Why is Psalm 136 So Repetitive?

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever,

O give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever,

O give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever.

I have always had a difficult time with the Psalms, and the reasons for this are several.  First of all, there are just so many of them, and I never know where to start.  Also, I tend to have trouble dealing with large amounts of poetry stacked next to each other.  Lastly, a great deal of the content that I have encountered in the Psalms confuses me.  The text of Psalm 136 is no exception to this. 

Psalm 136 consists of 26 verses that contain an opening statement followed by “his love endures forever.”  I remember encountering this Psalm and thinking to myself, “alright, we get the point: you think that God’s love endures forever.”  This quickly became annoying to me for one outstanding reason: my understanding of love is far more vague and empty than that of the psalmist.  I would hear “his love endures forever” and think of the kind of love that one would encounter in a movie starring Kirk Cameron as the lead actor.  Or perhaps the kind of love that would come from a cosmic vending machine that dispensed grace and love for free.

But the point at which this Psalm began to connect with me came when I began to understand that the content of the Psalm actually serves as a description of God’s love, not just series of repetitive affirmations of an abstract concept.  Instead, each verse describes an attribute or action of God that led the people of Israel to understand the content of God’s love.  He is the God of gods, the one who has done great wonders, made the heavens, spread out the earth on the waters, set the sun and moon into motion, brought Israel out of slavery from the Egyptians, divided the Red Sea, struck down great kings, and most importantly remembered Israel in its low estate, and rescued His people from their foes.  All of these things inform the Jewish understanding of God and His love, and this Psalm serves as a beautiful witness to His acts among them.

Perhaps this Psalm can teach us a lesson in remembering the things that God has done in our lives.  Maybe we can gain the wisdom to point back to the moments where God has moved among us and informed us about the nature of his love.   Some of us have found peace in the presence of God even when our loved one’s have failed us, and we came to see that His love endures forever.  Some of us have been liberated from addictions and self-inflicted destructive habits, and we came to see that His love endures forever.  Some of us have been painfully been confronted by our church community but in the process repented of sin in our lives, and we came to see that His love endures forever.  Some of us have seen God slay the fear that has crippled our lives, and we came to see that His love endures forever.   

May we learn to understand God’s love through His actions that we encounter in our lives and the dynamic work of His Spirit through the church and Scripture, and may we come to truly believe that His love endures forever.

Isaiah 2: God Humbles the Proud

The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

One of the first things that strikes me when I read Isaiah chapter 2 is the potent language used in describing what God is going to do specifically with Jerusalem and Judah as well as the world at large.  As I described in my first post, dissecting passages such as this one feels strange to me, because it is simply unlike any other Biblical genre that I am comfortable interpreting.  In spite of this, there are several points in this chapter that I find noteworthy and theologically rich.

1)      The house of the Lord is established as a place of peace and justice.

In the first four verses of the chapter, an interesting theological assertion is brought forth; namely, that the God of Israel is interested in being a “judge between the nations” and in arbitrating “for many peoples” (v. 4).  The mountain of the Lord, the house of the God of Jacob, is prophesied as a place of instruction and justice for all.  In fact, it is even suggested that weapons of war will be changed into instruments of peace (the sword to a plowshare, the spear into a pruning hook), and the nations will no longer war with each other as a result of the justice and arbitration of the Lord.  The Lord is a God of justice and peace, even for all the nations that are not Israel.

2)      Israel has been unfaithful in its charge to be a light to the nations.

The prophet makes it clear that Israel has “forsaken the ways” of which its people should be upholding.  Their land is full of treasures, weapons of war, and idols.

3)      Because of their unfaithfulness, the Lord will humble the proud.

This is an important theme in the duration of the book, particularly the first arc (the first 39 chapters).  This importance cannot be stressed enough for several reasons.  The charges leveled against the proud in these early chapters are largely directed at the Israelites themselves, not foreign nations.  It should be noted, judgment upon foreign nations that ignore the will of Yahweh also shows up in the prophetic literature. 

In viewing passages like Isaiah 2, I am struck by a large movement in the prophetic literature of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel; namely, that God opposes all who are proud, ignore the needs of the marginalized, and do not practice justice.  God does not play favorites!  This is a mistake that many first century Jews made during Jesus’ ministry, they simply assumed that because they were God’s chosen people, He would only judge the foreign nations who opposed them, but overlook their own sins.  This is simply not the case, the ushering in of God’s Kingdom is good news for many peoples.  This theme plays heavily when Jesus reads from Isaiah 61:1-2 at the outset of his ministry, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me, to bring good news to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners…To comfort all who mourn.”  God, give us eyes to catch our own pride and arrogance, and give us a humble spirit and love for those who need.

