What the "Assembly" is "About in the Psalms: Special Attention to Ps 95

In Scripture a Spiritually minded worshiper comes to the assembly (i.e. gathering) of the People of God desiring five things:

1) The worshiper desires to come into the Presence of God (cf. 27.4,8; 42.1-2; 63.1;

  73.25)

2) The worshiper desires to experience the forgiveness of God (32.1-5; 51.10-12; Isa. 6.1-7)

3) The worshiper desires to give God a gift (Deut. 16.16; Ps. 69.30-31; 107.21-22; Heb. 13.15)

4) The worshiper desires to promise God something (Ps. 116; 119.57-64)

5) The worshiper desires to edify fellow worshippers and to be edified him/herself (Ps. 22.25; Heb. 

    3.12-13; 10.25)

From Psalm 95 we learn a way of structuring the assembly/gathering.  This structure helps to highlight the themes listed above:

1) Invitation/Call to Worship (Ps. 95.1)

Here “we” invite others to join in the worship of God. This is not responding to the Gospel but responding to the mandate to worship God.  This begins the gathering/assembly.  Songs like “O Come Let Us Adore Him”; “We Bring the Sacrifice of Praise;” and “O Worship the King” fall could be used in this section of worship.

2) Engagement (Ps. 95.1b-2)

             

Here the service turns from calling others to worship to focusing upon God himself. This phase of the gathering contain songs about God.  His greatness, grace, love, etc, are themes for this phase.  Songs like “Awesome God”; “Thank You, Lord”; “Our God He is Alive” contribute to this theme.

3) Exaltation (Ps. 95.3)

             

This is similar to #2 but nuances it by “placing” God on the throne.  In this movement we are in essence proclaiming God’s Lordship.  Songs like “Majesty”; “Mighty Is Our God;” “We Exalt Thee”; “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name.”

4) Adoration (Ps. 95.6)          

            

 Adoration is generally quieter, slower, reflectiveor meditative.  Songs that could contribute to this movement are almost exclusively in the first person addressing God directly with “I” or “we.” “On Bended Knee”; “We Bow Down”; “Christ, We do All Adore Thee.”

5) Intimacy (Ps. 95.7b)

            

 Here we express our love for, our longing to do God’s will and our desire to be with him.  Songs like “Abide with Me”; “I Want to be Where You Are”; “As the Deer”; “I Need Thee Every Hour.”

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Prayer in the Apocrypha 3: Judith's Psalm of Praise

"Therefore this is a fine, good, holy, useful book, well worth reading by us Christians. For the words spoken by the persons in it should be understood as though they were uttered in the Holy Spirit by a spiritual, holy poet or prophet who, in presenting such persons in his play, preaches to us through them." (Martin Luther, "Preface to the Book of Judith," in Luther's Works, vol 35, pp. 338-339).

Judith of Bethulia, Most Blessed of All Women

Few biblical characters have fascinated Jews and Christians as much a Judith of Bethulia.  As early as the first century Christian, Clement considered the "blessed Judith" to be a model of God given virtue and piety (1 Clement 55). Prudentius' "massively influential" Psychomachia (written about AD 405) inculcated the traditional Christian virtues of chastity, temperance, justice, fortitude, wisdom and humility through iconography of Judith [1].  Psychomachia remained very influential throughout the medieval period.  The lore of Judith found its way into sermons, Passover haggadah, Purim liturgy, Christian liturgy, prayer, plays, poems and art of the period molding and shaping of Judeo-Christian values.  Judith was a feature of one of the greatest "silent" movies of all time, Judith of Bethulia by D.W. Griffith in 1913.  She was a revered woman until the age of then Enlightenment.

Judith falls into two basic parts.  The first part describes the war of the Assyrians against the Jews (chapters 1-7); the second relates the deliverance wrought by God through Judith (chapters 8-16). [2]

Hostilities had broken out between the Assyrians and the Medes.  Nebuchadnezzar, who is pictured as ruling the Assyrians, calls on the western nations to help him against his enemies, however, they refused (1.7-11).  Angry and vowing to take revenge on them – including the Jews.  After defeating the Medes (1. 12-16) Nebuchadnezzar decides to destroy those who wished his downfall in the west.  He sends out his General, Holofernes, with 120.000 men and a further 12,000 cavalry.  Soon the nations were frightened into submission.

Meanwhile in the city of Bethulia the citizens, fearful that the Assyrians would defile the holy Temple of God, decide they will not acquiesce to Nebuchadnezzar.  The store provisions in anticipation of siege.  They seek God’s favor through prayer and fasting in sackcloth (4.1-15).  After thirty four days of siege with supplies running low the inhabitants of Bethulia began to loose heart and call upon the city elders to surrender to the Assyrians.  A leader, Uzziah, plead with them to hold out five more days, “By that time the Lord our God will show us mercy, for he will not forsake us utterly” (7.30).  Nevertheless, he agreed to capitulate to the Assyrians should help not come (7.19-32).

At this crucial point we are introduced to the Unlikely Source of God’s salvation for the Jews: a woman named Judith.  Her name simply means “Jewess.”   She is what all of God’s children ought to be.  Having heard what Uzziah has decided she steps way out of her “traditional” bounds as a woman.  She summons him and the elders and upbraids them for their lack of faith – and for attempting to force the hand of God with the time limit on him.  She says,

“Listen to me, rulers of the people of Bethulia! What you have said to people today is not right; you have even sworn and pronounced this oath between God and you, promising to surrender the town to our enemies unless the Lord turns and helps us within so many days. Who are you to put God to the test today . . .You cannot plumb the depths of the human heart or understand the workings of the human mind; how do you expect to search out God, who made all these things, and find out his mind or comprehend his though?” (8.12-14).

Judith volunteers for a dangerous mission – to be used by God to defeat the mighty Assyrian army.  She prays.  She emphasizes her weakness and vulnerability but also expresses amazing confidence in the God who is “God of the lowly, helper of the oppressed, upholder of the weak” (9.11).  She concludes her prayer by bringing to expression the main issue, her (and the author) the manifestation of who truly is God in this world (9.14). 

Judith ends up using the weakness of Holofernes, his arrogance and his desire for her beauty, to bring him down.    In one of the most painted scenes in western art, Judith decapitates a drunken Holofernes. Judith frankly acknowledges, “It was my face that tricked him to his destruction, and yet he committed no act of sin with me, to defile or shame me” (13.16).  Thus God wrought a powerful victory through the most unlikely of place for his people.  It is a delightful book with a powerful message.  Craven's conclusion is worth quoting,

"She is a widow in the midst of arrogant, cowardly, and uncompromising people. Her strength is striking precisely because it opposes the weakness of those around her.  Her heroism in Part II is in counterpoint to the hubris of Assyrian pride and Israelite presumption and despair in Part I." [3]

You can read more on the story of Judith in this "Judith: Radical Woman of God."

Brief Look at "Modern" Critical Issues

In the "modern" period Judith has suffered considerably at the hands of enlightened Protestant critics.  Totally reversing even the opinion of Martin Luther himself, noted in the opening, Judith has been turned into a liar, a sexual predator, a murderer and simply a dangerous woman!  Protestant scholarship of the Enlightenment till prior to World War II reflects not only the prejudice of those times but frequently is blatantly anti-Semitic (see deSilva's kind, in my opinion, of E. C. Bissell's to frequently quoted Introduction) [4].  The "problems" with Judith are not unique to her and often are simply problems because we do not understand the cultural issues involved in an honor/shame society [5].  I need not dwell on these issues.

