Lamedh

Forever, O Lord, Your word stands firm in the heavens.  Psalm 119:89  Chabad

לְעוֹלָ֥ם יְהֹוָ֑ה דְּ֜בָֽרְךָ֗ נִצָּ֥ב בַּשָּׁמָֽיִם

לְדֹ֣ר וָ֖דֹר אֱמֽוּנָתֶ֑ךָ כּוֹנַ֥נְתָּ אֶ֜֗רֶץ וַֽתַּֽעֲמֹֽד

לְמִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ עָֽמְד֣וּ הַיּ֑וֹם כִּ֖י הַכֹּ֣ל עֲבָדֶֽיךָ

לוּלֵ֣י תוֹרָֽתְךָ֣ שַֽׁעֲשֻׁעָ֑י אָ֖ז אָבַ֣דְתִּי בְעָנְיִֽי

לְעוֹלָם לֹא־אֶשְׁכַּ֣ח פִּקּוּדֶ֑יךָ כִּי־בָ֜֗ם חִיִּיתָֽנִי

לְֽךָ־אֲ֖נִי הוֹשִׁיעֵ֑נִי כִּ֖י פִקּוּדֶ֣יךָ דָרָֽשְׁתִּי

לִ֚י קִוּ֣וּ רְשָׁעִ֣ים לְאַבְּדֵ֑נִי עֵֽ֜דֹתֶ֗יךָ אֶתְבּוֹנָֽן

לְכָל תִּ֖כְלָה רָאִ֣יתִי קֵ֑ץ רְחָבָ֖ה מִצְוָֽתְךָ֣ מְאֹֽד

Perhaps we need a few remarks about the letter lamed before we examine this next section of the acrostic.  Here are comments from a Kabbalah perspective:

Lamed, the 12th letter of the Hebrew Alphabet is the symbol of learning. It is translated literally as the word for learning and also staff or goad. It is located at the center of the aleph-beith and represents the heart Lev לב; in kabbalah learning is mostly done with the heart and soul, not just the mind. The Lamed indicates that spiritual learning is the heart of human existence. Man’s course in life is to learn and express spiritual teachings and practice with every breath of life.  Lamed reaches higher than any of the other Hebrew letters, like a lighthouse high in the air. The shape of the lammed is an undulating movement, and the lamed represents constant organic movement, constant change. Lamed is the lightning strike of energy descending down the two sides of the Tree of Life. Lamed teaches us to learn from everything in life. After one has governed their tendencies in Kaf and no longer has the blockages of the ego interfering, they can begin to learn the spiritual perfection of their own self, and to learn the laws, will, and ways of the Creator. This is the process of learning to align with the will of the Creator.  In The “Letters of Rabbi Akiva,” the full spelling of the letter lamed (lamed-mem–dalet) is read as short for the phrase: “a heart that understands knowledge” (lev meivin da’at). The numerical value of this phrase (608) equals “heart” (32) times “Eve” (19), i.e. “the heart of Eve.”[1]

What do we need to keep in mind as we examine this next section.  Teaching!  But not just passing along information, as the Greek verb didakso suggests.  “Imparting theoretical and practical knowledge” notes the article in TDNT.  It also adds the comment, “There is little religious use, and the term has a strong intellectual and authoritative bearing.”[2]  In other words, the Greek idea of teaching is principally cognitive, as we would expect from a culture that viewed the mind as the true reality.  Not so in Hebrew.  You will note the remarks about the relationship between head and heart.  Learning and teaching is not aimed at cognitive information processing but rather at aligning life choices with the will of God.  What this means is that we must reconcile each of these next eight verses with instruction in alignment, not simply more theological education.  If these words don’t turn into action, you didn’t learn anything.

Now let’s start with the first word in the lamed acrostic: לְעוֹלָ֥ם.  The root is ʿôlām (with an added prepositional prefix).  This is a particularly interesting, and important, word.  “Probably derived from ʿālam I, ‘to hide,’ thus pointing to what is hidden in the distant future or in the distant past. . . . Though ʿôlām is used more than three hundred times to indicate indefinite continuance into the very distant future, the meaning of the word is not confined to the future. There are at least twenty instances where it clearly refers to the past. Such usages generally point to something that seems long ago, but rarely if ever refer to a limitless past.”^[3]

Immediately we see a considerable difference with the Greek, and with our Greco-Roman Western orientation.  We almost always consider “forever” as a future temporal indicator, but Hebrew demands that we think in both directions (if you will allow me to use this inappropriate spatial analogy).  The difference is crucial.  You will recall the idea that the future is behind your head, that is, impossible to see.  While we imagine the future as a projection ahead of us, Hebrew thinkers see the past in this way.  We can see where we’ve been, but we cannot see where we are going—unless, of course, we get aligned with the proper markers in the past.  To say that God’s word stands forever is first to say that it has always beenand it will continue.  Without the connection to the past, without the history of God’s endorsement and promise, His word is meaningless, unanchored, free-floating, and unreliable.

Furthermore, our typical Greek misunderstanding of “forever” or “eternal” projects endless time.  This is also not a Hebrew concept:

The LXX generally translates ʿōlām by aiōn which has essentially the same range of meaning. That neither the Hebrew nor the Greek word in itself contains the idea of endlessness is shown both by the fact that they sometimes refer to events or conditions that occurred at a definite point in the past, and also by the fact that sometimes it is thought desirable to repeat the word, not merely saying “forever,” but “forever and ever.”^[4]

The authority of God’s word relies upon His actions in a definable history.  It begins with the creation and the story of Adam.  It ends when heaven and earth pass away.  It is a temporal process and a temporal existence.  There is no extemporal reality in the ʿōlām ha’ba.  We are not somehow transitioned, morphed into timeless beings.  We are alwaystemporal, and therefore, always dependent.  And we were created that way.  Therefore, the point of learning (teaching), the purpose of lamed, is its application now!  Heaven can wait.

Topical Index: lamed, teach, learn, ʿōlām, forever, future, eternal, temporal, Psalm 119:89

[1] https://gabrielelevy.com/pages/the-letter-lamed#:~:text=It%20is%20translated%20literally%20as,the%20heart%20of%20human%20existence.

[2] TDNT (Abridged), p. 161.

^[3] Macrae, A. A. (1999). 1631 עלם. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament(electronic ed., p. 672). Moody Press.

^[4] Ibid.