READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART LXIX

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Psalms 114 and 115

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Psalms 114 and 115 are one psalm in the Septuagint.

Before I address the content these texts, I note that the Latin text of the opening line of Psalm 115 is

Non nobis, Domine.

This calls to mind Patrick Doyle’s superb track of that title from his soundtrack to Henry V (1989).

Walter Brueggemann tells us that exile and exodus are the two major themes of the Hebrew Bible.  Both themes feature prominently in Psalm 114, which fixates on water.  The text opens with the Exodus from Egypt, continues with the crossing of the River Jordan, and concludes (out of chronological order) with the supplying of water in the Sinai Desert.  Psalm 114 celebrates the Exodus from Egypt as

an event through which all nature came to see the power of power of God.  The exodus is a cosmic theophany that alters the course of nature.

—The Jewish Study Bible, Second Edition (2014), 1397

Internal evidence may support composition following the death of King Solomon (928 B.C.E.) and prior to the Fall of Samaria (722 B.C.E.); verse 2 mentions Israel and Judah side-by-side.  Yet the germane note in The Jewish Study Bible, Second Edition (2014) posits a different hypothesis:

The language suggest that this is a late psalm and is commemorating the return from the Babylonian exile.

–1397

Regardless of the temporal origin of Psalm 114, the merger of that text with Psalm 115 in the Septuagint makes sense.  The second seems to flow from the first.

Not to us, O LORD, not to us

but to Your name give glory

for Your kindness and Your steadfast truth.

–Psalm 115:1, Robert Alter

Psalm 115 contrasts YHWH with the false gods of the nations.  The text–like other Biblical texts which condemn idolatry–overlooks an important distinction, though.  We must, if we are to understand this matter accurately, realize that the ancients regarded objects–such as statues–as items their deities briefly inhabited, and through which the worshipers encountered their gods.  The Letter of Jeremiah, a.k.a. the sixth chapter of Baruch, for example, likewise fails to make this distinction; it is too caught up in invective and polemic to use nuanced language.

Psalm 115 addresses the faith community of YHWH, defined by YHWH.  Exegetes disagree wither the reference to “You who fear the LORD” includes Gentiles who worshiped YHWH.  We do know, however, that Gentiles who worshiped YHWH became part of Israel in the Hebrew Bible.  Yet, if the hypothesis that Psalm 115 dates to the period following the Babylonian Exile is accurate, an anti-Gentile attitude may exist in this text.  Psalm 115, despite declaring that YHWH is the sole deity and that the heavens belong to YHWH, does not emphasize universalist tendencies.

Psalm 115 also indicates a belief in Sheol:

The dead do not praise the LORD

nor all who go down into silence.

–Verse 17, Robert Alter

This theological position places Psalm 115 no later than a particular phase of the postexilic period, given the historical development of Jewish doctrines of the afterlife.  Psalm 115:17 indisputably precedes the Apocalypse of John, in which the dead in Heaven praise God.

Psalm 115, which speaks of the divine blessings of prosperity and children, envisions a three-tiered cosmos.  God lives in the heavens, the earth is the domain of human beings, and the dead reside in the underworld.  This is also the assumption in the New Testament, hence Christ’s descent into Hades and his Ascension into Heaven.

Another prominent theme in Psalm 115 is the call to trust in YHWH.  Why not?  Witness Psalm 114, for example, O reader.

Idols abound.  They need not be false deities.  An idol is anything which or anyone who functions as an idol for a person.  The definition of an idol depends on function.  An idol for one person may not be an idol for another person.  And an idol may be either tangible or intangible.  For example, a sports team or an idea may be an idol for Person A yet not for Person B.  An idol distracts someone from God.  One cannot trust in God if one is distracted from God.

