Archive for category Psalms
I look up to the mountains – does my help come from there?
During recent discussions, this Psalm came up. As a resident of West Virginia, this is often a favorite of ours, considering that we are the Mountain State.Yet, when you analyze it, the mountains and their ‘help’ is condemned.
The NLT has a better translation than most, which depends mainly on punctuation.
Imagine yourself, standing in the valley, looking up at those mountains. You are a YHWH worshiper, in His land, watching His people bend to Ba’al. Where was Ba’al and the associated gods and goddesses worshiped? On the top of the hills and mountains. People would pray to these shrines. But, your help wouldn’t come from Ba’al, would it? Would you really want the help that the mountains could give you?
Instead, it is not the mountains which the Psalmist is looking to, but YHWH.
I look up to the mountains- does my help come from there?
My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth!
He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber.
Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps.
Perhaps a reference to Elijah’s contest with the false prophets of Ba’al (1st Kings 18.27)
The LORD himself watches over you! The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade.
The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night.
Surely a cultic reference to the worship of the sun and the moon by the Ba’al worshipers. Yet, the people of God need not fear the natural or the pseudo-supernatural.
The LORD keeps you from all harm and watches over your life.
The LORD keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.
(Psa 121:1-8 NLT)
So no, our help doesn’t come from the mountains. It comes from YHWH. The Psalmists opposes those mountains.
Is it just me of when you read LORD the voice in your head gets louder? But, read it aloud if you need too.
Sunday Psalm – Psalm 13
O LORD, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way?
How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart every day? How long will my enemy have the upper hand?
Turn and answer me, O LORD my God! Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die.
Don’t let my enemies gloat, saying, “We have defeated him!” Don’t let them rejoice at my downfall.
But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me.
I will sing to the LORD because he is good to me.
The psalm is traditionally attributed to David, and in a time when his enemies, perhaps during the civil war in his later life, were for all intents and purposes, winning.
verse 3 – For Christ lighteneth souls, and maketh them to watch: but if His light He taketh away, they slumber. For for this cause to Him there is said in another psalm, “Lighten mine eyes, that I may never slumber in death.” – Augustine
There is little wonder why these psalms have survived for the centuries. Here, the author, surrounded by enemies still counts only on God’s unfailing love to rescue him. Through it all, the author still sings to God for His goodness.
From the Harley Psalter
I haven’t always been able to do so, have you?
Sunday Psalm – Psalm 129
Posted by Joel in Devotional, Psalms on June 13, 2010
A new feature I am trying… and if any contributor want’s to contribute, please do so!
Psalm 129:1 A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.
From my earliest youth my enemies have persecuted me.
Let all Israel repeat this:
From my earliest youth my enemies have persecuted me, but they have never defeated me.
My back is covered with cuts, as if a farmer had plowed long furrows.
But the LORD is good; he has cut me free from the ropes of the ungodly.
May all who hate Jerusalem be turned back in shameful defeat.
May they be as useless as grass on a rooftop, turning yellow when only half grown, ignored by the harvester, despised by the binder.And may those who pass by refuse to give them this blessing:
“The LORD bless you; we bless you in the LORD’s name.”
(I would recommend all of Calvin’s commentary on this Psalm compared with what theologians do today with the Church and Israel)
Sinners are planning upon our backs; and what we devise against each other, they turn against us all: and we have become a new spectacle, not to angels and men, as says Paul, that bravest of athletes, in his contest with principalities and powers, but to almost all wicked men, and at every time and place, in the public squares, at carousals, at festivities, and times of sorrow. Nay, we have already-I can scarcely speak of it without tears-been represented on the stage, amid the laughter of the most licentious, and the most popular of all dialogues and scenes is the caricature of a Christian. (Gregory of Nazianzen)
Israel is personified into one single individual, or perhaps, every individual shares in the pains inflicted upon Israel, whether they contributed to the sins or not. How often we look at the problems of the world, the Church, even our neighbors with anything but empathy. We do not stand with others in their despair which may explain, in part, why do not proclaim victory in the arenas in which we fight.
