![]() The spiritual level here can be seen in the other uses of the Hebrew words. So we find the literal, physical level expressed clearly in the NIV translation here, telling us God has knit us together in our mother’s womb. The word beten can refer to the belly as a part of the body or as the place where the spirit of a person expressed itself and was satisfied. Sakak can be used as to “weave together, to hide or shield, or to rouse, excite, stir up”. This is seen in the use of the Hebrew words sakak and beten here, which again have ranges of meaning, of which David makes use here also to tell us something on more than one level. Again, we see first that this can be understood on the literal physical level as referring to the fact that God has created David’s physical body. The second phrase in this verse tells us that “You knit me together in my mother’s womb”. This is where the sense of qanah as to “redeem” comes into play, for, on the spiritual level, David is telling us here that God has also redeemed David’s desires, that his desire for God has been satisfied through his trust in God described in the first part of the Psalm, and all of his other “urges” can now be properly satisfied because of this. So David is telling us here that God has done more than merely create his physical body, but that God has created him with urges and desires, and one of those desires is the desire for God. The word qanah, however, has a wider range of meaning than merely to create, for the word is also used to mean to “possess, acquire, redeem or ransom”. So we find here, on a more literal level, that God has created our physical bodies. This is used here first as a synechdoche, a literary device in which a part of something is used to represent the whole. As we are aware, when the kidneys are functioning properly, this results in the desire (or urge) to find the restroom, so the kilyah was seen as the seat of one’s desires and urges, as the innermost and most private aspect of a person. ![]() Those bodies have desires, and this is where the kidneys come into play. ![]() So this can be seen, on the physical, literal level, as telling us that God has created us physically, that He has formed our bodies. The word kilyah literally refers to the kidneys, and one of the primary uses of the word qanah is as to “create or bring forth”. The phrase “created my inmost being” consists of the Hebrew words qanah and kilyah. The same word can mean different things when used in different situations. As we examine the first phrase here (“You created my inmost being”), we first note the fact that this verse operates on two levels through fact words can be used in different “senses”. This verse operates on two distinct levels here, which may be referred to as either physical and spiritual, or literal and metaphorical. The verse is translated as follows in the NIV: “For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb”. This will become clear as we look at verse 13. As we begin in verse 13, we must note again that Psalms are written as poetry, and therefore may be examined and understood on more than one level. ![]() This could be very disconcerting if not for the theme of the second part of the Psalm, which tells us that God loves us anyway, in spite of our issues and shortcomings. The basic theme of the first twelve verses is that God knows us better than we know ourselves, that He is intimately familiar with all of our issues and shortcomings. This Psalm divides neatly into two parts, with the second part building upon the first. As we continue in our examination of this Psalm, we now begin the second part of the Psalm.
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