So, O reader, what are your idols?  We all have our collections of idols.  If we are wise, we will acknowledge this fact and ask God to reveal them to us.  And, just as individuals have collections of idols, so do groups of people.  Psalm 115 speaks of and to nations, not individuals.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

FEBRUARY 12, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF ABSALOM JONES, RICHARD ALLEN, AND JARENA LEE, EVANGELISTS AND SOCIAL ACTIVISTS

THE FEAST OF BENJAMIN SCHMOLCK, GERMAN LUTHERAN PASTOR AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF CHARLES FREER ANDREWS, ANGLICAN PRIEST

THE FEAST OF JULIA WILLIAMS GARNET, AFRICAN-AMERICAN ABOLITIONIST AND EDUCATOR; HER HUSBAND, HENRY HIGHLAND GARNET, AFRICAN-AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND ABOLITIONIST; HIS SECOND WIFE, SARAH J. SMITH TOMPKINS GARNET, AFRICAN-AMERICAN SUFFRAGETTE AND EDUCATOR; HER SISTER, SUSAN MARIA SITH MCKINNEY STEWARD, AFRICAN-AMERICAN PHYSICIAN; AND HER SECOND HUSBAND, THEOPHILUS GOULD STEWARD, U.S. AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL MINISTER, ARMY CHAPLAIN, AND PROFESSOR

THE FEAST OF MICHAEL WEISSE, GERMAN MORAVIAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER AND TRANSLATOR; AND JAN ROH, BOHEMIAN MORAVIAN BISHOP AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF ORANGE SCOTT, U.S. METHODIST MINISTER, ABOLITIONIST, AND FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE WESLEYAN METHODIST CONNECTION

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READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART LXVII

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Psalms 111 and 112

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Psalms 111 and 112 are similar yet different.  Both texts are Hebrew acrostic poems that begin with “Hallelujah.”  Yet, commentaries tell us, each psalm has a different focus–111 on praise of God, and 112 on praise of the righteous individual.  Psalm 111 seems to be the model for Psalm 112, also.  God is faithful, gracious, and compassionate, we read in Psalm 112.  Meanwhile Psalm 112 sounds like material from speeches by Job’s alleged friends:  fidelity to God brings wealth, health, and a host of mighty descendants, among other blessings.  Both texts seem to reflect the tidy moral symmetry of moral retribution, which the poetic portion of the Book of Job rejects.

But what if what the texts say something other than what they seem to say?  What if cultural blinders prevent us from recognizing the actual content of these psalms?  What if some of the content in the previous paragraph is erroneous?

If the wicked in Psalm 112 are, as Walter Brueggemann argues, those who do not practice generosity because they cannot trust divine generosity, Psalm 112 may be about the generosity of God more than the righteous individual.  Psalm 112 may tell us that we, trusting in divine generosity, can be generous agents of grace.  Such generosity is the path to real joy, Brueggemann writes:

Satisfaction and life fulfillment do not come from greed and self-filling and self-sufficiency.  They come from trusting the generosity of God who always feeds us (Ps. 111:5), and we can in turn be generous.  The happy person is the one who knows about the abundance of the Creator who withholds nothing needful from his precious creation.  Believing that permits a very different social practice.

—The Message of the Psalms:  A Theological Commentary (1984), 47

Brueggemann’s case persuades me.  My review of patters of treating others badly and cruelly reveals a lack of generosity in those actions and policies.  When we do not trust in divine generosity, we may feel that we are in an every-man-for-himself situation.  We may feel justified in throwing others to the proverbial dogs to protect “me and mine.”  We are wicked, according to Brueggemann’s interpretation of Psalm 112.  Then we condemn ourselves to misery, also, and our desire will come to nothing.  Yet, if we behave generously toward others, we embark down the proper path.

