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READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART XXXII

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Psalms 44, 74, 79, and 80

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Psalms 44, 74, 79, and 80 are similar to each other, hence my grouping of them together.

The context, at least some of the time, is the aftermath of the Temple in 587/586 B.C.E.  Even if this is not the original context for all four psalms, that event provides a powerful prism for a collective lament to God.  Has God abandoned the people?  The answer in the Book of Psalms and elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible is “no.”  Yet, in the heat of the moment, this may not seem clear and obvious.

The Temple was a tangible sign of religious unity.  The Ark of the Covenant had been there.  Even after the removal of the Ark of the Covenant from the Temple, the complex remained a focal point of communal spiritual life.  Yet, in the wake of the fall of the Kingdom of Judah and the destruction of the Temple, the center was gone.  Yet God remained present.

Since the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E., Judaism has moved on from the Temple.  The faith did not move on overnight, though.  Many Jews must have prayed at least some of the laments in the wake of 70 C.E.

Faith communities have their foci.  When a community loses its symbol of unity–its tangible focus–or a force threatens or seems to threaten that symbol, emotional and spiritual venom may flow.  The dark side of religion may seem to be pious, but it is not.  And those who spew this venom may believe themselves to be justified in their rancor.  All this is predictable and consistent with human nature.

Do we believe that God also loves those we call enemies?  Do our attitudes in the heat of loss and anguish belie our generous sentiments and slogans from good times?  How God expresses divine love is for God to decide.  Likewise, how we process God loving everyone is for us to decide.  If God were to forgive our enemies, would we think of that as being bad?  Or do we want our foes to suffer?

If I were to write, O reader, that I have always been spiritually generous, I would lie.  I have prayed more than one that God would smite someone or certain people.  Anger is a powerful emotion; may nobody underestimate it.  I know from experience that the longer anger persists, the more spiritually corrosive it becomes.  I know because I have recognized the signs of that corrosion in myself.

So, venting at God is fine.  Then letting go and letting God needs to follow.  Even if letting go as to move forward occurs before forgiveness does, letting go represents tangible progress.  Tangible progress is fine; we cannot do everything at once.  God knows that we are “but dust” (Psalm 103).  Do we know that?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 6, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

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Let us never tire of doing good, for if we do not slacken our efforts, we shall in due season reap our harvest.

Above:  Harvest

Image in the Public Domain

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For the Ninth Sunday after Trinity, Year 1

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Lectionary from A Book of Worship for Free Churches (The General Council of the Congregational Christian Churches in the United States, 1948)

Collect from The Book of Worship (Evangelical and Reformed Church, 1947)

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Let thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of thy humble servants:

and, that they may obtain their petitions,

make them to ask such things as shall please thee;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—The Book of Worship (1947), 199

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Ezekiel 14:1-11

Psalm 44:1-6, 18-26

Galatians 6:1-10

Matthew 5:38-48

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One reaps what one sows.  Galatians 6:7 provides the language.  The concept exists in Psalm 44 and Ezekiel 14:1-11.  Given that we reap what we sow, we should sow goodness, an ethic consistent with all four readings.

Ezekiel 14:1-11 contains a subtlety that does not translate into English, at least not well.  The text condemns idolatry, or, as TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985), renders the Hebrew word, “fetishes.”  The literal translation, however, is “dung balls.”  That gets to the point!

–Galatians 6:9, The Revised English Bible (1989)

Do we want to harvest goodness or dung balls?  What kind of people do we want to be?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 20, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JOHANNES BUGENHAGEN, GERMAN LUTHERAN THEOLOGIAN, MINISTER, LITURGIST, AND “PASTOR OF THE REFORMATION”

THE FEAST OF SAINTS AMATOR OF AUXERRE AND GERMANUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; SAINT MAMERTINUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; AND SAINT MARCIAN OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK

THE FEAST OF CHRISTIAN X, KING OF DENMARK AND ICELAND; AND HIS BROTHER, HAAKON VII, KING OF NORWAY

THE FEAST OF MARION MACDONALD KELLARAN, EPISCOPAL SEMINARY PROFESSOR AND LAY LEADER

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Above:  Jesus Healing the Man with a Withered Hand

Image in the Public Domain

Offering Blessings

NOT OBSERVED IN 2020

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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ,  who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236

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Job 12 or Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Psalm 44:1-8

James 4:1-17

Mark 3:1-9

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God has blessed us.

