Apple of My Eye

Psalm 17:8 Keep me as the apple of the eye.
As Lynate and I waited for our final plane to depart for Raleigh, we read Psalm 17 together. The NIV translation is pretty easy to understand or explain but phrases like this are thick and juicy. They bring about cherished memories of family and friends’ love. This one seems to be so rich and while I gave her the explanation I have long held, I had to check myself tonight.

What a phrase and praise! But what does it mean? My grandmother use to say this to me as a little girl. She also made the best apple pies that I’ve ever had. Her crusts were flaky and perfect. I can’t wait to be a grandma to cook like that. But I digress…did she call me that because I was as precious to her as apples were to her pie? Did I give her sweetnesses and fulfillment just as the apples gave her pie?

Obviously this phrase is not just a couple generations old. David prayed to God that he would remain that close and be protected by him. And even before that Moses spoke of God’s care for his people in Deuteronomy. The Hebrew translation literally means “the little man of your eye” which might come from the reflection you can see of yourself in a person’s pupil.
According to Michael Quinion, a British scholar who writes definitions for the Oxford Dictionary among many other academic endeavors, believes the English phrase is as old as the 9th century.

“At this time, the pupil of the eye was thought to be a solid object and was actually called the apple, presumably because an apple was the most common globular object around. So the apple of one’s eye was at first a literal phrase describing the pupil. Because sight was so precious, someone who was called this as an endearment was similarly precious, and the phrase took on the figurative sense we retain.”

So while my own experience with my pie-baking grandma might not be used as the entry for the next encyclopedia of cliches, I can be affirmed:
1) I translated well enough for Lynate.
2) I have experienced this preciousness from as both the apple and the eye.
3) I can rest knowing God holds me close regardless of translation.