HEBREW WORD STUDY – FORTIFIED – TSUR צ ור
Psalm 139:5: “Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.”
I suppose you could translate this verse in a number of ways. What I find interesting in this verse is the word for beset which is tsur. As a noun, this is what Moses struck to get water a rock. It is also used for a fortress or fortified city. The word for behind is ‘achor which has the idea of behind or past, and the word qedem means to go forward. That word ends with a closed mem indicating the hidden or unknown, as is the future. This expression “‘achor vaqedem” expresses past and future. Thus in my past and future, God tsur besets me.
The word tsur is used as a verb here and is in a qal perfect form. It is best expressed as “you have entrenched me or fortified me.” In my past and in my future you have already fortified or entrenched me.
As David looked to the future, it looks pretty grim. There was unrest in the nation. Indeed one generation later there would be a civil war in the land. There was the threat of the Assyrians and there was the threat to the very throne as happened when his own son revolted and sent David running from his kingdom with a price on his head. Day after day David faced the mounting pressures of being a king and the terrors that were looking at him. Yet when David woke up in the morning facing the dread of what lay ahead, he was reminded that God had fortified him, entrenched him or another expression for sur is hedged him. That hedge or fortress was around him in the past and it was around him in the present and will continue to be around him in the future.
Then David says: “You laid your hand upon me.” The word laid tasheth is actually in a future tense and means to place or set. “You will set me in your yapap. This is not the word yad for hand but is built upon that word. This is more specific. It means the palm of the hand. The verse literally says: “You have set me in the palm of your hand.” As the old-timers like to say, “We are sheltered in the hollow of His hand.” But remember the ancients believed one’s heart was in the palm of the hand. Thus, David was saying that he will not fear or live in dread of the future, for he is sheltered in the heart of God.
People today are terrified of the future. The President met with the leader of North Korea this past weekend to ease the threat of nuclear war. There are mass shootings taking place and people fear going to school or some special event. There is the fear of terrorist with weapons of mass destruction, destroying our water supply or releasing a biological weapon and you can spend all day worrying and fretting over the uncertainty of the future. Or you could be like David who looks up to God and says: “My past, present, and future is entrenched in You. If a disaster hits, You will tsur – fortify me. I will be sheltered in the hollow of Your hand or I will be resting in Your heart if it comes.
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