Prayer in the Apocrypha 2: Tobias & Sarah's Wedding Prayer

"Tobit shows how things may go badly with a pious peasant or townsman, and there may be suffering in married life, yet God always graciously helps and finally crowns the outcome with joy, in order that married folk should learn to have patience and, in genuine fear of God and firm faith, put up gladly with all sorts of hardships because they have hope." (Martin Luther in his Preface to the Book of Tobit)

Setting the Scene

In our last, Prayer in the Apocrypha 1: Tobit and Sarah Cry in the Night, we suggested that the warm God-centered piety of this book is the kind that Jesus was reared in.  We suggested that Jesus the Jew heard, and probably said, the prayers in Tobit (or ones very like them).  The more we listen to Tobit and Sarah pray the more we are hearing the very prayers of all God's people - Jewish or Gentile.

When we left our last, Tobit and Sarah had both offered up prayers from the "deep" up to Merciful God of heaven in the faith that he, and he alone, would solve their woes. God heard those prayers and sent Raphael in disguise to answer both prayers by connecting these Israelites in Exile together.

Blind Tobit begins to set his affairs in order for he just prayed that he would be allowed to die. The Book of Tobit reveals deep respect for women through the character Tobit himself.  Just as Jesus takes care of his mother as he is dying (Jn 19.25-27), so Tobit who believes he will die makes sure Anna is provided for.

"My son, when I die, give me a proper burial. Honor your mother and do not abandon her all the days of her life. Do whatever pleases her, and do not grieve her in anything. Remember her, my son, because she faced many dangers for you while you were in her womb. And when she dies, bury her beside me in the same grave" (Tobit 4.3-4)

This window into how Tobit honors his wife Anna is revealing and corrects, as does the whole book, prejudicial notions that Jews in Jesus day held women in disdain and divorced them right and left (a presupposition that is not uncommon).  But Jewish family values were one of the very attractive things about Judaism to pagans themselves.  These values drew many into the fold as "god-fearers" associated with the synagogue. But I digress.

Tobias is commissioned to go on a road trip to Ecbatana.  He finds a companion he believes to be Azariah, but is really "Raphael" who stands in the presence of God.  The journey is a grand adventure finally arriving at the destination.  Along the way Tobias learns of his relative Sarah from Raphael who encourages him to "take her to be your wife in accordance with the law and decree in the book of Moses" (7.12). Tobias is understandably nervous because "Azariah" had informed him that she had already been married seven times and all the husbands had been murdered.  Tobias chooses the route of faith over security and decides to obey the angel in disguise.

Sarah's Salvation

When Raphael and Tobias arrive, introductions are made. Raguel, Sarah's father, is rightly ecstatic at the news of a potential husband for her.  Volunteers are hard to come by!!  Without a background check he sends his beloved wife, Edna, to prepare the bridal suite and then announces to his daughter: "Don't worry, Sarah, I'm sure the Lord of heaven will make you happy this time and not sad. So cheer up, my daughter" (7.18, TEV).  The NJB captures the mood nicely too "the Lord grant you joy in place of your sorrow."

Tobias and Azariah sit for a meal with Raguel, Edna and Sarah showing the solidarity of the family.  Then the parents escort their new son-in-law, along with Sarah, to their honeymoon room. As the door is shut Tobias whips out the rotting fish's heart and liver on the fire (on the instructions of Raphael).  Asmodeus, the wicked demon, is driven out and Raphael binds him hand and foot (8.3).  Sarah is free from the demon.

Prayer is the Way to Begin a Marriage

The new couple is quite unaware of the supernatural "battle" that took place (and left pretty much unnarrated by the author) the newly weds are still nervous about a great many things.  Getting a marriage off on the right foot is important, especially when you are number 8!! Or you have widowed seven times!!

For some marriage is a completely "secular" enterprise.  No thought of God and his kingdom purposes are even on the radar screen.  Surprisingly even some Evangelicals, and Restorationists, have been nearly as guilty as secularists in "profaning" the covenant of marriage.  Whether we agree with the Catholic tradition that marriage is a "sacrament" is immaterial but it is certain that the Hebrew Bible and Tobit imagine marriage to be a moment filled with holiness.  Marriage thus does not begin in sexual celebration - though the Song of Songs makes it quite clear the Bible has no qualms with sexual celebration in marriage.  Rather marriage begins in worship! I find the vision of marriage to be breathtaking beautiful and one that Christians today really need to capture (I write that as a divorced person sadly!).  Tobias "got out of bed."  He addressed his bride, "Get up, my dear" (TEV) or as the NAB reads much closer to the emotion of the text "My love, get up." The Greek of the LXX reads "adelphe" which is used in the Song of Songs as a tender way to refer to one's beloved (cf. 4.9, 10, & 12) [1].  "[L]et us pray and implore our Lord that he grant us mercy and safety." Together, husband and wife, begin their marriage kneeling in prayer to the God of mercy seeking his blessing upon them.

"Blessed are you, O God of our ancestors,
and blessed is your name in all generations forever.
Let the heavens and the whole creation bless you forever.
You made Adam, and for him you made his wife Eve
as a helper and support.
From these two the human race has sprung.
You said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone;
let us make a helper for him like himself.'
I now take this wife of mine,
not because of lust,
but with sincerity {of heart}.
Grant that she and I find mercy
and that we may grow old together."

And they both said, "Amen, Amen." (8.5-7)

The narrator has beautifully subverted our expectations as we have read the book.  We may have thought that journey would end in a climatic battle between the Angel who stands in God's Presence and Asmodeus, the King of Demons.  But no battle dominates. The binding is less than a verse and the contest is not a contest. Rather prayer dominates the entirety of chapter 8 (see remainder of chapter).

