Psalms 119:162:  I rejoice at they word as one who findeth great spoil.

 

The word in the Hebrew here for word is ‘amar and not devar as I thought.   David is rejoicing over simple ‘amar’s  or sayings of God.   Some translations will render this as promises. This is based upon the context but I believe the context and the word ‘amar indicates much more.  Had David wanted to narrow this specifically to promises he would have used the word davar.  By using ‘amar instead he has expanded this to not only promises, but anything that God speaks.   The word for rejoices is the word sas which is a great, heartfelt rejoicing, over the sayings of God.   This includes such sayings as so and so begat so and so.  Yes, even the begats caused David’s heart to rejoice.

 

Years ago I read the story of a young man who was a member of the old Soviet Union secret police while it was ruled by communism.  He was student at the Soviet Union naval academy when he was recruited by the secret police to form a team of the toughest and most skilled fighters at the academy to deal with, what his recruiters termed, the greatest threat to his country and government – Christians.  His job was to discover where these Christians met and to take his team to their secret meetings and to beat  every one of them, men, women and children. None were to escape without a beating that left them beyond recognition.

 

He told, how in one raid, he confronted a big bear of a man, twice his size.  This young police officer who himself was a world class athlete and boxer had strong doubts if he could handle a guy this size. But he was under orders, besides he had other officers also skilled fighters backing him up if he got into trouble so he threw a knockout punch at this Christian man.  He heard the bones crunch, and was surprised that the man did not fight back. Instead of fighting back he was using his hands to clutch some papers that he held close to his breast.   This made the police officer angry and he became to mercilessly beat this man who gave no resistance he only kept clutching these papers as if they were his very life. Only when the police officer tried to take the papers away from him did he begin to struggle and the man began to scream and kick clutching the papers in his hands as if they were his very soul.  It was not until he had beaten the man into bloody unconsciousness that he was able to tear the papers away from the man’s hands.  That night before he threw the papers into the incinerator, he broke all the rules and went off to a corner where he could not be seen and began read what was written on those papers. He had to know what was so important about those papers that this man was willing to take a beating that could have cost him his life.   What the young police officer read was a portion of the Gospels (the sayings, ‘amar, of God), handwritten.  These papers that were so precious to this man just told the story of another man who lived 2,000 years ago and taught that one should love his enemies.

 

You know something we get used to the sayings amar of God.  It is available everywhere in this country.  I can even go to the Dollar Store and purchase a complete copy of God’s ‘amar sayings for a dollar.   We suffer from overexposure to the mirror surface of the Word of God.  It does not hold the importance to us like it did to this Russian Christian who had limited access to the Word where each word was precious to him.

 

Note David says he rejoices in the Word of God.  The word rejoices is sas which are just two Shins.   This double Shin expresses David’s heart for the Word of God as it could very well have been for this Russian Christian.  This rejoicing in the Words of God is more than just joy.  The Shin is a letter that has a base with three arms extending upward. The Talmud teaches that each arm corresponds to a different aspect of our intellectual thought process – conceptual, emotional and practical.  The Word of God brings joy because it stimulates our conceptual, emotional and practical thought process.    The ancient sages further teach that the right arm of the Shin is a Yod which is a message or messenger from heaven and from it flows wisdom.  The center arm is a Vav and from it forms a connection with God and the left arm is a Zayin which forms a joining in service with God.  The Word of God brings joy because it gives us wisdom, a connection to God and joins us with God for His service.  It is taught by the ancients that the Shin will bring us into harmony with God.  When we peer into the depths of the Word of God, it truly does bring us into harmony with Him.

 

For David a double Shin expresses what he feels about the Word of God and he declares that he rejoices in the Word of God because it brings him into harmony with God.  To David that is like finding a great spoil.  The word in Hebrew for great spoil is shalal  which is used to describe a treasure that you gain at the risk of your very life or at great sacrifice.  This may not be your physical life, but just your life.  A wealthy man may sacrifice his life, i.e., family friends, amusement, dreams, etc., to obtain riches, that would be an example of a shalal.

 

This Russian believer found that great treasure for which he was willing to risk his life.  Are you suffering from over exposure to the Word of God?   Are you hearing the same teachings over and over that you are beginning to get bored?  Is the Word of God really that important to you?  Perhaps if you put your very life into the Word of God and make the Word of God your life like this Russian believer did.  If you look beyond the surface, open up each word, each letter and then put your life into that Word, you will find that treasure that will cause you to cling to it even at the cost of a beating or of your very life.

 

I know, I found that portal. I spend a minimum of three to four hours a day studying the Word of God in the ancient lanaguages and I mediate on it throughout the rest of the day.  This evening I will attend our Wednesday evening service at church where I will hear my pastor preach from the Word.  Maybe I will agree with his interpretation maybe I will not but even if I don’t agree with his interpretation it is irrelevant to me, what is important is that he opens his Bible and for the next half hour to forty five minutes I will just bask in the glory of the Word of God, I will sas (rejoice) in just hearing someone speak from the Word of God.

 

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