O that we had had Psalm 58 to taunt a few of our masters - who needed taunting and exposing. And Psalm 109 - the whole 31 verses, not the sanitized version. Are these psalms really so objectionable? Or are they on their surface a taste of reality, and under the surface, a foretaste of the Gospel?
Who washes their robes in the blood of the Lamb (Rev 7:14) who was made sin (2 Cor 5:21) for the life of the world (John 6:51)? So I wash my feet in blood, metaphorically. And Augustine says - "So the righteous did rejoice, not only when, reigning from the Tree, He saw the utter defeat of His enemies and ours by means of that very throne; but when he beheld also that more glorious vengeance of love, by which, for every drop of the most precious Blood that He shed, myriads and myriads of elect souls should enter into His kingdom." (Neale Vol2 p 237).
These inappropriate passages, these objectionable words, in our canon, have been interpreted mystically and not literally by Augustine, bringing our inherited poetry into a different mold, and teaching where the true enemy lies that must be sanctified. Scholars (whom Neale calls literalists!) may consider that such a reading is unacceptable. What reading of ancient violence qua violence is acceptable? If we fail to interpret to our growth, we must of necessity shrink.
The hurt and hate caused by cruel and oppressive tyrants is very real - so, as distasteful as this, and the other imprecatory psalms may be, I am glad that they are included in our canon.
ReplyDeleteThe psalms are clear about the destruction / obliteration of the way of the wicked and the wicked included in that heat. But I think I was too quick with my different playing field for Ezekiel. Turning that we might live is a vital component of the process that begins with conscience and shame and ends in change leading to obedience. While Ezekiel contrasts this with the sour grapes that a child knows because of the sins of the parents, there is continuity there as well, a corporate reality - whether of tribe, family or nation that none of us escapes from 'alone'.
ReplyDeleteThe cruel and oppressive tyrants that were set up over the tribes of the nations in the Middle East in the early part of the last century have given us the autocratic and impossible rule of the present. How, I wonder, can we undo this - and turn from our wickedness and live?
But you are justified in your acceptance of what we have in the poems - we must know both our anger and the extent to which we cause our own problems before we can engage in the trust that begins to destroy weapons rather than use them.