The newly weds prayer begins in doxology.  God is to be praised. Creation is admonished to bless the God of mercy.  The original human couple, Adam and Eve, are seen understood to be the model for all future marriages thus the couple quotes the Bible in their prayer.  They confess to God to be entering into this holy covenant with pure motives.  Tobias is not simply seeking a sex object ("not because of lust") to selfishly gratify his own needs. Righteousness and integrity before the Lord are the foundation of this marriage.  Finally they request two blessings to be upon their marriage that are simply holy and beautiful.  God give us mercy.  Anyone who has been married for any length of time, or has gone through the trauma of divorce, knows that mercy is actually a foundational element of the covenant of marriage.  God grant us mercy. And second Tobias and Sarah are not seeking a throw away marriage.  They seek God's mercy as a necessary ingredient to a lifetime of marriage. The image of praying, on your wedding night, that God allow you and your spouse to weather the storms of life with mercy growing old together is holy and beautiful. How often do we, as Christians, pray with our spouse for the blessing of growing old together? My guess is not nearly enough.

Wrapping Up

The marriage of Tobias and Sarah and their prayer has spoken to God's people nearly since the time the book was written. This passage has been used in Christian weddings for centuries. It remains part of the Roman Catholic liturgy for marriage.  Even the Amish use this passage as a model for marriage. I have used it in every wedding I have done since the late 1990s and it was incorporated into my own wedding to Tifani.

From Tobit we learn of the deep and reverent prayer that filled the hearts of Jesus' people.  From Tobit we learn that prayer was directed to One who was believed to hear prayer simultaneously from vastly different geographical areas. That prayer was offered to One they believed cared deeply about their lives and was intimately involved in the world bringing about shalom for his people and creation. We also learn from Tobit the aspirations of Jews regarding family and marriage.  It was a serious and holy thing rooted in creation and invoking the Presence of God himself as he blesses a marriage with longevity.  The faith of the prayers of Tobit, Tobias and Sarah are in the words of Toni Craven, demonstrate the answer to the question "from where does my help come?" God runs to his people to help them when they call on him in prayer [2].

I love Tobit. It gives me a window into the world of Jesus. Whether we accept it as Scripture like millions of Christians around the world matters not.  It is rich and wholesome and brings us closer to the aspirations of God's people in all times and all places.  And it helps us see Jesus in his own Jewish world with greater clarity and therefore with greater integrity.  I encourage you to pray the prayer of Tobias and Sarah ... with your spouse. 

Notes:

1] Unfortunately the Hebrew and Aramaic fragments of Tobit from Cave 4, one that dates to at least 100 B.C., only partially preserve chapter 8.  For an English translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls Tobit see Martin Abegg, Jr, Peter Flint & Eugene Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible (HarperSanFrancisco, 1999), 635-646.  Joseph A. Fitzmyer has published a thorough study of the Hebrew and Aramaic remains of Tobit from Qumran in "The Hebrew and Aramaic Fragments of Tobit from Qumran Cave 4," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 57 (1995): 655-675.  Fitzmyer believes the original language was Aramaic rather than Hebrew but then says that that is not certain by any means.  Fitzmyer has, since this article, published a full scale Commentary on Tobit that I have not been able to consult (out of my price range to buy :-(  )

2] 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, pp. 95-109.  Tobit is covered on pages 99f.

Read More

Prayer in the Apcrypha 1: Tobit and Sarah Cry in the Dark Night

 “The prayer of the humble pierces the clouds, and it will not rest until it reaches its goal; it will not desist until the Most High responds and does justice for the righteous and executes judgment” (Sirach 35.21, NRSV)

Jesus, the son of Mary, was born to a faithful Jewish family.  The Gospel of Luke opens a window into the kind of piety that Jesus was immersed in as he grew in “wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor” (2.52). The vignette of the young Jesus in the temple is something that is presented as typical not extraordinary for his Jewish family (2.41). Jesus would continue as an adult to participate in the pilgrimages to Jerusalem to worship the God of his ancestors (John 5-12). The Gospels are peppered with prayer from the lips of Jesus. 

But it was not just Jesus and his family that were devoted to prayer.  The Jewish people were serious about prayer. When the disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Lk 11.1) they are not implying they were not, or that Jews were not, people of devoted prayer. In fact we often gravely distort, not only Jesus’ mission & message, but the entire NT when we take him and the NT church out of their Jewish context. Caricatures of Judaism’s faith and practice as legalistic, formalistic, harsh, etc, etc. has been a cottage industry among Western Christians for far to long [1]. Even though the evidence is blaring like neon lights in our face we still sometimes turn Jesus not only into a gentile but a European gentile! Thus it is important to remind ourselves of his immersion in Jewish faith and practice. But what was that “faith and practice?” We will look at a few select prayers in the Apocrypha (or Middle Testament) to learn of the “heart and soul” of the prayers Jesus heard and possibly even prayed himself. In the process we will be edified and come closer to the Lord who remains among his people leading us in prayer and singing praises to our Abba (cf. Heb 2.12f).

