Psalm 25:3:  “Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.”

I’ll catch the sun and never give it back again,

I’ll catch the sun and keep it for my own

But in a world where no one understands

I’ll take my outstretched hand and offer it to anyone

Who comes along and tells me he’s in need of love

In need of hope or maybe just a friend,

Perhaps in time I will even share my sun

With that new anyone to whom I gave my hand. –  Rod McKuen

When I taught High School literature I read this poem to my class and asked them what the sun motif was.  Some said the sun represented love or friendship.  But if you read Rod McKuen’s poem you find that he is willing to share love and friendship but he will not share his sun with anyone.  Perhaps in time he will share that sun with someone that he gave friendship and even love to.  He obviously shared his sun (Hebrew – qavah) with someone who betrayed him (Hebrew – begad) and wounded him (Hebrew – buwsh) such that he would never share that part of himself with anyone else again. He is willing to share love, hope and friendship, but he will not share his sun.

We have no word in English for what this sun motif is.  It is more than love, it is more than just sharing your heart with someone.  In Act III Scene 2 in Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Hamlet says to Horatio: “That is not passion’s slave, and I will wear him in my heart’s core ay, in my heart of heart.”    Your heart’s core, your heart of heart, that special place in your heart, that is Rod McKuen’s sun. It is something that  you would share with only a special friend or a spouse. It is what David shared with Jonathan.   It is that part of each of us (Hebrew – qavah) that if we share it with someone we have given that person a special gift, a gift of trust.  If that person would ever betray that trust (Hebrew – begad) it would shatter us and break our hearts (Hebrew- buwsh).

My study partner and I closely examined this passage of Scripture the other day and then she related a story that had happened earlier that day.  She attended an event with where she saw an old high school friend that she has once shared a qavah with.  That day her friend said some things, and behaved in a way that made my study partner feel begad and as a result she was buwsh.

I don’t believe David is talking about his enemies but his trusted friends. These are friends that he shares his gavah with.  In most our translations the word gavah is rendered as wait, hope, trust or rely upon.  That is true and these are words you will find in your lexicon and Bible Dictionary. But if you trace this word to its Semitic root you discover it has its origins in making rope.  Rope was made much as it is today.  You take strands of fabric that could easily be broken by itself, but when you bind hundreds of these fabrics together you make a rope that is unbreakable.  Thus if you bind yourself to God  you will not be ashamed. But you will be ashamed if you bind yourself to those who transgress without a cause.

Ashamed is the word begad.  Yes it means ashamed, it also means to be disappointed.  If you look in your Hebrew Bible you will see that this word is repeated twice.  Generally, not always, when a word is repeated in the Hebrew it is meant to intensify.  What do you have when you intensify feelings of being ashamed or disappointed?   I believe an intense disappointment is heart break and I feel this is what David is referring to.  Those who bind themselves to God will not suffer a broken heart from Him. God will never betray your trust, He will always remain faithful and keep His word and promises.  But if you bind yourself to someone who transgresses without cause you will suffer a broken heart.

What is this transgressing. Some translations use the word treacherous, some say simply to offend, others will say to humiliate.  It is also used for unfaithfulness, untrusting or to betray a trust.  All these words fit the Hebrew word buwsh.  That last word reygam is curious.  It means to be empty, vain, worthless or unprofitable.  To deal treacherously without cause could mean to simply break your trust for no reason at all, just simply breaking a trust or confidence because you just don’t care.  David knew this feeling well. His best friends deserted him, stabbed him in the back. His own son seized the throne from him.  People that David trusted in and bonded with (qavah) and then they turned and dealt buwsh unfaithfully with him. As a result he was  begad, heart broken. Does this strike a chord with you?  Have you ever given your heart of heart, you sun to someone only to have them betray your trust?  You know when  you gave your heart to God He gave his to you, He shared His sun with you.  Have you ever betrayed that trust He put in you. If you have and you once had someone betray your trust in them, then you get an idea of how you made God feel. David is telling us that God is the one person in all the universe that will never, ever buwsh betray you.

You know sometimes a translator will choose an English word for a Hebrew Word because it fits the syntax, or it is tradition or even just reflects his own understanding of God.  We are then left with a translation that seems to have no apparent relationship to us. That is why the Jews teach their children from the age of four to read Hebrew, so they can read the Bible themselves and plug in the English word that fits their understanding of God. I heard one rabbi say that one Classical Hebrew word can have up to thirty or more possible English renderings.

I struggled for days on this passage of Scripture, trying to find some understanding that felt right for me.  I really could not come up with any suitable words for these three Hebrew words that are rendered as wait, ashamed and treacherous. But as I shared the many possible renderings for these three words in the Hebrew with my study partner she found a rendering for each which spoke to her spiritual need at that moment.

This is why Chaim Bentorah Ministries exist, to give the average Christian the tools to find the right combination of the many possible renderings for a Hebrew word so that they can allow the Holy Spirit to speak to them in a unique and personal way as they study the Scriptures by themselves.

Once we get out website upgraded to support audios and videos we will be uploading classes on how to study the Scriptures in the original languages without years of Bible College and Seminary training so keep following our website, new things are being prepared for those who have in interest in studying the Word of God in the original languages of Hebrew and Aramaic.