Ps. 56:1-4; 57:1-3, Hebrew “sa’ap,” to pant

Here is an interesting Hebrew term used only 14 times in the OT. The word “sa’ar” means to pant after or thirst for one’s blood, as a wild animal would do.  We also will note the OT use of some synonyms: ya’ab, nasam and arag.

·       Job 5:5: (Eliphaz) a snare snatches the substance of the foolish man

·       Job 7:2: (Job) a servant earnestly desires the shade

·       Job 36:20: (Elihu) do not desire the night when people are cut off in their place

·       Ps. 56:1: be merciful to me for man would swallow me up

·       Ps. 56:2: my enemies would hound me all day

·       Ps. 57:3: God reproaches the one who would swallow me up

·       Ps. 119:131: I opened my mouth and panted, for I longed for (ya’ab, only use, to desire) Your commands

·       Ecc. 1:5: the sun hastens to the place where it arose

·       Isa. 42:14: like a woman in labor, I will pant (nasam, only use, to pant as a woman in labor) & gasp at once (KJV says destroy and devour)

·       Jer. 2:24: wild donkey sniffs at the wind in desire, time of mating

·       Jer. 14:6: wild donkeys sniffed at the wind seeking food

·       Ezek. 36:3: the nations made the mountains of Israel desolate, swallowed them up on every side

·       Amos 2:7: the wicked of Israel pant after the dust on the head of the poor

·       Amos 8:4: woe on those who swallow up the needy

This first caught my attention in Ps. 56:2 when David said his enemies “hounded” him.  I thought that to be an odd translation of a word that, at its root, has to do with animals, like the wild donkey in Jeremiah, sniffing the wind at time of mating or when seeking food.  So, like a dog, David’s enemies hounded him.  It is used twice at the beginning of Ps. 56 indicating that David’s trial (when the Philistines captured him in Gath, according to the title) was intense.  He uses it again in Ps. 57 of another situation when he was running from Saul.  Thus you could say that these enemies are chasing/hounding David like animals.

With all that background, then Ps. 119:131 really stands out.  David had a longing for God’s commandments, so he panted, he sniffed at the wind, or hounded, or swallowed it like a hungry teenager (my illustration).  It is similar to Heb. arag, used 3x in the OT, twice in Ps. 42:1 (as the deer pants for water brooks so my soul pants for You, O God) and Joel 1:20 (the beasts of the field also cry out to You, for the water brooks are dried up). 

The deer and the wild donkeys and the dogs do what they do by instinct.  God made them to “pant.”  He also made us to pant after Him, but this longing for God requires that we “pant” after the word of God, the spiritual food He has for us.