Trusting in the generosity of God entails acknowledging our complete dependence upon God.  That can unnerve us easily and rapidly, especially if we value the delusion of rugged individualism.  No, mutuality–not rugged individualism–is a pillar of the Law of Moses.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

FEBRUARY 10, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT SCHOLASTICA, ABBESS OF PLOMBARIOLA; AND HER TWIN BROTHER, BENEDICT OF NURSIA, ABBOT OF MONTE CASSINO AND FATHER OF WESTERN MONASTICISM

THE FEAST OF SAINT BENEDICT OF ARIANE, RESTORER OF WESTERN MONASTICISM; AND SAINT ARDO, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

THE FEAST OF HENRY WILLIAMS BAKER, ANGLICAN PRIEST, HYMNAL EDITOR, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF JULIUS H. HORSTMANN, U.S. PRUSSIAN EVANGELICAL MINISTER AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT NORBERT OF XANTEN, FOUNDER OF THE PREMONSTRATENSIANS; SAINT HUGH OF FOSSES, SECOND FOUNDER OF THE PREMONSTRATENTENSIANS; AND SAINT EVERMOD, BISHOP OF RATZEBURG

THE FEAST OF PHILIP ARMES, ANGLICAN CHURCH MUSICIAN

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READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART LXV

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Psalm 109

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Psalm 109 resembles a Mesopotamian namburbi, or “untying”–a prayer for the undoing of a magical spell.  Hence, words–evil words–feature prominently in Psalm 109.  The psalmist also utters a curse upon his enemy and the foe’s family.  Why?  Ironically, the answer is:

because he was not minded to act kindly,

and hounded to death the poor and needy man,

one crushed in spirit.

He loved to curse–may a curse come upon him!

He would not bless–may blessing be far from him!

–Verses 16 and 17, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures

The psalm concludes with a reason God should rescue the psalmist:  he will praise God in public.

Walter Brueggemann, writing in The Message of the Psalms:  A Theological Commentary (1984), mentions what he considers to be

the main problems of the Christian faith.

Those problems are:

the problem of trusting a God who seems not available, and the problem of caring for a neighbor who is experienced as an enemy.

–81

According to Brueggemann, the former is the problem in Psalm 88, and the latter is the problem in Psalm 109.  The neighbor/enemy in Psalm 109 seems to be beyond love–the psalmist’s capacity to love, anyway.

The psalmist relinquishes rage to God.  This indicates confidence that God will hear and act.  This relinquishing of rage to God is also irreversible.  And God is more forgiving than the psalmist.

We all have a mental list of people who make us livid.  Perhaps their actions should make us livid; righteous anger at injustice is real.  Yet do we think of these people as being beyond love?  Are they beyond our love?  Perhaps.  Yet they are not beyond God’s love; nobody is.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

FEBRUARY 8, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOSEPHINE BAKHITA, ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN

THE FEAST OF CORNELIA HANCOCK, U.S. QUAKER NURSE, EDUCATOR, AND HUMANITARIAN, “FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE OF NORTH AMERICA”

THE FEAST OF SAINT JEROME EMILIANI, FOUNDER OF THE COMPANY OF THE SERVANTS OF THE POOR

THE FEAST OF SAINTS JOHN OF MATHA AND FELIX OF VALOIS, FOUNDERS OF THE ORDER OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOSEPHINA GABRIELLA BONINO, FOUNDER OF THE SISTERS OF THE HOLY FAMILY

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIA ESPERANZA DE JESUS, FOUNDER OF THE HANDMAIDS OF MERCIFUL LOVE AND THE SONS OF MERCIFUL LOVE

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This is post #2850 of BLOGA THEOLOGICA.

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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 THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART LIX

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Psalms 85 and 86

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Psalm 85 flows from a deep spring of communal ennui from either the Babylonian Exile or the period immediately following it.  Either timeframe of origin is plausible.  The text assumes that divine forgiveness of collective sins (understood as the main cause of the Babylonian Exile in Deuteronomistic theology) is requisite for the divine restoration of the Jewish people and their ancestral homeland.

Truth must precede reconciliation.  Remorse for sins must precede amendment of life.  These statements apply in both communal and individual cases.

Psalm 86 follows a familiar formula for a personal lament, which may reflect communal, postexilic concerns.  An observant reader of the Book of Psalms may identify certain motifs readily,  These include a plea for deliverance, an expression of confidence in divine mercy, an assertion of divine sovereignty, and a sense that God is not listening.  Why else would the psalmists try to attract divine attention?

