Psalm 63:8 My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me. The Hebrew here really pulls the meaning of this out: My whole being (nephesh means “living being” – it’s where the soul, emotions, passions, will, and intellect reside – those things that make me human) follows closely after. Your right hand right hand supports me. My nephesh follows closely after or clings to Him. That means that everything that makes me who I am is following him: my emotions, my will (decisions), my intellect, my soul. That’s a tall order. Do I follow so closely after God that I press up against Him, getting underfoot, making it difficult to tell where one stops and the other starts? It I get that close I have to lean on Him. If He moves suddenly I’ll lose my balance. So His right hand supports me as I follow and cling. I think it’s interesting that the word for right hand or right side is repeated (it’s not in the English, but it is in the Hebrew – yamiyn yamiyn). That means there’s an emphasis on it making it more strongly stressed. Perhaps it’s because the right hand was important (many or most people are right handed)? Maybe it shows our value that God would use his “dominant” hand to support us. I don’t know. I tried to see if there is some particular symbolism or importance associated with God’s right hand, but I didn’t come up with much. One place, an e-zine article by Jeff Benner of the Ancient Hebrew Research Center said that the right hand is seen as being stronger, therefore the right hand of God is the strength of God. That definitely does seem to lend some insight into why that word is emphasized. His strength strength supports me. The point of the emphasis is to show just how strong He is, and He uses that strength to hold us as we follow closely. For example, when my littlest boy starts to fall over (he’s a little uncoordinated but exceedingly cute), if he’s within arm’s reach I steady him with my hands. But if he’s too far away, he’s outside the reach of my arms and he’s on his own… This verse seems to be that same image. Stick close to God and He uses His great strength to support me. Jeff A. Benner Ancient Hebrew Research Center