Life Insurance (1)
Be a guarantor for Your servant for good; Do not let the arrogant oppress me. Psalm 119:122 NASB
Guarantor – Who guarantees your life? Does that sound like an odd question? It probably should. We don’t think about guarantying life. We think about guarantying death. That’s what life insurance really is. It’s a guarantee that someone will be paid when you die. Of course, the psalmist probably never thought of such an odd thing as insuring your death. He was focused on living. He wants to know that if he acts as the representative agent of God (servant), will his life be protected? We want to know this too. Rather than focusing on the reward after we die (a kind of death insurance), we need to focus on some kind of guarantee while we live. ʿārab is about that guarantee.
The Hebrew verb has a nice collection of meanings:
1686 עָרַב (ʿārab) II, to be I become surety, mortgage, engage, occupy, undertake for; give pledges (Hithpael).[1]
As used in the ot the range of meaning for the Qal of ʿārab I falls into three clusters. First, the term may mean, “to exchange merchandise, barter,” as in Ezk 27:9 (cf. 27:27). Secondly, the verb may mean “to pledge, mortgage,” and by extension, “to dare.” Nehemiah 5:3 speaks of mortgaging fields, as an example of the former alternative, and Jer 30:21 (figure) of daring one’s heart (NASB, “who would dare to risk his life”), as an example of the latter.
The third, and major, cluster is “to be/become surety or bail for.” A splendid example is afforded by the Joseph narrative. Judah ventures to be the surety for his youngest brother, Benjamin, to his father, . . .[2]
The psalmist’s concern is in the present. He sees the potential oppression, deceit, and violence (ʿāšaq) of the proud and arrogant (zēd). He knows that given the opportunity they will exploit him. And he also knows that he has very little control over the things that happen to him, especially the efforts of enemies to harm him. Since he is the servant of the Most High (the word ʿebed can also mean “slave”), it is the responsibility of the Master to watch over those who belong to Him. God is really the only One who can make this kind of guarantee. That’s what the psalmist wants. I suspect that’s what we want too—some guarantee that if we do all we can to serve Him, He’ll take care of us. Of course, after 121 verses we also know that the expression of God’s care doesn’t always align with our view of a happy life, but that isn’t the point. The point is to trust that the Master cares. And He says He does. Is that enough? I hope so. If it isn’t, I’m not sure life would be tolerable.
Topical Index: guarantee, ārab, life insurance, Psalm 119:122
[1] Allen, R. B. (1999). 1686 עָרַב. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 693). Moody Press.
[2] Ibid.
“…we also know that the expression of God’s care doesn’t always align with our view of a happy life, but that isn’t the point. The point is to trust that the Master cares. And He says He does. Is that enough? I hope so. If it isn’t, I’m not sure life would be tolerable.” Emet… and amen.
Tolerance of life is the life of mankind’s experience imposed by the condition of humanity’s trespass and sin. In mimicry of Jesus’ example of what it meant to operate with a Father-God consciousness… toleration was instead deceptively perceived as the divine personhood resident in each human being as they cultivated the feeling they had for Godness; indeed, life was made tolerable as that godness was perceived as resident within the environ of their own human being. It was in fact liberal reconstruction that made deep inroads and accounts in measure for the moralistic view of Christianity—where Jesus is the teacher of ethical principles, and where the religious life is our attempt to follow the example of Jesus, living by the golden rule, “doing to others as you would be done by.”
With this moralistic, individualistic understanding of God and the Christian life, man made himself intolerable by his assumption of godness… so as to exclude not only trust that the Master cares but also any need of the Master himself.