Sunday, February 9, 2020

Psalm 119 - SIN & SHIN (Hebrew Alphabet)

by Angie Ouellette-Tower for https://www.godsgrowinggarden.com/ photo SundayPsalm119SINSHIN_zpsg8x5dirc.jpg
SIN & SHIN - Psalm 119: 161-168

 The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 119.  If you turn to Psalm 119 in your Bible, you will notice that there is a strange word every 8 verses.  These "strange" words are the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.  David wrote this chapter in an acrostic pattern and every letter of the alphabet is followed by 8 verses.  It is a chapter full of praise and worship.  I thought it would be fun to study Psalm 119 by summarizing each alphabetic section in an acrostic format.

 I did not know anything about the Hebrew language, so I did a little research.  The Hebrew language is written from the right to the left - opposite of the English language.  There are 22 letters to the Hebrew alphabet.  Today we continue studying with the twenty-first letter
SIN&SHIN.
I am also NOT a poet, so I had to research what an acrostic pattern meant.
An Acrostic Poem - is a poem where certain letters in each line spell out a word or phrase.
Example below.
by Angie Ouellette-Tower for https://www.godsgrowinggarden.com/ photo SundayPsalm119_zpszhagaoxw.jpg

SIN & SHIN - Your promiSe causes me to rejoIce in everythiNg & I praiSe you with all my Heart, mInd, soul and streNgth. 

 by Angie Ouellette-Tower for https://www.godsgrowinggarden.com/ photo SundayPsalm119SINSHIN3_zpsgwj24lli.jpg


At first I thought that the twenty-first letter was actually two different letters, but then I did a little research.  "Sin" is the Phoenician (ancient Semitic speaking Mediterranean civilization) version of this letter and "Shin" is traditional Hebrew (although now in modern Hebrew it is called "Shen").  Whether it's truly Sin, Shin or Shen I'm just not sure, but I decided to go with what is listed in my N.I.V. (New International Version) Bible: Sin & Shin.

 The theme of today's featured Scripture is Praise. 

 We will begin by defining:

 Praise - express warm approval or admiration of;  glorify, worship, magnify.

 I started wondering about the difference between showing appreciation/thanking God and praising God.  The main difference (I believe) is that praise is more of a compliment - an expression of admiration.  Whereas, thankfulness is more being appreciative of what God has done for us.

 In verse 164 David talks about praising God seven times a day.  Actually, I found seven different areas where David praised our Lord in today's featured Scripture:  God's Word, God's promise, God's law, God's salvation, God's commands, God's statues and God's precepts.

 1.  God's Word (verse 161)

 2.  God's promise (verse 162)

 3.  God's law (verses 163, 165 & 165)

 4.  God's salvation (verse 166)

 5.  God's commands (verse 166)

 6.  God's statutes (verse 167 & 168)

7.  God's precepts (verse 168)

by Angie Ouellette-Tower for https://www.godsgrowinggarden.com/ photo SundayPsalm119SINSHIN2_zpsbsnoxu2y.jpg

I encourage you to take up the 
7-PRAISE-daily Challenge.

 Give our Lord seven compliments a day.  You will be amazed at how easy it is to praise God seven times a day.


_____________________________________________________________________
Take Up The THANKFULNESS Challenge!
I challenge you to thank God for something everyday for one year!  Either write it down in a diary OR share with us on a blog.  If you have a blog & would like to share your THANKFULNESS posts with us, then please fill out this form: 365 Days of Being THANKFUL form - click HERE and you will be added to the THANKFULNESS page.
THANKFULNESS Challenge

Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please feel free to leave comments or questions (no question is ever stupid) - They will show up on the blog once I have read through them.
Thank You.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...