selah

the word “selah” shows up 74 times in scripture, most often at the end of a psalm that begins with instructions to the choir director, or musical leader. at the end of these musical petitions of the people of god, there is this simple instruction - “selah”. the psalms were written by king david, a man who is depicted in the bible as both holy and wholly loved by god. but david is also depicted as wretched with sin, consumed with his own desires and humanness. and in all of these bundled contradictions of the person of david, he is called a man after god’s own heart, a man that god truly loved.

we are all “david”... bundled contradiction of the holiness within and the humanness without. and since david included the word “selah” in many of his petitions, i think it may be important to understand why he chose this word, and pay attention to it.

from the little that i have studied so far, i have found that apparently the word “selah” is hard to define. but here is what i have found -

there is speculation that the word “selah”, when used in scripture, was probably either a liturgico-musical mark or an instruction on how to read the text, something like "stop and listen to what you just heard”.

selah. stop and listen.

the word “selah” is derived from the hebrew root word “salah” (סלה), which when literally interpreted, means "to hang", in the aspect of weighing or measuring something. historically, food and other necessities were weighed by hanging them from a measuring scale to figure out their value, to figure out what they were worth.

selah. to hang.

the greek term “selah” is used to signify a change in thought and theme at a certain time, a shift in direction, a change in course.

selah. a change in direction.

"selah" notes a break or pause in the musical psalm or passage of scripture. in this way, it is similar in purpose to the word “amen” (amen literally meaning “so be it”) in that it stresses the importance of the preceding passage, the preceeding time, the preceeding thought.

selah. so be it.

the word “selah” is sometimes defined as "forever" in the context of liturgy. psalm 84.4 says “blessed are those who dwell in your house, they are praising you. selah”; yet in other interpretations that omit “selah”, it reads “blessed are those who dwell in your house, they are praising you forever”.

selah. forever.

so we have “stop and listen”, “to hang”, “a change in direction”, “so be it”, and “forever”.
i don’t believe it to be an accident that this little five-letter word has jumped off of the page into my field of vision time and time again this year. because these ideas, these phrases, have been inside of me throughout this journey. this year has been, and will hopefully continue to be, my “selah”. a time when i have chosen to stop… to stop and listen. to think about what has happened, to pay attention to what is really going on, and to let the pieces fall where they may without trying to manage them away. to hang in this moment no matter how uncomfortable or painful, and remember to be gentle with myself because i am a child of the god of the universe, valued no less than the trees, the stars, and the entirety of existence. to remember that i chose this change in direction. i chose to step off of the path i had worn for myself of normal expected destinations, and rejoice in the hard work of wearing for myself a new path that is all and entirely my own. that in this process and journey, i am becoming the rest of who i am.