Enlightened (3) thinking.

jay_emm

Continuing a series of posts loosely inspired by the themes of light.
This time thinking of it being a metaphor for good living or about the goodness of the law.
(Ps if someone wants to do something on "people walking in darkness have seen a great light" or similar next week, please do). Or if anything else...
--
In psalm 119:105 we have
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path".
It's verse Nun, I know that means all the verses start with N, but I'm not sure what that means to sentence structure (has the English tidied it up?). What are the N words? is this a chance to learn and anchor some vocabulary?

And in proverbs 6:23 we get a very similar pattern.
"These commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light [keeping you from the smooth tongue of the wayward wife]". Are these two connected?

And earlier in proverbs 4:18 "the path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn...the way of the wicked is like darkness [they stumble]

And at the end the wise woman 31:18 keeps her light on, which reminds me of the parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids.

Hopefully there's some interesting discussion to be had.

Gamma Gamaliel

I hope so too but at the moment I've got nothing really to add other than to wonder, as you have, whether those verses are connected in some way.

Bullfrog

There's something obvious about light being associated with goodness.

Walking around where you can't see your feet is objectively kind of dangerous. You can stub your toes, at the very least. It's an effective metaphor across cultures and religions.

jay_emm

The proverbs 4, leans into that. I think the psalm 119:105 also, but the path could be more significant?

from bible gateway psalm 119 wrote:

104 מִפִּקּוּדֶ֥יךָ אֶתְבּוֹנָ֑ן עַל־כֵּ֝֗ן שָׂנֵ֤אתִי׀ כָּל־אֹ֬רַח שָֽׁקֶר׃

105 נֵר־לְרַגְלִ֥י דְבָרֶ֑ךָ וְ֝א֗וֹר לִנְתִיבָתִֽי׃

106 נִשְׁבַּ֥עְתִּי וָאֲקַיֵּ֑מָה לִ֝שְׁמֹ֗ר מִשְׁפְּטֵ֥י צִדְקֶֽךָ׃

107 נַעֲנֵ֥יתִי עַד־מְאֹ֑ד יְ֝הוָ֗ה חַיֵּ֥נִי כִדְבָרֶֽךָ׃

108 נִדְב֣וֹת פִּ֭י רְצֵה־נָ֣א יְהוָ֑ה וּֽמִשְׁפָּטֶ֥יךָ לַמְּדֵֽנִי׃

109 נַפְשִׁ֣י בְכַפִּ֣י תָמִ֑יד וְ֝תֽוֹרָתְךָ֗ לֹ֣א שָׁכָֽחְתִּי׃

110 נָתְנ֬וּ רְשָׁעִ֣ים פַּ֣ח לִ֑י וּ֝מִפִּקּוּדֶ֗יךָ לֹ֣א תָעִֽיתִי׃

111 נָחַ֣לְתִּי עֵדְוֺתֶ֣יךָ לְעוֹלָ֑ם כִּֽי־שְׂשׂ֖וֹן לִבִּ֣י הֵֽמָּה׃

112 נָטִ֣יתִי לִ֭בִּי לַעֲשׂ֥וֹת חֻקֶּ֗יךָ לְעוֹלָ֥ם עֵֽקֶב׃

113 סֵעֲפִ֥ים שָׂנֵ֑אתִי וְֽתוֹרָתְךָ֥ אָהָֽבְתִּי׃

That seems to have pasted easily.
You can really see the acrostic starting on the right (I've included the changeover, I think last.time
I looked enoigh limes ran over to obscure it).
I'll have to look to see how significant the first word is in the sentences.

jay_emm

105 Nur candle (according to Wiktionary)

So that first 'word' is something like:
Candle to-feet-my ?

I hadn't properly noticed that its a foot-lamp and a path-light. The other way makes more sense to me.