God continues to bless us.  One of the appropriate responses to these blessings is, in the context of gratitude to God, to bless others, even strangers in the land.  The generosity of God is more than sufficient to provide for everyone; scarcity is of human creation.

Good intentions are good, of course, but they are insufficient.  Many of them pave the road to Hell.  Good results are the necessary results of good intentions.  Job’s sarcasm at the beginning of Chapter 12 is understandable and appropriate, given the circumstances.  Interventions can be acts of love, but offering “wisdom” above one’s pay grade when the correct action is to offer a shoulder to cry on is a prime example of paving part of the road to Hell.

May we, with our good intentions, offer blessings, not curses.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 17, 2019 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF EDITH BOYLE MACALISTER, ENGLISH NOVELIST AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT EMILY DE VIALAR, FOUNDER OF THE SISTERS OF SAINT JOSEPH OF THE APPARITION

THE FEAST OF JANE CROSS BELL SIMPSON, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN POET AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINTS TERESA AND MAFALDA OF PORTUGAL, PRINCESSES, QUEENS, AND NUNS; AND SAINT SANCHIA OF PORTUGAL, PRINCESS AND NUN

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Adapted from this post:

https://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2019/06/17/devotion-for-the-seventh-sunday-after-the-epiphany-year-b-humes/

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Faith gives substance to our hopes and convinces us of realities we do not see.

Above:  Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee, by Ludolf Bakhuizen

Image in the Public Domain

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FOR THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF KINGDOMTIDE, ACCORDING TO A LECTIONARY FOR PUBLIC WORSHIP IN THE BOOK OF WORSHIP FOR CHURCH AND HOME (1965)

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You have shown us, O Lord, what is good;

enable us, we pray, to perform what you require, even

to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.  Amen.

–Modernized from The Book of Worship for Church and Home (1965), page 154

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Micah 6:1-4, 5b-8

Psalm 44

Hebrews 11:1-3, 6

Matthew 8:23-27

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I prefer to use language correctly.  Therefore I like the title of S. I. Hayakawa‘s classic work, Use the Right Word.  Consider the word “faith,” O reader.  It, like many other words in the Bible, has a range of meanings in the sacred anthology.  In the Letter of James, for example, faith is intellectual, so works must accompany it; justification with God comes through works, not words, in James.  In Pauline theology, however, faith is inherently active; works are part of the package deal.  Thus justification comes by faith, not works, according to St. Paul the Apostle.  The two actually agree, for they arrive at the same point from different directions.  We read of another definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1:

—The Revised English Bible (1989)

If we have concrete evidence for a proposition, we have no need for faith to accept it.  With that in mind, O reader, consider the following statement:  Human depravity is not an article of faith for me, for I have evidence from the past and present for it.  I reserve faith for issues (such as the resurrection of Jesus) for which there is no concrete evidence to prove or disprove.

We cannot repay God for any, much less all, God has done for us and continues to do, but we can, by grace, respond faithfully.  If we cannot respond as faithfully as we know we should, we can do something, at least.  The inability to do everything is no excuse for not doing anything.  Storms of life leave us battered, do they not?  Frequently we emerge from them angry–perhaps justifiably.  Anger of a certain sort, channeled properly, can be socially constructive and spiritually beneficial.  However, frequently, if not usually, anger functions negatively in societies, communities, organizations, families, and individual lives.

By faith we can see the way to lay down that burden, and to do justice, love goodness, and walk humbly with God.  Laying down that burden of anger can prove difficult; I know this from experience.  I wish that doing what I know God tells me to do were easier and more appealing to me than the alternatives.  The struggle is palpable, but the strength necessary to succeed is divine, not human.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 11, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF MARY SLESSOR, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONARY IN WEST AFRICA

THE FEAST OF GEORGE FOX, FOUNDER OF THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS

THE FEAST OF MIEP GIES, RIGHTEOUS GENTILE

THE FEAST OF SAINT PAULINUS OF AQUILEIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC PATRIARCH

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Slaves, accept the authority of your masters with all deference, not only those who are kind and gentle, but also those who are harsh.

