Psalm 19, Two Books

Psalm 19 speaks of the revelation from nature in the beginning.  this portion reminds us of a statement found in a confession of the Reformed Church tradition.  Generally this is a Fresh Read so we don’t quote theologians from previous centuries.  However, this was heard at a lecture on the spirituality of John Muir, the founder of the Sierra Club.  Muir was raised in the Scots Presbyterian tradition and his writings are filled with language of the scriptures - particularly the Psalms.   This quote is from the Belgic Confession, which sprang out of a time of great persecution by the state church against the reformers.  It speaks clearly and eloquently about the Two Books of revelation:

Article 2: About the Knowledge of God

Moreover, we know God by two means, first, by the creation, preservation, and government of this whole world. For it is before our eyes as a most beautiful Book in which all creatures, from the least to the greatest, are as certain letters and marks through which the invisible things of God can be examined and understood, certainly His eternal power and His divinity as the Apostle Paul says in Romans 1:20. This knowledge is sufficient for convicting any given people and rendering them inexcusable. But He also bears His very self to us, much more clearly and openly, in His holy and divine Word; indeed, as much as is expedient in this life for His glory and for the salvation of His own people.

Psalm 11, Don’t stop at verse 3!

Perhaps you have heard verse 3 quoted.

“when the foundations are being destroyed,

what can the righteous do.”

We hear it quoted with the thought by traditional people that morality has decayed beyond repair, and the institutions of faith and society are turning to dust.  OK, if that is your view of morality. (We tend to think that things are mixed - perhaps we have gained in the areas of race relations, while we have lost in the area of sexual responsibility.)  However, don’t stop at verse 3 because the Psalm does not either. 

Verses 1-3 present a dark picture.  The wicked crouch in the shadows to pick the good guys off one by one with their poison arrows.  There is a debate in verse 1 between the Psalmist and another, or maybe with himself - should I flee to the mountains like the birds? 

We have seen traditionalist take to flight.  They decide it is time to escape the culture - the schools, maybe even the electrical grid.  History would seem to show that when the floods come, no safe hill is high enough.

The Psalmist proceeds with the recognition that, even if our institutions are crumbling, God remains on his eternal throne.    The Lord sees and takes note of the wicked and the righteous.  He will certainly give the wicked their comeuppance.  It may not be today or tomorrow, but the judgment of God is coming.  It is like the Bob Dylan song, “Slow Train Coming”

People starving and thirsting, grain elevators are bursting
Oh, you know it costs more to store the food than it do to give it
They say loose your inhibitions, follow your own ambitions
They talk about a life of brotherly love, show me someone who knows how to live it
There’s slow, slow train coming up around the bend.

Verse 7 is interesting.  Instead of an inclusio- where he ends at the beginning point - the Psalmist takes us to a new thought.  He does not tell us that the foundations on the earth are in good shape, or are due to be rebuilt.  He seems to say, “Suppose the foundations are destroyed, all can not be lost.  The upright have God.”  God loves justice, and will bring it, we understand, on the earth.  The final thought is, however, that we will see his face.  This is not escapism - because the realism of the earthly fight is there.  He seems to say that there is Someone more that makes all this meaningful.

Don’t stop at verse 3, read the whole psalm.  it is not pessimistic, but ultimately and realistically optimistic.  It is optimistic because the world is not finally run by impersonal forces.  It is run by a Person.

FR

 

 

Psalm 5:3 I Present, what exactly?

We know Psalm 5 from the KJV based song, which we will enjoy singing this Sunday.  However there is an interesting case of how to translate.

Scripture song:  “O Lord, in the morning, will I lift up my prayer unto Thee and will look up.”

ESV:  “…in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch”

NIV: “…in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation”

NRSV:”…in the morning i plead my case to you, and watch”

NASV: “in the morning I will order my prayer to Thee and eagerly watch”

The Hebrew says something like “..in the morning I place my  (________) before You…”

In other words there is a verb, a posessive pronoun, a prepositon and an object pronoun, but no noun.  It does not say what it is that the Psalmist sets before God.  The Verb (ydk) can refer to preparing a sacrifice, sticks to make a fire, a legal case, setting a table, aligning for battle and arranging words.  (That is a summary of the Hebrew Lectionary.)  Thus the interpreter and the translators have to decide what is being laid before the Lord.  It seems several of these make good sense.  To lay a case before the Lord is a kind of prayer, arranging words is a prayer, offering a sacrifice (there were morning sacrifices at the temple each day) is also plausible.

One wise seminary professor told us that “bible translations are a form of commentary, therefore look at the better translations.”  This is a verse where that plays out well.

