A Bridge Too Far

You have removed lover and friend far from me; my acquaintances are in a hiding place.  Psalm 88:18  NASB  

You have removed – A short excursus into enemy territory followed by an immediate return to the major theme: God is sovereign.  This poem describes whatever happens as under God’s control and direction.  Therefore, even if “they” surround me (as noted in the previous verse), in the end it is God who removes me from human contact.  “You have removed” is the Hif’il qatal perfect of rāḥaq, a verb form that describes actively accomplishing something.  In other words, the psalmist clearly portrays God as the active agent in his social distress.

The primary meaning of the Qal stem expresses the state of a person or thing as being “far” from someone or something else. In many passages there is also the notion of “being too far” as if the person or object was unreachable (Deut 12:21),^[1]

The thought is uncomfortable, isn’t it?  Zornberg noted that non-believers have a much easier time dealing with trauma.  The world is essentially accident.  Bad things happen.  Don’t expect to explain why.  But believers have a different view, and that view makes things much harder.  Believers maintain two almost contradictory positions.  One, God is sovereign, and two, God is good.  So, when bad things happen, it can only mean that the good God either caused them or let them happen, and since these are bad things, believers have to struggle with the implication.  Either God isn’t sovereign and can’t control those bad things or God isn’t good.  Neither option seems right.  Perhaps that’s why Bible translations struggle with Isaiah 45:6-7:

So that people may know from the rising to the setting of the sun
That there is no one besides Me.
I am the Lord, and there is no one else,
The One forming light and creating darkness,
Causing well-being and creating disaster;
I am the Lord who does all these things.

If you look at the Hebrew text, you’ll immediately notice that verse 7 doesn’t use the word “disaster.”  It uses the word “evil.”  God asserts through His prophet Isaiah that He is the only god, and that He creates shalom and ra.  Could it be any clearer?  Or any less contradictory?  All kinds of theological gymnastics and translation glosses become necessary.

But the psalmist doesn’t care about the theology.  He is describing what it feels like!  His world is the experienced world, and right now it feels as if the sovereign God has taken away his lover, his friends, and even his acquaintances.  God has put him in solitary confinement, and there is no escape.

Amazingly, this is the last thought of this poem.  There is no Pollyanna resolution.  There is no theologically satisfying conclusion.  This is just the way it is.  It’s amazing that this poem is even included in Scripture.  But then it has to be, because it is the real experience of even the faithful.  And when we feel as if we’re in solitary confinement, well, we have David right there with us.  I guess we’re not alone after all.

Topical Index: rāḥaq, removed, too far, isolation, sovereignty, Isaiah 45:6-7, Psalm 88:18

^[1] White, W. (1999). 2151 רָחַק. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 844). Chicago: Moody Press.