TEVET
26
On
Being Kept
“KEEP my soul and deliver me; let me not be ashamed,
for I have sought refuge in You.”
(Ps 25:20 HRB, emphasis mine)
This passage from the
Scriptures has long been one of favorites, one that merited a spot on my fridge
door for years. And truthfully, this
verse puts an entire new spin on the phrase ‘kept woman’ when we focus on who
the keeper is: THE Creator of the universe.
Shâmar (Strong’s H8104) is the Hebrew word that has been translated as ‘keep’; other Bible translations use the words guard or protect, and both are also correct. However, as with much of the Hebrew language, this word implies more than simply guarding or keeping. Jeff Benner defines shâmar as “The act or the duty of protecting or defending; to watch over or guard in the sense of preserving or protecting”[1] (emphasis mine). Mr. Benner further amplifies his definition by these statements:
The
image painted by the Hebrew word shamar is a sheepfold. When a shepherd was out
in the wilderness with his flock, he would gather thorn bushes to erect a
corral to place his flock in at night. The thorns would deter predators and
thereby protect and guard the sheep from harm.
The word shamiyr, derived from this root means a thorn. The word shamar
means to guard and protect and can be seen in the Aaronic blessing, May Yahweh
respect you and guard you. One keeps the commands of Elohiym by guarding and
protecting them.
We often, in the ‘busi-ness’ of
everyday living, lose sight of the fact that the Creator of the universe, the
One who spoke the word, and it came to be,
is the One who keeps, guards, protects, defends, and preserves those who CHOOSE to walk in His ways. In our hurried lifestyle, how often do we
blast our way through the walls and fences of the sheepfold that our Abba
Father has placed to protect us, setting ourselves
up for disaster? For myself, I can say
that I have done this too many times.
As with all the promises found within the pages of the Scriptures, this one too is conditional. We must choose, by an act of our own will, to stay within the confines of the sheepfold, to live within the parameters of Torah, before Elohim will ‘keep’ us, as He desires to do.
“For he shall give his
angels charge over thee, to KEEP thee in all thy ways.” (Ps 91:11 KJV, emphasis mine)
“KEEP AND GUARD ME as the
pupil of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings, from the wicked who
despoil and oppress me, my deadly adversaries who surround me.” (Ps 17:8-9 AMPC, emphasis mine)
©2021
[1] Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible; ©2006 Ancient Hebrew Research Center; ISBN: 1589397762 Author: Jeff Benner
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