READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS
PART XL
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Psalm 52
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The superscription of Psalm 52 links the text to 1 Samuel 22:9-11, which follows:
Doeg the Edomite, who was standing among the courtiers of Saul, spoke up: “I saw the son of Jesse come to Ahimelech son of Ahitub at Nob. He inquired of the LORD on his behalf and gave him provisions; he also gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.” Thereupon the king sent for the priest Ahimelech son of Ahitub and for all the priests belonging to his father’s house at Nob. They all came to the king….
—TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985, 1999)
King Saul ordered the deaths of those priests, women, children, infants, and livestock. Taking the “wrong” side in a civil war has long been risky.
The superscription does not apply to the psalm, though. Notice, O reader, that Doeg spoke honestly. Yet read these lines from Psalm 52:
You love all destructive words,
the tongue of deceit.
–Verse 6, Robert Alter
The psalmist contrasts his situation–being “like a thriving olive tree in God’s house”–with that of his foe, uprooted from the land of the living by God. The reference to the olive tree is crucial; it indicates that the psalmist seeks to remain in or near the Temple.
Words matter. Slander and libel are crimes for a good reason: character assassination has long-term consequences. One case in the news as I drafted this post involved a University of Idaho professor falsely implicated in social media in the murder of students. Law enforcement officials attested to his innocence and arrested a suspect. Lies travel rapidly over social media outlets, so the professor was suing.
May we speak truthful words. May our words build up each other and help to create or maintain the common good. May they defame nobody. Words matter, after all. In mythology, God spoke creation into existence. Our words also create. What do they create?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 15, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY, YEAR A
THE FEAST OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER AND MARTYR, 1968
THE FEAST OF BERTHA PAULSSEN, GERMAN-AMERICAN SEMINARY PROFESSOR, PSYCHOLOGIST, AND SOCIOLOGIST
THE FEAST OF GUSTAVE WEIGEL, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND ECUMENIST
THE FEAST OF JOHN COSIN, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF DURHAM
THE FEAST OF JOHN MARINUS VERSTEEG, U.S. METHODIST MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT NIKOLAUS GROSS, GERMAN ROMAN CATHOLIC OPPONENT OF NAZISM, AND MARTYR, 1945
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BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
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