The fascinating character Achior should be mentioned briefly.  Achior is the leader of the Ammonites (5.5).  When Holofernes is seeking counsel on how to defeat the Israelites of Bethulia in the quickest possible manner Achior delivers an amazing speech.  Achior reviews this history of God with Israel from the call of Abraham down to the Exile. Sounding like summaries of God's faithfulness through Samuel's Farewell Speech (1 Sam 12), Nehemiah's Prayer of Repentance (Neh 9), and Stephen's speech (Acts 7) Achior testifies that as long as the Israelites are faithful to "the God of heaven" (5.8) the Assyrians can never win.  Ironically this pagan has more confidence in the God of heaven than the ready to surrender inhabitants of Bethulia! Achior is ridiculed by Holofernes men and they declare, "We are not afraid of the Israelites; they are a people with no strength or power for making war. Therefore let us go ahead, Lord Holofernes, and your vast army will swallow them up" (5.23-24).  Achior is expelled from the Assyrian camp and is captured by the Israelites.  Later in the in the book, after Judith has slain Holofernes he "converts" to Israel.  "When Achior saw all that the God of Israel had done, he believed firmly in God. So he was circumcised, and joined the house of Israel, remaining so to this day" (14.10).  The author makes a direct parallel with the Abraham story in Genesis 15.6.  The expression episteusen to theo occurs only in two places in the Greek Bible (LXX) that is in Judith 14.10 and Genesis 15.6. Thus as Roitman has correctly noted, "according to the book of Judith, the righteous pagan who converts to Judaism would also have, as the native Jew has, Abraham as his model or 'father.'" [6] Such a perspective would be important in the Jesus movement embracing Gentiles on the model of Abraham. 

Judith's Psalm

 Prayer is an integral part of the story of Judith just as we discovered of Tobit [7]. In the tradition of Moses, Miriam, and Deborah, Judith leads the children of Israel in praise and worship of God through a "new psalm." What else can be done when God has delivered us and through the most unexpected means, but praise him.  Judith continues the long line of piety in the Hebrew Bible especially in the Psalter.  As with other biblical literature there is the rich use of previous biblical literature to nourish the Spiritual well being of God's people in a new day and situation.

"And Judith said, 
Begin a song to my God with tambourines,
and sing to my Lord with cymbals.
Raise to him a new psalm;
exalt him, and call upon his name.
For the Lord is a God who crushes wars; 
he sets up his camp among his people; 
he delivered me from the hands of 
my pursuers.
(Judith 16. 1-2b)

Judith, like the Prophet Miriam (Ex 15.20) and the young ladies in procession in the temple (Ps 68.25) grabs a tambourine and assumes the role of worship leader.  In the Bible, God's fresh act of grace demanded fresh praise.  We do not just sing the old song but now in light of God's new act we sing our own song of worship and praise.

The call to a psalm of praise is grounded in what God has done and is doing.  God "crushes" war.  Those drunk on the liquor of combat will be disappointed because the Lord simply will put an end to all war.  The vision or dream of the prayer is for a world without any more Holoferneses. What a day that would be.

But not only does Judith call to praise because God destroys war but because "he sets up his camp among his people." Following the destruction of God's enemies (i.e. war, etc) Judith praises God for one of the great blessings attested to throughout the Hebrew Bible, God lives with his people.  It is a vivid image that God "camps" with us.  God himself is the desire of the redeemed.

After narrating magnitude of Israel's dire straits from the Assyrian threat in verses 3 and 4, Judith gives God glory for the unbelievable way in which salvation was granted.  Only God could have accomplished salvation through a woman!

"But the Lord Almighty has foiled them
by the hand of a woman.
For their mighty one did not fall by the
hands of the young men,
nor did the sons of the Titans strike
him down,
nor did tall giants set upon him;
but Judith daughter of Merari
with the beauty of her countenance
undid him." (vv. 5-6)

The Lord God is given total credit for the unusual means of deliverance from the tyrannical Assyrians.  Judith does not even give God's enemy, Holofernes, the honor of being named he is just the "mighty one" who suffers the unbelievable (in that culture) of being done in by a woman, a widow no less! The irony drips form this portion of the psalm.  God did not use the demi-gods known as the "sons of the Titans," nor the legendary "giants" of the land.  God used a weapon fit for the occasion that undid the arrogance of an insatiable oppressor.  The beauty of an old lady (what delicious irony).  Should God not be praised?

Judith continues to narrate in the psalm how the God inspired actions of a widow had cosmic consequences.  The Persians and the Medes "tremble" with the news of what God has accomplished through one regarded so helpless (v.10).  Kicking into high gear Judith continues her "new song" of praise to the Lord.

"I will sing to my god a new song;
O Lord, you are great and glorious,
wonderful in strength, invincible.
Let all your creatures serve you,
for you spoke and they were made.
You sent forth your Spirit, and it
formed them;
there is none that can resist your 
voice.
For the mountains shall be shaken to
their foundations with the waters;
before your glance the rocks shall 
melt like wax.
But to those who fear you
you show mercy.
For every sacrifice as a fragrant offering
is a small thing,
and the fat of all whole burnt
offerings to you is a very little thing;
but whoever fears the Lord is great forever.

Woe to the nations that rise up against 
my people!
The Lord Almighty will take 
vengeance on them in the day of 
judgement;
he will send fire and worms into their
flesh; 
they shall weep in pain forever."
(vv. 13-17).

Judith has unwavering faith in the majesty and uniqueness of our God.  He is the Creator of all things.  Through the instrumentality of the Spirit life is given and the world is made. God's all powerful word (voice) cannot be resisted by his creation. Those in rebellion against his lordship (like Holofernes) will find themselves missing their head but mercy is the lot of those who walk the dangerous road of faith.

Judith warns her listeners that simply going to church and performing perfunctory acts of religious service like sacrifices, the "five acts" of worship, etc have no manipulative power over God.  Far from being some legalism Judith sees that such acts of worship are "little things" when divorced from the heart that "fears the Lord" has standing (and mercy!).

What Jesus and the Early Church Heard

It is exceedingly unlikely that Jesus did not know the story of Judith.  The very epitaph of Uzziah for Judith was applied to his own mother, "O daughter you are blessed by the Most High God above all other women ..." (13.18; Lk 1.42).  It is irrelevant if he believed it was or was not Scripture, though obviously many people of the day did.  But the story was one of those things that "filled the air." Through the story of Judith, Jesus heard that God overcomes insurmountable obstacles through the most extraordinary means.  He heard that God can accomplish things even through scandalous means.  Jesus and the Jews of his day learned from the story of Judith that women were people in an unique relationship with God and not mere appendages. Jesus and the Jews around him knew of stories of how God used women to do what no man could do.  Jesus heard that women were incredible prayer warriors and were inspired to not only deliver by His power but to lead in the worship of fresh new praise to the King of Kings.  Jesus and Jews of his day learned in the story of Judith that crises, oppression and suffering may be a means of divine testing rather than punishment [8].  Jesus learned through such stories as Judith that trust in the Lord is foundational, fundamental, and primordial basis of life.

