READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART LXI

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Psalms 88 and 89

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The superscriptions of Psalms 88 and 89 name figures obscure to people in 2023.  The superscription of Psalm 88 refers to Heman the Ezrahite.  The superscription of Psalm 89 refers to Ethan the Ezrahite.  The superscriptions are dubious, as evidence indicates.  They also use the term maskil, which is musical.  Psalm 88 is a maskil of Heman, just as Psalm 89 is a maskil of Ethan.  A maskil is:

…a psalm accompanied by some special kind of music, or sung at a special (annual) festival.

—The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible:  An Illustrated Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, K-Q (1962), 295

Who were Heman and Ethan?

1 Chronicles 2:6 lists Heman and Ethan as the sons of Zerah, a son of Judah and Tamar (see Genesis 38:30).

An alternative theory of identifying Heman cites 1 Chronicles 25:5-6, which describes him as a seer and one of the cultic musicians during the reign of King David.  1 Chronicles 25:1-2 mentions that Heman and company

prophesied to the accompaniment of lyres, harps, and cymbals.

—TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures

We read that this Heman sired fourteen sons and three daughters, all of whom

were under the charge of their father for the singing in the House of the LORD, to the accompaniment of cymbals, harps, and lyres, for the service of the House of the LORD by order of the king.

–Verse 6, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures

Whether the Heman of 1 Chronicles 25 is the Heman of Psalm 88 is uncertain.  “Ezrahite” may derive from “Zerah.”  Yet “Ezrahite can also mean “native born.”  And, if the Heman of 1 Chronicles 25 is the Heman of Psalm 88, who is the Ethan of Psalm 89?  If the Heman and Ethan of 1 Chronicles 2 are the Heman and Ethan of Psalms 88 and 89, respectively, centuries separate them from the time of King David, as well as the Babylonian Exile.

Another obscure detail comes from the superscription of Psalm 88:

…on mahalath leannoth.

A note in The Jewish Study Bible, Second Edition (2014) speculates that mahalath leannoth may be akin to mahalah, which means “illness.”  So, mahalath leannoth may indicate

a sad melody or a melody for the sick.

Or it may derive from halil, which means “flute.”

The interpretation of mahalath leannoth as a sad melody or a melody for the sick fits the text of Psalm 88.  The psalmist, mortally ill, complains to God.  This may simply be the lament or a mortally ill person or it may symbolize national catastrophe–maybe the Babylonian Exile, too.  The psalm concludes without divine rescue.  Psalm 88 indicates a sense of rejection by God:

Your fury overwhelms me;

Your terrors destroy me.

–Verse 17, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures

Walter Brueggemann, in The Message of the Psalms:  A Theological Commentary (1984), describes Psalm 88 as

an embarrassment to conventional faith

and likens the psalmist’s plight to that of Job.  I prefer the divine silence in Psalm 88 to the two big speeches of God in the Book of Job and to the tacked-on happy ending of that book.  The divine silence feels honest.

Brueggemann continues:

But Israel must also deal with Yahweh in the silence, in God’s blank absence as in the saving presence.  Israel has no choice but to speak to this one, or to cease to be Israel.  In this painful, unresolved speech, Israel is simply engaged in being Israel.  To be Israel means to address God, even in God’s unresponsive absence.

–81

Psalm 89 dates to following the Fall of Jerusalem (587/586 B.C.E.) and prays for the restoration of the Davidic Dynasty.  Given the absence of the Temple in Psalm 89, we have a range–587/586 to 516 B.C.E.–the range between the destruction of the First Temple and the dedication of the Second Temple.  Psalm 89 also concludes in unresolved tension:  Where is the fulfillment of God’s covenant?

O LORD, where is Your steadfast love of old

which You swore to David in your faithfulness?

–Verse 50, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures

Brueggemann’s commentary on the Book of Psalms does not cover all the entries of the Hebrew Psalter; it contains no analysis of Psalm 89, for example.  Nevertheless, I feel comfortable writing that he would classify Psalm 89 with Psalm 88 as

an embarrassment to conventional faith.

