Do Unto Others

Take disgrace and contempt away from me, for I comply with Your testimonies.  Psalm 119:22  NASB

Disgrace and contempt – How do you read this?  Is the poet asking God to remove something that is happening to him, or is he asking God to removing something that he too often does?  What is his situation?  Are others causing him to be disgraced, having contempt for him in the public arena?  Or is he the one who is now aware of his own shaming actions?  The Hebrew vocabulary helps us decide.

Our first word is ḥerpâ.  “Basically, the word means ‘to reproach,’ with the specific connotation of casting blame or scorn on someone. . . In most instances the word is used in the sense of casting scorn.”^[1]  So, it appears that the poet recognizes his tendency to mock or blame others.  He is the perpetrator here, not the victim.

The second word is bûz.  “Synonyms are bāzâ ‘despise’ and nāʾaṣ ‘despise to the point of rejection.’ . .  One may despise (bûz) either people or their sayings, or, to include a closely related synonym, one may despise (bāzâ) also oaths (Ezk 17:16), birthrights (Gen 25:34), or even God (Mal 1:6). But to do so incurs God’s wrath.”^[2]  The psalmist isn’t asking God to exonerate him in the face of another’s rejection.  He’s asking God to take away his own tendency to disdain others.

However, Robert Alter views the text differently.  “Take away from me scorn and disgrace for Your precepts I have kept.”  His translation suggests that the psalmist is the victim and is appealing to God on the basis of his obedience to have this public derision removed.  Perhaps that’s how you read the verse too.  There is, in my mind, one problem.  You see, the translation “I have kept” or “I comply” is for the Hebrew nāṣar, which means “guarding with fidelity.”  The crucial term is the conjunction, kî, “A particle expressing a temporal, causal, or objective relationship among clauses expressed or unexpressed.”^[3]  The exact meaning is complicated.

In Hebrew kî is used in four ways: to introduce an objective clause especially after verbs of seeing, saying, etc. and translated “that”; to introduce a temporal clause and translated “when” (some of these are almost conditional clauses, thus making “if” appropriate); to introduce a causal clause, “because, for, since”; and with ʾim to express the reason why some case might not occur “except, but rather.” In all four usages kî introduces a given which is the result of some other fact or action or will influence some other fact or action. Some would add an asseverative usage giving emphasis to what follows.^[4]

So, how are we to read this connection?  Is it “because” I keep Your testimonies?  Is it “so that” I keep Your testimonies?  Is it “if” I keep Your testimonies?  Is it “when” I keep Your testimonies?  If we read it as “because,” then the psalmist becomes the victim, but if we read it as “so that” then the psalmist is the perpetrator.  Which do you prefer?

Personally, I’m inclined to “so that.”  Why?  Because I recognize ḥerpâ and bûz in me!  I need these expressions of my yetzer ha’ra removed.  They diminish me.  And since I see the psalmist struggling to keep all of God’s commandments, I see myself I the same light.  I could be wrong.  Alter might be right about the translation.  But even if he is, I still find myself the perpetrator in this verse.  Maybe you do too.

Topical Index: bûz, ḥerpâ, contempt, disgrace, kî, Psalm 119:22

^[1] Mccomiskey, T. E. (1999). 749 חָרַף. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament(electronic ed., p. 325). Moody Press.

^[2] Martens, E. A. (1999). 213 בּוּז. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 95). Moody Press.

^[3] Oswalt, J. N. (1999). 976 כִי. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 437). Moody Press.

^[4] Oswalt, J. N. (1999). 976 כִי. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., pp. 437–438). Moody Press.