These are not things that Jesus alone heard.  The first century church did as well.  We do not know when or by whom but Christians in the city of Rome knew the story of Judith even as John was penning his Gospel.  They assumed the Christians in Corinth knew who Judith was as well.  It is difficult to believe that Clement learned this on his own.  He almost surely learned if from an earlier disciple ... I realize I cannot prove that but it is certainly a reasonable supposition. Clement was asked to respond to a letter from the same church Paul had had so many issues with, that letter is known as 1 Clement and it is contemporary with the writings of John.  He exhorts them to unity and many other things.  A model of selflessness, graceful courage, and prayer is held out to the Corinthians.  It is one they surely already know, Judith.  I close with Clement's words for this is what the early church heard, just as Jesus had.

"Many women being strengthened through the grace of God have performed many manly deeds. The blessed Judith, when the city was beleaguered, asked of the elders that she might be suffered to go to the camp of the aliens. So she exposed herself to peril and went forward out of love for her country and of her people which were oppressed; and the Lord delivered Holofernes into the hand of a woman" (1 Clement 55)

Judith's daring act of faith, her willingness to sacrifice herself, her psalms of prayer and praise were among the things the Corinthians needed to appropriate to themselves.  Judith what a blessed woman she is.

Here is the movie, Judith of Bethulia, which was on of the most extravagant of films from the Golden Age of Silent Film.  Enjoy.

Notes:

1] See the richly textured study by Margarita Stocker, Judith Sexual Warrior: Women and Power in Western Culture (New Haven: Yale University Press 1998), quotes from pp. 24ff. 

2] Toni Craven has shown that Judith is an exquisite work of literary art.  The book falls into perfectly balanced halves where Judith emerges as the counterpart of the hubris of Assyrian pride and Israelite presumption.  See "Artistry and Faith in Judith," Semeia 8 (1977): 75-101.  

3] Craven, "Artistry and Faith in Judith," p. 95.

4] David A. deSilva, "Judith the Heroine? Lies, Seduction, and Murder in Cultural Perspective," Biblical Theological Bulletin 36 (Summer 2006), 55-61.  deSilva writes "Bissell was particularly disturbed about Judith's flirting with the ruing of her own sexual purity, going so far as to claim that she would have gone all the way with Holofernes if he didn't oblige her by passing out before consummating his desires ... Perhaps we should not be to surprised to find Bissell in a manner typical of late 19th century thinking about Judaism, condemning the religion of the author, which was able to stomach - indeed to bless - deception, teasing, and murder, but not the violation of the ceremonial law" (p. 56).  deSilva squashes this point of view for the make believe that it is. Luke certainly thought enough of Judith to use her as a model for Mary herself and probably Anna.  See the comparisons and contrasts in Brittany Wilson's excellent "Pugnacious Precursors and the Bearer of Peace: Jael, Judith, and Mary in Luke 1.42," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 68 (2006): 436-456.

5] In addition to the case specific study by David A deSilva mentioned in note 4 I recommend the very user friendly intro to the issues of "honor and shame" in the Eastern cultures in Randolph Richards and Brandon O'Brien's Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible (Inter-Varsity Press, 2012), 113-136.

6] Adolfo D. Roitman, "Achior in the Book of Judith: His Role and Significance," in No One Spoke Ill of Her: Essays on Judith, (Scholars Press 1992), 40, See p. 45 note 54 on Judith 14.10 and Genesis 15.6 in the LXX.

7] Toni Craven, "From Where Will My Help Come?: Women and Prayer in the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books," in Worship and the Hebrew Bible: Essays in Honor of John. T. Willis, ed Patrick Graham, Rick Marrs and Steven McKenzie (Brill,    ), pp. 105-108.

8] Carey A. Moore, Judith: Anchor Bible (Doubleday 1985), 63. 

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Paul and the Unquestioned Authority of the "Old Testament"

This is a revised and slightly expanded version of a "note" I had placed on my Facebook. May it bless you as we wrestle together with the significance of the canon of Scripture for our faith. We need to remind ourselves that the "Old Testament" makes up more than 76% of the Christian Bible. To functionally take it our of canon for doing Christian reflections is equivalent to the government taking 76 pennies out of every dollar you earn; you having four out of five words of a letter blacked out from your wife; of living 100 years but only being "awake" once every five years.  You get the picture.  Willfully ignoring and minimizing 76% is a huge loss and makes actually understanding very difficult.  To the revised note ...

I grew up in a religious tradition with a "love-hate" relationship with the "Old Testament." In our debates with "the denominations" we would frequently undercut the argument of our opponent by denying the authority of the Old Testament for Christan faith and practice.  Our approach to the Old Testament was therefore mostly reactive to what we perceived as false practices and beliefs in "the denominations" or among the "apostates." Thus when Christian Church folks would defend the use of instrumental music from numerous Old Testament texts it was easy to dismiss the entire argument by asserting that the Old Covenant was "nailed to the cross and done away with."  When a person would argue for the authority of tithing/sabbath, etc among Christians we resorted to the same tactic. 

The result of denying the authority of the OT in our polemics convinced the "denominational" world that "we" in Churches of Christ "do not believe in the Old Testament."  This was a frequent characterization of "us" by others in my growing up years in Churches of Christ in North Alabama.  We of course denied that.  We believe in the inspiration of the OT. But our polemics bore poisonous fruit.  We rhetorically said we believe in the OT but practically and dogmatically denied our rhetoric.  Yes the OT was inspired but we never actually used the OT for anything relating to Christian faith ... except for appeals to Noah's "gopher" wood, Nadab and Abihu getting fried, Uzzah being toasted for touching the ark and Moses for striking the rock.  From time to time there were moral lessons drawn from the stories of Joseph and Hannah.

But the sad fact remains for most in Churches of Christ the Old Testament is simply irrelevant to their faith.  Outside of the sermons I have personally preached or lessons I have taught I know of only a handful of sermons in my life from the first 76% of the Bible. I know of no preacher/elder among Churches of Christ who cites the Old Testament as his scriptural authority for 1) believing something or 2) doing something.  Indeed when such takes place it is shot down with - I have personally witnessed it - these words "that is the Old Testament;" or "we are not under the Old Testament."  This just does not jive with our rhetoric to believe in the Old Testament. 

Growing up, I had no idea how absolutely, and completely, contrary to the apostolic example of Paul our contemporary practice was regarding the "Scripture" (Paul never uses the phrase "Old Testament").  Paul's entire framework for understanding God, Christ, the Gospel, redemption, faith, and yes even the church/people of God comes from the "Old Testament."  My initial journey down the road to realizing the NT itself does not see itself as 1) supplementing or 2) outright replacing the "Old Testament" came in 1988 through reading a dry tome called New Testament Interpretation edited by Howard Marshall in a Stephen Broyles class at IBC. The chapter, "How the New Testament Uses the Old Testament" (pp. 199-219), made me put on a new pair of glasses. There are better places, I now realize, to begin thinking on this matter than that essay but at the time it was a real eye opener. Paul is more saturated with the "Old Testament" than a sponge fresh from the sink!

When Paul has a question he naturally turns to the Scriptures (not the Old Testament) for the answer. Rarely does Paul say "I" declare this by the authority given to me as an apostle.  Paul simply does not do that.  Paul uses, and argues from, Scripture for everything.  Just a few interesting statistics to tickle your fancy and as an effort to just show how frequently Paul does resort to the 'Old Testament."  In many English translations it is hard for the reader to know that Paul is not using his own words but those of the first 76% of the Bible.  It would be helpful if a modern translation put every direct quotation in a different font or italics.