This Psalm is meant to be sung together, as one, as often the choir hymns are, or the liturgy, to remind us of our oneness in the Body of Christ. Our sacraments are meant to engender this oneness – baptism into the community and into Christ; the Eucharist into unity with Christ. Marriage is meant to bring two to one. Despair should be used as a uniting feature, not one in which we use to shun those who are weak and defeated.
Paul, countering the accusation that he was a weak man, defeated, broken, listed some of this ‘weaknesses’, then writing,
Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my feeling that weakness? Who is led astray, and I do not burn with anger? (2nd Corinthians 11:28-29 NLT)
Paul, through his weaknesses shared in those defeats of the congregations. Can we say the same thing about our level of empathy?
Do you share empathy with the old pastor or the young couple, the poverty-stricken people around the world, and even the Creation being murdered along the Gulf Coast? Can we share each other’s burdens?
Saturate – Psalm 2
I know – more with the Psalm singing:
Scott Brenner – Psalm 2
I am enjoying the different styles of Psalm Singing – haven’t found a bluegrass one yet, however.
Exploring Revelation, Psalm 2 and The Enthronement of the Son as God
Posted by Joel in Psalms, Revelation on May 17, 2010
I’ve been pondering a few things lately, and one of them is the relation of Psalm 2 to Revelation (especially chapters 4-22). While I may not and will not fully express my thoughts here – saving that up for later – I wanted to start publicly formulating them so that I may receive guidance, or help, and to test these thoughts:
When you bring up the book of Revelation, you bring up with it everyone’s exegetical work, thoughts, and ideas (which generally are relatively new in the history of Christianity and biblical interpretation). I am not trying to dismiss the notions of many that this book pertains to the End of Days, as I think that the book itself reveals itself as something which points to the final act of human history; however, we should be able to examine it free from the human quest to ‘figure’ out what it ‘prophetically’ means. I want to examine it in its socio-political and historical contexts. I say socio-political because if my theory proves true, then Revelation presents a very political approach to Jesus Christ, in which first introduced to Him as little more than one among many, who steps forward to open the seals of the book, but ends up on the throne of God which then becomes the Throne of God and the Lamb. It is a process that not only takes place in heaven, but on earth, where the nations slowly come to see Christ as the Occupant of the Throne. Revelation, I hope to show, like the second Psalm, in which both writings are seen in light of enthronement and validation.
Historically, the second Psalm is thought of as an enthronement psalm because it fits into the Near Eastern method of placing a king on the throne. We might, in the West, best understand this theory as the divine right of kings espoused by the British Monarchy centuries ago. Could the kings of the ANE appeal to a long and royal blood-line? Hardly, as David who is the titular progenitor of the Israelite throne was nothing more than a dirty shepherd boy just a few years before be became king, yet he is seen as the herald of the Messiah. David, for all of his faults and failures, is a man ‘after God’s own heart.’ He is a song-writer, a prophet, a muse, and a man who fathered the Messiah’s line. Yet, he still had to be coronated, as did his children. Even today, we feel that a proper ceremony validates almost anything. From the time of the first American President until now, the ceremony has grown, because it is used to validate a man into the office, much more so than the few words of an oath of office. The second Psalm should be seen as an appeal to Heaven for the validation of Israel’s king, especially in an embattled kingdom, surrounded by all sides with those who would dispose of the King. So to Revelation.
