READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS
PART XLIII
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Psalms 57, 60, 108, and 142
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Psalms 57, 60, 108, and 142 are similar to each other.
The superscription of Psalm 57 links the text to 1 Samuel 24 and 26, when David fled into a cave while on the run from King Saul. This superscription is dubious, for the psalm refers to more than one enemy–“man-eating lions,” poetically. The text affirms that God is more powerful than those foes. Therefore, the psalmist sings hymns to God while surrounded by violent enemies.
The superscription of Psalm 60 links the text to 2 Samuel 8:3-8 and 10:6-18, when David
fought with Aram-Naharaim and Aram-Zobah, and Joab returned and defeated Edom–[an army] of twelve thousand men–in the Valley of Salt.
Psalm 60, following the dubious superscription, claims that God has rejected the people because of their habitual, unrepentant transgression of the moral code in the Law of Moses. Toward the end of the psalm, the author complains that God is not marching with the army–whether Judean or Israelite–into battles. This context belies the tacked-on superscription.
Psalm 108 replicates portions of Psalms 57 and 60. Sources tell me that, in antiquity, copying and pasting like this was an accepted practice. Psalm 108 merges an individual supplication and a national lament. Given the triumphant tone of 57 and the downcast plea in Psalm 60, Psalm 108 gives me theological whiplash. When I read that this compositing occurred after the Babylonian Exile, I conclude that this explanation makes sense, given the communal mixed emotions of that period. Regardless of past triumphs in God, the people of God are never far away from needing deliverance again. And the feeling of rejection by God makes sense historically in the postexilic context, as the Hebrew Bible details that time.
The superscription of Psalm 142 links that text to David in a cave. That is another dubious superscription. These dubious superscriptions involving David reveal the extent to which many people had David on the brain. I conclude that before Christians started looking for Jesus in the Hebrew Bible like Waldo in a Where’s Waldo? book and taking that quest to ridiculous extremes, many Jews pioneered that pattern by searching for scenes in David’s life that fit or nearly fit psalms, assuming that one did not read the germane psalm closely. Psalm 142 is an individual lament of someone beset by enemies (Note the plural form.) and whose only hope for rescue is from God. The text is sufficiently vague to fit a host of circumstances.
The unifying thematic thread is that God is the only hope for deliverance. These are tangible circumstances, not spiritual abstractions. The enemies may conquer the kingdom. My enemies may kill me. I recall that God has rescued me. That is the gist of the circumstances.
We all depend entirely upon God. We also rely on each other. For example, we depend upon each other’s labor. So, interdependence, not independence, is the rule, in societal terms. This pattern of interdependence framed within dependence upon God is profoundly countercultural in my global Western culture. Yes, we are weak, compared to God, especially. Do we–collectively and individually–dare to admit that reality?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 17, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT ANTONY OF EGYPT, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND FATHER OF WESTERN MONASTICISM
THE FEAST OF SAINTS DEICOLA AND GALL, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONKS; AND SAINT OTHMAR, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AT SAINT GALLEN
THE FEAST OF JAMES WOODROW, SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, NATURALIST, AND ALLEGED HERETIC
THE FEAST OF SAINT PACHOMIUS THE GREAT, FOUNDER OF CHRISTIAN COMMUNAL MONASTICISM
THE FEAST OF RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
THE FEAST OF THOMAS A. DOOLEY, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC PHYSICIAN AND HUMANITARIAN
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BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
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