In the epistles with Paul's name on them, however, there are more than 180 quotations or references to the "Old Testament" by the apostle.  That is a lot but even that does not give the full extent of the story.  The single book of Paul's that many preachers assume shows that Paul is doing away with the Old Testament, Romans, has the highest number of references with 84.  The second highest is the one that some preachers still believe Paul wrote (but didn't) is Hebrews which has 83 quotations or references to the "Old Testament."   Beloved that is a lot of Old Testament.  Certainly way more Old Testament than what I am exposed to in most restoration or evangelical pulpits. When was the last time you heard a sermon with 84 quotations from the "OT?"  First Corinthians (if I am counting right) has 26. Galatians has 14 and Ephesians has no less than 12.  Craig Evans in his Noncanonical Writings and New Testament Interpretation lists 31 pages of quotations, references, and allusions to the OT, what Protestants call the Apocrypha and related writings in the NT ... that is 31 pages! (see Appendix Two, pp. 190-219).  That is a lot of information Paul and the other writers of the NT are using and expect their readers/hearers to know.  Even if one argued with the validity of this or that reference the sheer cumulative evidence demonstrates that Paul, and the rest of the "NT" writers assumed that their readers/hearers would catch a large number of ideas that simply go unnoticed by us today ... its like having only one out of every five words not blacked out to us! We get so used to only seeing every fifth word that we actually begin to think it makes sense. 

Here are some very specific examples of Paul using the "Old Testament" as his authority for a Christian belief or Christian practice.  Again I point out that I use the word "Christian" for our sake because one of the shocks that comes to us if we actually read the NT is that Paul does not imagine himself as having converted to a new religion.  This is a serious misreading and seriously flawed assumption.  Paul, shockingly for us "Christians," never once uses the word "Christian" to describe himself or his faith in Christ. 

1) Paul roots both the practice and doctrine of the Lord's Supper in the "Old Testament" in 1 Corinthians 10. A careful study of that text pays rich rewards.  First even though most of the Corinthians converts are likely former pagans Paul places them squarely in the linage of Israel (10.1, "our ancestors").  They were "baptized EIS Moses!!" they "drank the SAME spiritual drink" (v.4).  Paul applies that history directly to the practice and faith about the communion table. We no more share in a pagan table and the Lord's table than they.  If this is not clear enough for us the apostle says - in relation to the practice of the Supper - "consider the people of Israel" (v.18).  The sacrifices of Israel are then explicitly appealed to as a model for table etiquette in the Corinthian "church of God."  We could expand on this point.

2) Paul roots the doctrine of Christian baptism in the "Old Testament" specifically to show that God has kept rather than repudiated his covenant.  Oh, beloved when we hammer out our doctrine in polemics rather than Story of God it will be seriously distorted.  Since I was a young man one of the proof texts drilled into my noggin to use on Baptists was Galatians 3.27.  I memorized that text. I quoted that text.  And I believe that text.  But I had no clue how that text functioned in its context.  I likewise did not grasp that Paul's issue and concern is not baptism but God's faithfulness to Abraham!!!  Baptism serves the "Old Testament" covenant with Abraham.  I did not know that.  It is true that Paul makes is clear that a Gentile does not have to become a Torah observant JEW in order to be God's heir.   Rather they become an heir in the same manner that Abraham himself became one.  The purpose, the goal of baptism, in Galatians 3.27 is not baptism.  It is not even belonging to Christ!!  The text declares that clearly but that is not the point of the argument.  The point of the argument is Paul's climatic declaration in v.29 aimed at Gentiles, "if you {plural!} belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring according the promise." This is the point. This is the goal.  Baptism does not simply put is "in Christ" but baptism makes us children of Abraham and God is still fulfilling the Old Testament covenant with each person who expresses faith in Christ - the offspring of Abraham - and makes them one of Abraham's own children.

3) Well we looked at two "biggies."  Let me look at a rather mundane matter.  Is it "Scriptural" to pay an individual who works in preaching and teaching?  This is a matter of "Christian" practice.  This is a concern for authority for the "church."  When this question is asked we are surely surprised by how Paul answers the question. The biblical authority for paying ministers in the "Church of Christ" is none other than the book of Deuteronomy!  "Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching; for SCRIPTURE says, 'You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain," and "The laborer deserves to be paid."  Paul quotes form Deuteronomy 25.4.  Why did he not simply declare it was ok? He roots the practice of paying those who preach and teach in the Law of Moses.  This is, on the face of it, simply fascinating.

I could provide numerous other specific examples of Paul's apostolic example on using the unquestioned authority of the "Old Testament" to support his Gospel and the practice of his congregations. I have already made this musing longer than I intended so I will bring it to a close.  But we must realize that every time we read Paul we are reading his own interaction with Scripture on a multitude of levels.  His practice shows he believed the words he penned to Timothy regarding what we call the Old Testament but he simply called "Scriptures."  Our practice and his practice are as far removed from one another as east is from the west ...

"But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work." (2 Tim 3.14-17, NRSV).

P. S. We have not even touched what I have come to believe is even more important that explicit quotations for Paul and the rest of the NT.  That is how the conceptual world of the Hebrew Bible shapes quite literally the faith of the "New Testament."  Blessings.

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Rocks, Martin & Psalm 62

Rocks & Martin

In February 1968, the prospect of death looming large in his life, Martin Luther King, Jr took a sabbath with Ralph Abernathy in Acapulco, Mexico. Around 3 am, Abernathy awoke to find that King was not in his bed. Frightened, he went into the living area of their hotel suite and discovered that King was on the balcony in his pajamas, staring into the darkness at the ocean.

Abernathy approached King, "Martin, what are you doing out here this time of the night? What is bothering you?" With his eyes still fixed on the ocean and his ears tuned to the roar of the waves, King whispered, "You see that rock out there?" "Oh, sure I see it," Abernathy replied.  "How long to you think its been there?" King asked. "I don't know. I guess centuries and centuries. I guess God put it there."

"Well, what I am thinking about?" King said softly while Abernathy remained silent. And King began to sing, "Rock of Ages, cleft for me; let me hide myself in thee." In his hour of trial and darkness and waves crashing in on him, King could only think about trusting in God. Only God could provide him with the peace he so desperately needed. So when he saw that rock it reminded him of the powerful words of the Psalms put to music by Augustus Toplady in 1776.  Singing the song brought a little shalom in the storm. 

A basic element in the Psalms is their expression of continual, total and exclusive trust in God alone. God is the problem. But God is the solution. The element of trust dominates our text for meditation, Psalm 62. This theme is present in many others too such as Pss 4, 16, 27 and 131.  Yet for me Ps 62 stands out.  It is expresses the firm hope in God's ability to enable his faithful ones to become "more than conquerors."

God ALONE is Trustworthy (62.1-7)

Psalm 62 is easily divided into two major parts: 1) the first eight verses are the psalmists expession of trust in God and 2) verses 9-12 are the psalmist's "homily" to the gathered people of God to trust in Yahweh as well.

