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Pastor's Blog March 15, 2019

"In His Holiness, ... From His Sanctuary"

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Psalm 60:6 presents an interesting, if slightly tricky, perspective on God's holiness.  Psalm 60 is basically a believer's cry for God to remember his covenant with them; they have endured God's discipline (vv. 1-4), possibly for sinning and turning away from God (v. 10), but now they appeal to God to save them and rescue them from their enemies (v. 5) - precisely because they know that God is the God who saves and leads his people into safety, rest, and victory (vv. 9-12).  But within this psalm, there is a reference to God's holiness.  And it's this reference that poses a bit of a theological difficulty for us. 

The KJV translation of Psalm 60:6 states, "God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth."  The NIV translation of Psalm 60:6 exclaims, "God has spoken from his sanctuary: 'In triumph I will parcel out Shechem and measure off the Valley of Succoth.'" 

The parts about Shechem and Succoth are pretty much the same in both versions; the parts about God speaking are, to put it mildly, less so.  Because "in his holiness" and "from his sanctuary" are very different thoughts, it can be tempting to think that either the KJV is superior to the NIV, or vice versa.  In reality, however, both translations are saying basically the same thing.  In the Old Testament, the word for "sanctuary" is the same word for "holiness": qadosh.  The context of a Bible passage usually tells us what is being referred to and indicates whether or not a Bible writer is talking about God's holiness or God's sanctuary.  Sometimes, however, the context doesn't help us at all and it can be tricky to tell which concept is actually being referred to in a particular Bible verse.  But the reason it can be difficult for Bible translators to tell which concept is being referred to, is because the Bible often thinks of "sanctuary" and "holiness" as synonyms for each other (among others). 

No matter which translation we read, all the versions of Psalm 60:6 are saying the same thing: God speaks, and he truly speaks within the context of his holiness - which means that God's holiness is a sanctuary, or a safe place to be.  We are invited each day to worship God in the knowledge that he speaks in the context of his holiness and from within the safety of his sanctuary - and that, consequently, we are safe and sound in the sanctuary that is God's holiness.