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Fear
Psalm 36:1 “The transgression of the wicked saith within his heart, that there is no fear of Elohim before his eyes.”
The Hebrew word here for fear is Pahad H6343 – paḥaḏ. There is also another word for fear, which is Yirah H3374 – yir’â. Yirah often encompasses a sense of awe, reverence, or respect, particularly in relation to the divine, while pahad is more closely associated with a sense of dread, terror, or panic. Then there is another fear called Ema H367 – ‘êmâ, which extreme fear, terror, terrible dread, horror. In the Song of Moses, a verse speak of Pahad and Ema will fall on the people, Exo 15:16, “Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O YHWH, till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased.”
Here in Psalm 36, and many verse like that, speak of people having or not having this fear for YHWH. A real fear. In Deuteronomy 6:12-13 it says, “Then beware lest thou forget YHWH, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Thou shalt fear YHWH thy Elohim“. This fear is Yirah/Yare – a reverence, awe, respect, godly fear – but also terrified. In english we would call this, the highest respect. Let us say your grandfather was a big strong righteous rich man, when he spoke people listened and agreed, he had a presence about him, he achieved much in life that you just have to respect him for what he has accomplished. The day he gets angry, you can feel your bones shake in your body with fear, you submit and cannot help to agree with what he says, because you just KNOW he is right. Most people today do not understand this kind of fear. It is not a bad fear – except if you are bad. If you have a rebellious heart, envious and evil motives, then you will fear this person with a hate in your heart – that is bad fear. That is also the kind of power that needs to be shown to drive fear into such people – but it is a bad fear.
If you have good motives, and keep your side clean – you have respectful fear of Elohim. But if you are trying to hide something, but you know if YHWH points it out, your boots will shake, because you know you have overstepped your boundaries. It is not bad that there are boundaries – that is who YHWH is – He is just Good – and evil will not be tolerated.
Selah
Psa 39:5 and 11
Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
When thou with rebukes does correct man for iniquity, thou make his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah.
The Hebrew word here is Sele H5542 – selê, which means suspension (of music), i.e. pause or interruption. It is a means to highlight the moment, the verse or sentence that was just said. To lift up or bring up high, to highlight, or really shine the light on what was just said. Weigh and balance it out, give it some thought and underline it.
Selah appears 71 times in the Psalms, some Psalms repeat Selah as much as 3 times in one Psalm. This word is nowhere else in Scripture except in Habakkuk, for example Chapter 3:13 “Thou went forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed; thou wound the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah. H5542” But Selah is used more than Amen or HalleluYah in the old testament!
There are at least two other words that are closely related to Selah. The one is Calac/Sala H5541 – sālâ, meaning to bring to light, balance or weight – like Job 28:16 and 19 describes how wisdom is worth and weighs more than gold. It is a statement – wisdom, highlight, weigh. The other word is Salal H5549 – sālal, meaning to lift up, exalt, esteem or prize. Psalm 68:4, “Sing unto YHWH, sing praises to His name: extol H5549 Him that ride upon the heavens by his Hame YAH, and rejoice before Him.” In this Psalm 68 Selah is also used three times.