What is one to do?  Can you say, “In the morning i will lay it before the Lord”?  That seems too vague.  Maybe you can rotate the options with each reading?  No, that is only funny for seminarians.

It seems to us that Psalm 5 is about praying (in context), so whether his prayer is in the form of a sacrifice (which would not be the literal case for David, who was not a priest, but it could be a metaphor), or a legal case or a prayer, it amounts to about the same thing.   He is clearly in the psalm dealing with disreputable enemies and he is seeking God’s assistance and assurance.  That boils down to prayer.

One other thought, having a suggestive lack of a noun enriches the options.  Perhaps the point is that we think on the word-gap from different perspectives.  Leaving a gap adds to our meditation.

Readers should note that in High School, Fresh Read received a high score for “tolerance for ambiguity.”  Some careers do not work for “tolerance for ambiguity” such as bridge builders or rocket engineers.  However, reflective spirituality is sometimes served with a little “tolerance for ambiguity.”

FR

Chaff - updated

Most of us are not farmers.  So when we read in Psalm 1, “they are like the chaff that the wind drives away”. we don’t share the experience.  So think “peanut skins”.  When you open a peanut, you rub off the red bitter skin before you eat nut.  Where does that skin go?  It blows away in the wind.  It becomes nothing.

Compare that to a strong, fruitful tree that is well watered.

Psalm 1 - Wisdom and Torah

If you read here, you know the interest in Wisdom Literature that we have.  What is interesting to note in Psalm 1 is how it intertwines Wisdom themes with the Torah, and this at the head of the Psalter.

Like Proverbs, for example, Psalm 1 speaks of two paths, two results (prosperity or destruction), certain characters to avoid (sinner, wicked, mocker), vivid metaphor (tree, chaff), which are both natural images (wisdom embedded in creation), and logical processes of choice and consequence.  So Wisdom themes run from the first to the last.

Like the Prophets, Psalm 1 stands in judgment over us depending on how we respond to the words of the LORD, the covenant making God.  Wisdom usually avoids such strongly worded covenantal language as law, judgement, assembly and even the LORD’s name.

The focus of Wisdom is not always directly focused on God’s word.  It is also found in God’s word in nature, (go to the ant, O sluggard).  Here in Psalm 1 the focus is on a meditative and obedient relationship to the God of the covenant through the scriptures.  (”Law” means more than commandments, it certainly includes all of the “Torah”, but also all scripture).

We circled words about Wisdom in green and about Law/Covenant in red and they were intertwined through the Psalm.   So here lies one clue to drawing the two threads of scripture together.

The Fear of the Lord is a key idea in Wisdom Literature, and Psalm 1 links that to the Word of the LORD.

FR

Mid Term Results

Church members were able to give the preacher a mid-term exam based on the FRESH READ - 2008 readings.  The results were a blanket A for all attending.  Yes, that is grade inflation.  However, Fresh Read is a guilt free plan!

See the mid term here - midterm062908

Psalms Re-Start

Psalm 1 written in the style of wisdom literature, serves as an introduction to the Psalms as a whole, along with Psalm 2.  Psalm 1 shows the benefit to the individual of a deep, reflective and lived out relationship with the word of God (the law).  Psalm 2 shows that there is something very personal about all of this, and that we need to make our peace with “the Lord’s anointed”.    Psalm 1 shows consequences of individual obedience and disobedience to the word and Psalm 2 shows it at a national level.

FRESH READ - 2008, our read through the Bible program continues.  At the mid point, the Psalms readings re set to Psalm 1.  We will be preaching on Psalms during the summer. 

Cornelius Crossing - Acts 10

We have been reading about biblical narrative.  in  Preaching with Variety, by Jeffery Arthurs, is a discussion about the movement in narrative.  He set ito ut in this way:

Conflict – Background – Rising Action– Climax– and Resolution.

The shape would be a graph rising gradually to the climax and falling back at Resolution.

The tension in the story is what drives the drama.

We applied this to Acts 10

Act 1 - from v. 1-16 the parallel stories of Cornelius and Peter and their visions are told

• God reaches out to Cornelius
• God reaches in to Peter

Acts 2 - from v. 17-33 the conflict rises as the delegation arrives in Joppa and as Peter arrives 2 days later in Caesarea.  

• Cornelius to Peter
• Peter to Cornelius
• (both scenes showing them working across cultural and religious awkwardness)

Acts 3 — v. 34-48  Preaching and Including the outsider

• Peter preaches the gospel, slightly tweaked for outsiders
• the Outsiders eagerly receive the word and the Spirit.

