In Much Wisdom
And the Lord is the one who is going ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not desert you or abandon you. Do not fear and do not be dismayed. Deuteronomy 31:8 NASB
Dismayed – Dismayed? Do you know precisely what that means? I’m guessing that most people don’t. We have a general idea. It’s something about discouragement. Maybe a bit of despair. Some trepidation. A little anxiety. A pinch of raw fear. But the real meaning escapes us. We respond to these synonyms. We have an emotional reaction. But in the end, we generally think that this means God is going to be our protector—somehow, someway.
I think we need some clarification, not only in Hebrew but also in English. We’ll start with Anglo-French and Latin.
- 1300, dismaien, “become or be alarmed, upset, or frightened; to confound, break down the courage of by danger or difficulty or fear of calamity, fill with despairing apprehension;” perhaps formed in Anglo-French or Middle English from dis-, here probably intensive (see dis-), + amaien, esmaien, from Old French esmaier“to trouble, disturb.”
This is from Vulgar Latin *exmagare “divest of power or ability” (source of Italian smagare “to weaken, dismay, discourage”), from ex- (see ex-) + Proto-Germanic *magan “to be able” (source also of Old High German magen “to be powerful or able”), from PIE root *magh- “to be able, have power.”[1]
Couple this with the Latin for dis, meaning “lack of, not.”
Two important points emerge. First, “dis-mayed” is about the lack of something, in this case, the lack of power. To be dismayed is to feel powerless, unable, incapable. But it’s more than that. This is the second point. It includes an element of fearful apprehension, of something that is troubling. Now notice that both of these elements are not focused on our internal circumstances but rather on an external perceived reality, that is, we can’t do something that needs to be done or we are afraid of something that threatens us. If we take away the threat, then we are no longer dismayed. The Hebrew suggests something else.
The Hebrew word here is תֵחָת (from the verb ḥātat). Here it is a Ni’fal. That means it’s an incomplete passive or reflexive. If you are the subject of this verb, then something is happening (or not happening) to you or you are both the object and the subject of the verb (reflexive). Imagine yourself as a target. With this verb, either the bullet is being shot at you, or you are shooting the bullet at yourself. You are under fire from an enemy, either outside or inside. The verb itself means, “be broken, afraid, shattered, abolished, ruined.” And, of course, faced with either an enemy who wants to harm you, or an urge for self-destruction, this isn’t a very nice verb. But it’s not quite the same as “dismayed,” is it? In English (via Anglo-French), dismay is about powerlessness in the face of an enemy, real or imagined. But in Hebrew, there is a real external enemy, even if that enemy is your own yetzer ha’ra attempting to harm you.
Consequently, the response to this declaration will differ between the English translation and the Hebrew application. In English, we want God’s protective shield around us. The threat is outside so we need protective walls. But notice the Hebrew verse. God isn’t saying that He’ll build a fort around you. He’s saying that He will go ahead of you. He will mark the trail so that you will not encounter an enemy who wants to harm you and you won’t be seduced by the yetzer ha’ra to harm yourself. Why? Because you see Him up ahead, motioning you to catch up. The trail is safe. You can focus on walking forward rather than getting lost in all those dark inside passages. You don’t need a fort. You need fortitude. Keep going. It’s more than not being powerless. It’s having direction. It’s moving rather than hunkering down.
Moses tells us that we don’t need to be dismayed. Effectively, he says God is guiding. God will deal with the enemies. You just stay on course and don’t let that internal enemy get a foothold. Travel with strength because He’s already cleared the way.
Topical Index: dismay, ḥātat, yetzer ha’ra, safe, Deuteronomy 31:8
[1] https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=dismay&ref=searchbar_searchhint