Walter Brueggemann notes the “unusual nature of uses of the second person pronouns” in Psalm 86.  The scholar concludes:

This repeated use makes an appeal that presents the situation of trouble as squarely Yahweh’s problem…. This psalm is concerned for God’s will or intentionality, and so it engages in persuasion.

—The Message of the Psalms:  A Theological Commentary (1984), 62

The interpretation of Psalm 86 as reflecting communal concerns in the wake of the Babylonian Exile makes sense to me, given the content of Third Isaiah (Isaiah 24-27 and 56-66), as well as the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah.  This is hardly a unanimous scholarly opinion.  For example, Father Mitchell J. Dahood, S.J.’s notes indicate that he thought Psalm 86 was a prayer for an Israelite king.  And other exegetes interpret the text as an individual lament, but not a lament of a monarch.  The citing of Exodus 32-34 (in which God forgave a disobedient people) in Psalm 86 bolsters the communal interpretation.

Imagine the situation, O reader; try a thought experiment.  Imagine being a Jewish exile at the end of the Babylonian Exile.  Perhaps you are elderly and recall your homeland from half a century prior.  Or maybe you, born in the Chaldean Empire, have no memories of the ancestral homeland.  Imagine feeling excited about the prospect of ceasing to live in exile.  You have high hopes of what that land will be like.  Imagine the disappointment you felt upon settling in that homeland and not finding the verdant paradise prophets had predicted.  Imagine the frustration over having to struggle with politics over issues as basic as rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem as well as the Temple.  Imagine the communal ennui.

Individual faith is an appropriate focus much of the time.  Indeed, this is a prominent topic in the Bible.  So is communal faith, a topic to which my individualistic culture gives short shrift.  The faith of a people or of a congregation is a matter entire books of the Bible address.

Imagine the collective malaise in the wake of the Babylonian Exile.  Then notice that, despite concerns that God may not be listening, Psalm 86 indicates hope that God will listen then act consistent with hesed–steadfast love.

The longer I live, the less confident I become regarding alleged certainties I learned in childhood.  This is fine; an adult should have a mature faith, not an immature one.  The longer I live, the more comfortable I become with uncertainty.  Trusting in God can be difficult, even when God does not seem to be remote.  Yet this move is essential; the quest for certainty is idolatrous when God requires faith.

Now, O reader, apply these themes to communal faith.  Perhaps a congregation has been struggling faithfully for years or decades.  Maybe hardships have been a group’s reality for decades or centuries.  God may have seemed remote for a long time.  Why has God not delivered these groups?  And to whom can these groups turn for help?

Faithfulness to God–communal or individual–does not guarantee success as “the world” measures it.  Consider the case of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus (213-268) and his flock, O reader.

St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, whom Origen had converted to Christianity, was a lawyer in Neocaesarea, Pontus, Asia Minor, Roman Empire (now Turkey).  The church in Neocaesarea consisted of seventeen people when it elected him Bishop of Neocaesarea.  St. Gregory served dutifully for decades, during which he shephereded his flock through plagues, natural disasters, the Gothic invasion, and the Decian Persecution.  When St. Gregory died, his flock still numbered seventeen.

May we, as groups, live into our best possible character in God.  May we discern what God calls us to do and to be.  May we disregard prejudices which we may have learned yet which violate the Golden Rule.  And may we always trust in God, even when doing so is difficult.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

FEBRUARY 2, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF JESUS IN THE TEMPLE

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READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART LV

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Psalm 81

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Walter Brueggemann classifies Psalm 81 as a psalm of disorientation–a text of hurt, alienation, and suffering.  This psalm–a liturgical text–recalls the faithfulness of God in freeing the Hebrew slaves from Egypt.  Then the text mentions the testing at Meribah (Exodus 17:1-7; Numbers 20:1-13).  (More on that will follow in the next paragraph.) Psalm 81 laments that the people whom God had liberated refused to listen to and to obey Him.  The text states, however, that they can still listen to and obey God, if only they will.  (Judaism lacks Original Sin, a doctrine which postdates Psalm 81).

