We need to do another little word study. And this is the word shamar in Hebrew and that word means guard. It occurs six times in this one psalm, in these eight verses, and so we can say that guarding is the central motif of the song. I think that was pretty clear. It is about God protecting us and being on guard, watching, observing, and that is what this word means. That we see that God sets Himself up as the guard, the protector, the preserver, the One who watches over His people. The help of God's people is God. I mean, ultimately, even though He sets people in places to help guard and protect other people, ultimately the protector is God. He is the One that is in charge, and one cannot have a more powerful protector, more powerful guard than the Creator of the universe, which is what the end of verse 2 says. He is the Creator of heaven and earth. He made everything. Top that. You cannot. There is no one more powerful than the Creator of heaven and earth. And He is our guard. He is right there, protecting us and guarding us and keeping us through every moment of life.
Now in its various forms, shamar includes the idea of keeping, watching, observing, protecting, securing, preserving, caring for, and this is the one I like very well, maybe not the best, but I like it very much—clinging to. Very interesting to think of God clinging to you. He is the ultimate clinger, I guess, but in a good way. And the psalmist does refer to several of these meanings or implications in these short eight verses.
So let us start in verse 3 because this is where it really begins to get moving. First, he tells us in the first two verses that my help comes from God. Okay? That is his opening statement. "He will not allow your foot to be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber." I will read verse 4. "Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." Now this is where the idea of clinging comes in, especially in this first line. The New King James translates it kind of clunkily. "He will not allow your foot to be moved." It is better, "He will not allow your foot to stumble." It probably is in your margin. But what it means, what it implies is God walking next to you with His hand or arm around you. And He will not let you stumble on the road. He has got you in such a good grip as you are walking through the rugged territory of Judah, going up to the Holy Place there on Mount Zion that your foot will never stumble. That is how much He clings to you. That is how closely He protects you.
And then He goes on to say that He sleeplessly watches over and protects us day and night, and not only us but over all His people. We have a God who is right there beside us, and you will never catch Him napping at His post. His eyes and His ears are open all the time, 24/7, and He is always watching out for us.
Now the Lord is not only our guard, the one who keeps us safe, but He is also our shade. This is tied to the idea that He creates a shadow over us. And that idea is tied to the way a mother bird acts on the nest for her chicks. She puts her wings out to protect her chicks from whatever comes against them, be it sun or wind or rain or predators, you name it. And God acts the same way with us. When God stands watch, He is all encompassing in His care for us. He covers us in every way so that we will not be harmed.
The psalmist goes on saying the sun will not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. This is a pair of merisms. Remember merisms? We learned about that several years ago, but it is pairs of words, usually on the opposites of a spectrum. And when we see these, we are not just to think about the opposites, but everything in between too. So when it talks about sun nor moon, that is daytime and nighttime, obviously, but it also stands for anything that could harm us during that time. And then he says at the end here of each one of these lines, by day or by night. So God protects us from everything at all times. He is … . . .
One of my very favorite psalms is Psalm 121. And I find it very interesting here that God shows us that He is our guard and protector. Through this chapter six times He uses the word keep or preserve, and it is that verb again for shamar, meaning to guard, to keep, watch over, preserve.