Prayer in the Apocrypha: Tobit & Sarah

Prayer in the Apocrypha covers every conceivable area of life from war, travel, food,

procreation, to safety, and much more [2]. I have dealt with Tobit rather broadly previously (Here: Tobit: Triumph of Faith in Adversity) and in relation to Jewish worship previously (Here: The Worship of God; Insight from the Apocrypha) so I am not going rehash that material. I offer this brief structural outline of the book for contextual purposes

I. Shame and Depression of Tobit and Sarah (ch's 1-3)

II. Raphael Sent by Grace to Journey with Tobias incognito  (ch's 4-6)

III. Deliverance of Sarah and her Marriage to tobias (ch's 7-10)

IV.  Raphael escorts the newly weds back and Delievers Tobit (ch's 11-12)

V. Tobit's Prayer of thanksgiving and Testament to Tobias (ch's 13-14

The book of Tobit is rich in prayer.  Indeed prayer is one of the most pervasive themes.  The prayers of Tobit and Sarah make up the bulk of chapter three. The prayer on the night of the wedding of Tobias and Sarah in chapter 8 and the prayer of praise by Tobit in chapter 13 are profound. 

Setting the Scene

Tobit, along with his wife Anna and son Tobias, are among the faithful Israelites that are hauled off with the rest of Israel by the Assyrians to Exile after the collapse of Samaria in 722 B.C. Unlike his fellows, he had journeyed to Jerusalem to worship the one true God according to the covenant of Moses. He delighted in temple worship (we easily hear him singing joyfully the Songs of Ascent). In Exile worship at the temple is no longer possible, so he finds other ways of being faithful to Yahweh.  He gave his food to the hungry and poor, clothed the naked and buried the dead (2.17).  Leaving the bodies exposed was an intended insult by the Assyrians, but Tobit in acts of “civil disobedience” buried them earning the wrath of the overlords. Tobit went into hiding but after the death of the tyrant he returns.  He resumes his ways of helping the poor by telling his Tobias (sounding much like a parable of Jesus btw) to go out and find any poor person he can find so he/she can enjoy the provisions of Pentecost too. He would not eat till the poor come sit and dine at his table. Tobias, however, finds a dead Israelite to whom Tobit immediately goes to bury.  Sleeping outside because of his ritual uncleaness Tobit becomes the victim of bird droppings in his eyes and looses his sight. Four years later his wife, Anna, is having to earn food for the family.  She brings home a goat that had been given her for her wages. The blind, and humiliated, Tobit lashes out (wrongfully) at his wife.  True to any genuine relationship, she, stung by his accusation, shouts “Now I see what you are really like! … Where is all that concern of yours for others?” (2.14, TEV). [3]. Crushed by his suffering, in Exile, blinded while doing kingdom work, alienated from his wife, and now even unable to do works for Yahweh he prays that God would take his life.

Meanwhile, Sarah's life is even worse (!) than Tobit’s.  She is the only child of Raguel, a Jew exiled to Ecbatana in Media (cf 2 Kings 17.5-6) hundreds of miles away. She is attacked by her father’s maid because she had been married seven times but “the worst of demons” Asmodeus (3.8, NJB) had killed each bridegroom before they could consummate the marriage.  We learn later in the story that each of these were killed in the bridal chamber itself (6.14). The maid accuses Sarah of actually murdering her own husbands bringing dishonor to her and her family. Now she believes that there is no hope and intends to commit suicide (3.10). But she realizes that doing so would further dishonor her father so she also prays that the Lord take her life or to do as he pleases.

The Prayers: Ad Dominum cum tribularer

The narrator brilliantly, and inspiringly, conveys how the lives of Tobit and Sarah are parallel and that the Lord, even though far from the “holy land,” cares and knows about what is happening to both. Both cry out to the Lord in the midst of their troubles. Quotations come from John Kohlenberger III’s The Parallel Apocrypha with Greek, KJV, Douay, Know, TEV, NRSV, NAB and NJB in parallel columns.  I follow the more literal NRSV here. Tobit prayed

“Then with much grief and anguish of heart I wept, and with groaning began to pray:

‘You are righteous, O Lord,

and all your deeds are just;

all your ways are mercy and truth;

you judge the world.

And now, O Lord, remember me

and look favorably upon me.

Do not punish me for my sins

and for my unwitting offenses

and those of my ancestors committed before you.

They sinned against you,

and disobeyed your commandments.

So you gave us over to plunder, exile, and death,

to become the talk, the byword, and an object of reproach

among all the nations among whom you have

dispersed us.

And now your judgments are true

in exacting penalty from me for my sins.

For we have not kept your commandments

and have not walked in accordance with truth before you.

So now deal with me as you will;

and command my spirit to be taken from me,

so that I may be released from the face of the earth

and become dust.

For it is better for me to die than to live,

because I have had to listen to understand insults,

and great is the sorrow within me.

Command, O Lord, that I be released from this distress;

release me to go to the eternal home,

and do not, O Lord, turn your face away from me.

For it is better for me to die

than to see so much distress in my life

and to listen to insults.” (Tobit 3.1-6, NRSV)

And Sarah prayed …

“At that same time, with hands outstretched toward the window, she prayed and said,

‘Blessed are you, merciful god!

Blessed is your name forever;

let all your works praise you forever.

And now, Lord, I turn my face to you,

and raise my eyes toward you.

Command that I be released from the earth

and not listen to such reproaches any more.

You know, O Master, that I am innocent

of any defilement with a man,

and that I have not disgrace my name

or the name of my father in the land of my exile.

I am my father’s only child {uses monogenes here just as in Jn 3.16}

he has no child to be his heir;

and he has no close relative or other kindred

for whom I should keep myself as wife.

Already seven husbands of mine have died.

Why should I still live?