Much of the Hebrew Bible, as it exists, is a cut-and-paste job.  So, doublets exist.  Exodus 17:1-7 and Numbers 20:1-13, from different sources, illustrate this point.  In Exodus 17:1-7, mostly from E, God commands Moses to strike the rock.  Yet in Numbers 20:1-13, mostly from P, God commands Moses to speak to the rock.  Moses strikes the rock anyway.  In both versions of the story, though, people are faithless to God.  Psalm 81 regards the incident as a test the people failed.

The faithlessness in Psalm 81 is communal, with individual faithlessness contained within.  This may seem obvious, but the reminder may prove helpful in a society obsessed with individualism.

We–as congregations, cultures, societies, et cetera–may have short-term memories and lack properly cultivated long-term memories.  This motif occurs in the Torah, as in the aftermath of the Exodus.  My culture has rampant ADHD; we can barely remember what happened last month.  We, affected by overstimulation, do not focus well.  Therefore, we doom ourselves.  Those of us with temporal perspective and long-term memories suffer because of those with painfully short attention spans.

A people distracted by this, that, and the other cannot listen to and focus on God or anything else for long.  A people focused on talking cannot listen well.  A people focused on being active cannot be still for long.  A people focused on consumerism and materialism cannot focus on that which is intangible and everlasting.

I am a Gentile Christian.  Psalm 81 speaks to Jews, of course; it is a Jewish text.  The psalm also addresses Gentile Christians in community, influenced by distracted cultures.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 29, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF SAINTS LYDIA, DORCAS, AND PHOEBE, CO-WORKERS OF SAINT PAUL THE APOSTLE

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READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART XXXV

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Psalms 47, 93, 95, 96, 97, 98, and 99

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Psalms 47, 93, and 95-99 are kingship psalms, for they refer to God as king.

God is sovereign over the created order, time, and all nations.  God is the God of the covenant.  YHWH is the sole deity; the false gods are “ungods.”  The Jews are the Chosen People, yet YHWH is no mere tribal or national deity.  Gentiles come into the fold, too.

The eschatological vision and high poetry of these psalms may prompt the same sigh of disappointment as do promises that the Kingdom of God is at hand in the New Testament.  One may recall the lament of Alfred Loisy  (1857-1940), from 1902:

Jesus came proclaiming the kingdom, and what arrived was the Church.

Yet Psalms 47, 93, and 95-99 hold up hope:

And the hope of these psalms is important, for without this powerful transformative symbol, the pitiful regimes of the present age claim to be, and seem, absolute and eternal.  Thus, without this disruptive metaphor, oppressive regimes seem to be eternally guaranteed.  It is not different on the American scene with our absolutizing of military capitalism.  But we live in hope, because this metaphor keeps all present power arrangements provisional.  They are all kept under scrutiny and judgment by this one who will finally govern.

–Walter Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms:  A Theological Commentary (1984), 151-152

One function of eschatological vision is to provide a standard against which to measure the current world disorder.  The eschatological standard reveals how far regimes, institutions, and societies fall short of the divine ideal.  Therefore, one has a solid basis on which to confront these subpar regimes, institutions, and societies.  One can say conclusively that we all answer to God, sovereign in everything and everyone.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 9, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JULIA CHESTER EMERY, UPHOLDER OF MISSIONS

THE FEAST OF EMILY GREENE BALCH, U.S. QUAKER SOCIOLOGIST, ECONOMIST, AND PEACE ACTIVIST

THE FEAST OF GENE M. TUCKER, UNITED METHODIST MINISTER AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR

THE FEAST OF JOHANN JOSEF IGNAZ VON DÖLLINGER, DISSIDENT AND EXCOMMUNICATED GERMAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, THEOLOGIAN, AND HISTORIAN

THE FEAST OF SAINT PHILIP II OF MOSCOW, METROPOLITAN OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA, AND MARTYR, 1569

THE FEAST OF THOMAS CURTIS CLARK, U.S. DISCIPLES OF CHRIST EVANGELIST, POET, AND HYMN WRITER

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READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART XXX

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Psalm 40

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Just as the Book of Psalms is repetitive, many of my comments in the posts in this series are also repetitive.  However, I seek to rein in that repetition.  So, O reader, I refer you to the previous post in this series for analysis that applies to the end of Psalm 40.