The tension is - will the gospel break out of it’s circle around Jerusalem to the world at large?  Will the insiders welcome the outsiders?  Will both groups manage to overcome the awkwardness of this reach?

Fresh Read preaches here -corneliuscrossing061508

John 21 - Freshly Read

John 21 is a good case in point for taking a fresh look at the text.  Here are some things to ponder over against what you might have heard.

• Was Peter avoiding his mission by going fishing?  Often this is preached.  However, is that the case?  There is no reprimand in the text.  Jesus invited them to add their fish to his.  And clearly Jesus and Peter had some unfinished work to do.
• Often changes in the Greek between two words for Love (agape, phileo) are made an integral part of the message.  However, it is good Greek style, also typical of John to vary language with synonyms.  F. F. Bruce notes that the words for “flock”, “tend” and “know” are also varied. 
• On the question of whether John is written with the knowledge of the other gospels, or of their sources, compare the fishing here with that in Luke 5.
• Is there any meaning to 153 fish?  Augustine and other church fathers developed fanciful symbolic meanings of the number.  Another favorite idea was that ancient scholars thought that there were 153 species of fish (more or less),  thus it become a story of the universal appeal of the Gospel.  We prefer the view that 153 means “lots of” and it ring true to the fishermen we know who will count their catch and talk about it later.  Two commentators (Milne, Witherington) suggest that it has to do with the abundance of the response to the gospel (these men were elsewhere told to be fishers of men), and that the nets not bursting suggests that the Lord can accommodate the number that will come.
• Why do we move from fish to sheep?  the Shepherd theme for leadership goes back to Moses and David, and was a significant emphasis in John 10.  David and Jn 10 speak of the good shepherd not running from danger, very pertinant to Peter, who had denied the Lord 3 times.
• Is this a second ending (see 20:30-31), an epilogue or a free tradition that was attached.  There is no textual evidence that chapter 21 was separately circulated.
• Finally, one commentator suggests John serves as a manual for outreach and for leadership for the church.  This chapter has some things to say about spiritual leadership.  (Success comes at the Lord’s direction; Restoration of the minister precedes ministry; Don’t compare your calling to others; Love and Service are linked, etc)

Library Day

Well, Fresh Read has a library card at the local state university.  It is a very good investment of $30 per year.  For there are lots of resources there for biblical study.  Not all books help us read the text, in that they are so clouded with their own theories of meaning or origin that they never bother to read, listen and ponder.  However, there is nothing quite  like a library browse to stimulate the grey cells.  Even if we don’t buy the ideas presented, they can jump start the cerebellum into action.

So in reading about 6 commentaries on John 15 - the vine and branches image - we were looking for insight into what “abiding” or “remaining” means.  It is clear enough how a branch remains in the vine, but how does that translate. 

We discovered that most commentators punt and say that “abide” means something like “commune” or “fellowship”.   Ok, but are we talking about dim lights, candles and liver-shivers?

Two (i only picked out 5, so there are others out there) helped.  One “The Message of John” by Bruce Milne, IVP, 1993, gave a nice pastoral sort of application of how that meant 1. being pruned = cleansed 2. dependence with obedience 3. fruitful is evangelism, justice (Isaiah 5:7) and character (Gal 5). 4. prayer that is built on his teaching and 4. love of fellow believers on Christ’s model.  Well, that is something to hang your hat on - or since Fresh Read preaches, there is a 4 point sermon.

The other surprise is a commentary by Ben Witherington III, of Asbury Seminary, “John’s Wisdom: A Commentary on the Fourth gospel” , Westminster, 1995.   Now BWIII (who blogs  http://benwitherington.blogspot.com/ ) opens a new door, and connects John with another FRESH READ passion - Wisdom Literature.   The book suggests that John is written as an ancient biography (distinct from the modern genre) and that “The Beloved Disciple” is the primary source for eyewitness accounts of Jesus expressed through the wisdom literature’s mood (hmmm, kind of like “muse”).  Wow, I’d never thought of that.  WL has an interest in Wisdom (Logos - word - Jesus), in beautiful language (how we enjoy John’s elevated style), is international (Samaritan woman), and more than we were able to digest in one sitting.  the Synoptics, because of the use of parables seems a more obvious wisdom literature connection, but BWIII seemed to make his point.  Watch the Wisdom Lit tag line for more on this in the future.

Our Point?  Even though the goal ought to be a Fresh (uncluttered by dulled expectations and dogmatic presuppositions) Read, a trip to the library can be an aid.

FR