But if it is not pleasing to you, O Lord, to take my life,

hear me in my disgrace” (Tobit 3.11-15, NRSV)

Praying Out on the Limb

Not only can I, but I do, identify with both Tobit and Sarah.  Twice in my life I have felt the world simply crashing in on me.  The first time was being fired for teaching that racism is absolute sin before God almighty – and this before Christmas! I thought I was going to get a pay raise but instead got two days to “get your books out of the office.” Did I ever feel wronged and confused. The other was when I was divorced by my wife of 17 years - left on a Sunday morning!! (No joke!) Oh how I felt like less than zero.

Many of us, just as Tobit had literally gone above and beyond the “letter of the law” in trying to show he was on the Lord’s side only to have a bird literally poop in his eyes.  In his “eyes” he was shamed, of no count. Less than Zero. And now he has wrongfully accused his wife. Shame upon shame! Sarah whose problem was not being barren like the ancient Matriarch, rather it was that her husbands keep dying before they can even have sexual intercourse.  She is the talk of the town and the maid voices what the whole town thinks – she is really murdering her men! Her father is shamed because of her and he has no heir because of her!  She, like Tobit, see no light at the end of the tunnel.  They are out on a limb that has just been cut off.

In the Scriptures that Jesus drank from childhood he encountered numerous prayers from the Pit. I believe the Gospels make it clear that Tobit is one story he knew.  At any rate the Psalms are littered with lamentations where the people are overwhelmed by the “odds.” “In my trouble I cried to the Lord, and he heard me. Lord, deliver my soul from liars and from deceitful people” (Ps 120). “Out of the depths I have cried to you, Lord” Lord, hear my voice.” (Ps 130).  Space does not allow quoting Psalm 88 in full but clearly Tobit and Sarah would feel at home in that psalm. When was the last time you took the time to read the book of Lamentations?

Other prayers in Scripture even reveal a desire for death.  Job clearly hates the day he was born and desires to be set free from his misery (Job 3).  Jonah twice tells Yahweh he would rather be dead than live in a world where he lets scum off like he did the Assyrians (Jonah 4).  But Jonah’s death wish is motivated out of anger at God.  Tobit’s and Sarah’s is motivated by anguish at the present and no hope for the future [4]. With such prayers being replayed in his head (like Ps 22), Jesus himself, like Tobit, released his spirit, to die (Tob 3.6)

Tobit’s prayer has three parts. First it has a doxology (3.2).  Second is Tobit’s recognition of his own sin and his identification with the failures of the entire people of God. He neither blames them nor denies his sharing in their guilt (3.3-5). Third his fervent petition to be released from his shame and blindness.

Sarah’s prayer is presented as just as important to God (and the narrative) as Tobit’s. She is in different circumstances but the same turmoil.  God cares for both men and women. He listens to both. He responds to both. He is Sovereign over all the world even the Assyrian Empire to bring about his will in the lives of his people.

Unlike Tobit, Sarah has no qualms about asserting her innocence before the Lord. She has been faithful and remains even a virgin despite being in an alien land where her virtue could easily have been compromised by slavers. She lives with the horrid memory of being wed only to literally watch seven husbands destroyed by Asmodeus. But who knew the truth but her?

Wrapping Up

Tobit and Sarah’s prayers reveal faith in a God who is not only powerful but who is merciful and full of truth (or “grace and truth” in NJB in 3.2 much like in John). They believe that God is the only one who can address their problem. Tobit seems to only see death as the only option but Sarah leaves open the door for “your will to be done” [5]. Both reveal an unshakable faith that God is to be praised regardless of the circumstances and that his justice is flawless even in their less than favorable circumstances.

Finally the author of Tobit reminds us that even though those seeking God’s favor are far from the Temple that “at that very moment, the prayers of both of them were heard in the glorious presence of God” (3.16). God sent his angel Raphael not to take the lives of Tobit and Sarah but to deliver him from his blindness so he could “see the glory of the Lord” and to save Sarah from her shame and set her free from the tormenting demon.  The rest of the story is God fulfilling the prayer of two very different people separated by many miles, with very different problems and yet God mysteriously linked them together.

Stories and prayers like these showed Jesus and the early church that God was every present and mysteriously and deeply involved in the world. Faith in him is the victory. These prayers are powerful and show us the kind of prayer Jesus and his followers heard and prayed ...

The Art Work ...

Tobit, like much of the Apocrypha, was treated as canonical Scripture by artists.  There are stunning works of art on themes from the Middle Testament.  The sculpture at the top is by Giovanni Baratta (1670-1747).  The illuminated page is the title page of Tobit in the Gutenberg Bible. And the tapestry is by Neri di Bicci dating to 1471. 

Notes

1] The sad sordid tale of Christian anti-Semitism is chronicled ad nauseum by Dan Cohn-Sherbok, The Crucified Jew: Twenty Centuries of Christian Anti-Semitism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans 1992).

2] See Norman B. Johnson’s, Prayer in the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha (Philadelphia: Society of Biblical Literature, 1948), 7-37. Johnson’s work is both valuable and frustrating. He arranges his brief study topically with little attention to the context in which the prayers occur. His study is also tainted with a not so subtle condescending attitude toward Second Temple Judaism that colors more than one of his interpretations. Nevertheless with that said it is still a good entre into the field of prayer in the Apocrypha.

3] Amy-Jill Levine, a wonderful Jewish scholar has called attention to the domestic relations   between Tobit and Anna in a very insightful article, “Tobit: Teaching Jews How to Live in the Diaspora,” Bible Review 8.4 (August 1992), 42-51, 64.  Where I disagree with her, is her conclusion that the Book of Tobit is concerned with keeping in Anna and Sarah “in their place.”  I really think this is a major imposition upon the text.

4] See the oh so brief discussion in Cary A Moore,Tobit, Introduction and Commentary (New York: Doubleday 1996), 139-140.