Above:  Christ the Good Shepherd

Image in the Public Domain

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FOR THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER, ACCORDING TO A LECTIONARY FOR PUBLIC WORSHIP IN THE BOOK OF WORSHIP FOR CHURCH AND HOME (1965)

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Almighty God, who shows to those in error the light of your truth,

to the intent that they may return to the way of righteousness:

Grant to all those who are admitted into the fellowship of Christ’s religion,

that they may avoid those things that are contrary to their profession,

and follow all such things as are agreeable to the same;

through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

–Modernized from The Book of Worship for Church and Home (1965), page 119

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Ezekiel 34:11-16, 30-31

Psalm 44

1 Peter 2:19-25

John 10:11-16

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The reading from 1 Peter takes on a different meaning when one backs up one verse to 2:18:

—The New Revised Standard Version (1989)

Yes, I understand the differences between Roman slavery and race-based chattel slavery, but I contend that no form of slavery is compatible with Christianity, despite the accommodations the Church has made to varieties of slavery in various places over time.  Kyrie eleison.  As for the use of Christ’s sufferings to argue for submission even to harsh masters, I rebut that slave rebellions are justifiable.

The theme of shepherds unites Ezekiel 34 and John 10.  In Ezekiel 34, taken as a whole, we read condemnations of bad kings, spoken of metaphorically as shepherds.  We read also of God as the good shepherd.  This language applies to Jesus in John 10:14f.  And why not?  Do we Christians not affirm that Jesus was divine?

Psalm 44 is a national lament following defeat by an unidentified foe.  Scholarly educated guesses place the text as early as the Babylonian Exile and as late as the time of the Maccabees/Hasmoneans.  More interestingly, though, the psalmist understands defeat as to have occurred despite national fidelity to God, not because of collective, persistent sin (verses 17-19).  The text reflects the impression that God is hiding the divine face from the nation as it seeks divine assistance.

One might interpret Psalm 44 more than one way.  Perhaps the psalmist is accurate.  Or maybe he misconstrues the situation.  Either way, the sense of abandonment by God is palpable.  Sometimes the righteous suffer because of or despite their righteousness, after all.

I refuse to offer false and simplistic answers to this difficult question.  I do, however, conclude the way the author of Psalm 44 does:  seek God.  When I bring other readings to bear on the matter, I say, seek God, who incarcerated as one of us, who is our Good Shepherd, and whose ways we cannot fully comprehend.

To whom else can we turn?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 18, 2017 COMMON ERA

THE SIXTEENTH DAY OF ADVENT

THE FEAST OF MARC BOEGNER, ECUMENIST

THE FEAST OF SAINT GIULIA VALLE, ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN

THE FEAST OF SAINT ISAAC HECKER, FOUNDER OF THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF SAINT PAUL THE APOSTLE

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Book One: Psalms 1-41

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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The psalter of the Septuagint contains 151 psalms.

I have written based on all of them, in numerical order.  I have retained the Hebrew numbering system, not that of the Septuagint.

Although I have no theological reticence to venture into textual territory that, according the United Methodism of my youth, is apocryphal, I do have limits.  They reside in the realm of Orthodoxy, with its range of scriptural canons.  Beyond that one finds the Pseudipigrapha.  Psalm 151 concludes the Book of Psalms in The Orthodox Study Bible (2008); so be it.

