Psalms 2 and 23
What an odd pairing of Psalms, 2 and 23! We are looking at these this week because our choir is singing Leonard Bernstein's amazing "Chichester Psalms," second movement, in which the men sing a vigorous Psalm 2 (in Hebrew) and the women sing a gentle Psalm 23. I was intrigued by the juxtaposition of these two Psalms and how they speak to each other.
Psalm 2 is a coronation Psalm, full of bluster and bravado as befits the crowning of a new king. God here is the tough guy, sticking up for little Israel and making it powerful beyond all reality and able to defeat any enemy.
Psalm 23 is the shepherd Psalm, full of comfort and trust.
Wow, what an emotional contrast, which Bernstein's music exploits wonderfully.
More and more I am seeing Psalm 2 as how we want God and the world to be and Psalm 23 as how God actually moves in the world. We really want a God who will come in and beat up our enemies with a rod, rather than a God who walks beside us with a very different kind of rod. We want a God who starves our enemies, rather than one who sets up a table for us in the presence of our enemies (does this mean the enemies eat with us?).
Here's my quote for the week on Psalm 23. It comes from James Mays' commentary on the book of Psalms in the Interpretation series (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1994), p. 118.
"The trust expressed [in Psalm 23] is not just a matter of mood. Strength must be found, a way must be walked, harm and evil threatened. Enemies persist. That is the environment of trust. Trust is not a rosy, romantic, optimistic view of things. Its foundations are prayer and thanksgiving and the story of salvation. 'There is a great difference between this sleep of stupidity and the repose which faith produces.' (Calvin)"
Psalm 2 is a coronation Psalm, full of bluster and bravado as befits the crowning of a new king. God here is the tough guy, sticking up for little Israel and making it powerful beyond all reality and able to defeat any enemy.
Psalm 23 is the shepherd Psalm, full of comfort and trust.
Wow, what an emotional contrast, which Bernstein's music exploits wonderfully.
More and more I am seeing Psalm 2 as how we want God and the world to be and Psalm 23 as how God actually moves in the world. We really want a God who will come in and beat up our enemies with a rod, rather than a God who walks beside us with a very different kind of rod. We want a God who starves our enemies, rather than one who sets up a table for us in the presence of our enemies (does this mean the enemies eat with us?).
Here's my quote for the week on Psalm 23. It comes from James Mays' commentary on the book of Psalms in the Interpretation series (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1994), p. 118.
"The trust expressed [in Psalm 23] is not just a matter of mood. Strength must be found, a way must be walked, harm and evil threatened. Enemies persist. That is the environment of trust. Trust is not a rosy, romantic, optimistic view of things. Its foundations are prayer and thanksgiving and the story of salvation. 'There is a great difference between this sleep of stupidity and the repose which faith produces.' (Calvin)"
posted by shelly @ 10:00 AM
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