Forayer

Psalm 68 is weird. It’s disconnected and reads like something written in a fever-dream, but it kept on grabbing my attention. Two things jumped out at me in today’s Lectionary readings, both from Psalm 68— El Shaddai as a Name-of-God, and the phrase “God settles the solitary in a home.”(ESV) I went online to the Hebrew Interlinear; then to several different translations on Bible Gateway; then to Abarim’s Biblical Name Vault; and finally to Robert Alter’s translation of the Psalms from my own library.

I started with “Shaddai” which is one of the Hebrew Names-of-God. The first translation I found was from the Hebrew Interlinear which in the interlinear text translates “shdi” as “Who Suffices”, but in the sidebar text translates it as “the Almighty.” I was struck by the implications of “suffices”, and so I started to delve deeper into the meaning of El Shaddai. The next translation I found said that “Shaddai” means “breasts” as in mammary glands. I liked that. The most comprehensive list of the meanings of Shaddai was on Abarim’s website. They give it as follows: My Destroyer, My Protective Spirit, My Rainmaker, Self-Sufficient, Who Is Abundantly. If anyone is interested, the breakdown can be found here: http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Shaddai.html#.XUBWB3dFxv3


I was struck by this in particular— “From (1) the prefix ש (si), who, and (2) the particle די (day), sufficient or enough.” 

I liked the notion of God personified as “Always Enough”.

About God “settling the solitary in a home”— “Elohim one-causing-(to)-dwell lonely-ones homeward” is what the Hebrew Interlinear says. My own word-play led me to “God fosters the homeward-bound solitary ones.” (I also found out that foster, pastor, fodder, forage, and foray all come from the PIE root pā which means “protect; feed.”) 

The end result was this poem.

Forayer

That’s me—

One single meek marauder—

Just a

Homeward-bound scavenger

Wandering over wrecked pastures,

Scrambling up sodden mountains,

Foraging in broken fields,

Biding my time in the barrens,

Sunburned under ample skies.

Always finding

Enough

More or less.