HEBREW WORD STUDY – OPEN MY LIPS – SEPHATI  TIPHETHACH  שׁפתי תפתח  

Psalms 51:15: “Oh Lord open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.”

“Is the Psalmist saying he will not praise the Lord if God does not open his lips and what does he mean by opening his lips?  Most Christians and commentators just pass it off as colorful poetry.  n English that is good poetry, suggesting that if God unseals his lips he will spring forth with praise.  So when we want to praise God and it just doesn’t seem to flow, we just ask God to unseal our lips and let her rip. 

Don’t get me wrong, I accept that interpretation. There are times I am so filled with praise for God but I just don’t know how to express it.  I find myself saying like the songwriter: “Oh for a thousand tongues to sing of my great redeemer’s praise.”  

In Hebrew the words “open my lips” is sephati tiphethach. These two words are playing off each other which is so typical of Hebrew poetry. The first word is spelled “Sine, Pei, Taw,” which means lips and the second is “Taw Pei Taw” which means open.  The last two letters are the same but the first two are different suggesting a remez or hint of something deeper. The Sine represents a fiery passion and the Taw represents truth.   The Psalmist is saying that he is filled with a fiery passion for truth but it is closed up and needs to be open.    

The word shaphat – lips comes from a Semitic root which means a border. I am inclined to render this as “Open my borders.”  We are all well aware of the importance of borders. In ancient times as it is today you cannot enter another country without going through a shake down.  You are asked a lot of questions and you may even have your luggage searched. If you try to pass through a border without permission, you will be arrested. A border is meant to seal off a country so you cannot get in or out without permission. Thus the Psalmist is asking God’s permission to open his borders so he can praise Him.  The word open is in a simple Qal form and comes from the root word pathak. The word has in its Semitic origins in unsheathing a sword.  Kept inside its protective sheath, the sword is of little value, once it is unsheathed, it becomes a weapon.  The Psalmist is asking God to unsheathe his lips or borders so his words of praise for God will act as a weapon. Praise is a powerful weapon against the enemy  

Some years ago there was a sort of Christian fad called, the power of praise. Your car breaks down, you lose your job, you get a bad health report, just praise God and He will make it alright. Many gave great testimonies of how this really worked.  However, for every testimony on how it worked there were dozens of how it didn’t work.  Perhaps it didn’t work because people were using it like a lucky charm or incantation to bring about a miracle. I believe the psalmist also believed in the power of praise, as I do. When the enemy tries to penetrate the borders of your heart we must call upon God to open our mouths and lips.  It is God who unsheaths that sword to protect the borders of our heart not some utterance of words that do not really stem from the heart.