5] David deSilva correctly, in my judgment, sees Sarah’s prayer as a “model” for praying, as James will direct, “according to God’s will.” See Introducing the Apocrypha: Message, Context, and Significance (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic 2002), 78.

Read More

The Psalms, The Reign of God, and Jesus the Messiah

"O precious reading of the psalter, which for this alone deserves to be called the book of life!" (Richard de Bury, The Philobiblon, p. 24)

Wading into the Deep Waters

Jesus is a Jew. According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus was born to an impoverished but faithful, and full of faith, Jewish family.  His mother, Mary, was obviously a gifted singer and prayer warrior as we see in her Magnificant (1.46-55).  From the time of his birth, he was so deeply immersed in the Jewish faith that his family made the arduous journey "every year" to Jerusalem for the Passover (Lk 3.41).  The stories of God with his people were constantly with him. The worship of his Jewish family would mold him inside and out. One part of his prayer life and worship was immersion in the book of Psalms. His family knew how to pray, his people knew how to pray and those prayers, those cries of faith, those longings he heard and sang as a child became part of the fabric of his mind.

Since the Psalms were so deeply enmeshed in his family life, it is not surprising to find that the ministry of Jesus in so many ways is sort of a mirror of the concerns, theology, and often the very words of the Psalms [1]. Communion with God. Importance of truth. Anger at injustice. Disgust at hypocrisy. Celebrating the flood of God's gifts. Trust that leads to freedom. Gratitude that expresses itself in humble obedience. And above all the kingdom of God.

 YHWH MALAK

The Book of Psalms discloses, as much any section of Scripture, the radical unity of the Testaments. Grace, faith, creation, redemption, the fellowship of the saints, the presence of God, worship, and the proclamation of that the God of Israel is King and the glory of his reign are unbreakable chains that tie the Testaments together through the Psalms. It is a surprising, yet common, misunderstanding among Evangelicals and restorationists that the kingdom of God was an idea introduced by Jesus of Nazareth.  But Jesus did not introduce the reign of God into Jewish piety.  Jews knew, believed, and preached that God was/is King.  Jesus did too, every time he prayed and sang the Psalms. We do know that the central proclamation of Christ was the kingdom ... but it was an "Old Testament" doctrine.

Yhwh Malak! This is the central theological claim of the canonical book of Psalms. It is the center on which all faith and "topics" in the Psalter depend.  This declaration can be translated as Yahweh reigns, or the LORD is King (NRSV), or "the LORD has become King" (REB). The first translation views the kingdom as an activity, the second as a role, and the third as an event.  Here is the kicker, all three are grammatically possible.  So I embrace them all without denying the accuracy of any.

The Lord, the God of Israel, is King. This is, according to James Luther Mays, is the central theological claim of the canonical Psalter [2].  My own study of the Psalms indicates that Mays is not far from the mark, if at all. God's reign is explicitly stated and lies behind the major metaphors for Yahweh in the book as we shall see. I want to encourage my readers to meditate upon all the following Psalms: Pss 24, 29, 47, 93, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 104, 145, and 146.  When you are reading through the rest of the psalms note phrases like the Lord "sits enthroned" or "rules the nations." It is a theme that is not hidden.

Why Yahweh is King?

The Psalms declare the kingship, and thus the kingdom, of God from two directions.  The first is that Yahweh is the "maker of heaven and earth."  Psalms such as 8, 19, 29, 33, 93 and 104 show the Lord overcoming the forces of chaos (anti-creation and anti-life) in order to establish a dwelling in which his creatures can thrive in his presence. Because Yahweh is the Creator, all other powers of whatever nature are subject to him. It is for this reason the Psalms repeatedly exhort, and even command, "all the earth" to acknowledge and submit to the Reign of God. It is the reason that "all creation" declares his glory.  The Loving King creates.

The second direction the Psalms come from to proclaim the reign of Yahweh and his kingdom is through his astounding, and unprecedented, act of pure grace in redeeming the most insignificant (Deuteronomy 7.7) of people to his very own treasured possession - Israel.  The Exodus is the Gospel in the Hebrew Bible. Such psalms as 47, 68, 98 and 114 all bring the Gathered People back to the fact that Yahweh is King because he rescued, redeemed and saved Israel.  God is King because he is the Redeemer! These texts all bring us back to the central Story of Israel - the Exodus from certain death in Egypt.  These psalms recall the very first time in the Bible that God is declared to be King.  In Exodus 15, after the great miracle of grace in the Exodus, the prophets Moses and Miriam lead the people in worship. In worship they declare, "The LORD will reign forever and ever" (Ex 15.18).

These two ways of declaring the kingship of Yahweh are intertwined in numerous Psalms.  Creation and Redemption are never that far apart in the Bible.  Such powerful mingling of these occur in psalms such as 33, 136, 146, and 147.  Sometimes within a single psalm these themes are brought together in the corporate prayers of God's people.   Look at Psalm 74

"Yet God my King is from old,
working salvation in the earth.
You divided the sea by your might;
you broke the heads of the dragons 
in the waters.
You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you gave him as food for the for 
the creatures of the wilderness.
You cut openings for springs and 
torrents;
you dried up ever flowing streams.
Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you established the luminaries and 
the sun.
You have fixed all the bounds
of the earth;
you made summer and winter."
(74.12-17; see also 89.5-14)

The classic example of the bringing of these themes together in the Psalms is the majestic hymn to the King's  HESED in Ps 136.  The psalm thunders between the congregational leader and the response of the gathered people declaring God has shown steadfast love in creating the world and for redeeming Israel in that world.

