To You I will cry, O Lord my Rock. (Psalm 28:1)
As is so often the case, interesting and provocative tidbits that would have been otherwise overlooked when reading Scripture in English, are brought to light when looking at the text in Hebrew. In this instance, let’s look at the Hebrew word translated as “my Rock.” Before we do that though, let’s make this acknowledgement: the Creator of all things, referred to in this and many other passages as a Rock, is juxtaposed with the false gods of the nations which were often fashioned and sculpted by man’s hand from — you guessed it, rock! Time and again, God warned Israel against bowing down to these nothing gods who “have mouths, but they do not speak; they have eyes, but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear; noses they have, but they do not smell….Those who make them are like them; so is everyone who trusts in them” (Psalm 115:5-6,8).
Now to the tidbit I alluded to: the Hebrew word translated as “my Rock” is צורי tzuri which, in the minds of Jewish commentators, refers to God as an artist or sculptor. As our Rock, we recognize that He is eternal, having no beginning and no end; consequently, He is our Creator. Therefore, He is the only One who shapes, molds and sculpts us into the finished design He envisioned. He is not comparable to the nation’s gods who were “created” by those who worship them; our Rock is the Master Artist who fashioned us in such a way that we are provoked to worship Him. Man can draw a form on paper, can design and manufacture a finished product but will never be able to endow his creation with life. Only our Rock can breathe the breath of life into what He has formed and cause it to flourish.
Finally, as we’ve already acknowledged, the idols and false gods manufactured by man’s hand cannot see us when we are in trouble, nor they can hear us when we call out. They are nothing but repurposed material fashioned into an image of man’s errant imagination. Only the Living God watches over His people day and night; only the God of Israel answers when His people cry out because He alone is God. As it is written, “Their rock is not like our Rock (Deuteronomy 32:31); for who is God, except the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?” (2 Samuel 22:32).
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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