Psalm 2 has a long history of usage in early Christian history, starting with the Gospels. Every Gospel has the account of the baptism of Christ, the anointing by the Spirit, and the recognition that the Man in the water is the Son of God. (Mark 1.10; Matthew 3.16; Luke 3.22; John 1.32-34). Each account mimics Psalm 2 in which the King suddenly becomes the Son of God. Luke uses it as well in Acts 4.-25-26 when Peter and John, freed from their punishment for teaching in the name of Jesus, found support among the local congregation who saw the troubles as a fulfillment of Psalm 2. Further, John’s Apocalypse is replete with references to this Psalm, starting with Revelation 2.26-27 which quotes Psalm 2.8-9. In Revelation 19.5 is an allusion to this Psalm as well. Not only that, but throughout Revelation, we have the writer focusing his story around the kings of the earth (Psalm 2.2; Revelation 1.5; 6.15; 17.2, 18; 18.3, 9; 19.19; 21.24) the nations (Psalm 2.1, 8; Rev. 2:26; 10:11; 11:2, 9, 18; 12:5; 14:8; 15:3; 16:19; 17:15; 18:3, 23; 19:15; 20:3, 8; 21:24, 26; 22:2) , and the Son with the Rod of Iron (Psalm 2.9; Revelation 2.7; 12.5; 19.15).
This is was not an uncommon practice for the old Christian community, to take a portion of the Scriptures and apply it to its fulfillment in the life of the New Community. One only has to read Matthew and the Epistle to the Hebrews for the very weighty evidence of that fact. Moving past the New Testament writers and interpreters in the Apostolic and Church Fathers, we find an abundance of quotes from those writers, including writers as early as Clement of Rome (90) and Polycarp (140). They were not the last to use Psalm 2 as a lens in which to see the Christ-event through, as it was used well past the Nicean age.
It is also not uncommon to see the Eschatological Ascension of Christ as something which is ongoing. It was in Peter’s Speech at Pentecost (Acts 2.35) where he quoted various Scriptural passages, but in this instance, quoting Psalm 110, which according to Luke, Christ quoted in Luke 20.13. But, the allusion to this part of Psalm 110 doesn’t end at Pentecost, but can be found in the epistle to the Hebrews as well. In this homiletic work, the author starts with a quote that shows the superiority of Jesus Christ to the angels in much the same way in which Psalm 2 is used to show the superiority of the Israelite throne to those of the nations surrounding it. The same author in Hebrews 10.12-13, while showing that Christ is superior to the Levitical Priests, is shown sitting in the Glory of God, awaiting the eschatological victory. According to Paul, this final victory will take place when the last enemy is destroyed. That enemy, is death:
But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. For HE HAS PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET. But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all. (1Co 15:23-28 NASB)
Paul is quoting, possibly, Psalm 8.5-6 along with the thought in Psalm 110.1 about the Anointed King ruling having final dominion. It is here as well that Paul has a twisted theology of sorts. The Son is now reigning, perhaps because of the enduring Sacrifice as we have seen in Hebrews 10, but when Death is destroyed then God will be ‘all in all.’ Death, according to the Apocalypse, is destroyed in Revelation 20.14. When this happens, there is a magisterial change, evident in Paul’s theology and in the Christology of Revelation. There is biblical support for the process of enthronement when it applies to Christ, with the writers seeing that in the end, the Majesty will be different than what is presently thought.
Revelation serves a political purpose in that it shores up the New Community of Christ against persecution against itself, and against the memory of the Crucified Messiah. Psalm 2 shored up the Israelite Throne against the nations which sought to destroy it constantly, with God promising to protect the one who sat there, as well as perceived weaknesses of the crown who was suddenly now the Son of God. The author of Revelation used Psalm 2, along with other Psalms, treating them Messianicly as well as casting them from the present into the future with the eschatological bent. Christ was still King, but He must extend His rule beyond the orders of the Church into the whole earth, conquering the Kings of the Earth and the Nations, ending in destroying Death. Psalm 2, however, was not the only ancient song to make it into the author’s literary worldview. In Psalms 76, 89, 102, 138 and 148, we find again the Anointed King at odds with the Kings of the Earth and the nations which surrounded Israel. It is easy then to see how the early Church could replace the historical setting with then-current political climate. Jesus become the Anointed King, the Church Israel with the Caesars and Rome in their respective places.
