Psalm 143 and 144: Like a Passing Shadow

Above:  Rose Dhu Cemetery, Vidette, Georgia

Image Source = Google Earth

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READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART LXXX

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Psalms 143 and 144

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Sometimes in the Hebrew Psalter, identifying the singular voice can be challenging.  The psalms are poetry (Duh!), and personification is a poetic device.  So, the singular voice, seemingly of a person, may be the personified voice of the Jewish exiles or former exiles, for example.  This may be the case in Psalm 144, in which the singular pronouns give way to plural pronouns.  Alternatively, Psalm 144 may be an edited and re-edited text.  Or both hypotheses may be accurate.

As we approach the conclusion of the Book of Psalms, we continue to encounter motifs common in the Psalter.  The dead, in Sheol, cannot praise God.  Preserve my life, please, O God.  Save me from my enemies, O YHWH.  Destroy my foes, too.  Human beings are transitory; God is forever.  These are motifs I have addressed in previous posts in this series.

These psalms acknowledge the contrast between divine righteousness and human righteousness.  Hesed–steadfast love–is a defining characteristic of God.  Psalms keep referring to hesed.  It delivers the faithful from enemies.  Hesed guides the people of God, too.  Hesed forgives.  Then there are people.  Regardless of how pious many of them are, human beings are still like a breath–or, as Psalm 103 tells us, “dust.”  Our days are like a passing shadow (Psalm 144:4).

I have walked in old cemeteries and read headstones.  Reading some of these headstones has proven difficult because of the toll the elements have taken on grave markers.  The people buried in many of these graves lived so long ago that no living person remembers them.  In one sense, these deceased persons are as if they had never lived.

Eventually, O reader, you and I will join them in that status.  Our days are like passing shadows.  Yet our righteousness matters; it is faithful response to God.  And our lives matter, for we affect people we meet and many others whom we will never encounter.  As I ponder my family tree, I understand how two great-grandfathers I never met and one grandfather who died when I was three years old contributed to shaping my character, for both good and ill.  Our days are like passing shadows, butour shadows linger after we die.

So, O reader, make you contribution as positive as possible.  You can succeed, by grace.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

FEBRUARY 23, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE SECOND DAY OF LENT

THE FEAST OF SAINTS IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH, POLYCARP OF SMYRNA, AND IRENAEUS OF LYONS, BISHOPS AND MARTYRS, 107/115, 155/156, AND CIRCA 202

THE FEAST OF SANT ALEXANDER AKIMETES ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

THE FEAST OF AUSTIN CARROLL (MARGARET ANNE CARROLL), IRISH-AMERICAN ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN, AUTHOR, AND EDUCATOR

THE FEAST OF SAMUEL WOLCOTT, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, MISSIONARY, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT STEFAN WICENTY FRELICHOWSKI, POLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1945

THE FEAST OF SAINT WILLIGIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF MAINZ; AND SAINT BERNWARD, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF HILDESHEIM

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