Rabbi’s Reflections – Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Shalom,
The Psalms
Psalm 5:1-3(1,2) – Part 1
Psalm 5:1 For the music director, on the wind instruments, a psalm of David. 2 Hear my words, Adonai, consider my groaning. 3 Listen to the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God, for I pray to you.
I had a Hebrew teacher tell me recently that the Hebrew in the Psalms is among the most challenging of all the Hebrew texts. This makes sense when we consider it is Hebrew poetry. The poet is telling an entire story in a few words. The author is telling a story by word choice. There is also a rhythm to the words. It is all purposed to engage the reader.
Rabbi’s Note: May I remind you that the numbering of the verses is different between the Jewish Bible and the Christian Bible. Don’t let that throw you off. End RN.
Both verses 2 and 3 appear to start in similar fashion, “Hear my words” and “Listen to… my cry” respectively. There is much to unpack here. In verse two the words translated “Hear my words” are (in transliterated Hebrew) “Amarai Ha’azinah.” “Ozen” is an “ear,” and Amar is “He spoke.” So an amplified translation could be, “Use your ears to listen up to my spoken words.” That could be shortened to “take heed to what I’m saying.”
Who is speaking? Probably our author, King David, (we’re not sure if this Psalm was written by David or for David) but what we do know for sure is that God (the Yud-Hay-Vav-Hay) is being addressed.
Now, another word altogether is used in the next verse. “Listen” is “Haq’shivah” meaning “pay attention.” It is first used in Scripture in this well-known verse when King Saul received his rebuke. 1 Samuel 15:22 Samuel said: “Does Adonai delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Adonai? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay heed than the fat of rams.
This is all good, but I want to move on to something that really grabbed my attention. “My cry for help” in Hebrew is a word, “Shav’i.” It is based on a word with which we are all familiar, Yeshua (Yud-Shin-Vav-Ayin). The “Yud” in front can be a third person masculine singular future tense (he will) indicator. The “Shin-Vav-Ayin” is a cry for help. It is first used in Exodus Exodus 2:23 Now it came about over the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. Bnei-Yisrael groaned because of their slavery. They cried out and their cry from slavery went up to God.
The name Yeshua means “salvation.” However; the Hebrew is based on the word for a “cry for help,” Shava (Shin-Vav-Ayin). All of us are in need of salvation. We all have a cry for help that can only be answered by Yeshua. We pray to God, and He answers us by sending His Son to save us. May we always be overwhelmed with His goodness. Shalom shalom.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
2 Nissan Wednesday 10-Apr-24
Leviticus 13:24-28 Isaiah 29 Proverbs 12 Matthew 1 James 3