On the prominent who fall

 I am reminded of a 4 year old jumping on the bed - Look at me, Look at me, Look at me, me, me. How innocent. I am also reminded of a verse, Romans 2:24 - the usual 'shortest distance' problem in my thoughts. 

I have come through a lot as I am sure you all have. No one is short of temptation even after learning to submit to the love of God. We can all name the shared histories of abuse and subsequent confusion. Why did the Jews get such bad and good press from Paul? Your fault that the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles! And the Scriptures are for our learning. Paul can't have it both ways. Does sweet and bitter water come from the same spring? 

Am I going to say this about Barth or Vanier or the endless abuse scandals in institutions? 

I have not studied the NT for a long time, but no one in the churches is much interested in my study of TNK. Why should I bother doing a concordant translations if there is no power (for me) in it? The individual (evangelist?) seeks power. I knew Benny Hinn personally before his ministries took off. I have no idea if he had a history of abuse but he sure learned to abuse the privilege he found. Yet when I quizzed him on his experience of the Holy, I got a zero impression that there was any content to his emerging charisma. Hey - I was only a kid myself, a charismatic tenor c 25. Now 50 years later, after my own foolishness has worked itself out through a doubled troubled time since, do I care about BH or any of the other greatly noised evangelists of the time? The ones who filled stadia...

I am sorry to say that even those I must have learned something from, John Stott and Jim Packer, (yes and even Barth) and more recently, Tom Wright, have faded / fade in my mind, because they deliver to me what Bucky Fuller would have called a second-hand God. Barth at least has the effect of reality since he does not just sell answers. And none of the others has fallen, just faded away from my focus.

For a year now, I have not partaken of the Eucharist. But we are all in the same boat. Like everyone, I am dependent on the fine music emerging from some special places. But even before the pandemic I was silently furious at the lack of depth in our liturgies, even though I benefited from the sacramental grace - so much so that I still count it efficacious after a year's deprivation. But the question arises in this free association, what is this one body in which we participate? Is it all just mental, social or artistic stimulation? personal growth? As someone quipped recently, is it that Jesus said "I have come that you may have sincere and heartfelt emotions, and have them more abundantly"?

The Psalms deal with violence and we purge our lectionaries. Do they deal with financial and sexual sin? with real abuse of power? Lord, how multiplied are my enemies. Why have we (in the churches) neglected our major source of character formation? Are my enemies part of my own body? 

I just looked up Moab, the classic enemy of Israel, the child of the elder daughter of Lot, to test those born of incest after the destruction of their home city. "The potentates of Moab, trembling will hold them fast. Woe to you, Moab. You are perished, people of Kemosh. He has given his sons who were secure, and his daughters into captivity, to the king of the Amorites, Sihon...." 

It will not surprise you that Moab, the land where the words of the covenant were cut, where Moses died, where the children of Israel wept for Moses 30 days, has a huge history in TNK. The sworn enemy of Israel, these children of Lot were not to enter into the congregation of Israel to the tenth generation, yet Ruth the Moabite is the grandmother of the kings of Israel. It is a place of foolishness on the part of the chosen: And Israel settled in Shittim, and the people started to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. 

And later, Moab, under the plenteous Eglon, is overlord of Israel. In the days of the Judges, Moab is used as a foil to Israel, and later as a place where David took refuge briefly, and who became his servants after he became king. And Solomon had lots of wives and concubines, among who were Moabites. 

Their history in the books of kings is extensive. Under Ahab, "Meisha, the king of Moab, ... paid tribute to the king of Israel, a hundred thousand butting lambs, and a hundred thousand rams, wool." After Ahab's death he rebelled. Elisha, inspired by music (!) prophesied the victory of Israel and Judah over Moab, for the sake of Jehoshaphat. 

And Isaiah pleads: Let my banished reside with you, Moab.. Be a hiding place for them from the face of a devastator... Therefore my inner parts for Moab murmur like a harp, and my entrails, for the house walls of earthenware.

