Psalms 36:7 How excellent [is] thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.
“Let not be shut in my soul, let not be fettered my shadow, let be opened the way for my soul and for my shadow, may it see the great god. May I look upon my soul and my shadow? The Egyptian Book of the Dead Chapter 89, 92.
The ancient Egyptians believed your shadow was an extension of your life force, almost like your soul. Only where the body was bound by the earth, the shadow could go anywhere where the body is not. The word in the Hebrew for shadow in this passage is tsalal, it is related to the Egyptian word tsv’t which is the shadow of the Egyptian god king. It was believed that the tsv’t (shadow of the god king) would leave the kings physical body accompanied by his ba (bird) and thus his protection would be spread throughout all the land. In the Papyrus of Nu (10477) it says: “My shadow will not be prevailed over.”
Originally the gods would manifest themselves anonymously as birds or ba. The Phoenix was a ba. Thus, the gods of the Pharaoh would at his command fly off with his shadow and spread his protection throughout the land. The Pharaoh was feared and reverend. People would appreciate the protection while at the same time live in fear of offending the Pharaoh in some minor way such that his Shadow which was ever present would punish him with sickness or misfortune.
So what was David talking about here when he talks about putting his trust under the shadow of His wings? The people of Israel were well acquainted with the religion of the Egyptians and they knew the Egyptians had their king to protect them because the Egyptian gods would spread the shadow of their king over the land. The Egyptians would speak of being protected by the shadow of the wings of their gods.
So what did Israel have for protection? The presence of God was found in the temple on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant which, ironically or maybe not ironically, was covered by the wings of the cherubim. It is almost like God was showing that the Egyptian gods depended upon a physical human king to protect the land where Israel’s God was the protection of the land. It was the Shadow of His wings that protected the people. David confirmed this in Psalms 36:7, he was the king, but he was acknowledging that it was not his shadow that was picked up God’s winged angels and spread protection over the land, it was God Himself that spread His protection over the land.
You see the Pharaoh lived in his palace, he could not be everywhere to protect his people. However, the people saw him as a god and therefore his soul or shadow was not confined to just the palace area, His shadow was carried by the gods in the form of birds to spread the protection over the land, sort of like making him omnipresent. So how could Israel have a God that was also everywhere when he was just located in the temple? The symbol of the winged cherubim helped the people of Israel see that God’s presence could also be over the whole land. Even though his presence was located in the temple, the Shadow of His wings would be spread where ever they went.
Thus David starts off this Psalm by saying how excellent is your lovingkindness. The word excellent is yaqar which is the word used to express something very valuable and precious. It is rare and splendid like precious stones and jewels. When the ba carried the shadow of the Egyptian king it brought trembling. In fact the word shadow tsalal in its Semitic root has the idea of trembling. People trembled with fear over the shadow of the Egyptian god which provided protection so long as you behaved and showed it the proper respect. Yet the shadow of God is something very precious, it was a precious lovingkindness and if you trembled it was not a trembling of fear but of joy.
The word for lovingkindness is chasad which is its Semitic root carries the idea of a god who is condescending to the needs of his people. It is a picture of God reaching down to show love and compassion to those who are unworthy. It is interesting that the word chasid comes from the same root and is the word for the wings of a stork. In ancient legend the stork’s maternal instinct was the strongest among all creatures. It would even care for the young of another species. It was believed that if the mother stork could not find enough food for its chicks it would feed her chicks with her own blood. It was also believed if one of her chicks died she would resurrect it with her own blood. I think you can see the far reaching implications in the word chasad or lovingkindness. It is a lovingkindness that even exceeds that of the maternal instinct and would be willing to offer one’s own blood for the sake of the object of its affection.
No wonder David said how precious is your chasad or lovingkindness. I could be wrong but I believe buried in this was a prophecy of the future Messiah who would come and shed his blood to redeem the entire world that His shadow would extend over all the earth with His redemption.
The interesting point of this is that when we read the idea of finding shelter in the shadow of His wings we think of hiding within his wings. But that is not what it says, it is the shadow of His wings. How can just his shadow protect us, I mean I want the real thing, not a shadow. But in the ancient Semitic mind the shadow was not only the real thing, it was the very soul, the loving, caring nature of God that would go where ever you went. So the presence of God did not just rest in the temple, it was everywhere. When you need the presence and protection of God you did not have to run to the temple to find it, it was right there hovering over you, surrounding you in His shadow. You just need to reach out and touch it. Unlike the Shadow of the wings of the Egyptian god where you trembled in fear, you are overshadowed by God’s chasad, His lovingkindness, a love that is so strong that he shed his own blood to redeem you. Now that is something any self respecting Egyptian god would never stoop to do.
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