Q&A: Rocks in Psalms

"Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Ps. 95:1

I love having the resources of an academic community at my fingertips! When I wonder about something I'm studying, I can get expert answers so quickly. I invite you along on this Q&A with me....

The Question:

[Professor Old Testament], can you help me with a question I’m curious about this morning? I think I need someone who knows Hebrew. I was just having my worship and journaling on Psalms 95, and I was thinking about the phrase, “the Rock of our salvation.” (Ps. 95:1) I was curious why the psalmist chose the word “rock,” and what the significance was to the Israelites. My Bible notes referred me to Ps. 18:2 for more information, so I went to those notes, and they say that there are two different Hebrew words for “rock” used in 18:2. So I’m curious: what is the difference between the two “rocks,” and which one applies to 95:1?

I was trying to think of any English equivalents, and I am considering that we have the words: rock, stone, boulder. Maybe some others, but I can’t think of them.

Any light you can shed would be interesting to me.

Thanks!

Ginger

The Answer:

Dear Ginger,

Of course I am willing to send you a few observations. I will make a few remarks about "rock metaphors" in the Bible and then zero in on the examples from Psalms which you mentioned:

In addition to the literal meaning, rock (in Palestine it is "bedrock") can have figurative meanings in the Bible. As such, like any other metaphor in the Bible it can be either positive or negative (for example, the lion from the tribe of Judah, versus the roaring lion). As positive, rock or bedrock stands for safety, protection, hence it stands for God who protects when we are in danger. Palestine is a place full of rocks (and stones), while in Babylon there was only mud and sand (See the story in Genesis 11). Stone and rocks are the best building material in the Mediterranean culture.

As negative, rock stands for a danger or difficulty in life when we feel pressed, so to say, against the rock and pray to God our rock to come to our rescue and take us into a large place. Oppressive world powers are also described in the Bible as "destroying mountains and rocks." There are many passages in the Bible which use these fascinating metaphors.

According to the rules of the Hebrew grammar, Psalm 95:1 could also be translated as "our Rock of salvation." "Rock" in this case stands for God and his protection, while the noun "salvation" is built on the same root as the name "Jesus." This Psalm makes several references to the journey of the Israelites to the land of Canaan. It reminds of several stories related to the rocks in the wilderness. The psalm is suggesting that rock stands for God's constant care for his people. In the NT, Paul in 1 Corinthians will identify this Rock as Christ who led his people through the wilderness.

You are right when you say that two different Hebrew words are used in the two different passages: Psalm 95 uses the word TSUR (read as "tsoor"). This word was commonly used by Israel's neighbors in the northwest and the place name Tyre (a city on the Mediterranean coast) comes from this Semitic root. The same is true of the name TAURUS. Psalm 18:3, on the other hand, uses the word SELA' commonly used by the people who lived in the southeast. The famous place in Jordan known to us as Petra is called in Hebrew and Arabic "Sela'." You can see that this word is used in this verse in parallelism with the word fortress. Often times, while TSUR is used for natural rock, SELA' is used to describe rock which has some type of carved place in it. It is possible here to see the two words as synonyms because verse 32 on this psalm describes God also as TSUR.

Are there nuances, however, presented through the uses of the two words? I would say yes: While TSUR is more of a rough, natural, virgin type of rock, SELA' is more of a carved, worked, shaped type of rock. Thus, the former is primarily used to represent God, while the latter often stands for the place of safety to which God leads/takes his child out of danger.

I trust that these observations will be of help in your study.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving holiday!