Skip to main content

What Does It Mean?


Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel. (Psalm 22:3) 
           (Or, "Yet You are holy, enthroned on the praise of Israel") 

            One of my favorite questions: "What does ________ mean?" Today's passage is full of opportunities to ask meaning. First, there is the question of what the Hebrew text means. There are two translations provided in my study Bible. By looking the elements, perhaps the meaning of the whole will become clearer.
            What does "Holy One" mean? What does it mean that God is the Holy One? Does it mean less to say "You are holy"? According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, "holy" means dedicated or consecrated to God. In describing God as holy, it might be better to say that "holy" means dedicated or consecrated as God. Whether dedicating or consecrating "to" or dedicating or consecrating "as," it means setting apart or separating. That thing which is holy is different, special, to be treated with unusual respect. To describe God as "the Holy One" expresses the idea that He is the definite article, the one and only One who is truly holy. While it is true that God is holy, it seems greater praise to express the truth His holiness. He is holy in a way that makes all else profane or common by comparison. 
        To enthrone someone means to establish (or recognize) the authority of that person, effectively to set that person aside as being over everyone else which makes it like being holy. Thrones tend to be set on daises, or platforms, so that they are above those around them. In a sense, to enthrone means to lift up.  It is entirely appropriate for the Holy One to be enthroned and recognized as the Holy One. 
           It is also entirely appropriate for Israel's praise to lift up or enthrone God, which means that He is holy. When you praise, you lift up or hold up (picture raising your hands....) which means you dedicate or consecrate, or declare something to be holy or enthrone something (which separates it from everything else and lifts it up.) These ideas are closely related, perhaps even just different ways of saying the same thing (which is not unusual for Middle Eastern poetry of the time.) All of which is to treat as separate that which is unique.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more