The Old Testament Analysis - Essay Example

Theology The book of Psalms in the Old Testament of the Bible is attributed with providing a great dealof expression of human emotion, covering a broad spectrum of conditions and depth. “The Book of Psalms is something like the ‘Hallmark Cards’ section of the Bible. Here we find words that express our deepest and strongest emotions, no matter what the circumstance” (Deffinbaugh, 2006). More than simply expressing a single aspect of human emotion as it applies to the worship of God, the Psalms manage to communicate everything from supreme joy to abject pain, soul-searching contrition, deepest sorrow, boiling rage, absolute loneliness and darkest despair. “The psalms express the deepest emotions of the heart … The psalms are one means by which the spirit of God helps us to articulate the thoughts and groanings of our hearts” (Deffinbaugh, 2006). Supporting his claim regarding the personal nature of the psalms, Ronald Allen, in his book Praise!, states “It was Athanasius, an outstanding church leader in the fourth century, who reportedly declared ‘that the Psalms have a unique place in the Bible because most of the Scripture speaks to us, while the Psalms speak for us” (1980, p. 97). An examination into Psalm 137 and Psalm 22 reveal terrible lament and despair as first the Jewish people express their feelings upon being driven from their lands and then as David expresses doubt and despair regarding a personal situation that mimics very closely the experiences that would befall Jesus hundreds of years later. Psalm 137 is written in anger and bitterness as well as extreme anguish at the loss of Jerusalem. Historically, this psalm commemorates the exile of the Jews into Babylon. “The Babylonian empire conquered Judah and Jerusalem in 586 BCE, a conquest that brought massive death and destruction to the people and to the land. In the wake of the Babylonian conquest, most of the Jewish survivors were exiled to Babylon and lived in destitution and hopelessness” (Reimer, 2001). As the psalm is written, the Jewish people are shown to have little hope, little joy and little cause for singing or praising anyone as they feel both bitter defeat as well as abandonment by their God who was supposed to have delivered them from all evil. These very human emotions can perhaps be understood better when placed into a closer historical context, such as in the massacre of Jews that occurred during the Holocaust of the Second World War. In both instances, the people were left without a home, without property and were vilified in every direction they could flee. Far from receiving the mercy and grace they expected as a result of their faithful worship and adherence to God’s laws, they were subjected to every kind of human cruelty and offered little in the way of comfort or prosperity. A closer examination of the psalm reveals the depth and breadth of emotion contained in these few lines. Looking into the words making up this particular psalm, it is possible to discern a deep-seated feeling of hopeless nostalgia as the writer of the psalm mourns the passing of the life he has known and looks forward to only more hardship and despair. Speaking for all of the people, the writer indicates they were capable of doing little else but mourn for what had been lost: “By the rivers of Babylon – / there we sat down and there we wept / when we remembered Zion” (Ps. 137, 1). These simple lines immediately call to mind a picture of the entire nation of Israel sitting by the banks of a foreign river, having just been driving away from one of their most holy of places, Mount Zion, knowing they will never see it again nor will their children ever know the splendor they once enjoyed. Sitting thus, they realize they are in a land that hates them for their beliefs and their origins. While they had once ruled themselves, they were now a people without a home and without ability to better their situation in any way. Their children would grow up in squalor, many would go without food and few would survive to adulthood without suffering one type of injustice or another. Weeping, it is not surprising these people can not find room in their hearts, minds or spirits to sing the songs of praise and adoration they have been asked to sing in subsequent lines. Indeed, it becomes impossible for the writer to sing the songs of his old land without having access to that land and those connections that made the songs strong. The next stanza conveys the aching longing the writer and his people feel for their lost land. “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, / let my right hand wither! / Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, / if I do not remember you, / if I do not set Jerusalem / above my highest joy” (Ps. 137, 5-6). With these words, the writer conveys the absolute depth of his emotions, as well as the emotions of his people. No joy can be fully enjoyed, no achievement fully appreciated, now that Jerusalem is lost. Through these words, it becomes apparent that life is almost not worth living unless it is to discover the means by which the people can regain Jerusalem and restore it to its former