I came across this in my Bible reading today:
He found him in a desert land,
and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
he encircled him, he cared for him,
he kept him as the apple of his eye. – Deuteronomy 32:10
Chapter 32 of Deuteronomy is fascinating, because these words are in the midst of a song that Moses has taught the people of Israel. The song recounts God’s mighty deeds and his promises of blessing for faithfulness and curse for rejection of the one true God. But just notice that God has always called his people to sing, and not only that, to sing to the Lord a new song (Ps. 96:1), to use human creativity and excellence in instruments to bring about robust singing from God’s people, an act of worship. He is asking us to engage our whole bodies, lungs and emotions, to bring about worship to the Lord. It’s bigger than just stating a thing that is true – it is far more of a commitment, and while you are singing, notice that it is harder to let distractions take over. How many of you have been reading something, even the Bible, and you read a whole chapter, and then you can’t remember one word you’ve read? We are easily distracted and singing helps that because it is whole body engagement.
But then notice this, too. The Lord found Israel in a desert place (Egypt), but then brought him home, rescued him, and now we are the ‘apple of his eye.’ The translation is good, in what we call ‘dynamic equivalence,’ because we know what this phrase means in English. Someone who is an ‘apple of my eye’ has my protection, favor, and love. But the phrase literally in Hebrew is ‘little man of his eye,’ which refers often to the pupil of the eye, because sometimes when you look at someone’s pupil, you see a tiny little man, a reflection of yourself. But the sentiment is the same: he will care for us as if we’re his own reflection, that tiny little vision in the middle of the eye – the ‘apple of his eye.’ It’s remarkable when English phrases we use have their origin in biblical concepts as many of them do. These words are far older than Shakespeare, who’s also known as an originator of so many turns of phrases. The Bible is both ancient and modern, accessible because its truths are timeless, a God who knows all things and speaks to us in ways that we understand. Appreciate the beauty of God’s Word!