ON THE VANGUARD

STEPPING ON THE ENEMY
“You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.”
Psalm 91:13

I am about to share with you one of my greatest fears. I am afraid of snakes. It is true; I can barely look at them in the pet store, and can only say I have touched a snake twice in my life. It doesn’t matter if they are poisonous or not, I become paralyzed with fear. A few years back I had the closet experience I ever want to have. I was out mowing the grass and was moving a few things around in the back acreage. When I moved a piece of plywood, a black rat snake popped up. Not caring how it looked, I ran back to the house screaming like a little school girl. My wife at the time asked me what was wrong, and when I told her, she wanted me to show her the snake. What? I just ran away from the snake! With an axe, shovel, weed whacker, lawn mower, and wife (for bait), we walked out to see the snake. But it was gone. The remainder of my mowing experience was spent with one eye watching the brush and the other watching under my feet.
This experience of me as a scared school girl is very contrary to Psalm 91:13 where we are told we will tread on lions and serpents. But what does this really mean, and what does it look like. To answer this, we again would be wise to look at the Hebrew words found in this verse. The first word I want us to define is ‘tread’, which is the word DARAK. The translation of this word is a marching on, but is also translated as an archer. In both ways this word relates here. God has given us the power to march on the lion and serpent, but He has also given us the skill and weapons to hit our target as an archer hits the bulls-eye.
And what are these lions and serpents that we target and march on? The word for ‘lion’ here is SHACHAL, meaning a literal lion. This word, however, is also translated as wicked men. In Job 4:10 we see this meaning in place as we read, “The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce (wicked men), and the teeth of the young lion, are broken.” How are they broken? In Job 4:9 we see they are broken at the breath of God and the blast of His anger, while in 4:11 we read also for a lack of prey. We must stop being the prey and rise with the power of God’s anger to destroy the lion that looks to destroy us.
But we are also told we will march on ‘serpents’. This word is PETHEN, translating literally as venomous serpents. Look again to Job, Job 20:12 specifically, where we read that evil is sweet in the mouth. This evil, during the course of only a few verses, becomes death as we read in Job 20:16, “He will suck the poison of the (venomous serpents); the fangs of a viper will kill him.” If we do not take these serpents out with the weapons God has provided us, then they can turn around and become our death.
Now here is where the English translation of this verse is different, though. We read this second portion as trampling on the great lion and serpent, but these words as even more defined in the Hebrew. The ‘great lion’ is the word KAPHIYR. Again we see two meanings, that of lions and then also of a village. Go back with me to Job 4:10. There are three instances of lion, and three different words for it. “The roaring of the (‘ARIY: image of the lion), and the voice of the fierce (SHACHAL : wicked men), and the teeth of the (KAPHIYR : village), are broken.” How again are they broken? They are broken at the breath of God, the blast of His anger, and the lack of prey. In moving from the position of lion prey to the position of one trampling on the lion, we grasp the power of God in Psalm 91:13.
Yet furthermore, we are given the power to trample the great serpent. This ‘great serpent’ is the word TANNIYN, and it means dragon, sea monster, or dinosaur. It is this word we read in Exodus 7:2, where Aaron’s rod became a great serpent and swallowed up the serpents of Pharaoh’s magicians. And it is this word in Psalm 148:7 that is commanded from the deep to praise the LORD. The power of God has been given to us to not fear the great serpent, but to tame and trample the great serpent.
In reading these words I am encouraged. Not that I will go marching through the fields to hunt for lions or look for serpents, but I now see in more light that these foes have no strength when I stand in the power of God. As Romans 8:37 tells we, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. In His love, God provides us with the power to defeat the wicked men and villages, as well as the poison spewed by the dragon. With the word and weapon of God, we will overcome the enemy, for hell itself cannot stand against God.