Psalms 103:14: “For He knows our frame, Remembering that we are dust.”

 

I mean really, what is this supposed to mean that He knows our frame?   What is our frame?  I have a PhD and I can’t even tell you what this verse is saying by reading our English translation.  Over half our modern English translations uses the word frame.  Others will use a more modern word like framework or formation.  Now that begins to make some sense. God knows how we are constructed.  Why can’t our modern translations just say so?   It seems to a reference to our physical bodies, if so just say so.  My rant for the day.

 

Anyway, the word frame in Hebrew is yester which of course  means frame but also form or framework, it is also a word used for purpose and imagination. Translators conclude the context demands that we use a reference to our physical construction as this verse ends by talking about God remembering we are dust and of course we were created from the dust.  Yeah, like you my first impression is that God remembers we are just worthless and of no value like dust.

 

We all know God created us from the dust of the ground.  Yet, the word ground is not ‘eres’ which was what the animals were formed from but man was formed form the dust of the adamah which also means soil and ground.  Yet, the Talmud teaches that there are no synonyms in Hebrew so there must some difference between the soil of ‘eres and the soil of adamah.  It is curious that in Genesis 3:14 the enemy was forced to eat dust, and this is done right after God curses the ‘eres. The enemy is forced to eat the dust of ‘eres and not adamah.

 

There seems to be something special about this dust from adamah.  ‘Eres is a reference to things like rocks, sand, soil etc.  Yet adamah is a reference to fertile soil, life producing soil.   We often think that what sets man apart from the animals is that God breathe nephesh into man.  Yet, we have references in the Old Testament where animals are said to have a nephesh. So there has to be something that makes us distinct from the animals and I believe it is that we were formed from the ‘aphar or dust of the adamah fertile soil where the animals were just formed from the ‘eres, the materials of this earth prior to the ‘eres being cursed.

 

So what is the distinction between ‘aphar dust and ‘eres soil?   This weekend I had someone tell me about a person who was in her car praying to God and when she opened her eyes her arms and body were covered with dust that was gold in color.  When she brushed it away, it just sort of disappeared or was absorbed into her surroundings.  Some call it gold dust, but I doubt very much it was real gold, but I do believe it was something supernatural. I believe it was ‘aphar which we render as dust, but this was not the dust that covers our lamps and television.  Dust is merely very fine particles of dead skin and dead mites.  But at creation man could not have been created by that dust as it did not yet exist.  You need skin to have dead skin and skin had not yet been created except in the animals.  Would God use the dead skin of animals to create man?  I think not.  This dust or ‘aphar had to be something else.

 

I believe the dust this woman experienced was the same substance that God used to create man. She was given that ‘aphar before it touched the ground that was cursed.  The enemy was given the ‘aphar that had already touched the ground and was cursed. Think about it, all the skin colors in the world are a tannish, brownish color of various shades, but all are related to the color of gold.  I have heard of others testify of gold dust failing during a worship service.  My guess, only a guess of course is that our flesh is made up of something  both natural and supernatural, which is not cursed. It is what gives us our link to the supernatural world, it is what makes us distinct from animals.  If someone experiences so called gold dust appearing I don’t believe it is gold or God showering prosperity upon us it is only God showing a physical and natural manifestation of our link to heaven.  Someone suggested to me that this may also indicate that we are individually special to God. When God created us, He did not use the stuff that the world was made out of, but gave us something that had a touch of heaven or the supernatural to it making each of us something special to God.  You look at a rabbits born in the same family and they all look identical. Yet there are never any two human beings that look exactly alike, even exact twins still have some type of physical difference.  God has created each one of us special, unique and thus each of us is just as important to Him as the next person.  The older brother in the story of the Prodigal Son felt he was more important than his brother because he was the faithful one who stayed on the farm and kept things going while his nary do well brother was off kicking up his heels.  Yet, the old man set this brother straight when he complained that this no good for nothing of a brother was getting a party and he was not.  The father explained that he loved them both and was rejoicing that his brother was alive.   There is a popular saying in our country today: “Black lives matter.”   The point is that every human being regardless of race, religion, creed or whatever the difference we are all made of ‘aphar and that matters, it most certainly does to God.   That TV evangelist is no more important to God than that dirty, broken drug addict lying in the street.   Both are made of ‘aphar  which, for want of a better word,  we will call it dust.  However, I don’t like the word dust as that implies something worthless and of little value when in reality it implies something very precious and special.  There is another aspect to ‘aphar (dust) that I had a friend point out.  It also represents something fragile.   Thus, what is made out of aphar is as fragile as dust. It is like a precious piece of crystal glass, something beautiful, special and yet very fragile.

 

Perhaps that is why this verse says that God remembers we are dust.  Or put more accurately that we are a fragile piece of precious crystal glass that can easily be broken.  He is very careful with us, he does not treat us roughly to the point where we will break or be shattered.  II Corinthians 4:8-10 promises we may be afflicted, but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsake, struck down but not destroyed.  We are his precious piece of crystal glass that he remembers.  That word remember is zachar which also means to memorialize or build a monument.  Once again this is pointing out how special we are as human beings created in His image.  He created each one of us special, different and then memorializes us.  He has placed us in a permanent place in His heart as a child holds a permanent place in the mother’s heart.  I remember listening to my father preach at a rescue mission.  He would tell the story of a mass murder who was executed for his crimes, one of the most hated men in the country and he was buried in an unmarked grave.  Yet, there was one person who would bring flowers to this hated man’s grave, it was his mother.

 

I don’t care how you translate Psalms 103:15 whether dust means we are of no value and worthless or we are created out of something special, there is not getting away from the fact that this verse is telling us that we are still in God’s zachar, remembrance, memorialized or hold a special place in his heart.   A mother can have twelve children and each child will hold a special place in her heart.  Our God can have billions of children and each will hold a special place in His heart. Could we say God knows our imagination or purpose rather than our frame.  Based upon this, you might want to play around with these alternative renderings for frame or yester.

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