"My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation 
comes from him.
He alone is my Rock and my Salvation; he is my Fortress, I will never be
shaken" (vv. 1-2)

In the midst of the turbulence of 1968, Dr. King found that the only way for him to find shalom was to imagine himself secure in the "Rock of Ages" so our psalmist does the same. God is the sources of all peace and security. These are not words that are spoken naively or rashly.  The psalmist has meditated on his well-being and realizes that all is evanescent except God. God alone is the ground of stability in his life - the Prophet of Justice learned this through real tribulation, just as the psalmist did.

Notice the metaphors the psalmist uses to talk of his God, "my Rock, my Salvation, my Fortress." All of these are images of confidence, strength and security. The ancient Hebrews, unlike the Greeks, did not talk about God in mere abstraction. They talked about God in concrete, observable and vivid ways. They also talked about God in highly personal terms. He is not someone way "out there" who may or may not know that we (and me) are around.  He is not just concerned with the corporate people of God. He is concerned with me.  He is MY rock! He is MY salvation! he is MY fortress! Therefore I shall not be moved. What Yahweh has done in the past for the whole of Israel by redeeming them from slavery he does in our own lives as members of the covenantal family.  

"How long will you assault a man? Would all of you throw him down -- this leaning wall, this tottering fence?
They fully intend to topple him from his lofty place; they take delight in lies.
With their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse." (vv. 3-4)

Here we finally get a window into the crises of the psalmist. It is a struggle we all face sooner or later.  People - family, friends, brothers and sisters - people are friendly to our face.  They pretend to be concerned with our well being.  They act the friend.  But they honestly would like nothing more than to see us fail! To see us stumble! And they would actively take part in our ruin! That kind of "persecution" is many times as painful as public ridicule precisely because these folks were imagined to be family or friends. Sometimes they are just simply our enemy.  The psalmist bemoans the fact that they assail him with their double tongued behavior.  They bless him verbally but curse him in their heart.  Sound familiar?? Sadly this takes place in God's Family even yet!

It is interesting to note that even though the Lord is his mighty fortress, physical and verbal attacks are nonetheless undeniable real and quite painful.  Being the Lord's servant does not makes us immune to suffering and injustice in this fallen age (cf. 2 Tim. 3.12).  We might even argue that it heightens it.  Look at Jesus, the purest of Servants of the Lord.  Did he not suffer the very things the people of God confess and lament in Psalm 62? God was His rock. God was His salvation. God was His fortress.  And he still died on that ignominious Tree for the likes of you and me.

"Find rest, O my soul, in GOD ALONE; my hope comes from him.
HE ALONE is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor depend upon God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge"
(vv. 5-7)

In these verses, our psalmist engages in what we call today "self-talk." There is no denying, and the Bible does not deny, that the fallen world is tough to live in. But God is with us. Our minstrel recalls fundamental concepts for our own peace and security.  Do not put trust in ourselves or others.  Real "manliness" does not come from bulging biceps, fearlessness in the face of enemy bullets, or perseverance, nor in our intellectual capacity or imagined doctrinal precision.  This is in stark contrast of the "world" which claims that a "real man" depends on no one and nothing except himself!  Yet this psalmist (David??) declares that his hope is in God ALONE. It is  not in himself.  It is not in his mighty men. It is not even in his ability to pray or worship correctly. It is in Yahweh. Here is the key to being hidden in the Rock of Ages.

The Singer's faith in God is moving and very challenging.  Because the Lord is our salvation, we can remain steadfast in our obedience.  We will not be shaken. Yet it some how all depends upon God. He alone can provide the way out of the dreadful situations we find ourselves entrapped in. 

The word "salvation" is a multifaceted word in the Scriptures. Sometimes it means deliverance from Sin, from enemies, or even death.  All of these are dimensions of the biblical doctrine and we need to not think one is more "Spiritual" than the other.  These dimensions are all embraced by Jesus and they should be by us.  But in Ps 62 "salvation" means deliverance from the situation that has ensnared the psalmist.  It is a real crises.  This understanding of "salvation" is important to us in our contemporary situation too.  Many folks have lost a conception of what "Sin" is (including Christians), but we all know what it means to have an aimless or miserable life! We know of lives that seem to be devoid of purpose and meaning.  When Christ died on the Cross it was not merely to save us from Sin, though he did do that. According to the apostle Peter, Christ redeemed us from "the EMPTY WAY OF LIFE handed down to you from your forefathers" (1 Pt 1.18).  This is incredibly Good News. Our God is a God of salvation.  Salvation that impacts and transforms the here and now of life and not just when we die.  Our God desires the fullest of lives possible.  Our psalmist embraces these truths with gusto.  So should we.

But the psalmist stresses that a good life is from God. It is his grace.  Without God life has no meaning or purpose. We are nothing without Him.  He testifies "my honor depends on God." My stature is nothing outside of the Lord.  I might as well have never existed, for human honor and worth derive form the Creator God.

Don't Trust in Humans (62.8-12)

"Trust in him at all times, O people, pour out your hearts to him, for God is 
our refuge.
Lowborn men are but a breath [lit. 'vapor'], the highborn are but a lie; if 
weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a
breath [lit. 'vapor'].
Do not trust in extortion or take pride in stolen goods; though your riches 
increase, do not set your heart on them" (vv. 8-10)

Our psalmist now becomes the teacher of the Gathered People of God.  He addresses them rather than himself.  He exhorts us to trust in, to have faith in, God at all times for he alone is our refuge. We should "pour out our hearts to him." This is a call to prayer! A call to dependence rather than independence! When we feel assailed we seek instinctively our "refuge."

What the psalmist wants, perhaps, more than all else is not to fall into the trap of trusting in fallen humans And that includes ourselves. The description of humanity in vv 9-10 is in stark contrast to the description of God in vv 5-7.  God is permanent and unshakable, he is a Rock.  He is reliable so he is my Salvation.  He is strong as a Fortress that cannot be breached.  Yet humanity whether a poor pauper or a rich bureaucrat is a wisp, a vapor, and "a lie."  Vivid imagery captures the human dilemma here. Our teacher says if you take both the rich and the poor and put them in one pan of a balance scale and nothing in the other pan they would fly up because "nothing" would weigh more than them combined.  We cannot trust in humanity for our security and stability or our peace.  We will find no rest there.  Those who have done so have learned, as the psalmist has, that humanity will always let us down.  God will never desert us.  He is faithful.  That is the Good News of Psalm 62.

The Bible is full of exhortations not to trust in humanity.  Paul in Romans 3.10-18 creates a collage of citations from the Hebrew Bible saying it is the gospel truth ...

"There is no one righteous, not even one there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of shalom they do not know there is no fear of God before their eyes."

Not a pretty picture of humanity painted by Paul. Humans are liars and untrustworthy.  Only God is faithful so put it all in him.  Our singing teacher reminds us that money and power are common sources of human trust for safety and security too.  But he warns that trusting in apparent might rather than in the right.

Two Things to Take to the Bank (62.11-12)

"One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard: that you, O God, are
strong and that you, O LORD are loving. 
Surely you will reward each person according to what he has done."

The psalm employs a Hebrew idiom, "One thing ... two things" which simply means "repeatedly," or "over and over and over and over." The psalmist closes his song to the church by sharing the testimony of all who have walked with God, he is Strong and he is Loving! These are two things that are certain as reality itself.  God is Strong!  God is Loving!! You can hang your life on these two truths.  You can live your life even in the darkness holding onto these fundamental truths.  They are more than "truths" they are simply reality.  "This I have heard, this I know ... "This is the basis of his faith in God delivering him from the straits he is in.  God has the power and God has the motivation to do it.