How much more complex it gets for devastated Moab, Over all the housetops of Moab, and in her plazas, everyone wailing, for I have broken Moab as a vessel. There is no delight in him. An oracle of Yahweh. So Moab will be a laughingstock and a dismay to all round about him. For I will bring to her, to Moab, the year of their visitation. Yet I will turn the captivity of Moab in the aftermath of the days, an oracle of Yahweh.

And in Moab I will do judgments, "and they will know that I am Yahweh". Moab as Sodom will be and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, steward to nettles and salt-digs, a desolation for evermore.

Neither the NT nor TNK is so self-centered as the innocent 4 year old. Humans wrote the Bible and it is astonishingly full of self criticism. It is good that we should expose our own errors. God's very soul is put into our hands - grubby, power-seeking, sensationalistic, self-protective, sometimes innocent hands. I was reading today that the Bible is God-breathed. Fire from the dragon's mouth. Some breath.

Ancient Hurrian Song

 I have come across this before, but this time I decided to analyse it in a bit more depth. This transcription is approximate. There are two performances both quite close to the pitches I have chosen. Unfortunately 5 flats is not the easiest key signature for the eyeball! But I didn't trust my ear to transpose it to a sharp key. Richard Dumbrill's transcription and reasoning is available in a PDF here.

Clearly this is tonal, but not conforming to our requirement to have a hymn start and end in the same key. This could not be accompanied with an instrument that has fixed pitches, nor would it lend itself to much in the way of what I understand as modal or harmonic cadences, but there are clear rest points.

What really surprised me at first were the sequences, particularly the rising third. In music formed by the verses and interpreted by the te'amim in the Hebrew Scriptures, there are understood rest points, and there are clear phrasal structures formed by the te'amim among many verses and also connections between verses and groups of verses. But I have not observed the idea of sequences. 

A second feature of this song is the five note descent (in so many multi-modal variations). I wondered if this might influence the interpretation of some ornaments among the te'amim, e.g. as treated in Appendix 4 of David Mitchell's The Songs of Ascents.

What I am asking myself is what influence would this sort of music have had on Biblical singing in the temple. In solo singing, there might have been more adjustments of the pitch of the notes by a few cents up or down here and there. But I don't have any example of a Biblical melody ending on anything other than the tonic it started on. 

Transcription by ear of Hurrian Song below

Psalms 66

 

Psalms 66:1 Raise a shout to God all the earth.

	thlim		Psalms
	sv		66
a	lmnxk wir mzmor. hriyu lalohim cl-harx.	1	For the leader. A song. A Psalm. Raise a shout to God all the earth.
b	zmru cbod-wmo. wimu cbod thilto.	2	Psalm the glory of his name. Set in place the glory of his praise.
g	amru lalohim mh-nora mywiç! brob yuzç ickwu lç aoibiç.	3	Say to God, How fearful your deeds! In the abundance of your strength, your enemies will cringe to you.
d	cl-harx iwtkvu lç vizmru-lç, izmru wmç slh.	4	All the earth will worship you, and will sing a psalm to you, and they will sing a psalm to your name. Selah.
h	lcu urau mpylot alohim, nora ylilh yl-bni adm.	5	Walk about and see the works of God, a fearful prodigality, above the children of humanity.
v	hpç im libwh bnhr iybru brgl. wm nwmkh-bo.	6	He changed a sea to dry land. The river they went through on foot. There we were glad in him.
z	mowl bgburto yolm yiniv bgoiim txpinh. hsorrim al-irumu lmo slh.	7	Governing in his valour ever, his eyes look out in the nations. Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.
k	brcu ymim alohinu, vhwmiyu qol thilto,	8	Bless, O peoples, our God, and make the voice of his praise heard,
't	hwm npwnu bkiim, vla-ntn lmo't rglnu.	9	who sets us in place among the living, and does not let our feet slip.
i	ci-bkntnu alohim, xrptnu cxrof-csf.	10	For you have tested us O God, you have refined us as silver is refined.
ia	hbatnu bmxudh, wmt muyqh bmotninu.	11	You conduct us into the fortress, you set pressure in place on our loins.
ib	hrcbt anow lrawnu. banu-baw ubmim, vtoxianu lrvvih.	12	You made a mortal ride over our heads. You conduct us through the fire and through the water, but you have brought us out to saturation.
ig	aboa bitç byolot. awlm lç ndrii,	13	I will go into your house with burnt offerings. I will pay to you my vows,
id	awr-pxu wptii, vdibr-pi bxr-li.	14	which my lips have set free, and my mouth spoke in my trouble.
'tv	yolot mikim aylh-lç ym-q'tort ailim. aywh bqr ym-ytudim slh.	15	Burnt offerings of marrow I will offer up to you, with incense of rams. I will undertake oxen with goats. Selah.
'tz	lcu-wmyu vasprh cl-irai alohim, awr ywh lnpwi.	16	Walk about and hear and I will recount to all who fear God, what he has undertaken for my being.
iz	aliv pi-qrati, vromm tkt lwoni.	17	To him my mouth called, and he is exalted under my tongue.
ik	avvn am-raiti blibi, la iwmy adonii.	18	If I see mischief in my heart, my Lord will not hear.
i't	acn wmy alohim. hqwib bqol tpilti.	19	Nevertheless God has heard. He pays attention with the voice of my prayer.
c	bruç alohim, awr la-hsir tpilti vksdo maiti.	20	Blessed be God, who has not put aside my prayer and his mercy from me.

