Psalms 91:6: “[Nor] for the pestilence [that] walketh in darkness; [nor] for the destruction [that] wasteth at noonday.”
I wonder what a walking pestilence looks like? Does pestilence really walk through a village at night. They apparently did in Assyrian and Babylon or at least that is what they believed and II Kings 17:30 makes a reference to the god Negal which was an old Assyrian and Babylonian god who was the god of war and pestilence. The sun god was really made up of a number of gods that were manifested during various phases of the sun. Negal was the god that appears at sundown.
As a rule if you are ill you tend to feel it more during the night time when you are not distracted with the activities of the day time. Probably for this reason people thought plagues and sickness occur in the evening or night time. Of course without the advancement of medical science that we have today most people attributed illnesses to some demon or angry god.
Thus there was probably the belief that Negal would walk through a village at night bringing disease when it was nothing more than a contagious disease. Ancient times were a very fearful time at night, there was no artificial lighting and the explanations for the things that go bump in the night were very unscientific, like demons or angry gods roaming around.
So how would this verse be used for us today in our scientific world where we know there is no such thing as a sun god named Negal. I think it is fitting that the word for pestilence is mideber which literally means from spoken words. We do not have to translate it as pestilence of physical illness. No doubt that is the literal meaning, but I believe God built in many other applications as well that fit this idea of a plague by night, that would be applicable to our 21st Century, hence the use of a word which is rooted in speech.
There is a plague of speech right now if you check on the internet and read all the conspiracy theories. All the talk of earthquakes, storms, tornados, financial collapse, martial law etc. Of course all the doomsayers will say: “I’m not trying to scare you.” The heck you’re not. You listen to the midebar long enough and they will scare you. They walk in darkness. Well, late night radio and television is when most of these doomsayers are getting their hearing, but I don’t think that is what it means.
Walking in the night is ba’opel yahaloke. The word walking yahaloke is from the root word halak which not only means to walk and move it also can mean a manner of life. The word night is ba’ophel which comes from the root word ‘ophel which also means gloom and spiritual calamity.
Let’s just look at this from a different angle. It can and does mean we need not fear the pestilence walking in the night, but really, who in this day and age fear some demon or god walking around at night striking people down with a plague. There is a secondary meaning, however, which is very applicable to today. It could also mean that we do not fear those who have a life style of doomsday talk. There are some people who just love to talk about how horrible the world is, how we are living on the brink of destruction. I get them all the time on my disability bus. The person no sooner gets on and they start to give a run down on the news. “Did you hear about the shooting on Ogden last night. This world is a horrible place. You never heard of so many killings, so many earthquake etc.” Actually, we never heard of so much because we never had such comprehensive news coverage like today. When I was a kid I did not learn of anything until the 5:00 news came on, unless it was so horrible that we would get: “We interrupt this broadcast for this special news announcement.” Today, with our smart phones, tablets, 24 hour new service we get our news in real time and we get an earful. Everything from a kindergartner being sent to the office for wearing a rosary to a puppy being abused in a trailer park, it is not only on the news but we get it as it is happening.
All this is good and bad. Good that we can stay current with events but bad in the sense that being filled with so much negative talk can really wear you down. I believe another way to render pestilence that walks in darkness is listening to the fearful, gloomy talk of people who for themselves fear is a manner of life for them. When we are sheltered in the shadow of His wings, we do not need to live in fear. We do not need to become depressed with all the doom and gloom around us. With the umbrella of the love and blood of Jesus Christ we can smile at all the rain storms predicted by the doomsayers.
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