Because God has the power and the motivation to right the wrongs of this fallen world - he will do just that.  One day God will judge each man and woman.  He will measure our deeds. The very deeds of evil by you, me, everyone ... the whispers, the lies, the double-mindedness God will bring out.  This is in fact ground for praise in the psalm.  It is not the psalmist's place to exact vengence on his enemies.  God will take care of that on that Day. And he will do it perfectly.  This is why Christians look forward to the Day of Christ's appearing. All will be set right. The ones who have put their faith in his faithfulness will be rescued by the angels of God and will greet the King.  Trust in God. If we have shalom and peace in our lives we must give God control.

So I concluded these musings on this amazing text with a call to simply rest in God.  In Good times.  In Bad times.  We like Martin Luther King, Jesus, and the psalmist before them can lift our voices and sing, "Rock of Ages, cleft for me; let me hide myself in Thee!"

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Barton W. Stone & the Debate Culture

I grew up in a "debating culture" or perhaps it was a "sub-culture."  If the minister did not like what was going on a mile down the road then a public challenge was issued.  At times this was done through the local paper.  I recall debates on various aspects of the Holy Spirit (indwelling to tongues), orphan homes, real wine on the table (but never what kind of bread!! but I will never forget the statement 'can we have meat and potatoes on the Lord's table?'), what version you can use and the like.   I vividly recall a debate between a Nazarene minister and a minister from the Churches of Christ about "who" was the real church.  I know I will get abused for saying this . . . but I ALMOST became a Nazarene that day purely on the basis of the spirit demonstrated that day.  It was not a pretty sight!

I must say that I am not opposed to debates on philosophical grounds.  Yet, I am very resistant to engage in them because I find them often to be places where the sinful nature is fed . . . perhaps it exposes my own weaknesses.

From my reading of the NT Paul never engaged in anything like what I have been exposed to . . . discussion is not necessarily debate.  Barton W. Stone, a man of great passion and conviction, expressed (in 1842) near the end of his life what he thought debates had done to our Movement and what they continue to do to Christianity.  This was important to Stone and shared his concerns in his advice to young preachers, near the end of his life.  Reflect on his words and see if they do not "ring" with truth:

"It is a common saying among the preachers of this day, "Old men for counsel young men for war."  This is often advanced in justification of the public debates . . .  Do they [i.e. old men] counel you to engage in such debates? . . .  I will fearlessly answer, that no old man of piety, and intelligence, will give such advice, unless in an extraordinary case. For they know by long experience that such debates tend to strife, deaden piety -- destroy the spirit of prayer -- puff up the vain mind, annihilate the tast of the marrow, and fatness of the living word, and destroy the comforts of true, heavenly religion."

In Stone's view, few men had enough Christianity rooted deep in their souls to engage in religious debates.  He observes a fact that I find to be a truism (at least in my own experience):

"Seldom do we see in the same person, a warrior and a humble devoted christian.  Rara avis in terra. Such acquire a controverial habit and temper . . .

Then Stone address the opinion that the Apostles gave us a positive example in this manner:

"I know it is said in justification of such debates that Paul disputed in the synagogue at Athens, the School of Tyrannus, with the Jews and others.  Read the verse correctly, and the force of the objection is removed -- He reasoned or dialogued with them.  This should be the constant practice of every faithful minister of Christ.  Would to God, it were the practice of all our young preachers, to reason out of the scriptures on the important things of the gospel!

"But 'young men of war.' What war? not against flesh and blood, . . . but against the powers of sin and hell, with spiritual weapons afforded to us from above -- not against men, but against their sins . . ."

(Barton W. Stone, "To Young Preachers," Christian Messenger 12 [August 1842], pp. 316-317).

I may be wrong (wouldn't be the first time) but I think Brother Stone was on to something here.  I agree that debates tend to strife, deaden piety -- destroy the spirit of prayer -- puff up the vain mind. How many debates do we see on the necessity of prayer? What could be closer to the Christian walk. I have had challenges to public debate and when I asked the challenger to pray with me they refused.  Do they appeal to the carnal nature: lust for victory, the thrill of defeating the foe . . . Just my opinion.  But we can "reason" together like saints and people filled with the Fruit of the Spirit and the the spirit of war.

Shalom,

Bobby Valentine

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C. S. Lewis: Love is an Undying Fire

Born at the edge of the 20th century (November 29, 1898) and died on the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated (November 22, 1963), Clive Staples Lewis remains one of the most famous authors of the 20th century. I have read more of Lewis' writings than any other author except for Alexander Campbell.

What this Blog is Not About

C. S. (Jack) Lewis was born into a Christian family but through the influence of a skeptical teacher and then his college experience he became a committed atheist.  During World War I he was wounded in April 1918 in what seems to have been a friendly fire incident.  After the war he pursued his education at Oxford and became a Tutor in 1925. His love for literature immersed him in Norse, Greek and Irish which mythology soon provided God with the door back into his life. Lewis fought with the One he most did not want to meet.  In Surprised by Joy he relates,

"You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England."

But he did embrace theism in 1929, and then Christianity in 1931, under the influence of J. R. R. Tolkien.  Lewis went on to become a first rate scholar and published many works that Evangelicals rarely read: The Allegory of Love, A Study in Medieval Tradition; A Preface to Paradise Lost; Studies in Words; The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature; and other works that show the true depth of Lewis' scholarship. But my blog is not about Lewis the scholar, Lewis the author of popular fantasy, or Lewis the one who saw to it that Tolkien's Lord of the Rings saw the light of day was published. This blog is about Lewis the man who quietly served and loved his fellow human beings.

What this Blog is About: Amor est ignis jugiter ardens

C. S. Lewis believed that love was the dynamic energy of the mind and source of creativity.  He wrote in The Four Loves "Every Christian would agree that a man's spiritual health is exactly proportional to his love for God." The Narnian lived what he confesses in a most humble yet dramatic way.

Lewis' friend Paddy Moore was killed in World War I.  C. S. Lewis took full responsibility for his widowed mother and his sister moving them into his own house to live with him and his brother.  Lewis kept this promise.  In her old age Mrs. Moore became verbally abusive and demanding.  C. S. Lewis took care of her till the day she died however.

Harry Blamires, a student of Lewis, recalled that his teacher was "personally interested in his pupils and permanently concerned about those who became his friends ... No one knew better how to nourish a pupil with encouragement." Lewis, as you can imagine, received mail from literally across the globe.  He believed that God wanted him to answer each and every letter with his own handwriting in spite of the massive demands on his already full schedule.  As a result over 12,000 letters by C. S. Lewis have been collected.  Some letters are to old women and some to young boys and everyone age in between.  Lewis treated them all with respect and equally.  The reason for this was because, as he says in The Weight of Glory, "There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal."

The theologian Austin Farrar was a friend of C. S. Lewis (sort of unusual because, unbelievably, many theologians did not like Lewis ... petty jealously finds fertile ground among all mere humans!).  He relates a story about Lewis in the book, C. S. Lewis at the Breakfast Table that again, I think, reveals the true greatness of Lewis and the depth of fruit of the Spirit in his life. First we all know that the Inkling opened his home to house children during World War II to protect them from Nazi bombs (the setting for the Chronicles of Narnia).  During the day, Lewis would work with some of the brightest scholars in the world and then come home and teach a young boy with severe learning disabilities to read using flash cards he made just for the occasion.  Throughout his career Lewis secretly funded the education for impoverished students stipulating that none could know of his contribution until after his death.