glory. “This song of sorrow exhibits, except in its last strophe (7-9), the most exquisite feeling of grief, longing, and loyalty for the ruined city of God” (Terrien, 1952, p. 131). It is easy to see that the words of the old songs continue to stick in the throats of the singers as they sit on foreign soil weeping over their loss and unable to reestablish the old connections that made their people strong. The last lines of the psalm are perhaps those that provide it with the strong impact it has had on readers and listeners since its writing. In a seemingly un-Godlike moment, the writer calls upon his creator to wreak vengeance upon those that have inflicted so much pain and misery upon his people. “Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites / the day of Jerusalem’s fall, / how they said, ‘Tear it down! Tear it down! / Down to its foundations!” (Ps. 137, 7). Pure anguish can be read in these lines as the speaker repeats the hateful words that repeated the doom of his beloved land and holy places. His call for vengeance becomes a call for justice to repay these Edomites for their lack of assistance when it was required, for their rejoicing at Israel’s peril, for their sacrilege, for the defilement of what the speaker has held sacred. Rage boils through as the speaker addresses ‘daughter Babylon’ directly, calling her a ‘devastator’ and gleefully, maliciously admonishing her that her eventual destroyers will be glad to do to Babylon what Babylon has done to Jerusalem. “Happy shall they be who pay you back / what you have done to us!” (Ps. 137, 8). While it has so far been evident that Jerusalem has been destroyed and the people have been driven onto foreign soil with such devastation and destruction that they can no longer even access those happy songs of praise and adoration they were once famous for having sung, the brutality of this war has not yet been made clear. However, the speaker of the psalm ensures that this brutality is included in his call for retribution in the final lines of the psalm: “Happy shall they be who take your little ones / and dash them against the rock!” (Ps. 137, 9). The shocking graphic nature of these final lines immediately seize the attention and bring into focus the extreme anger festering in the heart of the psalmist as he writes his verse. The mental image of an adult swinging the body of a baby against a rock to kill it is the most extreme form of brutal, barbaric imagery possible and proves to be the most disconcerting to readers throughout the ages. Far from turning the other cheek, the psalmist is crying out that the children of Babylon be treated in the same fashion as the children of Jerusalem were treated. It is this imagery that provides the psalm with its inherent power and the extreme depth of its emotional content. From abject despair and sorrow through rage and bitterness, Psalm 137 expresses the feelings of a displaced people on the eve following their defeat. Far from being the quintessential devotees of God, forever forgiving, forever turning the other cheek, this psalm expresses the very human emotions of a group of people who have been severely punished while unable to identify having done anything wrong. While they do not turn their back on the God who has not yet saved them, they find it impossible to immediately sing the songs they used to sing in his praise from this new foreign world in which they find themselves. At the same time, they find it impossible to forget the horrible devastation that has befallen them at the hands of the Babylonians. “The last lines express the rage and the bitterness of someone who has witnessed unspeakable horror and death, the death of children, the death of his people, the death of his city, the death of his nation” (Reimer, 2001). This questioning, vengeful nature is in direct opposition to the common theology of the time, that held that one should adhere strictly to the rules of the Lord without question, without recrimination and without personal demands. “There is a restlessness in Israel that seeks to move through and beyond or against the common theology, and that restlessness is articulated in Israel’s practice of lament. Israel’s lament is a way of protesting against the common theology. The lament in Israel is a way of asserting that the structure cannot always be legitimized and that the pain needs also to be embraced. This pain, when brought to public speech, impinges upon every structure and serves to question the legitimacy of the structure” (Brueggemann, 1992). By expressing their feelings and their horror through psalms, the people of Israel are able to hold together in shared pain and to find new meaning and definition with one another and with God. The strength of the lament applies equally as strongly to personal situations as it does to public ones, as can be seen in Psalm 22. Although it can be seen as an incredibly doubt-filled psalm openly questioning the power and strength of God, it also brings itself around full circle to a new faith and new structure of belief that proves stronger than the old belief as a result of the present physical suffering and subsequent honest soul-searching. Although