WOW – Word of the Week Bible Study, Jan 7, 2015
Strong’s #H1692 dābaq
Dābaq is a verb used 55 times in the Old Testament and is most often translated as “cling” in the NASB. This word means adhere to, abide fast, cleave, joined together, intertwined like reeds woven into a basket, and resisting separation. The same Hebrew word is translated as “joined” in Genesis 2:24 and describes the devotion and intimacy God desires to be part of every marriage, becoming as one flesh.
In II Kings 18: 1-6, King Hezekiah “did right in the sight of the Lord… He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel… for he clung (dābaq) to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses.”
In Jeremiah 13:11, we learn that the nation of Israel was made for the very purpose of clinging to the Lord like a waistband clings to a man’s waist. In the Psalms, David uses this term as he writes of a thirsting soul being satisfied in God: “Because Your loving-kindness is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name… For You have been my help, and in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy. My soul clings (dābaq) to You; Your right hand upholds me.” (Psalm 63: 3-4, 7-8).
The events in the book of Deuteronomy take place during the last few weeks of Moses’ life. He uses the term dābaq to describe the way Israel was to adhere themselves to the Lord, sticking to Him as with glue…. “You shall fear the Lord your God; you shall serve Him and cling (dābaq) to Him… But it shall come about, if you do not obey the Lord your God… The Lord will make the pestilence cling (dābaq) to you until it has consumed you…” (Deuteronomy 10:20; 28:15, 21).
Later, at the end of Joshua’s life, he would use the term dābaq to warn these same people about their closeness to those not loyal to the Lord. “You are to cling (dābaq) to the Lord your God… take diligent heed to yourselves to love the Lord your God. For if you ever go back and cling (dābaq) to the rest of these nations, these which remain among you, and intermarry with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, know with certainty that the Lord your God will not continue to drive these nations out before you; but they will be a snare and a trap to you, and a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you.” (Joshua 23:8, 11-13).
In the New Testament, we find a similar teaching from Paul: “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? …Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE, says the Lord… And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me, says the Lord Almighty.” (II Corinthians 6:14, 17-18). We are to cling (dābaq) to the Lord, not the world.
New Testament bonus verse: Romans 12:9 “Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.” Abhor (G655) means to utterly detest. Cling (H2853) means to stick or to glue.