Hebrew word study – shadow – tsalemaveth  – תלמות

Psalms 23:4: “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

The valley of the shadow of death.  Just meditate on that for a moment. What is this valley of the shadow of death?  The word valley in Hebrew could be from the root word gava’ which comes from a Persian word for a low land and the Syriac it is found as  Yahweh for inside or the interior.  You might say: “Yea, though I walk through the interior or inside the shadow of death. This would fit the ancient belief that if you walked into the interior of someone’s shadow that person would claim your soul.  So if you walked into the shadow of death would claim your soul.  However, since God already has claimed the soul of the Psalmist, he has nothing to fear. However many claim the word valley comes from the Hebraic root word bege’.  Ge is a word for the earth itself and bege would be a low depression in the earth. The word bege could also refer to mental depression. Mental depression is often associated with fear of the future. The Psalmist could be saying: “Yea, though I walk through mental depress I will not fear the shadow of death.  I suppose that is stretching the syntax a little but I have seen where rabbis spread a syntax much more than that.  Of course, the general consensus is that it is rendered as simply a valley. 

Most all your English translations will have Psalmist saying shadow of death. Indeed, it really looks like it should be rendered that way as the word is tsalemaveth. Many Hebrew teachers will say that this is really a compound word tsal (shadow) and maveth (death). My problem with this is that I question whether this is really a compound word. I checked with Keil and Delitzsch who are among the most respected Christian commentators when it comes to dealing with the Hebrew language. Their commentary does admit that this may not a compound word and that it really comes from the root word tsalam which comes from a Persian root and means to be obscure, dark, shade, shadow, illusion, image, or likeness. They also suggest it is an allusion to the word hadramot which means court of death and Bezaeel which means in God’s shadow. Bezaeel was mentioned in the Bible as one who was appointed by God to the work of the tabernacle.  

There are a couple of translations that will translate this as simply shadow tsalam and not shadow of death (tsalal – shadow). The difference between these two words for shadow is that the root word is tsalal which is a shadow used to cover or protect.  If the root word is tsalam it is then a shadow of obscurity or distortion. 

For my part, I will side with Keil and Delitzsch and say the root word is tsalam which means a shadow as a distorted image. In Aramaic, this word is used for an idol. This again suggests the idea of distortion. The word is also rooted in the Syriac which means to delineate again the idea of minimizing.

If Keil and Delitzsch are right, which I believe they are, then what David might be saying: “Yea though I walk through the valley of God’s shadow, I will fear no evil for thou art with me.  Think of what that means. I cannot see God, I only see His shadow.  His shadow is obscure. The stars, the moon, the sun, all of nature are a shadow of God. C.S. Lewis interpreted the passage this way and called this world and physical existence a shadowland. We are all living in the shadow of God.  Yet, how can we be certain?  Perhaps evolution is correct and our existence just happened by accident. Maybe I am just mistaking these shadows for God.  It boils down to faith. It is by faith that I look at all creation and say: “Yes, it is a shadow of God and these shadows show me that He is near and He is with me.  I need not fear any evil for the creator of all these shadows stands on the other side of these shadows and it is He that is the object of the true reality.  I cannot see God but I see His shadow and I know He is there. 

It is going up to forty degrees today, sunny with a mild wind. The past few days the temperature was in the single digits. When I step outside today I will feel that warm breeze, the warmth of the sun in this relatively mild temperature. Yet, it is all but a shadow, I am surrounded by this shadow and I know it is God’s shadow that is hugging me, breathing on me.  In philosophy, there are discussions of shadows.  Does a shadow have color, if there is a spinning ball, does the shadow spin. In other words, how much does a shadow show of its object?  It shows more than we realize. So when I step out today, the sun, the temperature, and the gentle breeze will really be a hug from God.  Touching a flower, holding a kitten to my cheek would be a shadow of His kiss. These are all but a shadow, but one day I will turn around and see the object of these shadows face to face and know his hug and his kiss as a reality. You see the word moth which we render as death, had a secondary understanding of entering into a full understanding of God. C.S. Lewis saw death as nothing more than leaving the shadows behind and embracing the reality behind the shadows. As Paul said: For me to live is Christ, to die is to gain. Philippians 1:21. To live is to live with the Shadow of my Savior, to die means I live with the object, the real thing.

It is believed by those who teach that David is the author that he may have written this Psalms when he was running from Saul who wanted to kill him. As David looked into the face of death he saw he would only be leaving behind the shadows of the God he loved to embrace the Object of the shadows. God’s creation, this physical world is but a shadow of the true reality of God’s realm. The world we live in here reflects the true reality of God. Death is only a shadow of the separation from this physical world into God’s realm.  Therefore, why should the Psalmist fear death if death is only a shadow, not reality?  The true reality lies in the realm of God and death is our doorway to that true reality that we will live in forever.

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