First Things Last
Remove the false way from me, and graciously grant me Your Law. Psalm 119:29 NASB
False way – dĕrĕk šĕqĕr. We know dĕrĕk, the common Hebrew word for the pathway of life, the journey we travel from birth to death, and, in particular, the right road of God. Now we add šĕqĕr. “šāqar [the root verb] is used six times in the Qal and Piel. There are cognates in Akkadian, Aramaic, and Arabic. It is used of the breaking of a promise, being false to a treaty or commitment, hence an empty promise.”[1] The noun form needs a little more background:
שֶׁקֶר (šeqer). Lie, falsehood, deception. Used of words or activities which are false in the sense that they are groundless, without basis in fact or reality. Thus David says in Ps 38:19 [H 20], “Many are they that hate me without cause (šeqer).” The false witness of Ex 20:16 and Deut 19:18 involves a false accusation, an accusation that is groundless, not based on fact.[2]
Now we recognize that the poet isn’t speaking about fibs. He’s talking about a way of life based on false evidence. It’s habitual deception that scares him. We could dismiss this, couldn’t we? After all, we’re not habitual liars. We tell the truth most of the time. Sure, occasionally we might say something not quite true or maybe break a promise we intended to keep, but honesty is our usual character, right? Well, maybe. Let’s look deeper.
Did you notice Austel’s remark that šeqer includes words and activities. You don’t have to say anything to act in ways that deny the truth. For example, if you behave contrary to God’s instructions in Torah, that would constitute šeqer. Now perform a ruthless examination of your actions. Let’s start with the obvious ones. Shabbat. Stealing time that belongs to someone else.[3] Failing to stand up for God’s ways (allowing the public culture to dictate your actions). Pretending to agree when you really don’t. Not acknowledging another person’s value through dismissive actions. Failing to demonstrate compassion. Just a few. Words matter, but so do attitudes and actions. They can be just as misleading, fallacious, deceptive, and malicious—perhaps even more so.
More than this, there is a sense in which none of us are free of an infinite obligation to God. Lohmeyer expresses it in terms of our debt:
“If all man’s life and action is the repayment of a loan made to him by God, this means that there is no end to the loan before man ends, and even when he does end there is a certain sense in which ‘our debts’ have not been paid, for life does not exhaust itself in the natural course from the cradle to the grave; it points to the divine ground from which it begins and the divine yield to which it leads; . .”[4]
“ . . . all of life is not contentment in this existence but an obligation and a debt towards God. Man does not have his own independent centre and significance, he is not self-sufficient, but rests in someone else, who transcends this life.”[5]
Now we realize that dĕrĕk šĕqĕr is living under the pretense that we do not owe our existence to God. It is the tragically mistaken assumption that we are our own bosses. And anyone, regardless of religious affiliation, who acts on the basis that he has the right to choose for himself is walking the dĕrĕk šĕqĕr.
The rabbis divide the commandments into two categories: those that deal between men and those that deal between God and man. Have we considered how šeqer applies to both. How many promises made to God have gone unfilled? How many actions have denied His sovereignty, or His care? Or our obligation? Do you suppose the psalmist is asking to change direction in both categories? Has he looked deeply enough to see the true history of his dĕrĕk šĕqĕr? Have you?
Topical Index: dĕrĕk šĕqĕr, false way, action, word, Psalm 119:29
[1] Austel, H. J. (1999). 2461 שָׁקַר. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 955). Moody Press.
[2] Ibid.
[3] A recent study shows that employees are using work time for personal activities more now than ever before.
[4] Ernst Lohmeyer, “Our Father”: An Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer (Harper & Row, 1965), p. 173
[5] Ibid..
“Man does not have his own independent centre and significance, he is not self-sufficient, but rests in someone else, who transcends this life.”
Emet!… and amen. And herein stands the truth that is opposed by the lie.
A person who does not recognize that his life rests only in his transcendent Creator is one who— in living his/her life— is, by spiritual deception, set upon living in pretense. He believes he has “rights,” but in truth his expectation is entitlement. He calls for freedom of choice when in fact he seeks no restriction nor constraint. Liberty is proclaimed, yet unbridled self-gratification is actually what is sought. The entire focus and object of one’s activity and actions of life is framed by the interests of one’s self for whatever that one desires… and perhaps particularly, even that spoken and intended and done for good.
This comprehensive work of self-sufficiency is extensively deceptive and ultimately meets with destruction… and naturally, there is no answer corresponding to its own character. It is deception of such nature that it can only be met by One— the One who transcends life as it exits in time and space.
Jesus answered and said to Nicodemus, a man of the Pharisees and a ruler of the Jews, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born from above, he is not able to see the kingdom of God.”