READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS
PART LXXVIII
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Psalms 135, 136, and 138
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Psalms 135 and 136 are both litanies. The primary difference between them is that Psalm 136 uses only response. Robert Alter’s translation of that response is:
for His kindness is forever.
In TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures, the response is:
His steadfast love is eternal.
Psalms 135 and 136 praise God, the Creator, active in history. They recall God’s mighty acts of deliverance. One may reasonably imagine a postexilic Temple liturgy as returned exiles struggled to rebuild their lives in their ancestral homeland. As they recalled what God had done, they waited for what God would do next. Some of the people praying did so impatiently; why had God not done more and done it sooner?
Psalm 138, an individual prayer, shares a link with Psalm 136. Psalm 138:8 reads:
The LORD will settle accounts for me.
O LORD, Your steadfast love is eternal;
do not forsake the work of Your hands.
—TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures
This prayer follows praise of God and remembrance of deliverance from enemies of God. The psalmist needs rescue again.
Why has God not done more and done it sooner? Why is divine deliverance necessary again? This is the tension in which many individuals, families, congregations, and communities live. Yet we recall what God has done and hope for what God will do next. Such impatience is predictable. I know the feeling of such impatience. Perhaps you, O reader, know it, also. Such impatience does not constitute an offense in my theology; it recurs throughout the Psalter and finds a relative in the Book of Job. The spiritual issue which demands attention is what we do with it. Do we, like Job and the Psalter, take it to God? If so, we handle this impatience properly.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
FEBRUARY 21, 2023 COMMON ERA
SHROVE TUESDAY
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN HENRY NEWMAN, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST-CARDINAL
THE FEAST OF SAINT ARNULF OF METZ, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; AND SAINT GERMANUS OF GRANFEL, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND MARTYR, 677
THE FEAST OF HENRY JOHN GAUNTLETT, ANGLICAN ORGANIST AND COMPOSER
THE FEAST OF SAINT ROBERT SOUTHWELL, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1595
THE FEAST OF SAINT THOMAS PORMORT, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1592
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BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
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