God is King! This is not new with Jesus, rather it is the foundation of Israel's faith. As we read, pray, and praise our way through the Psalms we see many other "titles" for God's activity.  But these are royal in nature in the Ancient Near East even if at times we in the modern west misconstrue the nature of the images [3]. It is as King that the Lord is warrior, judge, refuge, and shepherd. These roles are all kingly roles and all proclaim the kingdom of God in the Psalms. Prayers of appeal and lament, as well as hymns of praise are based on the belief that Yahweh is in fact the King of the Universe and King of Israel in particular.

Dimensions of God's Kingdom

Worship is such a radical enterprise. Israel was "literally" the backwoods of the ancient world. Yet they made "grandiose" claims.  Mt. Zion is a pathetically small hill and yet Israel declared it to be the greatest and grandest of all mountains.  In fact Zion is the sort of the "navel" of the world.  These claims are nearly laughable from the perspective of the rebellious world and its "empirical evidence." These statements are all true though because Israel had gone to worship. In worship a reality is disclosed, the Psalms declare it to be so, in which the rebellious creation is turned on its proverbial head! What is "out there" is mere counterfeit.  God is King. His Kingdom will fill the whole earth. His dwelling is the center of all creation.   Israel knows these truths not through observation but through faith and worship. Jesus believed these truths he learned as a child singing and praying the Psalms as a faithful and liturgical Jew.  Israel makes three claims (if not more) about Yahweh and his kingdom.

First, the Psalms declare that God's kingdom is transnational and universal.  Israel is the manifestation of God's kingdom but God's kingship is not limited to the boundaries of Israel. He is King of all the earth.  Israel knew this because Yahweh defeated the faux king named Pharaoh (Ex 8.2, 9:14, 16, 29).  The "Old Testament" proclaims the kingdom of God is universal.

"They shall speak of the glory of your
kingdom,
and tell of your power,
to make known to all people {nations} your
mighty deeds,
and the glorious splendor of your
kingdom.
Your kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom,
and your dominion endures
throughout all
generations"
(Ps 145.11-13)

Israel is the "type" of the church in the Hebrew Bible.  Israel does not correspond to any nation states such as the USA, Germany or Japan.  Israel corresponds to the church. In fact the "church" is the Israel of God. No. Gentiles have not "replaced" Israel of old rather Gentiles have been grafted by God's amazing grace into the one People of God stretching back to Abraham.  Thus Israel is God's kingdom made visible in the world, just as the "church" is the kingdom made visible.  But God's kingdom is greater than both and never reduced to some nation state.  It is universal.

Second, the Psalms declare that God's kingship is redemptive in its function. Celebrating the King is an act of faith done in worship.  The declaration Yhwh Malak is made within hymns in the Psalter.  Declaring Yahweh to be King is not something the wicked perceive, that the nations acknowledge (anymore than they think Zion is greater than Mt. Everest!). It is something proclaimed through worship and lived because we know it to be true. In the kingdom of God specific values are inculcated and enjoined because they flow from the King's nature. These values turn the world, again, on its head.  Note these texts,

"righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne" (97.2)

"The King is mighty, he loves justice, you have established equity,
you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob" (99.4)

"The LORD is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and rich in love.
The LORD is good to all;
he has compassion on all he has made" (145.8-9, see vv. 14-20)

"He upholds the cause of the oppressed 
and gives food to the hungry.
the LORD sets the prisoners free,
the LORD gives sight to the blind,
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,
the LORD loves the righteous.
The LORD watches over the alien
and sustains the fatherless and the widow
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
The LORD reigns forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the LORD." (146.7-10)

It is difficult to read these few excerpts and not hear the voice of Jesus in the Gospels saying virtually the same things. Jesus' proclamation of the kingdom of God is so "Old Testament." His preaching molded and shaped by the faithful worship of his mother Mary and his step-father Joseph. The kingdom has a redemptive thrust. Compassion is the value of values. In the kingdom we imitate God. We love what he loves, we do what he does.  The reality of the kingdom cannot be "spiritualized" into some "heaven" or privatized as my own secret walk with God.  It is the aligning of our entire life, in every way thinkable, to the redemptive will of God.  We are the vessels of God's will being done "on earth as it is in heaven."  God's kingdom is in the world as salt, light and leaven to undo the vandalism of shalom throughout creation.

Third, the Psalms reveal that God's kingship and his kingdom have an eschatological dimension. One cannot read in the psalms with any degree of sympathy and not come face to face with the cold fact that we live in a world that is completely alien to the kingdom of God. The world we proclaim in gathered and private worship is so contrary to the world "out there." God's people are often as flawed as the "wicked" and "enemies." Those who are specifically designated to safe guard the powerless aliens, widows and poor become the very instrument for crushing them. These kinds of huge gaps are dealt with in the Psalms themselves and also in the prophets of Israel.  In worship we confess that we do not place trust in human powers of any kind.  We have learned that we are easily seduced by the "dark side," that is by the corrosive and toxic appeal of the fallen world.

So the Psalms proclaim that the King is coming! The coming King is reason for celebration, rejoicing and the ground of all hope.  So worship itself is a form of prayer in which God's people call for the kingdom to be fully and completely manifest "out there." This, by the way, is not simply so the wicked will go to hell.  Rather when the King comes to "judge" (as it is often translated) the notion is not simply that he is coming to condemn.  He will deal with gross evil though.  Rather the main point of the Hebrew is that the King "will make things right."  All will be well when the King arrives.  This eschatological theme pervades a number of psalms.  The coming is Good News of great joy,

"Shout for joy before the LORD, the King.
Let the sea resound and everything in it;
the world and all who live in it.
Let the rivers clap their hands,
let the mountains sing together for joy;
let them sing before the LORD,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples with equity."
(98.6-9)

Creation bursts into joy because of the King is coming to put the world back together again.  You may want to compare this train of thought in Ps 98 with Paul's in Romans 8.18-25.  The king is coming.  That is something we look forward to. This eschatological look to the kingdom is what gives such potency to Jesus' proclamation that the "kingdom of God is at hand."

