You Need All You Can Get

The lowly have seen and rejoiced, those who seek God, let their hearts be strong.  Psalm 69:33 [Hebrew Bible]  Robert Alter

Let – There are at least two ways to read this verse.  It depends on which meaning you attach to the wide umbrella Hebrew word ḥāyâ.  Here are some choices: “live, have life, remain alive, sustain life, live prosperously, live forever. Alsobe quickened, revive from sickness, discouragement, or even death.”^[1]  Now you can understand why the NIV and the KJV among others rendered the verse:

The poor will see and be glad—you who seek God, may your hearts live!  NIV

In this case, the word is read as an imperative.  The KJV reads the verbs as a descriptive.

The humble shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God.  KJV

But Alter’s view is different.  In his reading, David is neither commanding nor describing.  He’s warning.  “What?” you might ask.  “How can you read it that way?”  Think of the tenor of this poem.  It’s all about unjust suffering.  It’s all about hoping that God will vindicate the victim and destroy the oppressor.  In this verse, David summarizes the situation.  The humiliated ones (the lowly—ʿānāw—the forcibly oppressed, have seen (the qatal perfect, i.e., a completed action).  What have they seen?  God’s intervention.  That’s the only explanation for the next verb, śāmaḥ (to rejoice), but this time it’s a yiqtol (imperfect), i.e., an action that is not finished, that is ongoing, continuing.  So, these humbled ones saw God’s handiwork in the past and now they are rejoicing because they expect His care to continue into the future.  But, says David, they will need God’s help to continue to believe.  “Let their hearts be strong” isn’t about their current condition or their eventual justification.  It’s about God delivering all they need right now to continue to trust Him.  You see, even though they have the witness of the past, right now things look grim.  God hasn’t intervened—yet.  The past is complete.  The action finished.  The testimony is secure.  But even with all that, sometimes we need a bit more to hold on to.  When you need all that you can get, God must supply the extra we can’t manage.

There is a perfect example of this principle in the story in Mark.

“If You can? All things are possible for the one who believes.”  Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:23-24)

And just like that desperate father who believed, who hoped to believe even more, we need an extra divinely-givenmeasure so that śāmaḥ will transition from a yiqtol (imperfect) to a qatal perfect.

Topical Index: let, ḥāyâ, yiqtol (imperfect), qatal perfect, śāmaḥ, Psalm 69:33

^[1] Smick, E. B. (1999). 644 חָיָה. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 279). Chicago: Moody Press.