Selah

by DanWolgemuth on August 17, 2007

Selah. This Hebrew word appears seventy times in the book of Psalms, and although there is some debate about the precise meaning, it’s universally agreed that the term applies the musical construct of this poetic masterpiece. It’s believed that it invites an interlude or pause in the midst of the honest dialog.

For instance:

You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah.

The Psalmist knew that a pause was the next important element in the journey with the Father.

Wikipedia (the free online encyclopedia) has this to say about the word: Selah may be the most difficult word in the Hebrew Bible to translate. Selah is probably either a liturgico-musical mark or an instruction on the reading of the text, something like “stop and listen.”

Stop and listen. That captures the beauty and the power of this five-letter word. Selah. In a cruise control, microwave, wireless, cellular, iPod, Internet, information smothering world, a pause. Selah.

And so, tomorrow morning, Mary and I will fill our van with bikes, books and boots, and we’ll head into the mountains for two weeks. Yes, two weeks, of Selah. A time to stop and to listen.

Our Lord knows, noise doesn’t do what rest alone can. So pause. Rest. Wait and listen. Turn it off. Unplug it. Leave it uncharged. Selah.

So let me give you the Friday Fragment for next Friday, the 24th of August: Selah. And the Friday after that: Selah.

Then, with a heart more deeply in love with the Father and others I will return to Denver, but not before… Selah.

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