The Hebrew psalter concludes with Psalm 150.  In other psalters, however, the count is higher.  In certain editions of the Septuagint, for example, Psalm 151 is an appendix to the Book of Psalms.  In other editions of the Septuagint, however, Psalm 151 is an integrated part of the psalter.  There is also the matter of the Syraic psalter, which goes as high as Psalm 155.  I have no immediate plans to ponder Psalms 152-155, however.  Neither do I plan to read and write about Psalms 156-160 any time soon, if ever.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 23, 2017 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS MARTIN DE PORRES AND JUAN MACIAS, HUMANITARIANS AND DOMINICAN LAY BROTHERS; SAINT ROSE OF LIMA, HUMANITARIAN AND DOMINICAN SISTER; AND SAINT TURIBIUS OF MOGROVEJO, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF LIMA

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM JOHN COPELAND, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

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Book Five:  Psalms 107-150

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119:1-32

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Also in the Greek:  Psalm 151

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Let me live, that I may praise You;

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POST LII OF LX

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The Book of Common Prayer (1979) includes a plan for reading the Book of Psalms in morning and evening installments for 30 days.  I am therefore blogging through the Psalms in 60 posts.

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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 226

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This is the last of five posts on Psalm 119 in this series.  The first is here.  The second is here.  The third is here.  The fourth is here.

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may Your rules be my help.

–Psalm 119:175, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

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Interestingly, in verse 175 the psalmist does not pray,

may You be my help

or

You are my help.

No, the author of Psalm 119 emphasizes the rules, which he describes as worthy of learning (verse 7), delightful (verse 16), his intimate companions (verse 24), just and eternal (verse 160), et cetera.  Also, love of the torah replaces love of God in the psalm.  This use of torah is mystical; God’s words have saving power.  Yet the psalmist also seeks divine deliverance throughout the text, as in verse 176:

I have strayed like a  lost sheep;

search for Your servant,

for I have not neglected Your commandments.

—TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

A note in The Jewish Study Bible suggests that I contrast 119:176 with Psalm 44:18:

All this has come upon us,

yet we have not forgotten You,

or been false to Your covenant.

—TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

Note, O reader, what the psalmists have not forgotten or neglected:  “You” (God), in the case of Psalm 44, and “Your commandments,” in the case of Psalm 119.

All of his is fascinating reading for me, an Episcopalian who grew up as a United Methodist.  The sentiment of Psalm 44:18 (“we have not forgotten You”) comes naturally to me.  However, the attachment to the rules in Psalm 119 does not.  Nevertheless, the legal emphasis of Psalm 119 makes sense in its postexilic setting, given the teaching that neglecting those commandments had led to two exiles and the lost of ten tribes.

As for the straying of the psalmist in 119:176, how has he strayed, if indeed he has not neglected divine commandments?  The text does not explain.  Somehow he finds himself lost, or more precise, perishing.  Those enemies to whom he has been referring remain.  The psalmist acknowledges that he and all faithful people find their deliverance via grace, not the keeping of the rules.

St. Paul the Apostle agreed.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 21, 2017 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JOHN ATHELSTAN LAURIE RILEY, ANGLICAN ECUMENIST, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

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“Be still, then, and know that I am God;

Above:  Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, Washington, D. C., September 2011

Photographer = Carol Highsmith

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-highsm-18674

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POST XVII OF LX

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The Book of Common Prayer (1979) includes a plan for reading the Book of Psalms in morning and evening installments for 30 days.  I am therefore blogging through the Psalms in 60 posts.

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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 226

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A recurring theme throughout the Hebrew Bible is that military victory comes not merely through tactics, weaponry, and alliances, but via God.  National strength entails much, including caring effectively for the vulnerable members of society and not exploiting people, themes present in Psalm 45.  If any of this sounds familiar, perhaps that is because one knows the books of the Hebrew prophets and/or has been paying attention to the Book of Psalms.  Scholarly sources suggest a variety of answers regarding the dating of Psalm 44.  Either the dating is impossible to ascertain or the text comes from the exilic period or from the Hasmonean era.  Regardless, Psalm 44 functions well in a variety of settings and periods, after a downturn in national fortunes has occurred.

Psalm 46 works nicely as a counterpart to Psalm 44.  Psalm 46 is a text soldiers recited before going into battle.  That detail is especially interesting, given the politics of the text.  The end of Psalm 46, in many traditional renderings, reads something like:

I will be exalted among the nations;

I will be exalted in the earth.”