Beginning in Psalm 76.7, after validating Israel and Israel’s God, we encounter an angry God, angry against those who oppose Israel and the Anointed King. God then judges the earth, ‘arising to do so’ (Psalm 76.), and saves the humble and in doing so, turns the wrath of humanity into a cloak of praise of Himself. If we look at this Psalm through John’s pen, we can find a connection between Psalm 76.12 and the ending of Revelation where the spirit which created the ‘sons of disobedience’ is cast into, along with death, the Lake of Fire. (Ephesians 2.2; Revelation 20.10). The Psalmist leaves a short statement in which God destroys what infects Israel’s enemies, is feared by the Kings of the Earth, allowing John’s interpretation to expand the meaning eschatology. While this Psalm gives little to John, the 89th Psalm creates a path for further theological speculation and eschatological development.
The 89th Psalm begins with a song to the LORD and is filled with poetic theologies, such as the Divine Council (Psalm 89.7-9) and Creation (Psalm 89.11-12.) In verse 19, the author picks up the story of the Anointed King, starting like John does in Revelation 4.1, with a vision. In the ensuing dialogue, God promises great things, protection, and a royal line to the one would become His firstborn (Psalm 89.27). It would be this firstborn who would reign over the Kings of the Earth. A new covenant (vs28) would be formed which would last forever. (vs29) The Son is seen as David, or perhaps the Son of David. The promises (Psalm 89.19-37) is followed by a lament from those who had rejected God and His Anointed King, waging war in disobedience. The middle section promises to the Son of David a time which will last forever, in which the Throne would tower above all the earth. This is mirrored in the 102nd Psalm, where the writer speaks about a time in which Zion will be built up anew. During this time, the nations will fear the name of the Lord along with the kings of the earth who fear the Glory of the Lord. (Psalm 102.12-17). The picture of the Kings of the Earth praising God is seen again in Psalm 138. 4-6. Finally, in Psalm 148, a song of praise, completes John’s expansion of Psalm 2 when we read that the Kings of the Earth and all nations join in the praise of God. This happens when the Name of the Lord is alone exalted (148.13). In Revelation 22, the kings of the earth and the nations are separate from the Saints, as is the picture in Psalm 148.14.
In a brief note about literary structure, I want to point out in Psalm 2 that God does three things to the people of the Earth
He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.
Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, (Psa 2:4-5 NASB)
The Lord of Heaven laughs/scoffs, speaks to them in anger, and then terrifies them. In Revelation, we have the trumpets from heaven, the seals, and then the bowls of wrath.
While this idea is not fully fleshed out, I am still working on collecting sources on use of Psalm 2 in Second Temple Judaism and the New Testament, as well as other concurrent apocalyptic writings. If it is proved that Revelation is an expansion of Psalm 2, it doesn’t have to take away from the prophetic element many people see in it; however, I maintain that Revelation is an example of what may be an early Jewish-Christian Midrash or Targum of Psalm 2 in light of the socio-political experience of the New Community. It enthrones the Crucified Messiah as King of Israel, protects against persecution, and shows through history that God is in control. Just as Psalm 2 sets up the Anointed King as God’s king, defends the sovereignty of Israel, and warns the others that God is in control.
Psalm Singing for Today? The Sons of Korah and Psalm 148
Since I started this blog and entered into the world that I inhabit, I have been interested in Psalm singing instead of the massive amount of hymns and music, mainly wall music, sung in today’s congregations. I mean, if we are looking for a track record, the Psalms have been sung for a few millennium, giving comfort to an unknown number.
Because of a comment left here, I have discovered a group, the Sons of Korah, which sings Psalms, although perhaps not in the traditional style.
I’ve noted my grappling with Psalm 148:
And of course, Psalm 137:
Anyway, you can find a few of their videos on Youtube.com, and the website above, you can download their songs (for a fee, of course.