Concordance links for roots in this chapter.

| Animal: ail bqr ytd | Appeal: spr qvl qra wmy | Bodypart: lb lwvn mk mtn yin ph raw rgl wph | Character: yll | City: bit | Conj: acn am ci | Covenant: brc ndr pxh | Defense: rcb | Enemy: aib ckw | Family: bn | Fear: ira | Fire: aw | Flourish: rvm | God: advn alvh | Group: gvi ym | Heaven: arx | Holy: cbd | Human: adm anvw | Joy: rvy wmk | Judgment: bkn xrp | Life: kih npw | Look: xph rah | Measure: rb | Meet: ybr wm | Mineral: csp | Modifier: cl | Music: zmr wir | Negative: al la | Offer: ylh | Office: nxk | Particle: slh | Place: wm | Planting: q'tr | Praise: hll pll wkh | Prep: al at b l yl ym tkt | Pronoun-Sa: awr | Question: mh | Rebel: srr | Receive: ntn | Rule: mwl qwb wvm | Send: svr | Sin: avn | Speak: amr dbr | Stand: hpc | Strength: gbr yzz xvd | Time: ylm | Vexation: mv't yqh xrr | Walk: bva hlc ixa | Water: im mim nhr rvh | Whole: ksd wlm | Wild: ibw | Work: ywh pyl

Reflections on the upcoming Biblical Studies carnival

 It is a pleasure and a surprise to immerse myself again in the community of scholars, pastors, and teachers who post on Biblical things during the month. Studies - my title says. And studiousness is part of it, but I ask myself at the beginning of each month whether my focus will be too narrow or too wide or what will emerge as a theme for the month and so on.

It is a bit like composing. Will this piece be andante, or minimalist, or contrapuntal, or homophonic, and what stray instruments or obligato will emerge during the process. 

Some scholarship is long winded, some short. Some takes years to develop, some is twitter like, trying to capture a thought for the ages. One of the books I am currently reading has little if anything to do with Biblical Studies (though not so little as one might think). This is Telling the Time in British Literature, 1675 - 1830 Hours of Folly? by Marcus Tomalin. It is under the banner of British Literature in Context in the Long Eighteenth Century. The words on the cover alone take some reflection. Just what is the Long Eighteenth Century?