The story of C. S. Lewis is one full of wonder and wonderful. He loved hanging with his friends, The Inklings, at the pub (The Bird and the Baby it was commonly called) drinking beer from a stein and smoking a cigar discussing literature, politics, and theology.  He loved God and thought of his work as an act of worship to the Father of Jesus. And he loved people exemplifying the truth of agape because of this ...  (from the Latin Letters of C. S. Lewis) "In the poor man who knocks at my door, in my ailing mother, in the young man who seeks my advice, the Lord Himself is present. Therefore let us wash His feet."

Final Thought

It is my prayer that you and I can become lovers of the world as Lewis did.  If the church today could learn to be open, passionate, creative, and loving as the Narnian then we just might have a positive impact on this old world of sin and death.  May it be so.  Amor est ignis jugiter ardens - Love is an undying fire!

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Can the King be Trusted? The Vision of Psalm 73

“The book of Psalms contains not only the merry shouts of Israelites clapping their hands and making a joyful noise to the Lord. It contains also the groans and the pleas of the sick and the frightened and the dying. I had known that before. Now, I realized it for the first time.” (Stephen Broyles, The Wind that Destroys and Heals: Trusting the God of Sorrow and Joy, p. 21).

The Horizon of Psalm 73

Described as “the most remarkable and satisfying of all the psalms” [1], or a “microcosm of Old Testament theology,” [2] Psalm 73 is strategically placed within the canonical Psalter. Though hard to imagine in the face of the evidence, older scholarship virtually dismissed any notion of design to the book. Rather that scholarship focused on the origins and “setting in life” of individual psalms.  Some of that scholarship was, and is, very insightful but it dismissed the overwhelming evidence that the book of Psalms has been “put together” deliberately and purposefully. There is in fact a progression in the Psalter. When read carefully and attentively we even get the feeling that sometimes the various psalms are "talking to each other." 

The book articulates Israel’s worldview  (i.e. the biblical worldview) as powerfully, and brilliantly, as any book in Scripture. In short that worldview is 1) Yahweh is the Creator God who is the Redeeming King, 2) God has called Israel into a relationship with Yahweh as a graced kingdom of priests worshiping God on behalf of the world, and inviting the world to worship 3) that God’s kingdom is filled with justice, mercy and shalom - hesed is the law of the kingdom  4) and finally that God will defeat the challengers and usurpers of his reign (thus his law) in this world.  Israel’s worldview and faith is anything but simplistic as it is revealed in the canonical Psalter.

The journey getting to Psalm 73 through the Psalter is like a journey over the Alps and through Death Valley.  It is intense and calls for openness.  The introduction to the Psalter, Ps 1, declares a certain world confessed to be true.  I believe Psalm 1 was specifically, and intentionally, created to be the door through which the rest of the book was to be read, sung, and understood.  This means that Psalm 1 was created AFTER all the rest had been gathered and was confessed only after the storms have been weathered. Thus Ps 1 is not naïveté but a confession of faith refined in fire about how the world really is ... about what the Truth is. 

But the world God’s People live in does not correspond to Psalm 1, it is Fallen and Rebellious. We learn that as soon as we read Ps 3. There is no deception in the psalter thus there are two books of Psalms prayed through before we arrive at Ps 73.  Many do a lot of lamenting the dissonance between "out there" and "in here."  Psalm 73 shows a person, who I take to be representative of the entire people of God, who is serious about the values of Psalm 1 but had been the victim of injustice one to many times.  He/she questions whether God’s kingdom is real, whether God’s justice is real, whether having faith in Yahweh is worth the trouble.   But 73 stands at the head of Book III, almost literally the half way point in the book, and refocuses the people of God on what faith really means.  So Brueggemann is correct, I think, when he writes, “in the canonical structuring of the Psalter,  Psalm 73 stands at its center in a crucial role … I propose it is central theologically as well as canonically” [3]. It shows us how to integrate Psalm 1 in our theology.

The Psalm is structured in the following manner

I. Contested Claim (v.1)

II. The Protest and Evidence against the Claim (vv. 2-12)

III. Is it Useless to Follow the King (vv. 13-14)

IV. I Saw the Truth (vv. 15-20)

V.  Faith Refocused: Yes! God is Good and Worth Everything (vv. 21-28)

Verses 2 and 17 are the hinges of the Psalm.

The Contested Claim: The King is Good to Israel

“Surely God is good to Israel,

to those who are pure in heart” (v.1)

The RSV/NRSV repoint the Hebrew text to yield the reading “God is good to the upright” rather than “Israel.” Westermann argues this is necessary because the Psalm is about an individual but that is a mistaken understanding in my view [4].

But verse 1 is the thesis and conclusion of the Psalm.  It points back to Psalm 1 and affirms the truth of that worldview.  But it is a conclusion that that has been arrived at only through the valleys of the next several verses and the previous 70 psalms.  It is not naïve faith but tested and tried. The King is good to Israel.  Israel is not just an ethnicity here but is nuanced by “those who are pure in heart” likewise tying in to Psalm 1. Purity of heart means that the inner attitude actually coheres with the outward word or action. Jesus said his amen to this (cf. Mt 5.8).

The Protest and Evidence against the Claim

Israel’s faith has mettle. Israel’s is honest faith. The gathered people of God acknowledge that what they claim and what they experience is in profound tension.  No not tension, they are in conflict! In fact the next several verses are a full scale attack upon naive faith.  The world claims that God is not King, his will does not rule, and that he is irrelevant at best.  The experience of people “out there” does not cohere with the Faith confessed.  That is the crises! The verses, 2-12, recognize and confess the conflict and its power on the believing community.

“But as for me, my feet had almost stumble;

my steps had nearly slipped.

For I was envious/jealous of the arrogant;

I saw the prosperity of the wicked” (vv. 2-3)

Clearly echoing the language of Ps 1, and contrasting its claim, the wicked are so prosperous that those serving God are “jealous” or “envious.” To the point of even “slipping” away so as to join them. The disciple has nearly fallen away because (as we shall see) the wicked have it so well.   This is “protest” language. Our faith is shaken in the justice and, therefore, the reign of God. They have it made.

The “wicked” described here, it must be noted, differs markedly from laments regarding the ubiquitous “enemies.” There is nothing in the psalm to indicate that the original writer is being attacked.  The language of verses 2-12 is that of observation, experience and even meditation.  Almost like in Ecclesiastes ...

“They have no pain;

their bodies are sound and sleek.

They are not in trouble as others are …

People turn and praise them

and no fault is found in them.

And they say, ‘How can God know?’ …

Such are the wicked;

always at ease, they increase in riches. (vv 4, 5, 10, 12)

These are the reasons for the confession and protest in v. 2.  We almost stumbled asking ourselves the real question: Is it useless to serve God with a clean heart? What is the point of “being on God’s side?” The counter story affirms that it is just not worth it.

These observations are so realistic. Any Christian that claims that walking by faith is either “self evident” or “easy” is a false teacher and a deceiver.  Biblical faith acknowledges the struggle and the challenges of living by faith.  The Holy Spirit honors that honesty by “canonizing” it!

