Biblical Shadows: On God as our Shade

Biblical Shadows: On God as our Shade.

“O Lord, You are my God! I will exult You, I will praise Your name, for You have done wonderful things… You have been a stronghold for the helpless, a defense for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm, a shade (“tsel”) from the heat.” (Isaiah 25:1, 4).

“Tsel” = the Hebrew word that means shade or shadow, and represents relief from scorching heat and protection from the elements in life that are difficult to endure. Two related words are “tselen” which is used in being “made in God’s image” and refers to a shaded image of a more substantial reality; and “tsalmavel” which is the phrase the “shadow of death” and means a profound and total darkness that signals a life-threatening danger.

“My help comes from the Lord.” Encouraging pictures of God as our tsel, our dependable source of shade, is found in other fascinating passages. Psalm 121 is a celebration of the Lord as our faithful guardian, our keeper of the soul. The song is a triumphant meditation of a believer in the Lord’s character, an inner dialogue on how his God is trustworthy, as stable and immovable as the mountains in Israel. And the psalmist goes on to encourage others to believe as he does in God as the ultimate helper. “Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade (“tsel”); He is beside you at your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will protect you from all evil. He will keep your life. The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and for evermore.”  (Ps. 121:4-8).

Tabernacle Shade. One of Isaiah’s messianic prophecies exclaims that “the Lord will create over the whole site of Mt. Zion, over every dwelling place and over all who assemble there, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory shall be a canopy of divine love and protection. And it will be a tabernacle tent for shade (“tsel”) in the daytime heat, a place of refuge, and a shelter from storm and rain.” (Isaiah 4:5-6).

Fulfillment of Heavenly Shade. John’s vision of the messianic rule at the close of time completely confirms Isaiah’s anticipation… “The One Who is sitting on the throne will spread His tabernacle tent over them and shelter them with His presence. They will never hunger or thirst again; the sun and scorching heat will never plague them.” (Revelation 7:15-16).

Love as He Loves. George MacDonald once proclaimed that every Christian should be a refuge. Every follower of Jesus should mature in caring for others as He cares for us. Since God is shade for us, then He will enable us to become a shade for each other. Isaiah’s messianic vision seems to say much the same thing. Isaiah mentions a time when during messianic rule will be a time when righteousness will prevail and each person will come alongside the other and serve as a refuge of love. “Each man will be like a shelter from the wind and a hiding place from the rain. They will be like streams of water on parched ground and the shade (“tsel”) of a great rock in a weary land.” (Isaiah 32:2).  Other versions of that last phrase include… “like the cool shadow of a massive cliff in a land weary from the burning sun”; “like the shade from a giant boulder in a desolate land;”  “like a huge granite outcrop giving shade in the barren desert.” How’s that for a picture of Christian’s ministry in the world, in our land that is so often parched with a scorching heat from the sun that practically makes us wilt? God is our shade, and so let us be shade for each other.