Wrapping Up

The notion of the kingdom of God is a fundamental theme in the Story of God.  It binds the Testaments together down to the DNA.  In the Psalms, this belief in the Sovereign God smashes directly into the human notion of Sovereign Self. The Psalms call us to confess that the Lord is King because he is Creator of all things in heaven and earth.  The Psalms call us to confess the King because he has redeemed by his own grace a people out of rebellious creation.  The Psalms call us to drink deeply the faith and values of the King and live them as missional people.  The Psalms call us to recognize the universal and cosmic nature of the kingdom of God and to be the people of redemption.  And the Psalms call us to recognize and pray for the King to come.

When we look at these themes, just mentioned, it is not hard to see why Jesus' ministry in the Gospels looks the way it does.  Jesus' ministry is a mirror of the prayers, the worship, and the faith of the minstrels of Israel who sang about the Glorious God - Yhwh Malak. 

Notes:

1] For a brief overview of how Jesus' life and the Psalms "mirror" one another see J. Clinton McCann, Jr, A Theological Introduction to the Book of Psalms: The Psalms as Torah (Abingdon, 1993), 163-175.

2] James Luther Mays, "The Language of the Reign of God," Interpretation 47 (1993): 117-126

3] See Othmar Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World: Ancient Near East Iconography and the Book of Psalms (Crossroads, 1978), 244-306.

Read More

Image of the Invisible God: Meditations on Col 1.15-20, Pt 5

for in him all the fullness

was pleased to dwell

and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself

All Things

whether on earth or in heaven

by making Shalom [peace] through the blood of his cross.

There has been a major shift in Paul’s melody since the first half of his song. Those "lyrics"  focused upon Jesus’ cosmic work as Creator, and the grace that brings to us.  Now the tune is cosmic work of Christ as Redeemer. This pairing, “creation” and “redemption,” is something Paul gets from his Hebrew Bible (Old Testament).   Both creation and redemption strike the cord of God’s cosmic, eternal, unending love! Sing Psalm 136 to see how the Bible turns these themes into almost a mantra.  God’s world began in an act of creative love (Genesis 1-2).  Yet God’s creation was vandalized by Sin (Genesis 3-11). Think of the most beautiful “THING” you can imagine. Multiply that beauty by a billion. Now you may have some notion of the Art of God in creation.  Now imagine that beautiful THING with the most disgraceful GRAFFITI … this is sort of like the Vandalism of Creation by Sin.

Paul strains at the notes in this new hymnic verse because the Cosmic Christ reaches out with even greater love (if that is possible!!) to win back, to restore, to renew, to repair, to undo the Fall of All Things! of All Creation! 

The scope of the Gospel of the Cosmic Christ is breathtakingly beautiful.  It is stunning in fact.  Why? Because the One who created all THINGSrefuses to give up on all those THINGS. The conflict that has inhabited God’s creation since Genesis 3: the hatred, the mistreatment, the oppression, the loneliness, the racism, the vandalism of creation, the sexism, the selfishness, the plain ugliness of evil …  Jesus in, and through, his own material physical body (1.21) made of the very THINGS he had created … reconciled it all … resolved the conflict, brought redemption and SHALOM through that body of flesh for the purpose of redeeming not only his own human body but EVERYTHING in heaven and earth, visible and invisible that he had created.

Through Jesus, the Image of God, God brought about peace {shalom} between himself and all that has been created. This includes you, me, us, what is above, what is seen and what is not.  The lyric of Paul is simply breathtaking. It leaves me speechless.

Musings: How big of a gospel do you believe in? Is the Gospel beautiful?

Prayer

Ask God to give you eyes to see the universe, and everything in it, as something that Christ created and for which he died … and for which he conquered death for. God open my eyes.

Read More

Image of the Invisible God: Meditations on Col 1.15-20, Pt 4

He is the beginning

the Firstborn from the dead

so that he might come to have first place in everything

With the beginning of this new verse, Paul begins to point in the radical new direction of redemption and renewed creation.  To say that Jesus is “the beginning” here does no refer to Creation which was the refrain of the previous verses.  Rather Jesus is now seen, not as Creator, but rather the one who has participated in the most common human trait across every race in the world – death.  But Jesus did something that is not common, he did not stay dead. A new reality has begun.  The new age has broken in because Jesus, the Creator, has conquered the grave (one of those “dominions” … Revelation 20.14). Jesus came back and is thus the “Firstborn from the dead!”  This is Resurrection.  Easter. The new Age of hope.  The Future is Now in Christ’s Resurrection from the dead.

Do you want to know why Jesus is Lord? Do you want to know why Jesus has “first place” in “everything?” Do you want to know why Jesus is not second to George Bush, Barak Obama, Buddha, Mohammad, Bobby Valentine … or even you? There is one simple reason according to Paul. That reason is Mohammad when he died, and he did die, remained dead.  When Confucius died, and he did, he turned to dust. If Bobby Valentine dies, he will remain in the grave. Because he is dead.  Jesus is first and foremost for the simple fact of history (not make believe) that though he did die – he did not stay dead! This is what makes Christ different, unique, and in a category that none can touch.  He was killed on the cross.  That is a fact! On the third day the earth shook and the gates of death were destroyed by the Image of God! That is almost unbelievable.  And what is more is that because of Jesus’ resurrection Bush, Obama, Muhammad, Buddha, and Bobby Valentine … and you … will also be raised from the dead one glorious day. 