Besides, history tells us that the Davidic Dynasty never returned to power.

I favor unconventional faith that turns to the (seemingly) absent yet definitely silent God and speaks a lament.  This faith refuses to let go of God, even in the depth of despair.  When Israel makes such a lament, it is being Israel.  When a human being makes such a lament, that person acknowledges having nowhere else to turn.  The comparison to the Book of Job is apt, with one exception:  Psalm 89 acknowledges sins and punishment for them.  Nevertheless, Psalms 88 and 89 call to mind a passage from the Book of Job, in which the titular character calls upon God, who has afflicted him, to act as his kinsman-redeemer.  Job understands that he has nobody else to whom to turn for defense:

But I know that my redeemer lives,

and in the end he will stand up on the earth,

and after they flay my skin,

from my flesh I shall behold God.

–Job 19:25-26, Robert Alter

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

FEBRUARY 4, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT CORNELIUS THE CENTURION

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READING 1-2 SAMUEL, 1 KINGS, 2 KINGS 1-21, 1 CHRONICLES, AND 2 CHRONICLES 1-33

Above:  King David

Image in the Public Domain

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PART LI

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1 Chronicles 27:1-24

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For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.  For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body–Jews or Greeks, slaves or free–were all made to drink of one Spirit.

–1 Corinthians 12:12-13 (Revised Standard Version)

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This chapter contains the kind of material one expects to find in an appendix.  Names and exaggerated numbers populate the chapter.  The material flows from the lists of priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, treasurers, and magistrates in Chapters 23-26.  To that set of categories we add army commanders, tribal heads, overseers, and members of King David’s court.

Taking these lists together, the Chronicler’s theological agenda becomes clear.  All of these groups were necessary for the society to function.  King David needed good advisors; he depended on other people.  The land was essential’ the created order was good.  It required proper stewardship.  And everybody depended on God for everything.

Mutuality in the context of complete human dependence on God is a theme prominent in the Old and New Testaments.  There is no such person as a self-made man or woman.  Rugged individualism is not a Biblical virtue.  And we all rely on each other, just as we are all responsible to and for each other.  What one person does affects others.

So be it.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 15, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT TERESA OF AVILA, SPANISH ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN, MYSTIC, AND REFORMER

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READING 1-2 SAMUEL, 1 KINGS, 2 KINGS 1-21, 1 CHRONICLES, AND 2 CHRONICLES 1-33

Above:  David’s Love for God’s House

Image in the Public Domain

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PART L

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1 Chronicles 22:2-26:32

1 Chronicles 28:1-21

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The LORD is the strength of his people,

a safe refuge for his anointed.

Save your people and bless your inheritance;

shepherd them and carry them for ever.

–Psalm 28:10-11, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

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This long reading relates thematically to the end of 2 Samuel 24, in which King David built an altar to the LORD on a threshing floor the monarch purchased from Araunah.  This threshing floor became the site of the First Temple.  In the version from 1 Chronicles 21, Ornan owned the threshing floor.  Even if one accepts that Araunah and Ornan were the same man, one cannot reconcile the differing monetary amounts in 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21:  50 shekels of silver (2 Samuel 24) versus 600 shekels of gold (1 Chronicles 21).

The account from 1 Chronicles also overlaps with 1 Kings 1:1-2:12.  I will return to 1 Chronicles 22:1-23:2; 28:1-21 shortly.

King David, of course, was not to oversee the construction of the First Temple. (Read 2 Samuel 7, O reader. )  That task fell to Solomon, né Yedediah.  Yet David played some role in making plans for the Temple.

Nothing was too good for the Temple.  No price was too high for the threshing floor. Only the best materials were suitable for the Temple.  Only the most devout service was acceptable from the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, treasurers, and magistrates.

God deserves our best in everything, individually and collectively.  We ought to love God most of all.  Our love for our fellow human beings flows from our love for God.  Our love for the natural world flows from our love for God.  Our attention to liturgical details flows from our love for God.  That is why it should be.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 15, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT TERESA OF AVILA, SPANISH ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN, MYSTIC, AND REFORMER

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