Abimelech in Psalm 34?

There is an interesting anomaly in verse 1 of Psalm 34.  It reads:

Of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelech, who forced him to depart.

The problem is that in the episode where David feigns madness the king is actually Achish (see 1 Samuel 21), not Abimelech.  So, how has this been explained (similar explanations in various sources)?

1. Scribal error
2. Abimelech is a general name for Philistine Kings
3. Abimelech is Achish’s dynastic name

Not sure how well any of these work, like how a scribe would get Abimelech out of Achish (though it is interesting that David has dealings with Ahimelech just before the story in which he feigns madness in 1 Samuel 21).  As to the last two suggestions, I’ve not seen them anywhere else other than in reading up on this verse.  Interesting …

Related – Check out some of my other Psalms posts from last week:

Psalm 1 – Translation Comparison

Psalm 103 & Prosperity Thought

Psalm 98 & Assonance

Psalm 34 has inspired, in my opinion, some of the best Psalmody in modern times within my own church tradition.  Below I’ve posted a YouTube video of one of my favorite responses based on Psalm 34, “The Cry of the Poor,” though this is not the greatest rendition.

The Cry of the Poor (Psalm 34)

Related – Check out some of my other Psalms posts from last week:

Psalm 1 – Translation Comparison

Psalm 103 & Prosperity Thought

Psalm 98 & Assonance

… asking for something, occurs only peripherally in the Psalms, if at all.  Almost always petitions of the Psalms are concerned with deliverance from acute trouble.  We never meet what is so common and entirely natural in our modern prayers: a heaping up of individual requests.

Claus Westermann, Psalms (Chapter 1, “The Community Psalm of Lament”)

Related – Check out some of my other Psalms posts from this week:

Psalm 1 – Translation Comparison

Psalm 103 & Prosperity Thought

Psalm 98 & Assonance

The Responsorial Psalm for today is Psalm 1 as you might have gathered from my previous post.  In reading through Psalm 1 in the New American Bible (=NAB), I felt like it obscured the progression to be found in verse 1, so I took a look at the verse in parallels.  It turns out that a number of other translations handle the verse in a way similar to the NAB, whereas two others do not.

Psalm 1.1 in the NAB

Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor go in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,

The verbs in question in this verse are those translated as “follows,” “go,” and “sits” in the NAB.  In this translation, the first two verbs are treated as near synonyms.  But, let’s see how these verbs are handled by other versions.

Psalm 1.1 in Parallel Versions

Parallel Versions Viewed in BibleWorks 8

Here are how the verbs are handled:

New American Bible – “follow,” “go,” “sit”

New American Standard – “walk,” “stand,” “sit”

New Revised Standard – “follow,” “take (the path – these words are not part of verb),” “sit”

Today’s New International – “walk,” “stand,” “sit”

New Jewish Publication Society – “follow,” “take (the path),” “join”

The translation issue revolves primarily around the second verb.  In the NAB, NRSV, and NJPS, the second verb is translated as a near synonym of the first “follow-go/take (the path)”.  In the NASB and TNIV, it is translated as “stand.”  It would seem that the translations that treat the second verb as a near synonym of the first are trying to deal with the presence of the word “path” as in “take the path.”  “Stand” does not really capture the type of movement associated with a path, though “stand” is the most common translation of the word.

So, does one nuance the word more commonly translated as “stand” in order to capture the motion of the path?  I do not think that is necessary or helpful here because I believe it obscures the increase of engagement, which John Hobbins calls a crescendo.  Maintaining the translation “stand” the progression is then “walk,” “stand,” and “sit.”  As one moves through these verbs, one gets a greater sense of lingering.  I don’t think this progression is captured as well when the first two verbs are translated as near synonyms.  So, I would translate the second verb as stand while realizing why others would prefer a verb that captures the motion of the path.

Related – Check out some of my other Psalms posts from this week:

Psalm 103 & Prosperity Thought

Psalm 98 & Assonance

Psalm 1.4

But not the wicked! They are like chaff driven by the wind. (NAB)

Have you ever wondered what chaff being driven by the wind looks like?  Of course, modern Africa is not Ancient Israel, but I doubt chaff being driven by the wind has changed much.  Here is a video that shows chaff being driven by the wind.  Pretty cool.

Related – Check out some of my other Psalms posts from this week:

Psalm 103 & Prosperity Thought

Psalm 98 & Assonance

I was reading Psalm 103 from the lectionary and was particularly struck today by verse three.  It contains a pretty big, bold sounding statement that without looking I’m sure has probably been seized upon by prosperity preachers.  Now, I would be the first to tell you that I think health-wealth and prosperity preaching is a blight.  But, I would be lying if I said there wasn’t potential fodder for it in the Bible, especially when not read properly (and even sometimes when read properly, but I’m not an inerrantist).  If verse 3 from today’s reading was used as fodder, it would, I think, be a case of not reading properly.