We are in some long years at the moment. Perhaps some years last for ever. Perhaps as Herbert reminds us, there is only one day, let alone year, and that one ever. The Tomalin book is a product of years of research stemming from Hazlitt's 'On a Sun-Dial' that Marcus had lectured on in 2012 at the Hazlitt Day School under the title 'Hazlittian Horology'. (Who knew Hazlitt was so important!) The overture-like introduction, like those in many commentaries, has more citations and references than I can count at a glance (just under 100). Yes this is scholarship. And now you know that I know what it is - so I am without excuse.

If I can recognize scholarship, does that give me leave to include in a BS carnival some works that may not be scholarly? This tension is often hard to resolve. Biblical encompasses such a wide area of interest, it is somewhat less focused than horology. But it is difficult to read a truly focused work especially if one might be blinded by the intensity of the lense. Does this mean a carnival will be difficult to read? Perhaps.

A theme is emerging this month - that of tongues. By this I mean languages in general and the problems with converting from one to the other through translation. This theme is always present to some extent in any carnival, but the number of posts this month exceeds the usual. Along with the theme, I divide the carnival as is customary into Tanakh and New Testament. I have let the tongues theme suffer a little incoherence to include everything else that cannot easily fit into TNK or NT 'exclusively'. 

For new carnival hosts, structurally, I include also a section on those related to Biblical Studies who die during the month - a short or long In Memoriam section. I am sure I miss some because my reach is not huge and many of the 200+ blogs that I follow are no longer posting much. There is also a final section on upcoming carnivals and a shout out to Phillip Long who manages the BS Carnivals. 

Besides the study of the Biblical content, any BS carnival may include books beyond the various canons, subjects like archaeology, music, reception history and theology and any number of what might seem peripheral issues, liturgical calendars, feasts, poetry. It is an inexhaustible list of potential subjects.  

Also, a carnival is supposed to be a fun thing. Most of us these days are wondering what that is exactly. In these days of tragedy, threats, lies, and mock trials, tribalism, famine, fraud, and armed violence against humanity on many fronts, it is hard to think about the partying of Purim, or the traditional February carnivals like Mardi Gras, which is today, as it happens.

With words too, we all tend to defend our chosen phrases, our in-group language. What shibboleth will I violate if I am serious, or if I make a joke? Can I even make a joke? Maybe. 

Very seriously, I read this morning about 'the word of God', the 'personal knowledge of Jesus Christ', and several other specifics identifying the two. I also read about many other Biblical things. It led me to meditate on a number of issues: formula, pattern memorization (there is a legitimate need here), knowledge of character, revealing of that character in action, illness, kindness, reconciliation, is knowledge only personal, use of power or openness, freedom and criminal behaviour (reflecting another post from today), ultimate conflict, aural and visual approaches to language (reflecting my own difficulty in learning without aural immersion).

Some posts need to be attenuated to give them a necessary foundation, an appeal beyond the reach of mere power or tribe. The post raised this question (and others) for me: to what extent does the character of Yahweh reflect that of Jesus and vice versa, and if so, why do we not see this more clearly. What of such character are we seeing today? And just what do we say with the word Christ in a sentence?

If you have any posts, please let me know. Recommend others or your own. Leave a comment or tweet me @drmacdonald. The carnival is not short of posts even now, but I would welcome finding out about bloggers I have not got on my lists. If you get to this post, please look around. I have been busy this month.

Proposed Lenten program

Note the proposed Lenten song a day in this service at the beginning. Also take the time to listen to the service. Last year you may remember we had daily lessons on the poetry of George Herbert from Jim Gordon at Living Wittily. It was the first time that I had taken Lent seriously from beginning to the end - excellent lessons.

Psalms 65

 This could be a thought for the whole season of Lent. I have always been struck by the mute praise. No need for too much sounding off! Tate explains the idea of Zion, "located between what were the Tyropoean and Kidron Valleys, and which is known today as the Temple Mount, on which is located the beautiful Moslem shrine known as the Dome of the Rock." Yet he reaches out in every comment to the universality of the psalm.

