{"id":88842,"date":"2021-02-15T23:15:58","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T21:15:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=88842"},"modified":"2021-02-15T23:15:58","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T21:15:58","slug":"deep-dark-secrets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/deep-dark-secrets\/","title":{"rendered":"Deep, Dark Secrets"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"88842","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":64450,"related_cahpter":"678","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Or - not?\r\n\r\n","content":"

In Psalm 111, the psalmist expresses his tribute to God. The psalm opens with this exclamation: \u201cHallelujah. I praise the LORD with all my heart in the assembled congregation of the upright\u201d (verse 1).<\/span><\/p>\n

The word translated here as \u201cassembled\u201d is <\/span>sod<\/span><\/em>. <\/span><\/i>According to the Even-Shoshan concordance, in Biblical Hebrew, the word has two meanings. In 16 appearances it means \u201cassembly,\u201d and in five it means \u201csecret.\u201d The latter is how it is commonly used in Modern Hebrew.<\/span><\/p>\n

The connection between \u201csecret\u201d and \u201cassembly\u201d is easy to grasp, if you place the phrase \u201csecret advice\u201d in the middle. A parallel set of terms in Hebrew is <\/span>mo’etza<\/span><\/em>\u00a0– “assembly” and <\/span>etza<\/span><\/em>\u00a0– “advice”. In English we also have the related terms “council” and “counsel”.<\/span><\/p>\n

The question remains, however \u2013 which meaning came first?<\/span><\/p>\n

There are two schools of thought on this issue. Some say that the first meaning was \u201cassembly.\u201d They use our verse in Psalms 111 as proof. The psalmist here is praising God in public, in the \u201cassembled congregation of the upright.\u201d If so, the original meaning of the root may have been \u201cto join,\u201d and a related word may be <\/span>yesod<\/span><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 \u201cfoundation,\u201d with the development going from to \u201cjoin,\u201d to \u201cfasten,\u201d to \u201cfound, establish.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

However, an alternate approach says that the word first meant \u201csecret,\u201d then \u201cconsultation with a group,\u201d and only later developed to mean \u201cassembly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

How do they deal with our verse, which appears to describe public praise of God? They may follow the commentary of Ibn Ezra, who says the verse is describing two types of praise \u2013 one in secret and one in public. He would translate the phrase as follows: \u201cin the [secret] council of the upright and in the [public] congregation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This theory has the advantage of cognates in other Semitic languages, that also mean \u201csecret,\u201d like the Arabic <\/span>sawada<\/span><\/em>. That root also means \u201cdark\u201d or \u201cblack\u201d \u2013 in reference to the hidden places where secrets are told.<\/span><\/p>\n

A related Arabic word is <\/span>suwwad<\/span><\/em>, a black variety of the saltwort plant. According to some theories, this is the origin of the English words \u201csoda\u201d and \u201csodium,\u201d because in the Middle Ages, those chemicals were extracted from that plant.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, the original meaning of <\/span>sod<\/span><\/em>\u00a0isn\u2019t clear. But even if it remains a secret, we can still publicly praise God as the psalmist prescribes.<\/span><\/p>\n

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