Psalm 103.3

The text reads as follows:

He pardons all your iniquities,
he heals all your ills. (NAB)

Heals all your ills?  Awesome! Because my upper back has really been hurting.  I’m being sarcastic, of course (though not about my back hurting).  This is the kind of phrase along with ones like “by his stripes we are healed” (if that is a proper textual reading at all) that is seized upon by health-wealth preachers.  “You see, it says right there that God promises to heal all our ills/diseases.  All you have to do is believe and lay hold to that promise … And, oh yeah .. give me all your money.”

Now, many of us from life experience simply know and accept that the health-wealth understanding of this verse is not true.  We have prayed for a loved one believing full-well God could heal that person if he wanted to … Then nothing happens (and I’m not just talking about terminal illness here).  For most of us that life experience teaches us that we are not reading this particular text properly.  But, for some that will not be satisfying.  So, how does one approach Psalm 103.3 if confronted by … I don’t know … let’s say Benny Hinn?

How to Read Psalm 103.3

I would say that like most occasions the context helps tremendously here.  I would read the second part of Psalm 103.3 either as a synonymous parallel with the first the first part of the verse or read it as an exaggeration in light of verses 15-16.  If the second part of verse three is a synonymous parallel with the first part then the healing of ills is a metaphor for the healing of iniquities.  I won’t go into this too much since parallelism in Biblical Hebrew poetry sometimes doesn’t really fit that easily into categories.  And, I don’t think this explanation is necessary, though it is possible.

I think the second possible route works even better.  I would read the second half of 103.3 as an exaggertation in light of verses 15-16, which read as follows:

Our days are like the grass; like flowers of the field we blossom.

The wind sweeps over us and we are gone; our place knows us no more. (NAB)

Apparently, the statement “he heals all your ills” is made even in light of the fact that the author has a clear understanding of the idea that everyone will die … swiftly.  Well, I suppose if we’re all going to die God won’t heal all our ills.  Everyone uses the word “all” in exaggerated ways from time to time and poetic usage probably lends itself to this.  I may say, “I go eat sushi all the time.”  If one takes that statement to a literal extreme, then they will have to fashion me a liar.  If I ate sushi all the time, I would die from a lack of sleep.  In the same way, from verses 15-16 one can argue that at least in this Psalm God, doesn’t heal all our ills, and not even the biggest, most scary one for most people, namely death.  “All” here simply does not mean what a health-wealth preacher would take it to mean.

Other Posts of Psalms:

Psalm 98 and Assonance

This Psalmist Must Have Never Had Children

Video Illustration for Psalm 124

I glanced at the lectionary readings earlier in the day, but spent a little more time with them tonight, especially the response, which was Psalm 98.  I wanted to point out one feature of verse 1 in particular that struck me, and this is one of the types of things I think we miss in English.

The English of Psalm 98.1

Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm. (NAB)

This second half of this verse communicates the strength of God’s right hand and of his holy arm.  That seems fairly straightforward, and frankly, that language might get a little boring as often as one hears about God’s right hand in the Old Testament.  However, I think something more is going on at the level of the sounds of the verse, specifically in the second part which reads: “His right hand has won victory for him, his holy arm.”

The Hebrew of Psalm 98.1

Since my main audience for this site is not necessarily scholars, I’m going to leave the text out.  (You can check out the Hebrew of Psalm 98 at the link if you would like).  I think many listeners may be able to catch this on the basis of sound alone (plus I’ve given it away a little in the title of the post).  At any rate, check it out and see if you notice anything interesting (it’s only three seconds long):

AssonancePsalm98

Did you catch it?

There is a pretty significant repetition of the “o” vowel sound especially at the ends of words.  There is even  a use of the “o” vowel that might not be necessary (for my more advanced readers, lo [prep + pronominal suffix] doesn’t occur with the verb translated above as “has won” anywhere else that I am aware of).  Perhaps I am making too much of this, but it seems to me that the repetition of the “o” vowel may be adding an additional layer to attempting to convey the awe-inspiring nature of the wondrous deeds of the Lord and the power of his right hand/holy arm.

Perhaps, I’m making too much out of too little, but we have something analogous in English when we speak of something eliciting “oohhs” and “aahhs.”

Related – Check out some of my other Psalms posts from this week:

Psalm 103 & Prosperity Thought

Psalm 1.4 – A Video Illustration of Chaff

Psalm 1.1 – Translation Comparison

Today’s responsorial Psalm blew my mind, but not in some super spiritual way.  Psalm 131 reads as follows:

1 O Lord, my heart is not lifted up,
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.
3 O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time on and forevermore (emphasis added).

I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure I’ve experienced calm and quiet since our children were born (and the oldest is 5 going on 6).  But, they sure are beautiful and I love them.

Abigail

Katherine

Abigail, Katherine, & Me

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Here is some listening for today’s responsorial Psalm, which was Psalm 24.  Many people may not realize that the song “Give us Clean Hands” is taken almost entirely from this text:

Psalm 124:7

“We escaped with our lives like a bird from the fowler’s snare; the snare was broken and we escaped.”

Thought he had one … but it got away.