HEBREW WORD STUDY – MY ENEMIES – ‘AYIV TSARI איב צרי
Psalms 13:4: “Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; [and] those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.”
Most Christians are familiar with the Hebrew poetry discipline known as a couplet where something is repeated using two different words. The mistake Western Christians make is thinking in terms of modern 21st Century literature where is it not appropriate to use the same word in the same sentence. For instance, you would not write: “The man went to the store and purchased a washing machine from the store.” You would write: “The man went to the marketplace and purchased a washing machine in the store.” Although a store and marketplace might share the same meaning there is a little difference in nuance but it is not important to the thought of the sentence. This is not so in Hebrew. When two words are used in the same sentence which has similar meanings, one must closely examine the nuance as there is a reason why a different word is a use other than as a literary device.
In Psalms 13:4 ‘ayiv and tsari both mean enemies but the difference in nuance is not to be overlooked. We easily ignore the words “enemy” and “those that trouble me” because they mean the same thing and the nuance doesn’t seem that important in English. Yet it is very important in the Hebrew.
The word ‘ayiv is a personal enemy, one that you share a relationship with. It could be a friend, advisor, co-worker or relative who seeks to harm you or hold you back in some way. This enemy or the one you have a relationship who is seeking to hold you back is doing it through tsari which means to trouble you but it is an interesting type of trouble. You see the word comes from the Semitic root TS-R which comes from the Akkadian word for a knife made of flint. What kind of enemy uses a flint knife?
This is clearly a poetic picture. You have a close friend or advisor seeking to harm or hold you back with a flint knife. Remember, this is the Middle Eastern Bronze Age. Archaeologist divide ancient history into three epochs, the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. Knives made of flint would be found in the Stone Age which eventually gave way to various forms of metal during the Bronze Age when man began to experiment with metallurgy and then perfecting it into tools and weapons. Yet, Archaeologist has dug up flint knives that date to the Bronze Age. It is generally agreed that the flint knives were used for ceremonial purposes. It is like the priest of Baal who danced before the altar established by Elijah. The Bible says that they cut themselves. They would have been using flint knives which did not inflict the type of injury that a sharpened metal knife would inflict. It might draw blood, it might just scratch, but nothing lethal.
I asked my study partner what type of enemy would use a flint knife, or ceremonial knife and I agree with her conclusion. What David faced was friends or advisor who was giving him bad advice. Note that the very next verse David says he trusted in God’s mercy. The whole theme of this Psalm is David is restless and indecisive. This is not a fear for personal safety nor is he threatened by an enemy who wishes to kill him, he is threatened by an enemy who poses as a friend and advisor seeking to steer him in the wrong direction. My study partner gave a good example. It is someone in your church who feels he or she has a gift of giving advice or counsel and tells you: “Well, I am just telling you this in love, you really need to stop dreaming about being a teacher or preacher and just do a good job cleaning the church after each service.” The ‘ayiv and tsari, in this case, is someone who could care less about your spiritual gifts and more about getting someone to clean the church so they don’t have to do it and they appeal to your spiritual side to do it. They make you feel guilty, they are the manipulators. They may even recognize your gifts and are jealous and will try to guilt you into not using your gifts. They seek to prevail over your calling and rejoice when you appear to be moved or slipping into buying their lies. “Sure you can teach a class, but first you must prove your dedication by doing little things.” Many of these people end up spending their lives doing little things and somehow the ‘ayiv tsari forgot to give that person the chance to teach.
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