The Painting of Ruth
In the 2015 movie, The Longest Ride, Luke Collins (Scott Eastwood) falls for Sophia, an art student from Wake Forest University. (Spoiler alert – skip to next paragraph if you wish). They befriend an elderly widower whose only love in life was his deceased wife, Ruth. After the man passes, his very expensive art collection is sold at auction. The first painting up for bid was the simplest of all – a portrait the man had made of his beloved. Luke purchases the painting to impress Sophia, and as they kiss, the auctioneer reads from the will: “I want you to understand this simple truth: Though the art is beautiful and valuable almost beyond measure, I would have traded it all for just one more day with the wife I always adored…How can I convince you that I cared nothing about the commercial value of the art? How can I prove to you how special Ruth really was to me? How will you never forget that my love for her was at the heart of every piece we ever purchased? The terms of my will – and the auction – are simple: I have decided that whoever bought the Portrait of Ruth would receive the art collection in its entirety, effective immediately. And because it is no longer mine to offer, the rest of the auction is hereby canceled.”
The superscript to Psalm 5 reads:
To the Chief Musician. With Flutes. A Psalm of David.
Applying the pattern that we saw in Habakkuk’s prayer and Hezekiah’s psalm, “To the Chief Musician. With Flutes” should be a subscript to Psalm 4. The transliteration of the Hebrew word for “flutes” is n-h-l-th, all consonants. In the 7th century AD, the Masoretes inserted the vowel, -i, to create the word, nehiloth, meaning, to bore. This would imply that David meant for the psalm to be accompanied with wind instruments, or more specifically, flutes. This adds nothing to the meaning of the psalm.
However all early manuscripts understand an -a to be inserted, making the word, nehaloth, which means, inheritance. The LXX reads, “concerning her that inherits.” Two 4th century revisions of the LXX, by Aquila and Symmachus, read, “Divisions of Inheritance” and “Allotments” respectively. Old Latin versions read similarly. The Douhy-Reems Bible, an English translation based on the Latin Vulgate, reads, “for her that obtaineth the inheritance.”
Applying the concept of an inheritance to Psalm 4 gives us a very interesting understanding. The psalm begins:
“Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness…”
David doesn’t say, “O God who gives me righteousness.” God isn’t performing a transaction to make David righteous. Rather, he is declaring that God is his righteousness. His life within me is what makes me right before Him. The Lord is our inheritance – He is all we need!
David continues in verse 2:
"How long, O you sons of men,
Will you turn my glory to shame?
How long will you love worthlessness
And seek falsehood?"
This psalm is positioned between the humiliating defeat of David with Absalom in Psalm 3, and his glorious victory over Goliath in Psalm 8. Through all of this David is saying our great inheritance is the Lord. In essence verse 2 is asking, “Why will you attempt to shame me with Absalom, or give me worthless praise in the victory over Goliath? Both of these are false!”
David had an understanding that many of us in the church do not today. YHWH is our inheritance, and He is all we need. No shameful experience, nor glorious victory can separate us from Him!
David tells us to think about this (Selah):
“Offer the sacrifices of righteousness” (vs 4).
This doesn’t mean a particular type of animal sacrifice. Instead David is instructing Israel to sacrifice your emotions of guilt, shame, and loneliness when going through a shameful valley. Recognize that God is still with you and is the One lifting up your head. Likewise when standing on a victorious mountain, recognize that “the battle was the Lord’s”, and He gave you that victory.
Paul taps into this understanding in 1 Corinthians 1:30, when he says:
“But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption”
Jesus is out inheritance – and we need nothing more!