Sgt Neil Wood and Co - United States Army in Iraq

The minister with youth has been taking Hebrew at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and we have had some interesting conversations.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. – Psalm 23:6

The Hebrew verb in question is yirdpuuni(y)* < root r-d-p normally translated “pursue”. Why do we translate this follow rather than:

Surely goodness and mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life.

Does God follow us or pursue us? Is God the sheep who meekly follows along after us the shepherd? Or does God pursue us who are the wayward wandering and often imperiled sheep? Notice how this fits better the theme of the psalm and may represent an inclusio with the opening imagery: (a) shepherd, (b) host, (a’) shepherd/host.

The first and traditional translation seems weak and passive. The second more active and robust. God is a lover who pursues us. He is sometimes describes as the hound of heaven.

Another is something we sing quite often in Church of the Nations in French and Indonesian as well as in English.

This is the day that the Lord has made. – Psalm 118:24

What does this translation of Hebrew `aśa(h) < `-ś-(h) emphasize? The existence of this day that God has made. In other words the existence of creation. But most of Psalm 118 emphasizes not creation but the mighty saving acts of God. Try this on for size.

This is the day that the Lord has acted.

Do you see the difference? The activity of God is less distant and remote. Oh yes once upon a time eons ago God created the day. We are happy we have this day.

Or God is active today to answer our calls of distress to grant us victory to make the rejected stone the cornerstone.

Some might say so what? I don’t see the difference.

I would suggest it is a very big difference. Granted there is an important theological connection between creation and salvation but the focus of my point here is on the difference between a deist world from which God has effectively been removed and a world in which God acts. Indeed creation properly understood is not just past but also present. As Jon Levenson demonstrates in Creation and the Persistence of Evil salvation is a creative act.

Now… if only there could also be a DailyEgyptian, DailyAkkadian, DailyUgaritic, DailyNorthWestSemiticInscriptions, DailyAramaic, DailyArabic, DailyGerman, and DailyFrench as well. Not asking for much am I?