Understanding Shemmah

Aug 24 / Lee Martin
 Understanding Shemmah
The Hebrew word Shemmah (שַׁמָּה) reveals a profound, paradoxical tension in the human soul: it simultaneously means "appalling desolation" and "breathtaking astonishment".
Derived from the primitive root shamem (שָׁמֵם), which means to be emotionally numbed, devastated, or laid waste, Shemmah appears roughly 39 times across the Old Testament. It is often used to describe a land stripped bare by judgment or tragedy.
However, ancient Hebrew is a language of vivid, concrete concepts. In the biblical worldview, a place of complete ruin causes anyone who encounters it to gasp. Therefore, Shemmah is not just a description of physical waste; it captures the psychological state of being utterly dumbfounded, awestruck, or frozen in paralyzing shock.
As the historical theologians behind McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia observe, the term bridges the gap between external ruin and internal consternation. It is the exact point where our human understanding breaks down, leaving us completely undone by our circumstances.


📖 The Devotional: From Desolation to Awe

🧭 Focus Scripture

"Come, behold the works of the Lord, who has made desolations (shemmah) in the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"
— Psalm 46:8–10 (NKJV)

💡 The Deep Insight
When your life feels fractured by grief, failure, or sudden trauma, your internal landscape begins to look like a Shemmah—a barren wasteland. Psychologically, this state mimics what Christian psychologists refer to as "emotional trauma response." When a crisis hits, the human nervous system enters a state of shock, frequently shutting down into a freeze response to protect itself from overwhelming pain. The mind feels desolated, quieted by the sheer weight of suffering.
Yet, Psalm 46 intentionally anchors the word Shemmah to the very hands of God: "Come, behold the works of the Lord, who has made desolations in the earth" (v. 8). How can a loving God be credited with desolation?
Theological scholar Skip Moen notes that Shemmah represents a dual-sided reality. God purposefully desolates the structures we rely on—our false security, our pride, and our self-reliance—to bring us to a state of absolute amazement at His sovereign power. He destroys the things that destroy us. He wastes our secondary kingdoms so that His primary Kingdom can take root.
When God introduces Shemmah, it forces an abrupt halt to human striving. Immediately following the mention of "desolations," the Psalmist commands: "Be still, and know that I am God" (v. 10). In the original Hebrew, "be still" (rapah) means to slacken your grip, drop your weapons, and let go.
God brings us to the end of our own strength so that our paralysis of grief can be transformed into a paralysis of holy awe. He empties the field, strips away the noise, and silences our worldly strategies so that we are left with nothing but Him.

🛠️ Personal Application
  1. Surrender the Striving: Identify an area of your life that currently feels like a chaotic wasteland. Instead of trying to rebuild it frantically in your own strength, consciously drop your hands. Tell God: "I am still. I stop fighting."
  2. Shift Your Perspective: Reframe your current crisis. Ask yourself: What false dependencies is God clearing away so that I can see His glory clearly?
  3. Rest in the Silence: Spend five minutes in complete silence today. Do not try to solve your problems. Allow the desolation of your circumstances to turn into a moment of jaw-dropping astonishment at the fact that God is still sitting on His throne.

🛐 Prayer
Lord Yahweh, my heart feels like a desolated place today, shocked and frozen by the storms of life. I confess that I have spent so much energy trying to fix what is broken. Right now, I drop my weapons. I choose to be still. Please clear away the ruins of my self-reliance and help me stand in breathtaking awe of who You are. Bring life out of this wasteland. In Jesus' name, Amen.


🗃️ Sources

  • Lexicon & Root Studies: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, Hebrew Entry #8047 (shammah).

  • Theological Cyclopedia: McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia, historical commentary on Shammah and Shemamah.

  • Hebrew Linguistics: Skip Moen's Hebrew Word Studies, analysis of shamem and the duality of human astonishment and desolation.

  • Etymological Roots: Abarim Publications’ Biblical Dictionary, structural exploration of the root shamem.

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