by Kenneth F. Sheets
The word selah is a transliteration, not translation, of the Hebrew word sĕläh (not sēläh), which occurs 74 times in the English Bible where it functions grammatically much like an interjection. An interjection is a word that can, and often does, stand alone and which “interjects” some thought or idea into a context, especially thoughts or ideas expressing emotion. Though sĕläh does appear to function this way in most, if not all, of its occurrences, limitation of the word to such use misses the reason for its inclusion in the text of Scripture. God is the one who established the importance of the word as He moved His holy writers of Scripture to use it so frequently. Thus, despite the fact that many an interpreter has puzzled over its significance, especially when using only the English text or applying only a rudimentary knowledge of Hebrew, the fact that God used sĕläh in His revelation of Himself and His design for life indicates He intended it to be understood. God did not give His Word to be a collection of difficult-to-understand secrets; He gave it to reveal Himself to man. This is the supreme principle that gives man assurance that God intended humans to be able to understand the words He used, and sĕläh is one such word.
The word sĕläh occurs in this specific form 71 times in the Psalms and 3 times in Habakkuk. One other occurrence, found in 2 Kings 14:7, of this same English spelling is not from the same Hebrew root and is not the sĕläh under consideration here. While the Psalms and Habakkuk usage gives some sense of the word’s meaning, the use of its s-l-h Hebrew root in other contexts clarifies this meaning. God provided this clarification by moving the writers of Scripture to use this root 4 times in verb form, though sĕläh itself appears to be a noun related to the action associated with this s-l-h root. Two of these verb occurrences, one in Psalm 119:118 and the other in Lamentations 1:15, represent the LORD as having “trodden down” individuals that have violated the criteria of His design for life, that is, they have turned from His way, His standard, and for this reason, He has “trodden them down.” This “trodding down,” however, is not some random act of God; the “trodding” is a manifestation of His rejection of those who have rejected Him and His authority over their lives. The LORD has, therefore, in each case, made an evaluation of the “rejecters,” that is, He has “evaluated, compared, valued” them with respect to how they have lived His standard, His design criteria, for life. In both cases, those who were “trodden,” that is, “rejected by God’s evaluation,” were those who had rejected Him, undoubtedly thinking they could escape His evaluation by rejecting His standard. Accordingly, from these two references, the s-l-h Hebrew verbal root appears to involve valuing, evaluation, comparison.
Long before this s-l-h root was used by Jeremiah in Lamentations and in most of its occurrences in the Psalms, God firmly established His intended meaning of sĕläh by using the s-l-h root in two of the most ancient Scripture references, both in the book of Job. In chapter 28, verses 16 and 19, of this book, dating back some 4,200 years to the pre-Abrahamic era, God provided a record of Job’s thoughts regarding the wisdom of his Creator. As this ancient holy man recounted the inestimable value of wisdom, he made two statements where he used the verb form of the s-l-h Hebrew root of sĕläh. In these references, the English text translates Job’s Hebrew text as saying that “wisdom,” hkŏkmäh, could not “be valued” by gold, even pure gold. The Hebrew verb translated “be valued” in each verse is the s-l-h root. Thus, instead of taking a later, more obscure definition developed from usage around the time of David (c. 1000 B.C.) and imposing it upon the words of Job, words which predate David by over 1,000 years, one must take the clear meaning of Job and apply that to all later usage. The Job meaning, a meaning which involves “valuing, evaluating, comparing, assessing” may then be brought forward and tested in the other references, with the result that it coincides perfectly with the other two verb uses, and with the “noun” use where translated sĕläh.
The significance of sĕläh is thus: it is a noun of action, which may be used somewhat as an interjection, and when inserted into the Psalms signifies that those who read or hear are to perform the action of “valuing” what they have just heard or read, that is, they are “to place the appropriate value upon what they have heard, evaluating its relationship to their lives, and considering how their lives correspond to that which they have received.” A derived sense of sĕläh may be stated: the hearers/readers are to “meditate upon” the truth they have just received in order to determine how it is to be applied to life. The basic concept, however, does not focus on the action of “meditation,” but on “the valuing, the ascribing of a right level of value” as God determines value.
Of course, just as present day man uses musical compositions to encourage reflection on the truths of God’s revelation, the ancient Hebrews did the same. Thus, the pronouncement of sĕläh in formal worship may have been accompanied by some sort of musical interlude, perhaps with human voices, the sounding of trumpets, or any of a number of musical devices to remind the hearer to evaluate for application that which he or she was hearing. This would be similar to such modern musical productions as the “Hallelujah Chorus,” wherein the words and the music are correlated to one another in order to encourage a worshipful attitude, but also wherein the music alone, without the words, can stir that same worship because it is so designed to reflect the message of the words. “Selah,” then, brings all this together, reminding the hearer, the reader, the singer, to interact with the expressions of God’s truth according to their value, evaluating and considering their every aspect, and responding appropriately. This is God’s design for worship, and sĕläh reminds man to keep his worship a matter of the heart and not just the performance of external actions.