Following Tate to some extent in his explanation, he comments on tpilh, counting by some means 77 occurrences in "the OT" and 32 in the Psalter. I don't know how to verify these counts. They don't agree with my analysis of the data of the Westminster Leningrad Codex. I have a total of 168 for stem pll in 151 vs, 20 like tplh in 20 vs. I get 36 verses in the Psalter for the root (=stem) pll. My numbers too come from two different transformations. 1. I reduce all words to their root. 2. I count raw transformations in the database for my own use and SimHebrew transformations in the concordance. It only goes to show that numbers are not very important here. I have listed and linked below the 94 distinct roots used in this psalm.

All flesh he reads with an eschatological thrust, meaning all "mankind" (a word I never use). I don't know why he would exclude walruses. (I just watched one doing calisthenics.)

On cpr, cover, he cites three occurrences, Psalms 65:4, 78:38, 79:9. He does not include Psalms 49:8, perhaps because it is a noun. I do not distinguish nouns and verbs in my concordance. Nor do I tell you the form of the word or its gender. But you will find all 11 occurrences of cpr in the Psalms. (Check out the references for possible wordplay. Note that some Bible versions differ in their verse numbers. I may eventually link to the exact SimHebrew verse in another life of the concordance.)

In this psalm we have one of 25(?) "beatitudes" in the Psalter. I always render them as happy unless I need the a for an acrostic, then I render it all joy.

Awesome deeds, Tate's rendering of noraot, will be found under ira, 83 times in the Psalms, always rendered by fear/fearful in my translation. The domain of fear has many different words in Hebrew and English. I did not find it necessary to shuffle them. (Nor do I think they should be so shuffled as they are in every other translation into any language that I have looked at).

	thlim		Psalms
	sh		65
a	lmnxk mzmor ldvid wir.	1	For the leader. A psalm of David. A song.
b	lç dumiih thilh alohim bxion, ulç iwulm-ndr.	2	To you mute praise, O God in Zion, and to you a vow is paid.
g	womy tpilh, ydiç cl-bwr iboau.	3	The one who hears prayer, to you will all flesh come.
d	dbri yvonot gbru mni. pwyinu ath tcprm.	4	Matters of iniquities prevail from me. Our transgressions you yourself will cover over.
h	awri tbkr utqrb iwcon kxriç. nwbyh b'tub bitç, qdow hiclç.	5	Happy the one chosen and brought near, who will dwell in your courts. We will be satisfied in the good of your house, the holy of your temple.
v	noraot bxdq tynnu alohi iwynu, mb'tk cl-qxvvi-arx vim rkoqim,	6	Fearful things in righteousness you will answer us, O God of our salvation, the trust of all the extremes of the earth and remote sea,
z	mcin hrim bcoko, nazr bgburh,	7	establishing mountains by his power, girded with valour,
k	mwbik waon imim waon glihm vhmon laumim.	8	soothing the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the tribes.
't	viirau iowbi qxvot maototiç. moxai boqr vyrb trnin.	9	And those sitting at the extremes fear from your signs. You will cause the outgoings of morning and evening to shout for joy.
i	pqdt harx vtwoqqha rbt tywrnh plg alohim mla mim. tcin dgnm ci-cn tcinha.	10	You visit the earth and make it bountiful, exceedingly you made it rich. The stream of God is full of water. You prepare their grain, for so you prepare for her.
ia	tlmih rvvh nkt gdudih. brbibim tmoggnh xmkh tbrç.	11	Ridges you saturate to penetrate her grooves. In copious showers you make her soft. The growth you will bless.
ib	yi'trt wnt 'tobtç, umygliç irypun dwn.	12	You have crowned a year with your good, and your tracks drip fatness.
ig	irypu naot mdbr, vgil gbyot tkgornh.	13	The haunts of the wilderness drip, and the hillocks attired rejoice.
id	lbwu crim hxan vymqim iy'tpu-br. itroyyu af-iwiru.	14	Clothed are meadows with flocks, and valleys draped with corn. They shout in triumph. Also they sing.

