Psalms 32-34

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POST XII OF LX

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The Book of Common Prayer (1979) includes a plan for reading the Book of Psalms in morning and evening installments for 30 days.  I am therefore blogging through the Psalms in 60 posts.

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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 226

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Psalm 34 occurs in the context of 1 Samuel 21:12-15.  In that story, David, on the run from King Saul, also fears King Achish of Gath.  Our hero, therefore, acts like a lunatic, so that Achish will expel him.  Psalm 34 extols God for protecting the faithful, but one should not underestimate David’s acting abilities either.

That trust in God exists in Psalms 32 and 33 also.  God is the master of history in Psalm 33.  That text also affirms something previous Psalms have argued:  God, not the military alone, brings about victory in war.  Psalm 32 reflects the belief (contrary to the omniscient voice in the Book of Job) that illness necessarily results from sin.  Thus the text links confession and recovery.  Yes, many illnesses result from one’s bad conduct, but sometimes defects lurk in one’s DNA or we are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Or maybe one is simply in the presence of non-hygienic children who spread viruses and diseases.  Or, in the case of Job 1 and 2, one is an unwilling pawn in a heavenly wager.

In each of the three texts assigned we read affirmations of fidelity to and trust in God.  The advice of Psalm 34:15 is timeless:

Shun evil and do good,

seek peace and pursue it.

–Mitchell J. Dahood translation

The translation of that verse in TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985) reads:

Shun evil and do good,

seek amity and pursue it.

A note in TANAKH informs me that an alternative translation to “amity” is “integrity.”

Of course, many who shun evil commit it anyway, by accident.  Also, many people agree that we should seek and pursue peace/amity/integrity, but what does that mean in practical terms in various circumstances?  May we, by grace, discern that and act accordingly.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 8, 2017 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARY MACKILLOP, FOUNDER OF THE SISTERS OF SAINT JOSEPH OF THE SACRED HEART

THE FEAST OF SAINT DOMINIC, FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS

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