When I read this psalm for this post, I got poetic whiplash.  The psalmist spent twelve verses thanking God for rescuing him.  Then the psalmist opened verse 13 with a lament, which may be in either the past or the present tense, depending on the translation one prioritizes.  I first read Psalm 40 in TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (which uses the present tense in verse 13) then read the translations by Robert Alter and Mitchell J. Dahood.

The translation of 40:13 in TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures reads:

For misfortunes without number envelop me;

my iniquities have caught up with me;

I cannot see;

they are more than the hairs of my head;

I am at my wit’s end.

Robert Alter’s translation of 40:13 follows:

For evils drew round me

beyond count.

My crimes overtook me

and I could not see–

more numerous than the hairs of my head–

and my heart forsook me.

Mitchell J. Dahood’s translation of 40:13 reads:

Alas, evils have encompassed me,

till they are without number;

My iniquities have overtaken me,

and I am unable to escape.

They are more numerous than the hairs of my head,

and my heart fails me.

The lament borrows linguistically from the son of praise.  Commentators detail parallels; I choose not to repeat the work of exegetes regarding that topic.  Instead, I opt to focus elsewhere.  As Walter Brueggemann notes, the progression in Psalm 40 is superficially wrong.  Yet, that progression makes sense the more one thinks about it.  For example, one who struggles with grief may move back and forth through the five stages of grieving.  One may thank God then fall into lament immediately afterward.  Emotions and spiritual states are not always linear.

I attest to that truth.  Perhaps you, O reader, can attest to it, also.  Regardless of where you are on the spiritual and emotional spectrum at any given moment, take your honesty about your feelings to God.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 4, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE ELEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

THE FEAST OF SAINT ANGELA OF FOLIGNO, ITALIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PENITENT AND HUMANITARIAN

THE FEAST OF SAINT ELIZABETH ANN SETON, FOUNDER OF THE AMERICAN SISTERS OF CHARITY

THE FEAST OF SAINTS GREGORY OF LANGRES, TERTICUS OF LANGRES, GALLUS OF CLERMONT, GREGORY OF TOURS, AVITUS I OF CLERMONT, MAGNERICUS OF TRIER, AND GAUGERICUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS

THE FEAST OF JOHANN LUDWIG FREYDT, GERMAN MORAVIAN COMPOSER AND EDUCATOR

THE FEAST OF MARY LUNDIE DUNCAN, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN HYMN WRITER

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READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART XXVIII

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Psalm 37

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Many wicked people flourish, and a host of righteous people do not prosper.  Psalm 37 acknowledges this reality.  Divine justice will play out, the text tells us.  Our schedule is not God’s schedule, we read.

The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12) and the Beatitudes and Woes (Luke 6:20-26) contain echoes of Psalm 37.  Pay close attention to the references to “the land” or “the earth” (depending on translation) in Psalm 37, O reader.  Those are germane to Matthew 5, also.  The meek will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:6).  Another link to Psalm 37 comes in Luke 6:24, in which we read:

But woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation.

—Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)

The context of Luke 6:24 was a society in which a relative few people were wealthy, and the vast majority of the population was impoverished.  The rich maintained their wealth and status via exploitation.

Walter Brueggemann provides the key to this post.  Human beings are stewards of God’s creation.  In the Bible, we read examples of the link between land possession and the governance and purpose of God.  Psalm 37 affirms the imperative of living

in responsible awareness of the Creator and his intention.

—The Message of the Psalms:  A Theological Commentary (1984), 44

To live to the contrary is to yield the land.  Yet,

The just will inherit the earth

and abide forever upon it.

