"Bless the LORD, oh my soul:
all my inmost being, praise his holy name."
This is an idea I've always wondered about- How can I bless God? Doesn't that go from the greater to the lesser? How can I give anything to God, let alone consider "blessing" God? What do I have that would bless his holy name?
The Hebrew word for "inmost being" is qereb and is used for both people and buildings. In buildings it would be an innermost room, a room without windows, dark and unilluminated. If one thinks of the body as a building, as a Temple specifically, the innermost room would be the Holy of Holies, the place where God was thought to dwell. It was a dark room. Completely unilluminated. No windows, no lamps. The only light there would be the light of God's presence.
The prophet Jeremiah used the word to describe the darkened center of people's thoughts
Oh people of Jerusalem, purify your hearts from evil so that you may yet be delivered. How long will you continue to harbor up wicked schemes within you? (Jeremiah 4:14)
The "within" there in that last question is qereb. The innermost dark place of the soul.
How does that place bless God?
I purposely took numerous overexposed pictures of the merry-go-round as it spun past me, and then merged several of them together in photoshop.
Jeff, I know it's a late comment, but it's worth stating anyway. You focused on the dark place, but not on the blessing. In fact, the Hebrew word which we translate as "bless" comes from a root meaning to bow down before, or kneel. As with most Hebrew words, it has multiple connotations. God blesses us when he condescends (without negative connotation) to act in our benefit. We bless God through acts of veneration and adoration. The Greek translation of the same word in this psalm is "eulogio" (to speak well of).
ReplyDeleteThus, Psalm 103 could have as easily been translated with "praise", "submit", "bow", "honor"... and I'd argue that while none of these are exactly wrong, none of them are exactly right, because the Hebrew connotation includes ALL of them.
Likewise, no one connotation of "qereb" can be used at the expense of others. The gist of it here is "from the core of my being" and it's inclusion here is to express adoration without any reservation whatsoever.