Jeremy Thompson Catholic PhD in Biblical Languages, Programmer, Runner

Been slacking on my link posts lately.  But, it’s been a busy month at work.  At any rate, HERE is a post worth a link.  John Hobbins offers a few thoughts on prayer according to the Psalms.  In it he notes that God desires both reverence and honesty in prayer.  Many feel like to be reverent one cannot be honest.  One cannot complain against God.  This is not what one finds in the Psalms.

The Old Testament lectionary reading today was from Malachi 3 and the responsorial Psalm was Psalm 1.  When you read these two passages together, there is an amazing contrast and I wonder if it was purposeful.  First, read Psalm 1 (NAB):

1

Happy those who do not follow the counsel of the wicked, Nor go the way of sinners, nor sit in company with scoffers.

2

Rather, the law of the LORD is their joy; God’s law they study day and night.

3

They are like a tree planted near streams of water, that yields its fruit in season; Its leaves never wither; whatever they do prospers.

4

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

5

Therefore the wicked will not survive judgment, nor will sinners in the assembly of the just.

6

The LORD watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.

Next, read what those who displease YHWH are saying in Malachi 3 (though it seems these words are obviously being placed in their mouths):

You have said, “It is vain to serve God, and what do we profit by keeping his command, And going about in penitential dress in awe of the LORD of hosts? Rather must we call the proud blessed; for indeed evildoers prosper, and even tempt God with impunity.”

The complaint being placed in their mouths is basically that texts like Psalm 1 do not appear to be true.  In Psalm 1, the righteous man prospers in whatever he does and the wicked man is ruined.  But, the people have noticed that often righteous men do not profit in whatever they do and wicked men get ahead in life being left unpunished.  Thus, they go ahead and “call the proud blessed.”

The prophet then proceeds to tell them that this is not the proper attitude to take, though he appears assume that there conclusions about their life situation (i.e. that the wicked prosper and the righteous do not) are correct.  The promises of texts like Psalm 1 are shifted to the future.  There is going to be a future day when YHWH “takes action” (Malachi 3.17).  There is going to be a future day when the distinction between the righteous and the wicked becomes clear again (Malachi 3.18).  A considerable number of centuries later we still pay heed to this advice.  Righteousness and wickedness seem to have little to do with who prospers in this life.  Sometimes righteous people do and sometimes they don’t.  Sometimes wicked people do and sometimes they don’t.  But, it is important to approach this situation with a proper attitude.  Just because wicked people get ahead doesn’t mean that we call evil good.

Today’s response is Psalm 136.  Our Sunday night music group plays a song based on this Psalm with some regularity, but I must admit that this is one of the texts that I struggle with a great deal.  The refrain is “His love endures forever.”  If you have been around the field of Biblical Studies much you know there is some debate over the translation of this word translated love.  Does it mean something like “steadfast love?”  Does it mean “mercy?”  Does it mean something like “covenant loyalty?”  And, the debate goes on.

Personally, I think “covenant loyalty” fits in this context.  If not, then verse ten of the Psalm reads (though this verse is actually not in the section for today’s response):

10 who struck Egypt through their firstborn,
for his steadfast love endures forever;

I never really thought about this text in particular (though I have had similar thoughts about the Passover narrative) as problematic until I was teaching seminarians.  One of my students said that the response for that particular day had been Psalm 136.  And, he found the concept of love difficult to reconcile with some of the acts retold in the Psalm.  And, I agreed.  I don’t really find the translation “love” adequate here.  I think it is at least confusing for English readers.

At any rate, I encouraged my student to read texts like this honestly.  I told him that, at least in my own mind, I am more concerned about people who can read texts like this without a second glance or without sparing a thought for Egyptian children (though, as I believe I have stated before on this blog, I do not believe the Exodus took place exactly as the Bible describes it) than I am about someone who reads it and struggles at least a bit.