Four Hebrew Treasures Hidden in Psalm 23

Psalm 23 is one of the most beloved if not the most beloved of the Psalms many of us know it either by heart or we know it very well what I like to do is to help you to know it even better by looking at the Hebrew behind the English translation I want to look at in particular four hidden Hebrew Treasures in Psalm 23 one of these has to do with the translation of the Hebrew word for follow which occurs toward the end of the psalm about goodness and mercy following us I'm going to unpack

that Hebrew word a little bit and show you I think what is a a better more accurate and and a more powerful translation also want to look at the number of Hebrew words that occur in Psalm 23 and point out what's in the very center of this Psalm and then I want to also look at a couple different things in the Hebrew which indicate its connection to the Psalms connection to the broader salvation Story how this is actually an an exodus themed Psalm and then what that means as far as our interpretation of Psalm 23

so let's start with the very end of the psalm about goodness and mercy following us all the days of our life so first of all the the word for Mercy is HED that's that word for Covenant loyalty it's almost an untranslatable kind of love commitment Covenant loyalty that God has for us so what does the love of God and the hessed or the mercy of God what do they do well of course the traditional translation in almost all English translations is they follow us now I don't know about you but when I hear that word

follow I don't I I don't really hear that as full of powerful Active Energy but that's what the Hebrew indicates in fact the Hebrew verb that uses there is radol and radol doesn't simply mean to follow in fact many times rodolf has a very militaristic feel to it so if if you're chasing down your enemy if you're pursuing your enemy to conquer them the verb that's used is r or vice versa if your enemy is pursuing you you to capture or to conquer you the verb is rodol sometimes it's translated as persecute in fact it's

that powerful of a verb so when you think about the goodness and mercy of God roding you there's actually an irony here because we ordinarily wouldn't think about something which is good and something which is merciful being engaged in the activity of rof but that's exactly what's going on here and I think that's one of the reasons that David used that verb you wanted to catch us off guard by employing a verb that ordinarily would never be matched with something that goodness and mercy do so how would you translate it well I think a good

translation would be something like the goodness and mercy chase us they pursue us so they're out to conquer Us in other words that's what you do when you Rod off someone or something in fact in I think 21 times it occurs in in the Psalms and in almost all of these that's the idea that David is chasing someone down or or someone us is chasing David down well here the goodness and mercy of God they chase us down they're out to to to catch us and to conquer us if we want to use the image

of sheep and Shepherd often people will describe the goodness and mercy of God as God's to sheep dogs they're they're chasing us down to bring us back to the fold so that's the first hidden treasure in Psalm 23 so when you're praying it you can make a little translation switch in your mind surely goodness and mercy shall chase me pursue me all the days of my life now the second one let's go back to the beginning so the psalm starts out the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want now in Hebrew that word for

want isar which doesn't mean like I desire or want something it means I lack so when I it when it says I shall not want anything I shall not be in lack now the negation there is the Hebrew word low so in Psalm 23 it's low Exar I shall not want or I shall not lack now what I find fascinating is when you do a word search of that phrase not lack you're going to find it actually in in three different places in the Old Testament connected to the Exodus so one of these is all

the way back in Exodus chapter 16 this is when God is giving the Mana to his people and we're told that those who gathered little Had No Lack so that's that same Hebrew verb with that same Negative they did not want in other words they lacked nothing or if you go to Deuteronomy chapter 2 there we read 40 years God sustained them in the wilderness and they lacked nothing so this idea of not lacking or not wanting is inally intimately connected with God's care of his people in the wilderness and we find the same thing

in Nehemiah Nehemiah chapter 99 now with this background in mind and you go to Psalm 23 it it actually makes sense doesn't it because you have in the image of Psalm 23 of course God is a shepherd and he's caring for his people his sheep he's providing them with green pasture and Still Waters and he's leading them through these dangerous places and he's preparing a table before them well that sounds a whole lot like what he did for Israel in The Exodus doesn't it he protected them from their enemies he led them through these dangerous