The LORD of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

–Psalm 46:11-12, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

However, as J. Clinton McCann, Jr., writing in Volume IV (1996) of The New Interpreter’s Bible, argues, this is a bad translation because:

Contemporary readers almost inevitably hear it as a call to meditation or relaxation, when it should be heard in the light of v.9 as something like “Stop!” or “Throw down your weapons! ”  In other words, “Depend on God instead of yourselves.”

–Page 866

Mitchell J. Dahood, while maintaining that bad translation, anticipates McCann’s interpretation of the meaning of the verse.  Father Dahood’s note on that verse refers to prophetic cautions against ill-advised military alliances, as in Isaiah 30:15, and mentions that God is the master of history.  TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985) makes these points plain in the translation of the verse:

Desist!  Realize that I am God!

I dominate the nations;

I dominate the earth.

–Verse 11

God can end all war.  The wish that God will end all military conflict and establish a kingdom of peace and justice on the planet is a natural desire for a soldier, is it not?  Yes, warmongers exist;  most seem to be civilians.  None of the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines I have known have not been warmongers.  After all, military personnel pay the highest costs of warfare.

The mandate for a country and its leaders to trust in God comes bound with the command to care effectively for the vulnerable members of society and to resist militarism.  This is a lesson the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr., understood well, given his anti-Vietnam War speech of April 4, 1967:

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

The textual context for that statement is a call for the transformation of the United States of America from

a “thing-oriented” society to a “person-centered” society

–a call for a moral revolution–

a revolution of values

–a positive revolution, one that recognizes that

War is not the answer

and that neither are hatred and fear to the question of how to defeat Communism.

Enemies and political causes come and go.  Timeless principles, however, remain.  What can be more timeless a principle than trusting in God?  Certainly King’s call for a moral revolution of values remains relevant.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 10, 2017 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM WALSHAM HOW, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF WAKEFIELD AND HYMN WRITER; AND HIS SISTER, FRANCES JANE DOUGLAS(S), HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT LAURENCE OF ROME, ROMAN CATHOLIC DEACON AND MARTYR

THE FEAST OF SHERMAN BOOTH, ABOLITIONIST

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Above:   The Adoration of the Golden Calf

Image in the Public Domain

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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ,  who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236

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Exodus 32:15-34

Psalm 44:1-3

Acts 7:35-43

Mark 7:9-13

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When Moses broke the tablets containing what TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985) calls “the Pact” (32:15), he demonstrated divine anger and the nullification of the covenant due to human rebellion.  Related to this particular rebellion was refusing to accept responsibility, as in Aaron’s dodge,

So I said to them, “Whoever has gold, take it off.”  They gave it to me and I hurled it into the fire and out came this calf!

–Exodus 32:24, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

The golden bull-calf replaced Moses, not YHWH.  That fact, however, was a minor matter.  The idolatry was the main issue.

Idolatry assumes many forms.  For many people wealth is the primary idol.   That is relevant to the lesson from Mark 7, in which Jesus criticizes certain scribes and Pharisees for accepting financial gifts to the Temple in the knowledge that, in so doing, they are contributing to the poverty of innocent people.  These religious leaders are manipulating the Law of Moses to benefit themselves while maintaining the facade of holiness.  In so doing they are violating the spirit of the Law with regard to helping the poor and the vulnerable.  Their fixation on the minor to the detriment of the major rings as hollow as

…and out came this calf!

In which ways are we–you, O reader, and I–guilty of committing idolatry, dodging responsibility, and condoning unjust economic practices that harm the poor?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 17, 2017 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF EDITH BOYLE MACALISTER, ENGLISH NOVELIST AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT EMILY DE VIALAR, FOUNDER OF THE SISTERS OF SAINT JOSEPH OF THE APPARITION

THE FEAST OF JANE CROSS BELL SIMPSON, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN POET AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINTS TERESA AND MAFALDA OF PORTUGAL, PRINCESSES, QUEENS, AND NUNS; AND SANCHIA OF PORTUGAL, PRINCESS AND NUN

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Adapted from this post:

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2017/06/17/devotion-for-proper-8-ackerman/

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