The theme of the church service this morning was Psalm 23:2. The pastor also started a class on the Psalms. Here are some items.
A. The pastor said that we should not be confused when the Psalmist,
David, talks about the Temple, even though the Temple had not yet been
built because David’s son, Solomon, would be the one to build it. The
reason is that the Tabernacle in the Torah is sometimes called the house
of God, or a temple. I did a search online, and, indeed, there are
cases in which the Tabernacle is called the house of the LORD (Joshua
6:24; I Samuel 1:7, 24) and the Temple (I Samuel 1:9; 3:3). The pastor
was arguing against commentators who contend that David could not
possibly have written the Psalms because they refer to the Temple. The
Psalms also refer to exile, however, which took place long after the
time of David. But traditionalists have a way to get around that: David
was referring to the captivity of Israelite POWs by the Philistines or
other Canaanites.
B. The pastor said that “Psalms” comes from a Greek word that relates
to stringed instruments. Back then, he said, they did not have organs,
which were later brought to various countries by the Romans.
C. Some of the Psalms are attributed to the sons of Korah. The pastor
said that these were not literal sons of a man named Korah but were
singers at the sanctuary. He dated them to the eighth century B.C.E.
This somewhat took me aback. I assumed that the conventional view was
that the sons of Korah were believed in the Hebrew Bible to be descended
from the Korah of the Book of Numbers, the Levite who led a rebellion
against Moses and Aaron, long before the eighth century. Scholars have
argued that those stories in Numbers reflect conflict between the
Aaronides and the levitical Korahites, the sons of Korah mentioned in
the Psalms. The pastor is probably basing what he said on something
within scholarship. The eighth century date actually is significant
because of an archaeological finding from Arad, dated to the eighth century, that refers to the sons of Korah.
D. The pastor referred to the so-called Elohistic Psalms (Psalms
42-83), which use “Elohim” for God instead of YHWH. At first, the pastor
dismissed this as no big deal, since Christians today use different
names for God. But then the pastor asked why Psalms 42-83 prefers
Elohim, and he admitted that he has no idea. The pastor was probably
responding to a Documentary Hypothesis sort of view on Psalms, which
attributes Psalms 42-83 to an Elohistic school or sanctuary, perhaps
from the same Northern Israelite milieu that produced the “E” source in
the Pentateuch. Another view is that Psalms 42-83 prefers Elohim because
it sought to protect the sacred name of God, YHWH, from becoming
cheapened through overuse; such a concern is commonly dated later in
Jewish history, at least to the third century B.C.E., when the LXX uses
“kurios” for YHWH. Then there are traditionalists who think that
“Elohim” and “YHWH” convey distinct nuances about God: “Elohim” refers
to God in his transcendent majesty, whereas “YHWH” is God’s personal,
covenantal, relational name. I found an abstract
of a 2010 article by Laura Joffe, “The Elohistic Psalter: What, How and
Why?”, which states: “The author concludes that the Elohistic Psalter
is the result of highly skilled editorial activity which was unrelated
to any reluctance to pronounce the tetragrammaton.” Some of those Psalms
in the Elohistic Psalter are attributed to David, which could pose a
challenge to the traditionalist perspective: Psalms attributed to David
use “LORD,” so why would David prefer “Elohim” in certain Psalms? Could
the Northern Israelites have adapted Davidic Psalms to their Elohistic
sanctuaries? And why did the Northerners prefer “Elohim”? Were they
seeking to differentiate themselves from the Southerners?
E. Someone in the group said that the Psalms seem very personal and
he feels that he is intruding into someone else’s personal relationship
with God when he reads them. His comment stood out to me because the
Psalms, to me, seem personal, and I struggle to reconcile that with the
scholarly views that the Psalms were formal prayers manufactured for
corporate worship in sanctuaries. Not to mention that they mention
extreme perils, and how many people actually experience those extreme
perils at the hands of enemies? David did, though. But there are other
things to consider: what are ancient Near Eastern psalms outside of
Israel like? Reading through my blog’s archives, it appears that John
Walton states that the biblical Psalter complains about life’s
injustices far more than ancient Near Eastern psalms. But I am hesitant
to take that to the bank: there are a lot of times when Christian
scholars say “the Bible is distinct” in such-and-such a thing, then I
find such-and-such a thing in ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman
writings.
F. Someone else in the group said that he read that the Psalms can be
effectively translated into various languages, unlike other poetry.
Other poetry relies on rhyme, which may not translate into other
languages. The Bible, however, relies on emphasis, repetition, and
parallelism, which can be rendered and understood.
G. The pastor commented on the imprecatory Psalms. Reading them in
light of Jesus, the pastor said, we can interpret the “enemies,” not as
literal people we want God to smite, but as the Christian’s enemies,
namely, the world, the flesh, and the devil. If we experience revenge,
for example, we can ask Jesus to take that to the cross. The pastor said
that reading the Psalms in light of Jesus is more helpful than doing
otherwise. That brings me to the next item.
H. The service was about Psalm 23:2: “He makes me lie down in green
pastures; he leads me beside still waters.” The pastor talked about the
pits in which sheep find themselves, and how the shepherds lead them and
guide them out of that. A sheep may eat so deeply into the ground that
he destroys the roots and thus deprives himself of future food.
Similarly, we can find ourselves in spiritual ruts, and God wants to
lead us from them. This relates to “G” because I am reluctant to trust
God to deliver me from my own spiritual ruts—-sexual desire, dislike of
people, extreme introversion, impatience—-so I resign myself to them, or
at least hope that they can be tamed, if not defeated. Should I eagerly
wait for God’s deliverance, or is that a lost cause, one that will
disappoint me if I dwell on it too much?
I. The pastor said that God gives us what we need. A shepherd leads
sheep beside still waters because turbulent waters will scare the sheep.
That can raise “problem of evil” questions: why did God allow me to
experience this horror? But does that mean that God never leads people
beside still waters? God himself can be a source of peace and rest. God
gives people times of refreshment and relief. One person in church was
worried about cancer, but his surgery has removed that problem. What a
relief.
J. Jesus in John 10:27 affirms that his sheep hear his voice. The
pastor told about different sheep being placed in the same bin, yet, the
next morning, each sheep knows the voice of its own shepherd, even
though the sheep have different shepherds. John 10:27 has been applied
to God’s personal guidance of people; I rarely experience that. The
pastor seemed to relate it to God’s general proclamation of the Gospel:
Jesus calls his sheep to himself by extending mercy on the cross. The
pastor told a story about a woman who shied away from Christianity
because of her harsh Christian father, yet she felt something in her
mind and her heart that was drawing her to Jesus. I, too, have felt that
pull, even though I have also had plenty of times of confusion in
whatever faith life I have.
K. The youth pastor said that the shepherd rescues his sheep from
dangerous situations into which they get themselves. God may not always
do that for us, he said, but Jesus experienced God’s rod on the cross
(or something to that effect). God can deliver us from potential peril
through God’s commands in God’s word. If we, like sheep, are dumb, then
does that help us, necessarily? We may misapply the word, plus God often
does not seem to be as overbearing as a shepherd is: God can let us
fall into dangerous traps. But do I dismiss the concept completely? God
is the Christian’s shepherd in a spiritual sense, protecting one’s soul
in this life and eternity.
L. The youth pastor said that the shepherd prepares the way for the
sheep, looking for pastures then guiding the sheep to them. What we know
about God is due to God’s revelation to us. We build on what God has
already done. We participate in what God has laid out.