I Am Back for Scriptures II

Before I begin this process of blogging on the Old Testament post II Chronicles, I should note that prophetic Biblical literature is certainly the genre that I feel the least comfortable with in interpreting and applying Scripture.  I fear that in the process of living as a Christian for the past decade and a half, I have often overlooked the prophets because I did not understand them.  Well, no more!  Over the course of this semester (and ideally for the rest of my life) I will be exploring these important Scriptural works in an effort to see how they fit into the entire story of God and man. 

My time in seminary (particularly the last two semesters) has left me entirely persuaded that the New Testament leans heavily upon-even depends upon-the prophets to set the backdrop for Jesus and the early church.  Some may disagree with me, but I think it correct to say that we as Christians cannot understand the total theological narrative of what God has done and continues to do through Jesus, Paul, and the early Church without reading and understanding the prophets.  Intentional ignorance of these passages is not acceptable, particularly for those who plan to teach within the church.  Thus begins my trek to struggle and engage with the prophets and the wisdom literature. 

One more note of importance: many of the things that I write in this blog may very well be delivered with conviction and confidence.  However, I am still in a formative stage in understanding and interpreting Scripture, therefore my exegesis and theological takeaways from each given passage are certainly subject to change.  If I end up saying anything that upsets anyone, please be patient with me.  I am still learning, and any errors of mine are likely to be corrected in time.  I hope that this is a constructive process for me as a theological thinker and teacher, and I pray that this may also be helpful and encouraging to others (the maximum of 5 or so people) who encounter these posts.

Abraham's obedience

By the time we come across Abraham in Genesis chapter 12, we have already seen God flood the Earth out of anger at the existence of semi-divine mutant babies and scatter the languages of men because they tried to build a tower to heaven.  The consistent theme to this point is that humans are simply messed up.  But despite all of these horrible things preceding chapter 12, something incredible happens.  God comes to a random guy named Abraham and says:

Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.  I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

As mentioned above, we have seen story after story (following the fall of Adam and Eve) of men disobeying God and acting unrighteously with disastrous consequences. From Cain murdering his brother Abel, to semi-divine/human intermarriages, to questionable activities of Ham and his drunk father, to the tower of Babel, it has been all downhill since Genesis 3.  But the momentum seems to change as God elects this man Abram, and promising that he will be the father of many nations, telling him to go to the land that He will reveal.  And perhaps the most refreshing and surprising part of this passage is what happens in verse 4: “so Abram went, as the Lord had told him.”  We do not know exactly how much Abram would have known about Yahweh, in fact he was among those who worshiped pagan Gods. 

But despite having to leave his homeland, he obeys God’s command, and as a result blesses his family, ancestors, and all of the nations.  Abraham’s story begins a series of stories in Genesis in which God elects men (descendents of Abram) that obey God’s call and father His holy nation.  A common thread in the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph is that of obedience, and Abram sets a precedent for this in the very beginning of his journey.  In the rest of his story, Abram is not always the greatest or most righteous of men, but he is obedient to Yahweh’s commands, most exemplified in his willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac.  In the end, Abraham is an important bearer of one of the most significant themes in all of Genesis, the Pentateuch, and Scripture as a whole; namely, obedience to Yahweh.

Wisdom from a father in law

      Normally when we think of in-laws, we think of toil, tempers, trouble, and all kinds of tragedy.  Fortunately for Moses, this is not the case for him and his father-in-law.  In Exodus chapter 18, Moses comes across his father-in-law Jethro, and receives a great deal of help and sound advice from him, which serves him in a way that should be noted by ministers and leaders of any kind.
Jethro sits in as Moses presides as judge over the people, and the people gather around him all day as he helps settle disputes among the people.  After observing the process, Jethro provides a great service to Moses in the form of advice.  The text explains the following:
      17Moses' father-in-law said to him, "What you are doing is not good. 18 you will surely wear yourself out, both you and these people with you.  For the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. 19 You should represent the people before God, and you should bring their cases before God; 20 teach them statutes and instructions and make known to them the way they are to go and the things they are to do. 21 You should also look for able men among all the people, men who fear God, are trustworthy, and hate dishonest gain; set such men over them as officers over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. 22 Let them sit as judges for the people at all times; let them bring every important case to you, but decide every minor case themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you."
       In this passage, Jethro provides Moses with extremely practical leadership advice.  He explains that in order to effectively rule and judge over the people, Moses needed to be able to find trustworthy people to help carry the burden.  Not only does Moses learn the importance of delegating tasks to trustworthy leaders in this passage, but he also displays the wisdom of listening to the instruction of his elders.  In this way, Moses exemplifies two qualities of an effective leader, finding trustworthy subordinates and listening to wise instruction.  If we as ministers are to take seriously our task of serving God and others, we must emulate Moses by finding leaders in whom we can trust and delegate important tasks to while we listen to the instruction of those who have experience and knowledge.

