Tag: psalms

The Bible in a Year – 28 June

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this, and the introduction to the Psalms for this book of the Bible in particular.

28 June. Psalms 9-16

More than any other part of the Bible, the Psalms are an expression of human experience, with its full range of emotions and attitudes.  Take the first two of these: in Psalm 9 the writer (or should we say singer?) is confident of God’s justice, that God is “a stronghold in times of trouble” and will give the wicked what they deserve.  But Psalm 10 immediately following starts with “Why, O Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?”  The singer this time sees evil flourishing without being punished.

 

Why the stark difference?  In the next Psalm (11), the question “how can you say to me … what can the righteous do?” is answered by “The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven”.  It is the contrast between those who have faith that God is always at work even when we cannot see the end result, and those who only go by what they see around them.   It is not for us, even if we are righteous, to do God’s work of judgement for him, we only need to trust.

 

Even those who do have great faith, like King David, cannot always keep it up in practice.  In the very short Ps.13, he goes from despairing at God’s absence to expressing trust in God’s love and salvation.  But the last of this set (Ps.16) is full of trust and peace in God’s presence.

 

The Bible in a Year – 27 June

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

27 June. Psalms 1-8.

The Psalms – all 150 of them – are so diverse and rich in meaning that it is going to be difficult to write just a few paragraphs about each batch of them.  Some days I may write a little about each one, other days pick a single psalm to explore.  If I have missed your favourite, do let me know why you like it!  I will be using the ‘protestant’ rather than ‘catholic’ numbering of the psalms, since that is what I am more familiar with, and sometimes I will quote from the traditional translations rather than the modern (NRSV). But let’s start with the first one.

 

Some Bibles give each psalm the Latin title by which it was known in the days when they were regularly changed by monks and parish choirs in that ancient language.  The first is known as Beatus vir  – “Blessed is the man”.  Modern translations render this as “Happy are those (… who do not follow the advice of the wicked)”.  Right at the start of this collection of wisdom poetry and sacred songs is the assertion that the route to true happiness is not through “success”, wealth or even good health, but in moral virtue.  Those who follow God’s way are like well-watered trees: strong, resistant to anything life can throw at them, and (though the psalmist would not have realised this) producing life-giving oxygen to sustain human life.  The wicked by contrast are “chaff” – straw in the wind – and of no use to anyone.

 

Psalm 2 is the bold statement of the king in Jerusalem that he is God’s son and that through him God will bring victory over those who conspire against him.  No doubt written by or for one of the kings of Judah, probably David to whom several of the psalms are attributed, but Christians see this as a prophecy fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, whom God addressed audibly as “son” at his baptism, and whose “reign” from Jerusalem started with his resurrection.

 

Psalm 4 is one of those regularly sung at Compline (the last prayer time of the day in the monastic tradition), owing to its last verse: “In peace will I lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”  Combined with verse 4 “When you are angry do not sin; ponder it on your beds, and be silent”, this helps us to relax and forget our worries at the end of the day.

 

Psalms 5, 6 and 7 are among the many written in times of anguish by David (or others) who were in terror of their enemies.  From them we learn that God is never with those who wield terror and threats, rather he is with their intended victims, for he is the defender of the weak and oppressed.  Never forget that, and always consider which side you are on in times of dispute.

 

Psalm 8 is definitely one of my favourites.  For a rare moment in the Bible, which normally pays little attention to the skies (perhaps as a reaction against the sun-worship and astrology of other religions), we are reminded that this earth is just a tiny part of a vast and wonderful creation, the whole purpose of which is to bring praise and glory to its creator.  The writer of this psalm could not have begun to imagine the vastness of the universe as scientists now describe it, but even so he or she was over-awed by creation and moved to worship.  So should we be.

 

The Bible in a Year – 11 April

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

11 April. 2 Samuel 22-24

The first two chapters of today’s reading appear to bring David’s life nearly to a close, following his retirement from active military command.  First, in chapter 22, there is what is best described as a psalm, in the same tradition as many others in that book attributed to David.  This one, which we might term “Psalm Zero”, has been a fertile source of imagery for prayer, hymn and song writers down the centuries.  “I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from my enemies”; “his chariots of wrath the deep thunder clouds form, and dark is his path on the wings of the storm”; “lighten our darkness, Lord, we pray”; “the Lord liveth, blessed be my rock, and may the God of my salvation be exalted” – these lines and many others owe their inspiration to this song of praise to a God whose presence David had always recognised, in good times and bad.

 

After that are what are described as David’s last words (23:1-7), again in poetic form and praising God’s inspiration and help.  After that comes a tribute to the three military leaders who had formed his immediate ‘cabinet’ and thirty others who had achieved renown – we could think of them as the “Knights of the Garter”. The list must date back to earlier in David’s reign, though, as it includes Uriah the Hittite whom David had arranged to be killed.

 

But David’s life is not yet over, and he receives what he takes to be God’s instruction to take a census of fighting men.  Yet he is then told that this displeases God (presumably as it represents putting one’s trust in military force and not God’s help) and is given an unwelcome choice of three punishments, from which he chooses a pestilence in the land.  At the close of chapter 24 he sees the destroying angel on the threshing floor of the Jebusite (i.e. in Jerusalem), where the plaque stops before reaching the capital, and he erects an altar there in thanksgiving.  Tradition has it that this is the same site as where Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac before God intervened by providing a ram; and the same site on which the holiest place of the Jerusalem Temple, and later the Al-Aqsa mosque, would eventually be sited.  It has therefore become a sacred site both to Jews and Muslims; less so to Christians for whom Jerusalem was the centre of a mission outwards to the world rather than a focus for inward pilgrimage.