Psalm / T'hillim 22 is about King David. Line 14 in Christian translations is line 15 in the T'nach (Jewish bible). Some eliminate the VERY FIRST LINE which says "For the conductor, on the ayeleth hashachar, a song of (about) David." (these include the KJV, 21st Century KJV to name two). Other Christian translations retain the line but do not number it (these include the NIV, CEB and NRSV to name a few). This psalm is about King David. By eliminating the first line (or negating its importance by not including it in the numbering system) the translators are misleading their readers that this psalm might be about someone else (Jesus perhaps?). It is not a messianic prophecy about Jesus. And the psalm says nothing about anyone dying of a broken (ruptured) heart. To understand line 15 one must go back a few lines (context, context, context!). King David has been speaking of how he prays day and night to G-d, but feels deserted. "Do not distance Yourself from me, for distress is near; for there is none to help." (line 12). He is surrounded by his enemies "Great bulls have surrounded me; the mighty ones of Bashan encompassed me. They opened their mouth against me [like] a tearing, roaring lion." (King David, author of the psalm and also its subject, line 13-14). Line 15 then has David saying "I was spilled like water, and all my bones were separated; my heart was like wax, melting within my innards." See anything about a broken (ruptured) heart? Me either. David isn't dead either. So the claim that this is "DIED of a broken (ruptured) heart" is 100% wrong. Line 16 says "My strength became dried out like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my palate; and You set me down in the dust of death." Ergo David (the subject of the psalm IS STILL ALIVE. His heart is breaking -- as in emotionally he is suffering heartbreak. It has nothing to do with "dying" of a broken heart. The subject of the psalm is NOT dead (and remember folks -- this is POETRY so hyperbole is to be expected). If you drop down to line 21 David is pleading with G-d to be with him and SAVE HIS LIFE. "Rescue my life (נַפְשִׁ֑י / nafsho / life) from the sword, my only one from the grip of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth, as from the horns of the wild oxen You answered me." The word here is נַפְשִׁי / nafsho translates to life force, not immortal soul. Yet most missionaries think that this line is speaking of the immortal “soul” since most translations translate it as "soul." This misleads innocent readers into thinking that this line is about the immortal soul, when in reality it is for about the "soul" (e.g. blood coursing) through your veins -- your life-force. נַפְשׁוֹת nafshot (plural) or נֶֽפֶשׁ nefesh (singular) always refers to life force. Look up נַפְשׁוֹת in a translator (like Google Translate) and it is translated as "people." When you read the T'nach you'll see that even plants and animals possess a נֶֽפֶשׁ nefesh -- see B'reshit / Genesis 1:30 and 6:17 -- this is NOT the immortal soul. The immortal soul is from the ru'ah that G-d breathed into man (B'reshit / Genesis 2:7). Some translate נֶֽפֶשׁ nefesh as "the soul of the FLESH" -- meaning not the immortal soul, but (yet again) the "life force." Ergo David is speaking of G-d saving his PHYSICAL life in line 21 -- not his immortal soul. If David wants to be rescued from the sword his concern is his LIFE (so he is not dead -- of a broken / ruptured heart or anything else!). John 19:34 is speaking of the Romans piercing Jesus' side after he was dead. It says nothing about a ruptured heart either -- and Jesus is already dead. Thus even John 19:34 says nothing about Jesus dying of a "broken heart." Jesus died of asphyxiation not of a "broken heart" per the Christian bible. The list maker might have made the claim that "I was spilled like water" ties to Jesus having blood and water "spill" from his side after he was dead and a Roman stuck him with a spear. The list maker did NOT make this point (a far better one than the one actually given) -- but it still would not make Jesus having clear liquid come out of a post-mortem spear puncture "fulfill" David's words. After all the entire sentence is "I was spilled like water, and all my bones were separated; my heart was like wax, melting within my innards."
Even if this was the supposed "proof" (being spilled like water) -- how many of us have not spilled water, or had liquid come out from our bodies (of various sorts). This is yet another "claim" that could fit many, if not all of us -- and as the psalm clearly shows, David is still alive at the end of it (not dead of a broken heart, spilled like water or not). . . Yet another false claim by the list maker.
1 Comment
frank morris
12/17/2015 11:19:34 pm
All i will say, i used to be in that snair, not now, i return to torah. Auctually my fist i was not raised in a observant torah home, B"H that Hashem brought me out of that life.
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