94 distinct roots are used in the Hebrew of this Psalm. Animal xan Appeal ynh wmy Approach qrb Bodypart bwr City bit kxr Clothe azr kgr lbw y'tp Conj ci cn Covenant avt bkr brc hicl ndr wby Defense gdd Distant qxh rkq Enemy hmvn Family lam Fear ira Flourish 'tvb iwy cr mla wvq God alvh Harvest br dgn dwn mvg xmk tlm Heaven arx yrb Hide cpr Holy xdq qdw Joy awr gil nah rvy rnn Judgment nkt Location xivn Measure ywr rbb rbh Modifier cl Music zmr wir Office nxk Particle ap Person dvd Place wcn Praise hll pll wbk Prep l mn yd Pronoun-Sa ath Protect cvn Quiet dmh Rule iwb y'tr Sin yvn pwy Strength gbr ck Teaching pqd Time bqr wnh Trust b'tk Valley gby hr ymq Vexation wah Walk bva ixa Water gl im mim plg rvh ryp Way ygl Whole wlm Wild mdbr Work dbr

I set this to its music based on the te'amim.

Psalms 64

 Do I wait for the verdict or let the Psalm speak for itself. The verdict has been delivered. There appear to be about 17 who have not bowed the knee to Baal. But the 10 + 7 are in different houses. The rump of the GOP will become their defeat. And they will be tongue-tied as the Psalm says.

As usual there are varieties of glosses used in the various translations. In verse 11, Tate has celebrate. I have this for rmm in the domain of Flourish, but it could have been in the domain of Praise. But I would not use the gloss praise for it. JB has boast which I also allow for hll. This is all potentially very confusing. The multiplicity of translations is bad enough, but even within one translation there is a host of conflict. KJV renders it as glory! I reserve glory for cbd. KJV overlaps this with several roots. 

	thlim		Psalms
	sd		64
a	lmnxk mzmor ldvid.	1	For the leader. A psalm of David.
b	wmy-alohim qoli bwiki. mpkd aoib tixor kii.	2	Hear, O God, my voice in my pondering. From the dread of an enemy, preserve my life.
g	tstirni msod mryim, mrgwt poyli avvn,	3	You will hide me from the deliberations of those doing evil, from the throng of the workers of mischief,
d	awr wnnu ckrb lwonm. drcu kixm dbr mr,	4	who whet their tongue as a sword. They direct their arrow a bitter word,
h	lirot bmstrim tm. ptaom ioruhu vla iirau.	5	in secret to shoot at one who is complete. Suddenly they shoot and they do not fear.
v	ikzqu-lmo dbr ry ispru l'tmon moqwim. amru mi irah-lmo?	6	They encourage themselves with a word of evil. They recount the buried traps. They say, Who will see them?
z	ikpwu yolot tmnu kpw mkupw, vqrb aiw vlb ymoq.	7	They plan injustice. They complete a master plan, of the inner person and inscrutable heart.
k	viorm alohim kx ptaom, hiu mcotm.	8	But God is shooting at them an arrow suddenly, they become their defeat.
't	vicwiluhu ylimo lwonm. itnoddu cl-roah bm.	9	And they will be tongue-tied. All who see them will flee.
i	viirau cl-adm, vigidu poyl alohim umywhu hwcilu.	10	And every human will fear, and will announce the work of God and from his doing they will have insight.
ia	iwmk xdiq bihvh vksh bo, vithllu cl-iwri-lb.	11	The righteous one will be glad in Yahweh and will take refuge in him, and all the upright of heart will boast.

There are 61 distinct roots in this psalm. Here are all the links to the concordance:  adm avn aib aiw alvh amr awr b dbr dvd drc hih hll zmr kzq kih ksh kpw kx krb 'tmn ihvh iqw ira irh iwr cl cwl l la lb lwvn mi mch mrr ngd ndd nxk nxr svd spr str yvl ylm ymq ywh pkd pyl pty xdiq qvl qrb rah rgw ryy wik wcl wmk wmy wnn tmm.