HEBREW WORD STUDY

Psalms 18:16: “He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.” Some translations, or paraphrases actually, will render the word shalach (sent) as reached down. I like that poetic expression as it pictures us struggling in a raging sea and God reaching down from heaven and picking us up out of the raging seas. There is no doubt that this is implied in this passage, but it is not what the verse is really saying. It is saying so much more and expressing something even more wonderful than just reaching down to rescue us. The Aramaic form of the word shalach means to reach out and the particular form that is used here, if it were in Aramaic, would be a Peal form, which would intensify the verb making it very definite. If you were struggling in a raging sea God would, without question, pull you out. Yet this is in Hebrew and shalach is in a simple Qal imperfect form. The word shalach means to send away, or to detach oneself, or something from you. It is a word used for divorce. It has a basic idea of separating oneself from something with a specific purpose or mission. It is in an imperfect form, which means He will separate Himself from above. There is almost a hidden Messianic message in this verse. We are struggling in a raging sea and God will one day separate Himself from heaven and come to earth to rescue us. He will leave that heavenly helicopter and jump right into the raging sea with us to rescue us.