places he provided mana and quail for them he brought water out of the rock for them so when you hear Psalm 23 also hear these overtones of The Exodus and how it fits then within the broader salvation story it's almost like God's personal Exodus story for for you so you are part of God's redeeming work which he displayed in The Exodus this is his ongoing Exodus kind of work for you you shall have No Lack because God your Good Shepherd is going to care for you now that's the second of these hidden Hebrew Treasures let's

talk about the third and I really like this one because it's indicative of what God does to bring us back to himself so the verb the the phrase I want to talk about here is how God restores our soul Nai Yos in the Hebrew now that verb Yos the root of it is Shu and Shu means to it can mean it means to turn or to return it can mean like a literal turn you make a turn or you return you you come back to something but it's also the verb that's used throughout the Old

Testament for repent because when you repent Hebrew style what do you do you turn back from the direction you were going you're going that direction it's a wrong way so you return you come back to God but there's a little added twist here because in the grammatical form of this verb here it's not just that God turns our soul what does he do he returns it that's what you do when you restore something you bring it back he returns restores our soul so there's a a more powerful active verb verbal action that's going on here

and God and God is the one doing it right so it's a whole image of the shepherd and the Sheep what does sheep like to do they get lost they wonder what away we wander away we get lost so what does God do he being the Good Shepherd goes after us and he restores our soul he brings us back he shoes Us in fact the Jewish word for repentance is Tesa that Shu in the middle is the same route to restore so God we might say God repents us he brings us home I mean this

is this is behind the image in the parable that Jesus tells right there's a lost sheep and so what does the Good Shepherd do well he leaves in 99 and he goes in search of the one and what does he do when he finds it he doesn't drive it back he doesn't come to it and say hey you need to go back he picks it up puts it on his shoulders rejoices to carry the lost sheep home that Parable is an illustration of what's happening in Psalm 23 God restores our soul he brings us back

to the fold and I love how then this emphasizes God's work God's Gift in granting us repentance that is granting us a homecoming he brings us back to himself he restores our soul and then finally the fourth of these hidden HEB Treasures is how many Hebrew words are in Psalm 23 and what's at the very very middle of these words so Psalm 23 of course is really short it's not the shortest of the Psalms the shortest is Psalm 117 which only has 17 Hebrew words in it but Psalm 23 is pretty short so it's got

a total of 55 Hebrew words in it and here's how these work so you have 26 Hebrew words and then you have a phrase right in the middle which I'll get to in just a minute and then after that phrase you have 26 more Hebrew words so 26 Hebrew words this phrase and 26 more Hebrew words so what is this phrase that's right in the middle of these this beginning and this ending 26 words k in the Hebrew which means for thou art with me 26 words for thou art with me 26 more words in

other words the Beating Heart the numerical Center the theological center of Psalm 23 is God's presence with us we have nothing to fear why because God is with us you oh God are with us you're with me therefore This Promise of Emmanuel God With Us sits at the very core of Psalm 23 and there's also something else going on here maybe you've noticed this before maybe you haven't but these first 26 Hebrew words notice that when God is addressed he's addressed in the third person so we don't say you are my shepherd we say the

Lord is my shepherd He does this he does that so we're talking about God in the third person but as soon as we get to the middle for you thou art with me we switch to the second person we begin talking to God directly Your Rod and staff they comfort me you do this you do that so there's he he he talking about God and then there's for thou with me and then we begin talking about God to God rather directly so God With Us is at the very core of Psalm 23 and before that

and after that we have just lots of different ways of speaking about what God does for us to protect us because he is the one who's promised to be with us so those are the four hidden Hebrew Treasures of Psalm 23 and hopefully then as you continue to to pray this Psalm to use it with family or friends to meditate upon these words that these will add color and and depth and greater understanding to exactly what God has promised you in these in these words and then what they mean is you speak them to God

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