Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar;
Psalm 139:5: “Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.”
I suppose you could translate this verse a number of ways. What I find interesting in this verse is the word for “beset” which is “sur.” As a noun this is what Moses struck to get water – a rock. It is also used for a fortress, or fortified city. The word “‘achor” has the idea of behind or past, and the word “qedem” means to go forward. That word ends with a closed mem indicating the hidden or unknown, as is the future. This expression “‘achor vaqedem” expresses past and future. Thus in my past and future God is “sur.”
The word “sur” is used as a verb here and is in a qal perfect form. It is best expressed as “you have entrenched me or fortified me.” In my past and in my future you have already fortified or entrenched me.
As David looked to the future, it looked pretty terrifying. There was unrest in the nation. Indeed one generation later there would be civil war in the land. There was the threat of the Assyrians and there was the threat to the very throne as happened when his own son revolted and sent David running from his kingdom with a price on his head. Day after day David faced the mounting pressures of being a king and the terrors that were looking at him. Yet when David woke up in the morning facing the dread of what lay ahead, he was reminded that God had fortified him, entrenched him or another expression for sur is hedged him. That hedge or fortress was around him in the past and it was around him in the present and will continue to be around him in the future.
Then David says: “You laid your hand upon me.” The word laid “tasheth” is actually in a future tense and means to place or set. “You will set me in your “yapap.” This is not the word “yad” for hand, but is built upon that word. This is more specific. It means the “palm of the hand.” The verse literally says: “You have set me in the palm of your hand.” As the old timers like to say, “We are sheltered in the hollow of His hand.” But remember the ancients believed one’s heart was in the palm of the hand. Thus, David was saying that he will not fear or live in dread of the future, for he is sheltered in the heart of God.
People today are terrified of the future. The economy is collapsing, world leaders met Saturday saying they would do whatever it takes to restore the credit system even to the point of world governments nationalizing or taking control of the economy into one world system. There is the threat of the bird flu pandemic which has a 75% fatality rate. There is the fear of terrorist with weapons of mass destruction, destroying our water supply or releasing a biological weapon and you can spend all day worrying and fretting over the uncertainty of the future. Or you could be like David who looks up to God and says: “My past, present and future is entrenched in you. If disaster hits, I will be sheltered in the hollow of your hand or I will be resting in your heart if it comes.
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