenging moments. Future words to Peter were along the lines of now that you get it protection over restriction … get back to the mission of restoring all things … strengthen your brothers, feed my sheep!
Yes, at some point the same thing that served as a protection of life becomes the restriction that hinders / stops it.
This world has many dangers . . . and many designed-in features
to help us avoid those dangers. Gravity comes to mind — what better
way to keep our feet on the ground. But the best feature of all is
God’s presence! The more we know it and delight in it, the more we
are raised above the quagmire of the earth’s miry clay.
God’s Spirit impacted David early in his writings about the blessing
available to man. “But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his
law he meditates day and night.” Ps 1:2 It’s a 24/7 focus.
Yeshua literally paved this way to freedom by summarily defeating
the consequence of sin and rising to a NEWER, HIGHER, BETTER
WAY. As we follow, His Spirit teaches. “He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths.” Is 2:3 Pure freedom right here on earth!
My first thought when reading this was why did God put the tree in the garden in the first place? If he knew it was going to cause all these problems. What dynamic was he setting up? Or was he? Since Eve and Adam didn’t have a sinful nature at that point, was it just the suggestion from outside of themselves ( blame it on the devil or another person) that caused then to transgress? Isn’t our capacity to point the finger or blame a part of our sinful nature? But that’s just what they did . They had no sinful inclinations, but apparently they had self will.
Why would a parent put a bunch of toys in a room and then tell their children they could play with all of the toys except they weren’t supposed to touch item X? Why wouldn’t you just make sure you put item X in a different room?
The tree seems to complicate the story.
Do you really not know why free will is an essential characteristic of love? If there is no choice, there can be no love, for freedom of choice is HOW love is itself. Without the Tree, (unfree) robots would be what you had, but love would not have been possible. Love needs to be loved, but without choice – choice BETWEEN love and non-love, which is what the Tree provided – not only would we (most likely) not have been made in the image of God, we also (most certainly) would not have been able to love Him back. God has free will, too. He chooses to be good.
You have about 10 years of TWs on the subject to read. Get started. They are scattered around on the web site under the Genesis references.
Yes, I do understand that free will Is an essential characteristic of love. I just had a lot of other questions in regards to them not having a sinful nature etc. etc.
I will do it as Skip says and look at past teaching on Genesis! Thanks….
Tree = Spirit
Havah chose the Spirit of Righteousness over the Spirit of Life (Loving-kindness) and could not live up to it when confronted by Ultimate Righteousness.
1/3 of the Serafim (later called the Nephilim) made the same choice and was judged with lightning speed.
The “Parents” created the Cerubim (common and garden angels) without free will. This prevented them from sinning but also from truly worshipping.
True worship of the Father stems from free choice not blind obedience.
As spiritual beings (with a material experience) we are to embed into the Tree of Life.
In Matthew 5:20-37, Yashua encircled the Torah with a STRICT fence.
And GRACEFULLY balanced it through Matthew 5:38-47.
To be perfect / functional (5:48) we need to walk within boundaries.