Hebrew Word Study – Trample – Ramas – רמס  Resh Mem Samek

Psalms 91:13: “Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.”

If I took this verse literally, it would be of absolutely no significance for me and I believe for most of you reading this.  When was the last time you came face to face with a lion?  The only time I came face to face with a lion was at Brookfield Zoo and he was behind Plexiglas an inch thick.  I think he even smiled at me.  The Zoo makes sure he is well-fed and I had absolutely no intention of treading upon him.  Which brings up the question, how would you even get close enough to a lion to tread upon him?

As far as the adder goes, I never had the pleasure of meeting one face to face and likely never will. The dragon is one that I definitely have not encountered, let alone trampled underfoot.  In other words, taken literally this verse has no meaning for me at all.  Maybe ancient man had such encounters but I doubt very much that few if any trod upon a lion or trampled a dragon.  Dragons were mythical creatures so no one would experience such encounters unless they were telling a tall story.  It is possible they could have trodden upon an adder so this verse might have some small significance for ancient man. 

Here’s the thing. It is very apparent that lions, adders, and dragons are used metaphorically.  In fact, the first word that is used for a lion is shachal which is used only for a lion in a poetic sense. The word itself means to howl, cry out, or roar hence the idea of a lion.  The lion is viewed poetically as the fiercest animal in the animal kingdom.  A roaring lion is most feared because it roars when it is hungry. The word adder in Hebrew is pethen which is the word for a poisonous snake, a cobra, asp, or viper which were the most common poisonous snakes in the Middle East, and thus this word applied to any or all of these snakes.   A cobra, asp, or viper can cause death within 30 minutes to six hours.  Symptoms of swelling, respiratory labor can begin almost immediately.  That is why when the Apostle Paul was bitten by a viper the other sailors just waited for him to keel over right away.  In ancient times if you were bitten by a poisonous snake, there were no cures, you just wandered off and waited to die.  Snakes like lions were creatures that struck terror in the hearts of people in ancient times. 

We have the words young lions.  There are different words used for this lion or the young lion than the word used earlier. This word is kepher which is also the word for a village.   I discussed this with my study partner as to what the relationship between a village and a young lion would be.  One Hebrew word cannot have two entirely different meanings, if there are two different meanings then there has to be a relationship between the two.  In this case, my study partner reminded me of a Disney movie we saw in the theater a year or so ago about lions.  It showed an Alpha lion who ruled over a couple of females lions that had cubs, sort of like a little village.  The Alpha lion was getting old and a younger lion was threatening the Alpha lion to take over his village. The Alpha lion was able to fend off the younger and stronger lion only so long before the younger lion was able to take over and the old lion was left alone to die.  I think this really fits the context of the young lion shalt thou trample underfoot.  

The word trample or ramas is an interesting word to use here.  In fact, on a recent visit to the University of Chicago library, I did some research on this word  ramas as well as other words.  I discovered this word is rooted in an old Akkadian word used by the Assyrian soldiers.  During their training in hand-to-hand combat the soldier who managed to defeat his opponent would put his foot on the head of the opponent as he laid defeated on the ground and the victorious soldier would raise the weapon he used to defeat his opponent over his head.  When they conquered an enemy they would put their foot on his head as a sign of their victory.  We may be attacked by what seems to be stronger forces but in the end we will place our foot on its head in victory. 

One last symbol is that of a dragon.  Some translations will render this as a serpent to suggest a poetic couplet.   We will tread over a lion and a poisonous snake and we will trample over a young lion and a serpent.  However, the word used for serpent is also different than the word for poisonous snakes. This word is tanniyn. I also researched this word and found it is rooted in the idea of terrible night sounds.  It is associated with a jackal which makes blood-curdling sound,  but the word is usually used to express the idea of a monster.  The Phoenician sailors used the word to describe sounds in the night that they associated with a sea monster that would wreck their ships and eat them alive. In fact, their sea goddess was named Tannit which was a mermaid but not the Walt Disney Little Mermaid.  This old gal was ruthless. 

Note that all these creatures have one common element, they have the ability to strike terror in the hearts of men. Yet this passage says we will tread upon the roaring lions and poisonous snakes. The word tread is the word derek which means a path or way.  We will go our way, follow our path over roaring lions and poisonous snakes.  If we see a signpost on our life’s journey that says: “Lions and snakes up ahead” we will continue our journey and not turn back. We will encounter many lions, snakes, and dragons in a metaphoric sense in our life’s journey and we can choose to cower in a corner or continue on the path that God leads us trusting in the protection of his arms.  

Another way to look at it is that there are those who seek to destroy or overpower us to get to our village or families, or threaten us with words that strike terror in us like earthquakes, asteroids striking the earth, the economy collapsing, socialism taking over our country and they will simple by overpowered by us. We will put our foot on its head victorious over any of its threatened terrors.  In fact, that summarizes this passage that anything out there that strikes terror in our hearts, every conspiracy theory, every horrible news report, every report of impending disaster natural or manmade that can rise up against us, we will just walk over it as we follow the path that God laid out for us and we will just place our foot on the head of each terror and declare victory over it. 

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