Is it Useless to Follow the King?

The testimony of countless suffering disciples bears heavy upon Psalm 73.2-12.  The nature of the evidence to subvert the claims of v.1 seems “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Case closed.  God is unreliable. Or he is just not there.  When “we” (i.e. the people of pure heart, the people of God, those actually seeking to live what is claimed) see the “facts of the case” – none of which are in dispute – the temptation to throw in the towel is powerful indeed (v.2). Thus the community, through its representative, does in fact sing in guttural tones …

“All in vain have I kept my heart clean

and washed my hands in innocence.

For all day long I have been plagued,

and am punished every morning.” (vv. 13-14)

What!? We thought the righteous were planted like a tree and the wicked were like “chaff!” To live a life in view of the Kingdom of God is an absolute waste of time. Contrary to Ps 1 it is in fact the wicked who are at peace and it is the righteous who are blown away like so much waste. 

Again I want to call attention the anguished honesty.  This is in fact lamentation. It is mourning. It is confession that the world is absolutely messed up and contrary to the torah of God.

If we do not embrace the honesty of the faith of Israel then the power of these Spirit words will be lost on us.  

"I" Saw the Truth

Beginning in verse 15 we have a turning point. The reason for the turning point is given in v.17.  Just when we see the people of God ready to renounce allegiance to the King, to walk away from faith and join the wicked, something amazing happens. The psalmist confesses the power of being identified with the church.  The power of belonging! Identity is found with the group and the beginning step of resistance to the Story of the World is being firmly rooted in the community of believers.

“If I had said, ‘I will talk on in this way,’

I would have been untrue to the circle of your children.”

The sense of belonging is a powerful motive.  It is in, and among, the “circle of your children” that the dawn of just what Truth really means begins to set in.  The wicked really are chaff. They really are nothing but hot air. They really are destined for the garbage heap.  How did “I” come to see this truth?

The truth was seen and ascertained through the memory and the participation in worship with that circle. Worship confronts the false claims of the counter story.  Worship pulls the veneer off the face of wicked. Worship refocuses the eyes of God’s People in order to see “the rest of the story” [5].  The people of God confess clearly the ground for renewed faith. 

“it [thought of the wicked] seemed to me a wearisome task,

UNTIL I went into the sanctuary of God;

there I perceived their end.”

Sometimes we disciples have very narrow tunnel vision. Scripture is replete with exhortation to have “eyes to see” and “ears to hear.” The training for such seeing and hearing is before the throne of God in prayer and praise.  Worship, like the canonical Psalter, is functionally eschatological. Psalm 1 is true because we know the End! Psalm 73.1 is true because we know the End (by eschatology we do not mean just denying the claim of premillennialists!). The book of Psalms, as Walter Brueggemann observed, in its “final form” is “highly eschatological in nature. It looks forward to the future and passionately yearns for it.” In worship the circle of children experience the future in the present.  The Hebrews Preacher testifies to the eschatological nature of the assembly in 12.18-29.  Worship is not simply a matter of songs sung, instruments played or not played, or those mundane things we expend such great energy upon.  Rather worship is about what the community discovers in Psalm 73 – communion with the King.  In worship we have something that the wicked cannot dream of or imagine.  They are excluded from it by the very nature of things.  Only the “pure in heart” can “see God.” Verse 17 is the saving moment in the life this disciple.  He did not find the answer to the problem of the wicked rather he found fellowship with God among his people. Communion changes what we deem to be "the Truth."

Faith Refocused: Yes! God is Good and Worth Everything

The last section of the psalm the community confesses its dismay over almost falling for the “truth” of the false counter story. The psalm confesses that in our jealousy and bitterness that we had actually become a “monster with you” (v.22). Bitterness is devastatingly revealed in its ugliness. The believers had assumed a monstrous disposition toward the King. God the King is truly merciful. Some of the most powerful and poignant words in all the Bible flow from the person enmeshed with the communities worship …

“Nevertheless I am continually with you;

you hold my right hand.

You guide me with your counsel,

and afterward you will receive me with honor.

Whom have I in heaven but you?

And there is nothing on earth that I

desire other than you,

My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart

and my portion forever.” (vv 23-26)

These are among the “most powerful, daring and treasured” words in the whole “Old Testament” according to Brueggemann. So radically altered is this person’s (i.e. = church) worldview because of the encounter with God in worship that all the old problems of the wicked, the claims of the world, and his own weakness (his flesh is still weak unlike the wicked!) are judged to be nothing.  No riches. No health. No position. No prosperity. Nothing at all! All that is required is God himself.  He is the only necessity of life. The Truth, the real Truth, has been embraced.  This is the renewed faith of the psalm.

Just as in Job there is no solution offered. What is offered is Presence. What is offered is God himself. What the psalmist discovers in the assembly of the children before the throne of God is simply communion with God. Everything else is trivial in perspective. God is good because he gives Israel himself!God is good to the faithful because he brings them, through his grace, into fellowship with him. Reorientation and refocusing takes place through communion with God in worship. Here the truth that the world cannot fathom, appreciate, understand, or even “see” is given freely and graciously to Israel. Resolution consists not in answers but in Encounter, not in rationality, but in letting ourselves to unravel before him. 

As noted above these rich verses take on power precisely because they were not, and are not, arrived at without going through the heat of Death Valleys. This is the confession of the people of tried faith, of people who have faced the mocking, jeering crowd. It is the faith of those who have heard the evidence but have been with God.  It is the faith of those who have chosen to bear the scandal of the King. 

Taking It All In, the Scope of Ps 73

The placement of Ps 73 is hardly accidental. Opening up Book III it provides sort of a summary what the community has learned through the first 72 psalms. What is that lesson? Blessedness is not material prosperity (though that at times comes) but with the assurance of God’s gracious Presence in the midst of his community and in our lives. Israel shall not be moved precisely because it is rooted in the Presence of God. [6]

Psalm 73 affirms what Paul confesses in Romans 8.37-39

"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors  through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

In the light of the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah - who read, breathed and prayed the psalms, including Ps 73 - our faith is victory because of his faithfulness.  Psalm 73 calls us to have a faith oriented to the “End.” That is the goal of God’s creative and redemptive work.  Through our worship, celebrating the Lord’s Supper is but one example, we begin to live the “End” in the present.  Through this orientation we do indeed confess the truth of Psalm 73 and the whole Psalter ...

1) God does in fact Reign.

2) We do in fact belong to God.

3) No experience separates us from the reality of God’s Presence.

4) Blessedness means to live in dependence upon God and in community, not upon ourselves.

5) Renewed faith and correct “seeing” come through Encounter with God in Worship.

6) Yes! Got is Good to Israel!! He can Be Trusted!!

Notes:

1] Walter Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary (Augsburg, 1984), 115

2] J. Clinton McCann, Jr, “Psalm 73: A Microcosm of Old Testament Theology,’ in The Listening Heart (ed. Kenneth Hoglund; JSOT 1987), 247-257.

3] Walter Brueggemann, “Bounded by Obedience and Praise: The Psalms as Canon,” JSOT 50 (1991), 81.

4] Claus Westermann, The Living Psalms (Eerdmans 1984), 134

5] Brueggemann, “Bounded by Obedience and Praise,” pp. 85-86.

6] John Goldingay, Psalms Volume 2: Psalms 42-89 (Baker Academic 2007), 417-419.

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