“נַשְּׁקוּ בַר פֶּן יֶאֱנַף | וְתֹאבְדוּ דֶרֶךְ כִּי יִבְעַר כִּמְעַט אַפּוֹ אַשְׁרֵי כָּל חוֹסֵי בוֹ”
“Arm yourselves with purity lest He become angry and you perish in the way, for in a moment His wrath will be kindled; the praises (bliss) of all who take refuge in Him.”
A Psalm that starts with the word ‘Ashrei’, Bliss and ends with it, is a Psalm King Davis fonded more than the others.
Jewish sages told us that Psalm 1 and Psalm 2, are actually one. The difference between them is that while the first is aimed for the individual, the second talks about Israel and the nations.
So the first Psalm in ‘the book of Psalms’, actually starts with אשרי האיש, Happy is the man that…(or the question: Who is happy?..) and ends with our verse אשרי כל חוסה בו The bliss belong to those who take refuge in Him.
Who is blesses with bliss? those who take refuge in Him.
If stability is a cane to lain on, the Lord is the real and only cane, His ways are the only safe and righteous paths.
Literally, how do you interpret נַשְּׁקוּ בַר פֶּן יֶאֱנַף? Don’t some translations translate it ‘Kiss the son”?
This expression is not clear enough.
“Nashku” can be translated as suggested – kiss. In that sense, we can understand it as a parallel to the previous verse -“Serve Adonai with awe” – “kiss” will be something like: “be attached to purity” (“Bar” – purity / clear). That explanation works well, for in ancient times (as it is in some cultures even nowadays) kissing one’s god, was as good as accepting his reign over you. Since there is no way of kissing “an invisible God”, kissing the purity, maybe the worship that was done in the Temple in purity, will be acceptance of God’s kingship.
Some traditions did translate as “son”, referring to the king of Israel. The source for that is from the Aramaic language, in ehich Bar is son. That, and another translation (Hebrew this time) that translate to “produce”, will mean an order to prepare produce in order to offer to the king of Israel.
— We are now translating all the Psalms, in order to bring it closer to the literal translation, and the Hebrew meaning, and hopefully sooner that later this chapter will also show up on the website.
Thank you for responding! Seeing that in verse 7 of Chapter 2 there is the mention of “Son”, ” thou art my Son, this day I have begotten thee”, it appears that the context ought to dominate honest interpretation, don’t you think?
The word “Bnee” in Hebrew certainly means “son”, whereas the word “Bar” mentioned earlier is not completely clear. Is it the Hebrew word for “clear” or “pure”, or like you indicated “son” which is from a foreign language of Aramaic. I do hope to study this chapter more closely sooner than later, and so to upload our conclusions to the website. Cheers!
The word “Bnee” in Hebrew certainly means “son”, whereas the word “Bar” mentioned earlier is not completely clear. Is it the Hebrew word for “clear” or “pure”, or like you indicated “son” which is from a foreign language of Aramaic. I do hope to study this chapter more closely sooner than later, and so to upload our conclusions to the website. Cheers!