God created the cosmos through the Cosmic Christ.  When the world became vandalized the creator became its one chance of hope … Thus Jesus died to save what he made.  Through his resurrection he brought the future into the now.

MUSINGS: Do you believe what Paul sings? Is Christ “first” that is supreme in everything? What in your life have you not surrendered to Christ.

Prayer

Father God, grant me insight through your Holy Spirit into the magnificence of your Christ. Grant that my faith will grow into unshakable faith in the bodily resurrection of your Son, Christ Jesus. Help me Father to truly make Jesus the Lord of my life as he is already the Lord of the universe.  Take any part of me not surrendered to him and make it his. Defeat me when I resist his direction and claim to be First in all I say, do, or think.  Amen.

Read More

Image of the Invisible God: Meditations on Col 1.15-20, Pt 3

And he is before All Things 
and in him All Things hold together
and he is the head of the body, the Gathered People

As we move through Paul’s wonderful song (Col 1.15-20 is a song) it important to keep the train of thought before us (context). We have seen that Jesus is God’s AVATAR, that is the very picture of God himself.  He has said that Jesus is Supreme because he is actually the instrument for Creation of anything that happens to exist.

The Good News of Jesus (the Gospel) is cosmic in scope. It is as big as the universe that Christ created.  It is Good News that the God, through his Christ, created the universe because we have a reason for being here. It is incredible news that Jesus holds it all together. This song, one of Paul’s greatest hits, ties the whole Gospel message together. The Cosmic Christ has created the cosmos. The Cosmic Christ holds all the planets, galaxies, and the spirit world together.  And … the Cosmic Christ did not do this “just for me.” Jesus created, Jesus holds it together, and Jesus redeems for the sake of US.  You, Me and All Things. Not Me. But for all of us!  That is what “he is the head of the body, the Gathered People” means.  It means the universe was created to provide a place for God’s family.  It means the invisible, and visible, universe is held together for the sake of the family.  The Gospel places not me, but us, in cosmic relationship with one another because of Him.

One of the most intense cravings of our times is companionship. It it totally ironic that with our Facebooks, Instagrams, twitter, Tumbler, and even the “old My Space” people feel more isolated than ever. The Postmodern world has paid a heavy price for the Sin of Modernity … all I need is ME! But our cravings show us that we need one another.  The Good News of Jesus, that Paul sings, is that because of Jesus, the Avatar of God, we belong to the most important “in group” in the universe – The Gathered People. Or we sometimes call it “church.”  But idea is that of people who have been gathered from the four corners of the Earth by the mysterious power of God and made his Family.  We are Family.  The Gospel makes us the Cosmic Family for whom the entire universe is held together. The family that Jesus himself is the “head” of. 

MUSINGS: Which thought disturbs you the most, being alone? or having a great friend? Do you think your answer reflects the fundamental nature of the Gospel of Christ that Paul sings about?  Why or Why not?

Prayer

Ask the Holy Spirit to help you not only believe the Cosmic Gospel but to appreciate it. Ask him to help you see that the “Gospel is for me,BECAUSE it is for us!

Read More

Image of the Invisible God: Meditations on Col 1.15-20, Pt 2

for in him were created All Things
in heaven and earth
things visible and invisible
whether thrones or dominions
whether ruler or powers
All Things have been created through him and for him.

There are a lot of THINGSin the universe. Galaxies. Stars. Planets. Moons. Comets. Meteors. Lions. Tigers. Bears. Men. Women. Rainbows. Flowers. These are just some of the visible THINGS. There are also atoms, neutrons, protons, quarks, radio waves, angels, spirit beings. These are just some of the invisible THINGS.  

The Apostle Paul had memorized Genesis 1.1 just as you have from his infancy: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. But in Colossians 1.16 he makes the astounding assertion that one of the IMAGES of Christ is none other than God actually used the Messiah (i.e. Christ) to do the creating. This speaks to the supremacy of Jesus.  He does not stand behind anyone in all creation in rank.  Paul, like you, could think of a lot of THINGS. Let your mind wander across the universe and Paul dares to claim the person we know as Jesus made those galaxies, stars & planets. Think about those THINGS that cover the world. Paul dares to claim Jesus made those things. But Paul knew the universe has THINGS in it that no eye has ever seen: your spirit, the angels, the invisible stuff the apostle claims Jesus is greater than all them too because he created them. The words “thrones” or “dominions” “ruler” or “powers” refer to the non-material spiritual realm.  Paul tells the Colossian disciples that one reason they have no fear of the evil forces in the world is that Christ, the IMAGE of God, is incomparably superior to them in every conceivable fashion. We live in confidence because Jesus is on our side.

Paul does not say everything in the universe is friendly but he does say that everything will sooner or later serve Christ.  The Universe was created both by Christ and for Christ. We exist for him.

MUSINGS: Read Psalm 104 and note the magnificent diversity of “all things” that are visible that have been created.  Note how “all things” are in God’s visible world are objects of his steadfast love.  Marvel at those things … what does this say about “God.”?

Prayer

End your time praising the Lord for the security we have in him.  Praise him for his creativity and the beauty he has placed in the visible realm. Praise him that one of the THINGS he has created, in His own Image, is YOU.  Ask him to help you grasp that truth.

Read More