SPECIAL TOPIC: DEEP DARKNESS

This is the Hebrew word salmawet (BDB 853), which is translated in the KJV in Ps. 23:4 as "the valley of the shadow of death." It really means a valley of deep darkness, which may describe any and all of life's crises.

The NET Bible has a good note about this word at Jer. 2:6 (p. 1290, #6). It is used in poetic texts of

1. the darkness of prison, Ps. 107:10,14
2. the darkness of invasion, Isa. 9:1
3. the darkness of a mine, Job 28:3
4. the darkness of a ravine, Ps. 23:4
5. the darkness of a wasteland and ravines of the Sinai desert, Jer. 2:6
6. life's tragedies or confusions, Job 3:5; 12:22; 24:17; 28:3; 34:22; Ps. 44:19
7. the darkness of death, Job 10:21-22; 38:17

Notice the theological contrast between YHWH's word/truth as light, but sin as darkness (BDB 364, KB 361, cf. Isa. 8:22-9:2), deep darkness (BDB 853), and gloom (BDB 791).

This darkness imagery is characterized by "stumbling" (BDB 619, KB 669). A life of faith is pictured as a person walking on a clearly marked path in light. If one

1. deviates from the path
2. stumbles on the path
3. rejects God's ways (path)
4. walks in darkness in difficult terrain

judgment is the result.

SPECIAL TOPIC: THE WAY. . .THE PATH

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