Metaphors and idioms have always been used to elevate human communication.  You could tell your children blandly, “if you start something early, you stand a better chance of success.” Or instead you could use an effective idiom to get your message across, “the early bird catches the worm.”  You can say, “it’s better to have something certain rather than the possibility of more elsewhere.”  But it’s much more poetic to say, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”  Also you can boast about your accomplishments to a friend, or you can stick it to them with a statement like, “How do you like them apples!”

Metaphors and idioms are part of the poetry of language.  The gift of poetic communication is something to be treasured, and God even uses it in the Scriptures.  When describing his identity as the Messiah, Jesus uses the following metaphors: the Door (John 9:7-10), the Good Shepherd (John 9:11-18), the Light of the World (John 8:12; 9:5), the Vine (John 15:1-10), etc.

In the Old Testament, the poetry of Moses, David, and the prophets adds originality and rhetorical force to the Word of God.  The metaphors of Jeremiah and Isaiah are vivid. The pictures painted in Ezekiel are frightening.  The songs of the Psalter are inspiring.  And the euphemisms in Song of Solomon are creative, stimulating, and mysterious.

One of the more interesting metaphors in Scripture is found in Psalm 103.  The Psalmist describes Yahweh, the God of the Israelites, as having “a long nose” (Psalm 103:8).  This statement is not readily apparent in English translations, because the English versions have interpreted the metaphor with their rendering of the text (something which is necessary from time to time to avoid confusion).  But literally the Psalmist says that Yahweh is “long of nose” or even more literally, “long of nostrils” (see also Exod 34:6; Num 14:18; Neh 9:17; Ps 86:15; 145:8; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2; Nah 1:3).

The meaning of this metaphor would have been quite clear to the Israelites.  In Proverbs 14:29 we are told that “a person who is long of nostrils has great understanding, but a quick-tempered person displays folly.”  Someone who is long of nostrils is the opposite of someone who is quick-tempered.  That person is patient, longsuffering, and slow to anger.  This is the gist of what it means to have long nostrils in Hebrew parlance.

In Psalm 103:8, we are told that Yahweh is compassionate, gracious, long of nostrils (“slow to anger”), and abounding in loving-kindness (v. 8).  God is not only the opposite of a quick-tempered hot-head, but his natural instinct is to show grace, love, and compassion. What a magnificent God we serve!

Now there are two important things to be drawn from this metaphor about God.  First of all, we must understand that God is “slow to anger,” but that doesn’t mean that God is “devoid of anger.”  There is good evidence throughout the Bible that God gets angry, and we don’t want to be on his bad-side when his wrath gets poured out.  This is even true of our Lord Jesus Christ, despite the portraits some people paint of him as a peace-sign flashing, bandana-wearing hippie who kept saying, “Can’t we just all get along!”  I wouldn’t have wanted to be one of the money changers in the temple when Jesus chased all of them out with a whip in his hand, while yelling at them with righteous indignation (John 2:13-16).

God hates sin, and anger is an inescapable part of his character.  In fact, there is no such thing as love without anger.  Judgment, justice, discipline, and correction are all necessary in God’s fatherly expression of love for his children (just ask any parent of a small child).  Compassion without expectation is enablement.  Redemption without retribution is placation.  In the words of one Evangelical Christian leader, “Love must be Tough!”

Secondly, the message of Psalm 103:8 emphasizes God’s reluctance to actuate his anger.  He loves to pour out compassion, grace, and affection on his children.  He has done it numerous times for 6000+ years of human history.  The most radical display of his love took place at the cross of Calvary.  In that place, Jesus Christ took upon himself the penalty of sin and death, and set captive humanity free.  We would have been crushed by God’s wrath, but thanks to the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, we can be embraced as children of God (John 1:12; Rom 8:12-17).

Praise be to God, who is long of nostrils and abundant in mercy.  I pray that the knowledge of Jesus Christ will become more abundant throughout our community, our country, and our world, so that more people will be called the Children of God.  Amen.