the immediate physical cause of David’s suffering instigating the writing of this psalm is unknown, it is obvious that whatever he was experiencing was a time of tremendous pain as well as isolation. This is further emphasized later in the Bible when Jesus quotes this particular psalm while hanging upon the cross awaiting his own death. In many respects, this psalm can be seen as prophetic of the later death of Jesus even as it remains infinitely applicable for David in his own time. In its honest expression of the feelings and thoughts racing through David’s mind as he writes the psalm out, the words become capable of expressing a wealth of true suffering and pain, underscoring its very reality to the victim and the great struggle David must undergo to hold fast to his faith and his ideals. At the same time, it becomes a reaffirmation of the greatness of God as something removed from and above such petty hurts even while He is capable of understanding on a much deeper level, the feelings the sufferer is going through. The famous first lines of the psalm, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? / Why are you so far from helping me, / from the words of my groaning?” (Ps. 22, 1), are those most people remember as being uttered by Jesus as he stood dying on the cross. They are immediately followed with “O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest” (Ps. 22, 2). These verses together tell us that we are not being given fact, as in God has truly forsaken our speaker, but rather emotion, that our speaker feels as if he has been abandoned and left to struggle on his own. This is done by relating the words to feeling rather than hard evidence or physical fact. The author does not hear God’s answer to his prayers nor does he find rest at night, but this does not necessarily mean that God has actually left. “The psalmist … is articulating his emotions: helplessness, loneliness, futility. What we feel emotionally is not always the same thing as what we really believe or what really is” (Bratcher, 1997). In addition to expressing the extreme loneliness and suffering felt by this individual, the psalm indicates the importance of honesty in relating to God. Rather than confessing a particular strength of purpose or a connection that he does not feel, the psalmist is willingly admitting that he does not feel any kind of a connection to God at this, one of his most desperate hours. He is not able to find any comfort in the words or actions heard and seen around him, he has no stirrings in his heart of divine comfort nor is he able to find any surcease to his sufferings in the quiet of the nighttime hours. Yet, even in his lack of feeling, David continues to pray and to seek some sort of guidance or reassurance from “My God.” The repeated use of these specific words indicates he does not truly believe he has been abandoned nor has he ceased to believe God is watching out for him in some respect. The next few lines emphasize the psalmist’s ultimate belief in God in his naming off of the various things he knows to be true about Him, that God helps those who are faithful to Him and that God is all powerful and therefore capable of helping His people in whatever situation might arise. Although he is questioning what God might be doing, especially as it pertains to him, which is itself a departure from the common theology, David never stops believing God has some sort of purpose in mind. The third verse launches into an honest and awed breakdown of the psalmist as he freely expresses the way he is feeling. At first, he indicates his knowledge of his lack of importance in the universe, comparing himself to a lowly worm useless to most. “All who see me mock at me, they make mouths at me, they wag their heads” (Ps. 22, 7). However, upon remembering what those taunts are, an almost sarcastic note enters the psalm, indicating strongly the sneering way in which such taunts were probably delivered as well as a subtle reproach to God for not upholding his part of the deal in fulfilling all of the mocking claims. However, this shocking breakdown and brutally honest expression serve as the turning point for the psalmist as he begins to realize that while he has felt abandoned, he has only to call out to God for the peace he is seeking. “Where the cry is not voiced, heaven is not moved and history is not initiated” (Brueggemann, 1995). From this point forward, the psalm takes on a renewed faith in not only David’s own importance to God, but also in the belief that whatever happens, David will be nestled in the arms of God throughout, regardless of what his senses might tell him. As he reminds himself of the special cares God took in his own creation, David asks God “Be not far from me, for trouble is near and there is none to help” (Ps. 22, 11). Instead of accusing God of not being there for him, the psalmist is now specifically asking God to stay near, making the conscious choice to call God to him. There is a note of hope in the words, as if the psalmist has every reason to believe that God is there and it is the feelings of the body that are false. This renewed faith is stronger than the old faith in