WORD STUDY – HE ANSWERED ME
–‫ענני‬
Psalm 34:4: “I sought the LORD, and he answered me, and
delivered me from all my fears.”
The way this passage is translated always bothered me. “I
sought the Lord and he answered me.” If you are seeking you
find, if you are asking you get an answer. Every translation
says I sought. Then most translations walk in lock step with
each other and say he answered me, a few say he heard me but
that means the same. That word for sought in Hebrew is daresh
which means to seek.
That is the most common rendering.
There are a few renderings of daresh as to inquire and that
would work better with the Lord answering but for whatever
reason translators refuse to go there. Instead they will stay
with the word sought and in that seeking you get an answer.
Ok, I get it, David is saying that we must search for an
answer from God. But is that what David was searching for,
answers? I believe there are alternatives. That word for
answer is ‘anah which has many different renderings in
English. Again most translations stay in lock step with each
other and render ’anah as answer or heard. To say anything
different would change the meaning.
Yet, the Talmud teaches seventy faces to Torah. There could
be numerous understandings to one verse.
It is only our
Platonic mindset that forces us to insist on only one
meaning. Plato is the Philosopher that best fits our modern
Western world. Yet Plato is the guy who felt the world should
be ruled by philosophers. Only philosophers were brilliant
enough to decide what was best for man so everyone should
leave it up to the philosophers to decide for them. That
really goes against our democratic thinking but when was the
last time your doctor told you, “Do what I say, I know what is
best.” Or the administration at your child’s school tells
you: “Just let the professionals handle your child and his
education.”
Yes, we are a society that yields to the
experts. That plays right into Christianity. “Hey Chaim old
boy, the experts say it should be translated as sought and
answer so don’t tamper with it, they know what is best.”
Ok, let’s look at what some of the experts say.
For one thing
they will tell you that David is referring to the fact that
all the ancient pagans who worshipped false gods would ask
their gods questions but their god would never answer but our
God does.
Ok, when was the last time you got a direct answer
when you asked God a question? You may have felt an answer or
thought you found an answer when reading the Bible. Ok, God
speaks that way but what is to keep a pagan idol worshipper
from hearing for his god the same way?
Come on give our
ancient ancestors some credit, they did not all have a minus
IQ. Surely after a while of asking their piece of wood or
stone questions and getting no answer it would dawn on them
this whole thing was a fake. No these people were just as
smart and savory as we are today.
Their gods did answer
them. I mean I have that degree in Biblical Archaeology and
I have studied about these ancient forms of worship.
Archaeologist uncovered an ancient Greek dream room.
The
dream room is where the priest of a certain god would send
someone who came to seek answers from their god. They would
drink a potion which made them drossy and put them in a half
awake and half asleep state. Then they would be left alone in
the dream room where they asked their god a question, possibly
about an affliction and what the cure might be. Then, behold,
they heard the voice of their god tell them the nature of
their affliction and the cure. Then the priest would come and
inquire as to what the god told him, as if he didn’t already
know because Archaeologist also uncovered a megaphone like
hole in the ceiling of the dream room where the priest would
speak in an authoritative voice, pretending to be the god.
Sure religion was a racket, nothing new under the sun.
Remember the story in I Kings 18?
Elijah challenged the
priest of Baal to prove who the true God was. He built an
altar and declared the true God would send fire down from
heaven? Note 1Kings 18:28: “And they cried aloud, and cut
themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till
the blood gushed out upon them.” I was told in seminary that
the Baal priest would hide one of their own in the altar and
light the fire with a match. If that were the case and they
were just dummying the whole thing up with a lot of special
effects, then why didn’t it work. Also, if I knew I had a
buddy hidden away in that altar with a match I would put on a
good show of a song and dance but I would certainly not start
cutting myself up. I mean there is a limit to how far one
would go in show business. Like, I would call for a stunt
double right away when they got to that cutting part. No,
these priests were really expecting something to happen.
I may follow Archaeological discoveries, but I also believe in
the supernatural and that there are supernatural
manifestations of both God and the enemy. I believe these
priest were satan worshippers and calling on demons. This was
not a test to see which God would light the fire, it was a
test to see which God would prevent the other from lighting
the fire. They knew their gods would start a supernatural
fire but when Elijah came on the scene with God Jehovah, no
demon would dear show his face or set a fire.
All this is to say I do not believe David is saying he sought
the Lord or inquired of the Lord and got answer unlike the
false gods. I mean the false gods gave answers too. But their
answer came with fire and terror and demanded a price.
does not demand a price from us, he paid it himself.
God
So there are a number of uses for the word ‘anah which we
render as answer or hear but I do not believe answer or hear
fits the context because all the gods answered and heard,
either supernaturally or through fakery. I need another word
for ‘anah that fits the context better and there is one. I
have found ‘anah used in extra Biblical literature for a song
or singing. I chose to use that rendering here. For when I
sought the Lord, he just did not answer me, he sang to me.
Show me another god that would sing to us. You know gold was
considered the skin of the gods. All metals grow warm when
you hold them in your hand except gold. Ah, gold remains cool
and aloof, just like the gods so it was considered the skin of
the gods. You could not touch the gods and affect them, they
were unaffected by man just like gold. Yet our God had the
holy of holies covered in gold. Everything in the holy of
holies was aloof like the pagan gods, except the presence of
God Jehovah. When he entered the holy of holies his Shekinah
glory brought warmth, it was affected by our touch, our tears,
our cries. The pagan gods were aloof and shut their hearts out
from man. Our God brings His presence, His warmth and opens
His heart to us and sings to us a love song.