HEBREW WORD STUDY – GOAT’S HAIR – SA’APA סעף  Samek, Ayin, Pei

Psalms 139:23-24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: (24) And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Over the past ten years I have done a couple studies on these verses and yet, I am still finding something new and interesting. Since I have already done studies on these verses you can look them up in my archives on this website so I will just deal with the word that has caught my attention.

It is the word for thoughts and wicked way.  David is not actually asking God or expressing a desire to God. The word to know is in an imperative form.  He is not expressing a desire or wish or else you would find this in the cohortative.  He is actually demanding that God know his thoughts.  

Our first impression is, “Does not God already know our thoughts, was David that unaware of God’s abilities?”  Well, I am sure David knew that God knew his thoughts but when he said “know” he was using the word yada’ which is the same word used for a sexual relationship.  We find in Scripture that yada’ is used in sentences like, Jacob knew his wife, and she bore a child. It is translated in many translations as “he had relations with his wife.”  That is just to be politically correct.  It all means the same thing, he had a physical intimate relationship, my delicate way of putting it.  Thus, David is asking God to not just know his thoughts, but to have an intimate relationship with his thoughts and to see if there is any wicked way in his thoughts. I was surprised when I saw the word wicked in the Hebrew.  It was not ra’ah like I anticipated. Instead, it was an entirely different word.

But first, let’s examine this word for thoughts. I would expect the word nephesh, but instead I found the word sare’pai.  If you plan to look up that word in any lexicon other than the Davidson, well good luck.  At least the Davidson will give you the correct root word which is not anything like sare’pai. You see the Resh in sare’pai is what is known in linguistics as epenthetic.  That means that is a letter added to aid in pronunciation.  It is used often in rhythmic poetry and song lyrics to make a smooth rhythmic transition from one word to the next.  Then you find that the Sine is really a Samek but they do sound alike.  The root word is Samek, Ayin, Pei or s’apa.  It sounds identical if you use a Sine the only problem is that there is no word in Hebrew spelled Sine, Ayin Pei. This is no threat, I assure you, to our understanding of the inspiration, inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture. But it does create one big headache if you are trying to look this word up in your Brown Driver Biggs Lexicon. 

So does this word s’apa mean one’s thoughts?  Well, kind of. It depends on what type of thoughts you are dealing with.  Many modern translations say they are anxious thoughts, anxieties or concerns. I see that, but I have a little problem with that as David is asking to search out his heart and thoughts to find things that are wicked. Anxieties and concerns are not wicked unless these anxieties and concerns draw you away from God or become an idol which they can become. 

The word sa’apa is the word use for goats hair.  Goats have two layers of hair.  There is the course strong hair that is considered a guard for the hair underneath which, depending of the type of goat, could be cashmere or mohair.  The course, prickly guard hair is the longest and least comfortable hair to make a coat out of. It doesn’t feel too good against the skin, very prickly.  That is the meaning of sa’apa, something that is irritating.  David wants God to search his thoughts for anything that God might find irritating. 

Pray tell, what might that irritating thought be? It is the wicked way.  The word in Hebrew for wicked way is ‘otseb which has two basic meanings, pain and/or idol.  David is asking God to search his heart and his thoughts to see if there is anything that God finds irritating or painful. However, it is interesting that ‘otesb also means an idol. Translators rejected the English word idol because David was living in an era of idolatry and would know if he had an idol in his life. Of course, today we avoid idols like plague.  You will not catch any Christians bowing to a piece of wood or stone.  But this word for idol also means something painful. There are many definitions for an idol. The sages teach that this word ‘otesb is an a painful, or stressful situation that you have actually established as a idol because it diverts your attention away from God which is a good definition of an idol. 

I know some of you immediately think of the Catholics who have statutes of saints the most prominent being St. Mary.  In defense of my Catholic brothers and sisters let me point out these statutes are not worshipped.  I lived for a time in a Catholic monastery and even living in silence I understood what these statutes represented and they were not worshipped.  Saint are respected or venerated.  The Latin word used for respect and honoring  God, Jesus and the Holy Spirt or the Holy Trinity is latria from the Greek word latreia which means  to honor, respect and sacrifice (to God or the Holy Trinity).   This is a sacrifice in the terms one’s life, thoughts and being, that is his very soul. To the saints they just dulia or respect and honor but they do not offer any sacrifice. The Virgin Mary is not worshipped but receives hyperdulia which is great respect and honor, but still not worshipped because no sacrifice is offered to her or supposed to be offered.   They pray to the saints and the Virgin Mary not expecting them to answer their prayers but to intercede on their behalf.  Just like you ask a friend or pastor to pray for you. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t.  Some just do it right away to get it over with. But if you pray to a saint, you will not only have a righteous person praying for you but you can be assured that a saint will not put it off.  

Of course, I am a good Protestant and I don’t believe in asking our deceased saints to pray for us since I find no where in the Bible that even mentions such a thing.  However, I do sort of envy them.  I mean there is usually no Christians around when I urgently need prayer. It would be nice if I had maybe Billy Graham intercede for me.  Not that he has any special favor with God over other saints who have passed, but boy that guy knew how to say a prayer.

My point is there is a very fine line between idolatry and respect.  Sometimes we may really respect and honor a man or woman of God and lift them up and praise them. Sometimes we do not know if we have slipped into idolatry. The easiest form of idolatry is to let our concerns and anxieties keep us from God.  The fact that we don’t trust God with our anxieties is a real sa’pa, irritant as well as breaking His heart that we can not trust Him even with our concerns. 

​

Hi there! Thank you for reading this Daily Word Study. Can I ask a favor? Share this Daily Word Study with your friends on Facebook and Twitter by clicking one of the icons below.

Thanks & Blessings, it means a lot to me!