Hebrew Word Study – Shadows  – Tzalemat – צַלְמָ֡וֶת  – Sade Lamed Mem Vav Taw

Psalms 23:4b: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death” 

In the Hebrew Bible the word death is not directly in this sentence. Yet, in a way. Translators however paraphrase the words tzalemat. Most modern translations say valley of death as it appears from the context the Psalmist is speaking of death. Yet, in the Semitic mind, this is much more. 

The word tzalemat  is really a compound word in the Sefer Torah. Tsala’ which means shadow and mat in the Sefer Torah is read as mot which is the word for death. Hence you have the shadow of death. 

But more to the point just what is this shadow of death. To most of us it suggests that death is following like a shadow. But there are times when the shadow precedes us. What came to the ancient’s mind when they read this verse speaking of the shadow of death? 

The ancient Semitics as many do today believe the word shadow implies an imperfect image that points to the reality that is yet to come. With the sun in the right direction your shadow announces your approach. The shadow is not really you in a sense, it is just rays of light that come between you and a surface to create an image of you. We are not little Gods but merely a shadow of God’s image. The same word is used for image in Genesis 1:27 where we learn we were created in the image of God, a shadow of God.  We are a shadow of God but not God Himself, yet without God we would exist no more than a shadow of us would exist in this natural world without our physical presence.

Many philosophers and even many quantum physicists believe this reality we live in is not a true reality, it is only a shadow of a true reality.  C.S. Lewis called it the Shadowlands. In I Corinthians 13:12 Paul says: “We see through a glass darkly, but then face to face.” We know in part right now but one day we will enter the true reality and have a clear picture.

 Face to face is an Aramaic idiom for reaching the end when all things are revealed. Right now we are living in a shadow of our true reality where the end is not clear to us, what death is like is  not clear to us which is why we fear death, it is an unknown. In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. The allegory begins with prisoners who have lived their entire lives chained inside a cave. Behind the prisoners is a fire, and between the fire and the prisoners are people carrying puppets or other objects. These cast shadows on the opposite wall. The prisoners watch these shadows, believing this to be their reality as they’ve known nothing else. Plato suggests that one prisoner could become free. He finally sees the fire and realizes the shadows are fake. This prisoner could escape from the cave and discover there is a whole new world outside that they were previously unaware of. This prisoner would believe the outside world is so much more real than that in the cave. He would try to return to free the other prisoners. Upon his return, he is blinded because his eyes are not accustomed to actual sunlight. The chained prisoners would see this blindness and believe they will be harmed if they try to leave the cave. 

I will be 75 years old in a few weeks. I grew up in the Christian faith. I have spent my life learning to love God with all my heart. As I approach these latter years, I cannot honestly say that I am totally free from the fear of death. Yet, I can say that I feel myself drawing away from the things of this world and drawing closer to the realm of God, the true reality. I feel like I am approaching the day of my pardon, my release from this Plato’s cave becoming more and more aware of the fact that this world is not my reality. As I approach these twilight years many things that once mattered are no longer important. I no longer care about a career, obtaining wealth, fame or even some form of security. The things that matter now is that my cell mates in that Plato’s cave realize that they too are not living in the true reality, but that one day soon, they will enter a new realm, the true reality. The question is where will reality be in darkness or light. That is what is important to me at this time to assure them there is light at the end of that tunnel of death. 

We will talk of this more in our Monday evening online Hebrew/Aramaic Bible study. You can join us through www.hebrewwordstudy.com where you can attend live or listen to a recording of this class.  

For more on this topic you may wish to purchase my book on A Hebrew Teacher Explores Psalms 23 and my other book on death entitled the Divine Kiss both are available off this website or off Amazon under these titles. 

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