Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar:
Psalms 22:26: “The meek shall eat and be satisfied, they shall praise the Lord that seek Him; your heart shall live forever.”
This is Hebrew poetry. This poetic verse has three thoughts. To follow a poetic discipline, these three thoughts must somehow be connected to each other. Yet in the English, it appears that there is no connection between the three whatsoever. You have the meek eating and being satisfied, then those seeking the Lord will praise Him and God’s heart will live forever. Just how are these three connected? That is the joy of poetry. Play around with it a little, find a connection that fits your circumstance, your relationship with God, or just what really brings you a spiritual blessing. You see, poetry is not meant to have just one meaning, but a meaning which speaks to each one’s heart. Let me share with you how this verse speaks to me. Then go ahead, give it shot, see what it speaks to you. It might be entirely different that what is will say to me, but that is the beauty of poetry is it not? That is the whole idea of art, to relax and let it speak a personal message to you. You go to an art museum and you look at all the works of art. You are not trying to figure out what the artist is trying to say, you are there to just feel that work of art, enjoy the pleasure it brings to you personally and to interpret what you are feeling and why. You need to relax with art, not get uptight as to whether you figured out what the artist is talking about or not. That is for the classroom. For you personally it is something you can play with when no one is around or no teacher around to give you a grade. It is meant for you take that piece of art and just enjoy it for your own reasons. I believe this is also true with the poetry in Scripture. Some passages are just meant to be enjoyed in whatever way the Holy Spirit wishes to enlighten you. Forget what commentators say, forget if something dusty old professor like me tells you that you got it all wrong. Who cares? This is something between and the God you love. He has given you this to enjoy, so enjoy.
So here is my little joy, you find your own. The first thought concerns the meek. The word meek is “’anah” which is the same word used for fasting. Hence we could render this as the fasting shall eat and be satisfied. The word for satisfied is “savah” which is also the word for seven, which represents a fullness or a spiritual fullness. As you deprive yourself of the physical or natural things of this world you will become spiritual full.
Such a rendering would fall in line with the next thought. Those seeking the Lord, will praise Him. The word seek is “darash” which has the idea of applying or promoting. It is a giving of yourself to something other than yourself. When one does that he will praise God. There are many words for praise. This praise is “alleluia.” This type of praise is to bring honor, to cause someone other than yourself to shine. Rather than draw glory or honor to yourself you give it to God. The root word is Halal which has two lameds as two up lifted hands in front of a he or the presence of God. It is a picture of complete surrender to the presence of God. By giving up all praise to yourself, you are then giving it to God.
The final thought is “Your heart shall live forever.” The word “chi” is a reference to physical life. The word heart (lev) could mean a physical heart or your emotions. Placed with “chi” it would likely mean a physical heart, yet a physical heart will not live forever. Your heart living forever, is really an idiomatic expression for giving your heart to God. God lives forever and when He has your heart he will keep it forever, ie., your heart will belong to Him forever.
The three thoughts seems to be connected in the sense that when you give up anything in this physical world for God, it will always have an eternal value.
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