READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS
PART LXIV
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Psalms 105, 106, 107, 126, and 137
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Psalms 106, 126, and 137 reflect the harrowing experience of the Babylonian Exile. Psalms 105, 106, and 107 are similar yet different. Hence, I write based on these five psalms in this post.
The Hebrew Bible has a small collection of repeated “God is…” statements. The more common manner of explaining divine attributes is to recall what God has done and to state what God does. By extension, we humans–both collectively and individually–are like what we do and have done. Judaism, having neither invented nor accepted Augustinian Original Sin, teaches that we can keep the covenant if only we will; doing so is neither beyond our reach nor too difficult for us (Deuteronomy 30:11-14). Sirach 15:15, a Jewish text from the Hellenistic period, agrees:
If you wish, you can keep the commandments,
and to behave faithfully is within your power.
—The Jerusalem Bible (1966)
Psalms 105, 106, and 107, taken together, present a stark contrast between divine faithfulness and human infidelity, with its terrible consequences.
Although Robert Alter dates the composition of Psalm 137 to the early part of the Babylonian Exile, The Jewish Study Bible, Second Edition (2014) places composition after the Babylonian Exile. Either way, the anger and resentment of exiles is palpable in the text. Why should it not be so? The treacherous Edomites bear the brunt of particularly potent venom. Without attempting a justification of
Happy who seizes and smashes your infants against the rock,
(to quote Robert Alter’s translation), I ask one question:
What else did you expect?
Treating a population harshly frequently and predictably leads to such resentment, complete with revenge fantasies.
Etymology tells us that the English word “anger” derives from the Old Norse angr, meaning “grief.” We mourn that which we have lost. So, we become angry. If all we do with that anger is to take it to God, we do well. However, if we permit that anger to consume us, we harm ourselves.
Whether Psalm 126 anticipates the end of the Babylonian Exile or reflects upon it, having happened, is a matter of scholarly debate. Either way, the juxtaposition of Psalm 126 to Psalms 106 and 137 works well and continues the story. That God ended the Babylonian Exile pays off Psalm 106:47:
Deliver us, O LORD our God,
and gather us from among the nations.
—TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures
The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah detail a portion of the troubles returned exiles endured. Beside those books one may properly read the conclusion of Psalm 126:
Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like watercourses in the Negeb.
Those who sow in tears
shall reap with songs of joy.
Though he goes along weeping,
carrying the seed-bag,
he shall come back with songs of joy,
carrying his sheaves.
—TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
FEBRUARY 7, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF HELDER CAMARA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF OLINDA AND RECIFE
THE FEAST OF SAINT ADALBERT NIERYCHLEWSKI, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1942
THE FEAST OF DANIEL J. HARRINGTON, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF GREGORIO ALLEGRI, ITALIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, COMPOSER, AND SINGER; AND HIS BROTHER, DOMENICO ALLEGRI, ITALIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC COMPOSER AND SINGER
THE FEAST OF SAINT MOSES, APOSTLE TO THE SARACENS
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM BOYCE AND JOHN ALCOCK, ANGLICAN COMPOSERS
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
Leave a Reply