that David is now able to ignore the senses of the body and truly believe God is listening and will respond. In verse five, David works to illustrate to God what is happening to him, how he feels and what he perceives. He describes himself as being surrounded by the bulls of Bashan who “open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion” (Ps. 22, 13). In order to present a graphic image of the terror he’s feeling, the psalmist creates a mind-picture in which the gigantic bulls of a nearby territory surround a tiny human being when it would only take one such creature to tear him to pieces. Not only are the bulls surrounding him, but they are roaring like lions, a terrifying sound alone and ravening, indicating there will be no escape for anything that could be perceived as dinner. The fear is so great that he has lost all feeling in his body, feeling instead like melted wax, a feeling many can instantly relate to. In addition to this great fear, the psalmist indicates how bad his physical condition is, so thin his bones can be counted, so close to death that those around him are already haggling over his possessions. He fervently begs for release from these fears and in this, realizes his faith is completely renewed. By lines 22-24, the full transformation has been complete. David is now so sure God will come to his aid that he has gone beyond his current condition to establishing a plan for his future actions. He will continue to praise God’s name and he will call on others to praise God because he knows God will respond when his people call to Him. Although nothing about his current condition has changed, David is able to see beyond this present condition to a better future because he was able to turn to God in his deepest despair and his darkest hour. He knows his faith has been tested and has survived. And because he has been faithful to God, God will respond to save him. The psalm finishes out by reaffirming God’s daily presence in the lives of his followers and His never-ending concern for their ultimate well-being. “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; / and all the families of the nations shall worship before him / For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations” (Ps. 22, 27-28). The words are spoken with unrestrained conviction that had not been present in the beginning of the poem. Part of the joy of this revelation regarding this faith is the realization that this faith is much stronger than the old faith and that this faith could only have been attained through the experiences and doubts expressed in verse 1. Regardless of whether the psalmists were writing for themselves or for their people as a group, the psalms can be seen to be both extremely expressive and completely honest. “Their suffering, whatever its direct cause and its nature, grew even deeper from the vacuum of isolation. For they felt abandoned, not only by men, but also by God himself. In their spiritual loneliness they drank the cup of bitterness to its last dregs. Thus, the accent of their suffering rings true to the worse ever endured by man, and their poems, individualized as they may be, have become typical of universal grief” (Terrien, 1952, p. 143). Written in response to a single event or a particular set of circumstances, the psalms nevertheless manage to convey a wealth of emotional depth in such universal ways that they are able to teach important lessons to followers of the Bible even today. Although the lament psalms have been customarily ignored in recent decades, individual readings of them still serve a great deal of purpose in more recent times. Applicable to any form of suffering or grief, Psalm 137 and Psalm 22 have been instrumental in helping those individuals dealing with such disasters as the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001 and Hurricane Katrina, as well as the innumerable personal losses these events brought about just as they were instrumental in assisting the ancient Israelites in their exile and David and later Jesus in their times of darkness. References Allen, Ronald Barclay. (1980). Praise! A Matter of Life and Breath. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers. Bratcher, David. (April 19, 1997). “Letting Go of the Past: Psalm 22.” The Voice. CRI Voice Institute. Retrieved September 21, 2006 from < http://www.crivoice.org/S-ps22.html> Brueggemann, Walter. (1992). “On the Primary Tension of Old Testament Faith.” Old Testament Theology: Essays on Structure, Theme, and Text. Patrick D. Miller (Ed.). Minneapolis: Fortress Books. Brueggemann, Walter. (1995). The Psalms and the Life of Faith. Minneapolis: Fortress Books. Deffinbaugh, Bob. (2006). “Wisdom Literature: The Psalms.” From Creation to the Cross. Bible.org. Retrieved September 21, 2006 from < http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=1580> Reimer, Sandi. (November 25, 2001). “Songs from the Heart: Psalms.” United Church of Gainesville. Retrieved September 21, 2006 from < http://www.ucgainesville.org/pages/sermons/011125.htm> Terrien, Samuel. (1952). The Psalms and Their Meaning for Today. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill. Read More