Psalm 19/Notes/Lexical.V. 15.930336

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Psalmist-Sacrifice (Ps 19:14-15)
Input 1: Psalmist Input 2: Sacrifice
Goal to please YHWH (cf. v. 15, specifically with his words and thoughts which are a synecdoche for his whole person) to be acceptable before YHWH, to be pleasing to him (cf. Lev 1:3 לִרְצֹנ֖וֹ לִפְנֵ֥י יְהוָֽה)
Requirement must live according to YHWH's covenant instruction must conform to YHWH's law
must be morally blameless, with profound moral uprightness and integrity (SDBH entry for תָּמִים) if he is to be pleasing to YHWH (cf. Ps 15:1-2) must be blameless (תָּמִים), i.e., without physical defect, if it is to be acceptable (cf. Lev 22:21—תָּמִ֤ים יִֽהְיֶה֙ לְרָצ֔וֹן כָּל־מ֖וּם לֹ֥א יִהְיֶה־בּֽוֹ)
Blend
The living sacrifice
Implicatures
  • The goal of life is to be acceptable before YHWH
  • Only people who live according to YHWH's covenant instruction are reckoned blameless and thereby acceptable to YHWH
  • Sin, i.e., mistakes, hidden sins, and presumptuous sins (vv. 13-14) render a person morally blemished and unacceptable to YHWH
  • In order to reach a state of blamelessness and be acceptable before YHWH, people need YHWH's forgiveness and protection (vv. 13-15)
Figure Prominence MEDIUM The sacrifice imagery is subtle and the coherence of the psalm is not greatly affected if it goes unnoticed or untranslated. At the same time, the imagery probably would have been unmistakable to the earliest readers; the phrase הָיָה לְרָצוֹן לִפְנֵי יְהוָה clearly evokes the notion of sacrifice, and so does (in hindsight) the word אֵיתָם (v. 14b), which is a key word in the psalm—the root תמם forms an inclusio around the second half of the psalm (see poetic structure). The sacrificial imagery is thus sustained throughout vv. 14-15. It also connects these verses to the cultic language used in the previous verse (שְׁגִיאוֹת).