Two weeks ago, we examined God’s role as our keeper, focusing on Psalm 121. Part of that examination included looking at the definition for the Hebrew word shamar, which is translated “keep” or “keeper” in this Psalm. As with many Hebrew words, shamar includes a range of meanings depending on the context. The Complete Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament states, “The basic idea of the root is ‘to exercise great care over'” (TWOT entry 2414). As we looked at in the previous post, the TWOT breaks the nuances of meaning into these broad categories:
- “the careful attention to be paid to the obligations of covenant,” such as keeping God’s laws (e.g. Gen. 17:9-10; Ex. 31:13-16; Lev. 18:4-5; Deut. 5:29; Josh. 22:5; Ps. 18:21; 119:34; Ecc. 12:13; Ezk. 11:20)
- This includes God keeping His covenant obligations (e.g. Deut. 7:8-12; 1 Kings 3:6; 8:23; Neh. 1:5; 9:32; Dan. 9:4)
- The act of taking care or guarding something like a flock, house, place, or person (e.g. Gen. 2:15; 4:9; Ex. 22:7; 1 Sam. 17:20; 25:21)
- This one is often used for God “keeping” us (e.g. 1 Sam. 2:9; Ps. 12:7; 145:20; 146:9; Prov. 2:8; 3:26)
- Personally disciplining oneself, such as “guarding the lips” or taking heed to one’s conduct (e.g. Ex. 19:12; Num. 23:12; Deut. 4:9, 23; 11:16; Ps. 39:1; Prov. 13:3; 21:23; Jer. 17:21)
- Taking heed, guarding, or “paying attention” to something important; also used of the keeper or watchman (e.g. Gen. 37:11; Josh. 10:18; 2 Kings 11:5-9; Est. 2:21; Is. 21:11-12)
- “preserving” or “storing up” literal things like food or abstract things like anger (e.g. Gen. 41:35; Ex. 22:7; 1 Sam. 9:24; Mal. 2:7)
Today, I want to look at our roles as keepers. We are told to keep covenant with God, to keep ourselves in the right way, and to keep care of other people.
Keeping Covenant
God faithfully keeps covenant with us. We don’t have to worry that He’ll change His mind, forget about us, or decide His commitments aren’t worth honoring. He’s absolutely faithful and reliable. The same can’t be said about human beings, but with God’s help we can commit to covenant keeping and keep coming back and recommitting when we miss the mark.
You shall do my ordinances. You shall keep my statutes and walk in them. I am Yahweh your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my ordinances, which if a man does, he shall live in them. I am Yahweh.
Leviticus 18:4-5, WEB
The obligation to keep God’s laws as part of our covenant relationship with Him isn’t just an Old Testament thing. It’s also part of the New Covenant. It’s actually even more important in the New Covenant because now, keeping covenant with God sinks in at a heart level. God wanted this sort of heart connection under the Old Covenant, but didn’t get it (Deut. 5:29). Now, with His holy spirit inside us and Jesus’s sacrifice to reconcile us to God, we can more fully obey the command to love God with all our hearts, minds, and souls and to keep His commandments because of that love (Matt. 22:36-40; John 14:15, 21; 15:10-12).
I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh; that they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
Ezekiel 11:19-20, WEB
When we think of shamar as “to exercise great care over,” we might then ask how we can do that to the covenant we have with God. For one thing, it involves knowing what the covenant obligations are. At the most basic level, it’s to fully love God and to love our neighbors. All the other commands hinge on those two (Mark 12:28-34). That doesn’t mean the other commandments aren’t important–it just means that our keeping of the other commandments happens because we love God and others. Sabbath keeping, for example, it something that God instituted at creation, that Jesus did, and which God describes as “a perpetual covenant” for His people to keep (Ex. 31:13-16).
Keeping Ourselves
As people in covenant with God, we have a responsibility to “exercise great care” over our own conduct. We see one example of this in Deuteronomy, when Moses warns the people of ancient Israel to “keep the commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you” then to “be careful, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes saw, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your children and your children’s children” (Deut. 4:2, 9, WEB). This involves carefully guarding our conduct, soul, and words (Prov. 13:3; 21:23) to make sure we’re following God the way He tells us to.
