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Perhaps some may object that, while David with his great
faith and experience could take such a stand, such cannot be
expected of the general run of believers. As an answer, the
reader should notice verse 22 in which the Psalmist cries: `I said
in my haste, I am cut off from before Thine eyes'. Yet the Lord
heard him and preserved him.
In Psalm 143:9 we read: `Deliver me, O LORD, from mine
enemies: I flee unto Thee to hide me'. The margin here reads:
`Heb. hide me with Thee', while Dr. W. Kay renders the passage
:
` To Thee have I confided (my all)' - with the footnote: `Lit. Unto Thee
have I hidden, i.e., with Thee have I deposited my cause; secretly and
silently, suppressing all angry feeling against man'.
Keble's rendering is similar: `I have hid all with Thee', while
Young's literal translation reads: `Near Thee I am covered'. It is
outside our present scope and purpose to enter into questions of
translation. The reader will, however, be able to see something
of the implications here even though a full understanding of the
passage must await fuller examination.
We have already discussed the question of `fear' in relation to
`hiding'. There is one further passage which might well be
included under this heading, viz., in Proverbs 22:3, `A prudent
man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself'. This same word,
`hide', is also found in other passages, as follows :
` Hide me under the shadow of Thy wings' (Psa. 17:8).
` In the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me' (Psa. 27:5).
` Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked' (Psa. 64:2).