Picture That

Psalms 65:3 (KJV) Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away.

(Proverbs 23 also read)

I know what this says when I read it in English, but when I looked into the Hebrew for “purge”, I found that it had a certain root and word picture, which might be clear to the Hebrew, but doesn’t compute with me.  The most common translation of this word is “atonement”.  It has a root meaning, which is “to be covered with pitch”.  We can’t relate to that too well today because we don’t cover things with pitch.

As I was looking at how the word was used, it was interesting that the first place it was appearing in the scripture was when it said that Noah covered the ark with pitch.  I assume that the reason for that was to make it watertight.  I wonder when a Hebrew would think of this meaning as atonement if he didn’t think of it as some way of keeping the penalty or the punishment for sin out.

So?  It’s translated in the NASB as “forgive”. I don’t see forgiveness, making us immune to future sins and failures, but I do see it, making us immune to the penalty of past sins.  I assume that’s enough to let me make it into the kingdom in eternity.