I said, “I will watch (shamar) my ways, so that I don’t sin with my tongue.
Psalm 39:1, WEB
I will keep (shamar) my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me.”
Doing things according to God’s instructions is key to this: we must be careful to keep ourselves from breaking covenant with Him or following other Gods (Deut. 4:23; 11:16). It’s actually a matter of life and death. On a broad scale, our choice between living in covenant with God (which involves obedience, righteousness, and repentance when we miss the mark) or walking contrary to Him is a choice between life and death (Deut. 30:19).
We can see the seriousness of keeping ourselves in God’s instructions in phrases like, “Be very careful (shamar) if you value your lives! Do not carry any loads in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day” (Jer. 17:21, NET). The NET footnote on this verse notes that the Hebrew phrase used here could also be translated, “Be careful at the risk of your lives.” In the context leading up to this, God talks about the grave sins of His people, the curse associated with trusting your human heart verses the blessing associated with trusting Him, and the healing available in Yahweh (Jer. 17:1-18). Then, He goes into Sabbath keeping as a key example of the commandments His people broke and that they must begin keeping again if they value their lives and their relationship with Him (Jer. 17:19-27).
The Hebrew word shamar obviously doesn’t appear in the Greek New Testament, but how people “conduct themselves in the household of God” (1 Tim. 3:15, NET) still matters. For example, Jesus told people, “Keep yourselves from covetousness” (Luke 12:15, WEB), the apostles wrote to new Christians that they should “keep themselves from” things like eating blood and committing sexual immorality (Acts 15:28-29), and Paul told Timothy, “Keep yourself pure” (1 Tim. 5:22, NET). When we enter a covenant relationship with God, we’re also committing to keeping ourselves by a certain standard of conduct that He expects from His people.
Keeping Others
The final application of shamar that we’re going to look at today involves heeding, guarding, or attending to something important. The word can also be used to refer to the person who is guarding or keeping watch (Josh. 10:18; 2 Kings 11:5-9; Est. 2:21; Is. 21:11-12). The most famous use of shamar in this sense is a negative example.
The man knew Eve his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Cain, and said, “I have gotten a man with Yahweh’s help.” Again she gave birth, to Cain’s brother Abel. Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. …
Cain said to Abel, his brother, “Let’s go into the field.” While they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him.
Yahweh said to Cain, “Where is Abel, your brother?”
He said, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Genesis 4:1-3, 8-9, WEB
Yahweh warned Cain before all this that sin was crouching at his door like a predatory animal ready to pounce if he didn’t subdue it (Gen. 4:6-7). Cain knew he failed in that task, yet when Yahweh asked him where his brother is, he shot back this question: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Perhaps it’s to hearken back to Abel’s profession, i.e. “Am I responsible for keeping my brother the way he’s responsible for keeping his flocks of sheep?”
The obvious answer should be yes, you are responsible to take care of the people around you. I find it very interesting that Cain, who “was a tiller of the ground” was no longer allowed to “cultivate and keep” the earth after he killed his brother (Gen. 2:15; 4:10-12). Failing in his familial duty, he was not entrusted with other shamar duties.
God makes it even more clear in the New Testament that He expects us “to exercise great care over” other people, especially those who are our brothers and sisters in Christ (Gal. 6:10) but also our neighbors (i.e. anyone we’re aware of and able to help [Luke 10:25-37]). Caring for each other and loving each other is the responsibility of every Christian (John 13:35; Phil. 2:1-5). There’s a particular responsibility, though, laid on those who are leaders in the churches to “keep watch” over people’s souls (Heb. 13:17).
As those who follow the God who keeps covenant with and keeps watch over His people, we should follow His example. That includes keeping covenant with Him, keeping ourselves held to His standards, and acting as “keepers” for the people around us. These three things are aspects of our lives that deserve our careful attention and the effort that it takes to exercise great care over them.
Featured image by Jantanee from Lightstock
Song Recommendation: “An Irish Blessing (May the Road Rise to Meet You)” by Celtic Thunder
Like An Anchor 