8Because
You have delivered my soul from death, my eye from tears, my foot from
stumbling, 9I will walk before the Lord in the lands of the living.
These two verses are interesting to me in that they are so
obviously practical, one would hardly see any need to carefully consider the
Hebrew text behind them. And, in fact, there would be truth to that approach.
But, on the other hand, for me personally that can never be true. No matter how
obvious and simple the words may be, yet these are the very words of God! Every
Hebrew (or Greek or Aramaic) letter to me is a priceless treasure that bears
careful consideration. And … having scratched at the text, I see numerous “peculiarities”
which I wish I could explain.
For instance, even the logical structure of the passage is
susceptible to debate. Verse 8 begins with the Hebrew word for “because.” This
could be referring back to verse 7, in effect saying, “… the Lord has dealt
bountifully with you, because He has
delivered your soul from death …” However, it can also be anticipating verse 9
(which is how I’ve translated it), saying, “I will walk before the Lord …
because He has delivered …” I think my approach is a more natural understanding.
The NIV chose the former, but to make it happen has to add words which simply
are not in the text (which I grant is sometimes necessary but always dangerous
and not to be preferred without good cause).
Then there is an interesting twist in that the Hebrew verb
in verse 8 is the first second person verb in this Psalm to this point. It
wouldn’t surprise me if it’s the middle word of the whole Psalm. I’ll try to
remember to check that. But what the change of person means is after speaking
of the Lord for seven verses in the third person (He… He… He), the writer
abruptly turns to the second person, “You …” and addresses the Lord personally.
This grammatical dexterity, though uncommon in English, is very common in
Hebrew. Especially in the Psalms, the writers seem to swing freely from first
to second to third person with no explanation. Us English-speaking Psalm
readers probably don’t notice it but only because it is so familiar. We just
“don’t do that” in English. But they did in Hebrew. I think it is always worth
noticing.
Then there are several nouns which are either singular or
plural in Hebrew, where we would expect them to be the opposite in English. It
literally says “Because You have saved … my eye from a tear, my foot
from stumbling, I will walk before the Lord in the lands of the living.
I notice the NIV does exactly what we would want to make it say in English: “my
eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling … in the land
of the living. But that is not literally how it reads. Obviously there is
something going on in the Hebrew. I did happen to read one old commentator who
observed that the word “tear” in Hebrew could serve as a collective singular,
like our word ‘fruit.” That would explain in that particular case why there is
a singular where we would expect a plural. However, I didn’t read any such
comments on the others, and perusing through the OT, I definitely don’t get the
impression any of the other words have peculiarities like that. For instance, other
occurrences of “land of the living” definitely have land in the singular. And
eye, foot, and tear all appear in both singular and plural form.
Hmmmmm. This is one of those places where I wish I knew of a
good commentary that observed and addressed the details of the Hebrew text. For
now I’ll just have to observe these things and move on and hope along the way I
learn something to explain this. I’m sure someone reading this will think I’m
being overly tedious, but I do not. “Not one jot or tittle shall pass away …”
The tiniest details of the text were put there deliberately. To not know why is
in some (even small) way to miss something the author was communicating. That
would be bad enough were it a merely human author; but when these are the words
of the living God, as Steve Tyler sang, “I don’t wanna miss a thing.” I’m sure
if I live long enough, it will someday make sense. If I don’t, the Lord has
certainly given me plenty of other truth to enjoy.
One other note of exegetical worth – the phrase “land of the
living” – it seems from the commentaries that I read that a few people have
found the phrase enigmatic, suggesting even that it refers to Heaven. For myself,
I think it patently obvious it is referring to life here on earth. We use the
phrase that way when someone has been very sick. When they recover we note they’ve
returned to “the land of the living.” Sometimes after a particularly deep and
glorious nap, I return to “the land of the living”(!). Of course our usage in
2013 in English is irrelevant to its usage 3000 years ago in the Hebrew
language in the Middle East, but that acknowledged, I just think the most
natural understanding of the words is to refer to this world. David, in Psalm
27:13 said, “I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.” In Psalm 142 he said to the Lord, “You are my
refuge, my portion in the land of the living.” Seems obvious to me he’s talking
about this world in all three of these passages.
I guess a few practical thoughts, before I move on: Back to
the fact that the “You have delivered” is a sudden change from third person to
second – I love that about the Psalms. I suppose it is because they are
actually prayers, but it is so awesome that we can be thinking about the Lord
in the third person, “He does this, He does that, He’s like this, He’s like
that …” then, without skipping a beat, we can look Him straight in the eyes and
say, “You …” That, of course, is the very nature of any personal relationship,
but with the Lord, the difference is that He’s always present. I can talk about my wife (3rd person)
but I can only turn and address her as “you” (2nd person) if she happens to be present. The Lord always
is. I’m sure we take His presence for granted, but what a blessing that we can
have a personal relationship with Him, and that personal relationship, unlike
any other, is a constant, never interrupted companionship. Obviously we can
interrupt the fellowship with our sins or our simple neglect, but the problem
is on our side of the ledger, not His. He never leaves us nor forsakes us. The
Lord told Moses, “My Presence will go with you.” I love Moses’ response: “If
You go not with us, then send us not up!” (Ex 33:14,15).Yup. Moses had it
right. I don’t want to live one second without His wonderful presence!
Another thought: In verse 8, he notes that “the Lord has delivered
his soul from death.” Matthew Henry said, “That a life so often forfeited, and
so often exposed, should yet be lengthened out, is a miracle of mercy.” Amen and
yikes! I suspect it is true of all of us, but it is certainly true of me, that
it is only, and I underscore only,
because of the Lord’s mercy that I’m even alive to type these words. Sometimes
it has been utter stupidity, sometimes brash arrogance, and sometimes just this
malevolent world, but apart from grace there simply is no explanation for why I’m
alive today. Thank the Lord.
Then, also in verse 8, the Psalmist rejoices that the Lord
has delivered his eyes from tears. That He has done, but, isn’t it a blessing
to know that in the next life, “He will wipe every tear from our eyes!” (Rev 7:17; 21:4).
Then he notes how the Lord keeps his feet from stumbling. I
love how the Bible pictures us as toddlers held by the hand of our Heavenly
Father: as in Isaiah 41:13, “For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand,
saying unto thee, ‘Fear not; I will help thee.’” It is any parents’ pleasant
memory of holding their child’s hand in times and places of perceived danger,
knowing that as long as we keep them by our side, they’ll be safe. Now it is a
marvel to realize the Lord does exactly that for us, even as adults.
Finally, back in verse 7, the Psalmist called his soul to
return to its rest. Then here in verse 9 he says, because of the Lord’s
goodness, he will walk before the Lord
in the land of the living. Interesting. The soul at rest walks before the Lord.
Some might find that oxymoronic but, for those who know the Lord, such is
certainly not the case. To walk before the Lord is to rest. This is soul business but we know it is true.
Augustine said, “O God, our hearts are restless until they find rest in Thee.”
Thank the Lord that, in His presence, we can rest as we walk. We can even rest
walking with Him in the storms of life. We don’t always do it so well, but, again,
the problem is on our side of the ledger, not His. We need only have faith,
keep our gazed fixed upon Jesus, and the very walk of this life becomes rest.
Even in the storms, I’m walking with this One who already delivered my soul
from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling.
He’s certainly earned my trust. I just need to have the
faith to walk it (resting).
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