Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar and Nevim Arith Hayomim:
Psalms 1:2: “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.”
Archimedes was a Greek mathematician who was challenged by the king to determine if a goldsmith was cheating him in holding back some gold entrusted to him to make a crown. The king suspected that the goldsmith did not make his crown out of pure gold but was also putting silver in it to cheapen it. The king asked Archimedes to determine if the crown was made of pure gold or not. Archimedes immediately started to meditate on the problem. He decided to take a nice hot bath while meditating. When he lowered himself into the tub he discovered that his body displaced an amount of water equal to his body weight. He instantly knew he had the answer. He would lower a gold crown into a tub of water, and measure the amount of water it displaced and then lower the suspected fraud crown and see if it displaced the same amount of water. Having found the answer he jumped out of the bath tub and ran through the streets naked shouting “Eureka, Eureka” (I found it, I found it).
Archimedes gave an excellent example of meditation. When I hear the word “meditation” I am thinking of a quiet pondering or thinking on some Scripture passage or on God. I am beginning to realize that most Christians, myself included, do not really know what it means to meditate. In the middle ages Chassidic and orthodox Jews regularly practiced meditation. As the world moved out of the dark ages and into a Renaissance in the 14th to 17th century, the Chassidic and orthodox Jews moved with them and began, like Christians to look more to reason and science to interpret their relationship with God. As a result the idea of meditation was almost totally lost for over a hundred years. Today the ancient concept of meditation is rarely practiced. A relatively modern form of meditation has replaced the ancient concept.
Even the Hebrew word used in Psalms 1:2 for meditation is “hagah.” is often rendered as quiet murmuring, groaning, etc. Yet, Isaiah 31:4 speaks of a young lion “growling” and “growling” is the word “hagah” which we render in Psalms 1:2 as meditate. In Job “hagah” is rendered as thunder. We are so careful to not disturb someone in meditation and we seek to be quiet around such a person. Yet, meditation or hagah is more than quiet. The real key to meditation is not so much quiet, but is in a search, or a journey that leads to a discovery.
Meditation among the ancients was likened to a roaring lion. A lion roars when it is hungry. It becomes focused on stalking it’s prey. When the prey is found the lion tears it to shreds and devours it. Indeed, one use of the word “hagah” (meditation) is to shred or tear apart. Meditation is when you hunger so much for the Word of God, that you look at a verse and you are convinced there is more to that verse than meets the eye. You begin to roar or moan and groan over your hunger for more knowledge. You then begin to tear into that Word of God and shred it, tearing it apart. Once you make your discovery you become like Archimedes and and shout “Eureka” “I found it.”
If you ever see a group of rabbis midrashing over a particular verse, you may hear a lot of screaming and shouting as they seek to come to some understanding of the particular verse. That is just as much meditation as someone quietly sitting alone pondering some deep spiritual thought. The real key to meditation is that you are seeking to make a discovery. Sometimes you may not always find a use for a discovery, but it is something you can tuck away for future use.
Many Christians have the idea that if they spend a couple hours thinking on some Scripture verse, that they have been meditating and God will give them a blessing for their devotion. Actually, the blessing is in the discovery you make during your meditation. It is like diving into the sea in search of a treasure. Some may only descend a few feet until they meet a shark and are frightened or distracted away. Some may get discouraged and give up their search believing there is really no treasure to be found. But those who persist and continue their search will eventually find the treasure and they seek and return to the surface rejoicing.
Some Christians find themselves getting bored with their usual Bible study, church services, worship services and feel there is something wrong with them spiritually. Perhaps it is just a call of God to enter into some form of meditation and persist until they make a real discovery that will send them running through the streets shouting “Eureka, Eureka.”
Meditation can be like Senator Dirksen’s musings on trying to pass legislation. “It is like breeding elephants. These things are done on a high level with a lot of screaming and trumpeting and then waiting three years for the results.
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