–Psalm 37:29, Robert Alter

In the meantime, though, the opening injunction not to permit evildoers to vex or incense (depending on translation) remains difficult.  The promise that soon they will “wither like grass” provides little or no comfort.  We human beings exist within linear time; God does not.  And how soon is “soon”?

So, we become vexed, incensed, and impatient.  Of course, we do!  Even the most devout of us need reminders to trust in God and to act justly.  Notice the link between trust in God and positive actions, O reader.  Affirming the efficacy of prayer does not improve a situation.  In other words, the stereotypical offering of “thoughts and prayers” can be a copout and a poor excuse for doing nothing when one can do something.  To quote the title of an editorial I read in a Roman Catholic magazine in the 1990s,

Get Off Your Values and Get to Work.

So, O reader, we have work to do.  May we trust God to empower us to perform it capably.  May our work bring the world closer to the ideal of Psalm 37.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 2, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE NINTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

THE FEAST OF SAINT GASPAR DEL BUFALO, FOUNDER OF THE MISSIONARIES OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD

THE FEAST OF JOHANN KONRAD WILHELM LOEHE, BAVARIAN LUTHERAN MINISTER, AND COORDINATOR OF DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN MISSIONS

THE FEAST OF SAINTS NARCISSUS OF TOMI, ARGEUS OF TOMI, AND MARCELLINUS OF TOMI, ROMAN MARTYRS, 320

THE FEAST OF SAINT ODILO OF CLUNY, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

THE FEAST OF SABINE BARING-GOULD, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER

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READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART XXVII

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Psalm 35

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Psalm 35 contains motifs already familiar in this series.  The besieged psalmist turns to God and prays for his enemies to suffer unpleasant consequences.  In this text, those consequences include treading a dark and slippery path, falling victim to the net they have set for the psalmist, and experiencing disgrace.  The psalmist acknowledges that his not alone, in human terms, in his dire straits.  As he prays for blessings on his allies, he predicts divine deliverance and expresses confidence in God.

The situation in which the psalmist finds himself is severe, as the metaphors reveal.  The military metaphor, introduced at the beginning, gives way to the jungle metaphor in verse 17.  The attacking army transforms into jungle predators.  And the psalmist wonders why God has yet to deliver him.

Human impatience with divine timing is understandable.  I recall feeling such impatience.  I feel it as I write this post, too.  In Revelation, martyrs in Heaven express impatience with perceived divine delays in rescuing the persecuted faithful on Earth.  Given that detail, I make no apology for adding my impatience to that of certain Biblical authors.

If the poor are to praise, Yahweh must act for the poor.  If the praise is about incomparability, then God must act in incomparable ways.  Yahweh is here pressed to be a God for those below.  God’s incomparability is profoundly linked to the wellbeing of the helpless.

–Walter Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms:  A Theological Commentary (1984), 65-66

Psalm 35 bears comparison to the Book of Job.  Both texts ask difficult questions about the nature of God and contain expressions of trust in God despite the protagonist’s harrowing circumstances.

As I ponder impatience with perceived divine delays in rescuing the faithful, I add the absence of rescues in many cases to the agenda.  The ranks of the martyrs are legion.  I also refuse to offer easy, pat answers to difficult and vexing questions.  I add my voice to those of Job, the author of Psalm 35, and the disgruntled martyrs in Heaven in Revelation:

How long, O Lord?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 2, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE NINTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

THE FEAST OF SAINT GASPAR DEL BUFALO, FOUNDER OF THE MISSIONARIES OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD

THE FEAST OF JOHANN KONRAD WILHELM LOEHE, BAVARIAN LUTHERAN MINISTER, AND COORDINATOR OF DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN MISSIONS

THE FEAST OF SAINTS NARCISSUS OF TOMI, ARGEUS OF TOMI, AND MARCELLINUS OF TOMI, ROMAN MARTYRS, 320

THE FEAST OF SAINT ODILO OF CLUNY, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

THE FEAST OF SABINE BARING-GOULD, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER

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