Saul's lack of obedience

If there is something to be said about Saul in 1 Samuel, it is that he is ruled by his passions.  In chapter 14, he takes an oath that none of his troops should eat any food before he is avenged on his enemies.   It seems as though he makes this decision based on his own pride and reputation.  So when Jonathan (his son) sees the folly in Saul’s command and eats honey from a honeycomb, Saul is ready to kill him.  Fortunately for Jonathan, the people of Israel were on his side, leading Saul to withhold his rage from his son.  All of this to say, Saul is a man ruled by his passions and in many instances he will make decisions solely based on what the people of Israel will think of him, which eventually leads him to disobedience and disenfranchisement from God.

One telling example of Saul’s disobedience toward God takes place in 1 Samuel chapter 15.  In verse 3 God commands Saul to “attach Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.”  This seems like a pretty straightforward command, right?  Well it seems that Saul misunderstood what God required of him.   But when God handed the Amalekites into his hands, Saul left King Agag and the best of the lambs, cattle, and fatlings alive.

When Saul returns with the spoils of the battle at his disposal, Samuel confronts him, asking why Saul brought back King Agag and the spoils when God had clearly “sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed’ (Verse 18).”  Saul is taken aback by Samuel’s reprimanding, claiming that he brought back the spoils as a sacrifice to the Lord, but Samuel responds with a statement that is quite telling of Saul’s time as king. He says:

Has the Lord as great delight in

burnt offerings and sacrifices,

as in obedience to the voice of the

Lord?

         Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice,

and to heed than the fat of rams. 

         For rebellion is no less a sin than

divination,

         and stubbornness is like iniquity

and idolatry.

         Because you have rejected the word

of the Lord,

         he has also rejected you from being King. (v. 22-23)

The thing that Saul misunderstands is that the Lord does not solely desire to have homage paid to Him after each battle via burnt offerings and sacrifices.  If that were the case, He would be no different than the gods of the Canaanites.  The Lords desire is for obedience, which Saul proves time and again to misunderstand.  Perhaps this is why God rarely chooses the strongest, best looking, and most talented candidates to do his work in the OT.  This harkens back to Genesis 6, where God utterly rejects the heroes of old, the warriors of renown, and later in Genesis where God chooses the weaker brother Jacob of the stronger Esau.  God’s concern is not for who is the aristoi (the best) among all others, but who will be the most obedient. This is one of the common themes we see with the prominent OT charaters: Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, and eventually David’s lives were marked by obedience. 

Of course I am imposing a particular arc on the OT narrative, all of these great heroes of the OT had their shortcomings and moments of disobedience, but overall each of these lived in obedience to God’s commands.  Maybe this is why David is called a man after God’s own heart, while the Lord becomes sorry that he ever made Saul king over Israel (verse 35)

Gideon and 300 guys that drink water like dogs

In the period of the judges, we often see God being very deliberate in proving Himself faithful and powerful to the Hebrews.  The pattern in the period of the Judges tended to be as follows: the Israelites sin and turn to gods other that Yahweh, God allows the Israelites to be besieged and oppressed by their neighbors, the Israelites would cry out to God and He would send a judge to deliver them, then they would sin again.  Because of this, God often finds ways to intentionally show His power and sufficiency to the Israelites.

One such example comes in Judges 7.  Jerubbaal (Gideon) and his troops were preparing to fight against the Midianites, but the Lord had other plans for the group.  In verse 2 he says this to Gideon, “The troops with you are too many for me to give the MIdianites into their hand.  Israel would only take credit away from me, saying, ‘My own hand has delivered me.’”  So the Lord has Gideon dwindle down the troops and allow those who were fearful to return home.  After this, 22,000 of the troops returned home, leaving 10,000 remaining with Gideon.  But God said that this was still too many troops for the task, and he told Gideon to lead the troops to the water, and all those who cupped water in their hands to drink could go home, but those who lapped up the water like a dog should stay.  This left Gideon with 300 troops remaining; this is what God desired for battling the Midianites. 

In the end, the Lord gave these 300 men the strength to defeat the entire company of the Midianites.  The Lord’s interest in this whole situation was to show Himself strong to the Israelites, to make them understand that is only through His hand that they might be delivered.  It seems ridiculous that God would need to do such a thing for the Israelites to put their trust in God, yet over and over again in the period of the judges they would sin and turn away from the rule of Yahweh.  Ultimately they would completely reject God when they ask to have a king like all of their neighbors in 1 Samuel.  This lack of understanding on the part of the Israelites extends all the way back to the wanderings in the desert in which they continually forgot about God’s faithfulness in delivering them from Egypt.  The same concept applies here, although God continually delivers the Israelites from trouble through the judges, the Israelites continue to sin and forget God.

As I have found myself asking often this semester when reading the opening books Scripture, how often do I, like the Israelites, forget God’s power and faithfulness and wander away from Him?  And what can we do as individuals and as the church to avoid these same mistakes that are repeated over and over by the Israelites?  I suppose these are questions that the church must tackle and resolve as a community with a prayerful and humble spirit.