HEBREW WORD STUDY – SWOOP DOWN – SHALAK – שלך Shin Lamed Kap

Psalms 55:22: “Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.”

That word cast is quite interesting in the Hebrew. It is the word shalak. It does mean to throw but in its Semitic root, it is a word for a diving bird. I remember as a child my father would take us out to Lake Michigan to do some trolley fishing off of Belmont harbor. You would have to be native of Chicago to understand what I am talking about. My father would throw out a cord attached to an anchor, snag the anchor and then attached a trolley line to the a anchored cord which had about a dozen baited hooks and lower that line on a little trolley into the waters and then we would sit and wait for a bell on attached to the trolley line to ring indicating we caught a fish. That word for throwing the cord hooked to the anchor would not define the word shalak. That would be the word zaraq. That is like tossing a ball or throwing your burdens at the Lord.

As we waited for that little bell to ring indicating a catch, I would sit on the rocks bored out of my mind just watching the skies. I noticed Ring-Billed Gulls (not Sea Gulls for you non-Chicagoans, Michigan is a lake not a sea) swarming over the lake. I would reach into my dad’s minnow bucket and pull out dead minnows and toss them toward the birds. Then I would watch them swoop down into the Lake like a dive bomber, snatch the dead minnow and just as quickly zoom back up into the air without so much as a drop of water getting on them. It was so effortless on their part. That is the word shalak, a graceful, effortless swooping down upon God and delivering your burden upon Him and then just as quickly zooming back up into your daily task of service to God.

It is interesting to note that this word is in a Hiphal imperative form. It is a command and something is causing us to swoop down upon the Lord. That something is the desire to do His will. How often are we overburdened with the cares of this world that we are unable to perform the will of God. When Israel returned from captivity to their homeland, God instructed them to rebuild the temple as their first act upon return. However, there were foreign invaders who kept harassing the Jews to the point where they just focused on the cares of making sure they were protected and had enough to eat. They soon abandoned their project of rebuilding the temple. The cares of their world were just too much for them to continue following the will of God. It took their focus off of God. Sometimes the cares in our world, take our focus off of God. That is why God made it a command to cast our cares upon Him. Swoop down upon Him, leave your burden with Him, and then go about the Lord’s business.

That word burden is also an interesting word. It is the word yahav which is not a any old problem that falls upon you. It is a word used for the casting of lots. In ancient Northern Israel every farmer would receive a portion of land to farm for one year. In order to be fair about the apportionment of the land, as some would have land that was rocky or difficult to cultivate or even be located a distance away from his home, the priest would redistribute the land every year. On an assigned day each year, all the farmers would gather at a threshing floor and the priest would place small stones in a cup. Each stone had the name of a particular portion of land and a young child who would be too young to understand the significance of what was taking place, would reach into the cup and choose a stone and give it to a farmer. None of the farmers could read so no one knew what portion of land they received. They might have received a good piece of land or maybe a rocky piece of land. The land might be located four hours walk from his home. However, after all the stones have been distributed, the farmers would hold the stone up to God and say: “May Jehovah maintain my lot.” The priest would then read each stone and the farmer would accept his lot in life or at least his lot for the next year, without complaint. If he drew a bad lot, he would only hope for a better one the next year.

Thus, those who received a bad yahav would shalak it to the Lord and then do his best to cultivate the land that was portioned out to him. The verse goes on to say that the Lord will sustain you. That word sustain is kol in Hebrew which means to provide and maintain. It is used to express an adequate food supply, a measured quantity. God will provide what you need.

The whole idea of this verse is that when we are seeking to do the will of God, the enemy will throw out many cares to distract us. We need to take these cares or burdens and place them upon God and then quickly return to the task of serving God. God promises that He will take care of us, provide for us and protect us.

We are living in a time of national and world crisis. Unemployment has surged to levels not known since the depression, many wonder how they will pay their mortgage or rent, how they will afford to feed their families. Many fear they or the ones they love will catch the virus. Christians are filled with many fears. God is commanding us to lay our cares at His feet and then return to the matter of serving Him, trusting Him to kol, provide whatever we need so we can focus our attention upon Him and our calling.