Psalm 7 – ph

by Michiana Covenant | Jan 24, 2014 | Psalmody, Psalms, Psalter Hymnal

Psalm 7

I concur with the OPC/URC proposal on Psalm 7. While “Song 24” is not common in our circles, it is a wonderful fit for this impassioned plea for deliverance.

Text: 10. 10. 10. 10. (compiled from Sing Psalms, 2003, and Book of Psalms for Singing, 1973; MCPC, 2012)

1 O LORD my God, my refuge is in you; deliver me from all those who pursue,
2 lest lionlike they tear ferociously, while there is no one to deliver me.

3 O LORD my God, if wrong is in my hands, 4 if I did evil to my foes or friends,
5 let my pursuer overtake me now, and trample in the dust my life, my soul.

6 Arise, O LORD, in wrath against my foes, against the rage of all who me oppose.
Awake, my God, let justice now abound, 7 for all assembled nations gathered round.

8 Your justice to the people, LORD, decree. According to my righteousness judge me;
9 but let the evil of the wicked end, and be the righteous one’s secure defense.

You test all minds and hearts, O righteous God! 10 My shield is He who saves the upright heart.
11 God is a judge who does what’s right and fair, and ev’ry day God will his wrath declare.

12 If one does not repent, God whets his sword; he stands prepared, and he has drawn his bow.
13 He has made ready instruments of death; he makes his arrows deadly, fiery shafts.

14 See how the wicked evil thoughts conceive, is pregnant with ill will and bears deceit.
15 He makes a pit, he digs it with his spade, then falls into the very pit he made.

16 His scheming will recoil on him instead; his evil will descend upon his head.
17 I’ll thank the LORD for judging righteously, and I’ll sing praises to the LORD Most High.

Tune: Song 24 (Orlando Gibbons, 1623)

Commentary

Psalm 7 is titled, “A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite.”

Who is this Cush? Some think that David is using a circumlocution for Saul — since it was considered improper to curse the ruler of Israel (Ex. 22:28). But this doesn’t work: cursing is cursing, whether you name them or not. Others suggest that there was some Benjaminite named Cush who was slandering David (a rather likely scenario). Others — such as Theodore of Mopsuestia and Augustine — suggest that this refers to Hushai the Archite, David’s friend. After all, the superscription does not say whether “Cush” is a friend or a foe. In this scenario, David hears the message from Hushai that Absalom will not pursue him immediately (2 Samuel 17:21), and then writes Psalm 7 in response.

Certainly there are strong Absalom links in the Psalm itself. In verse 4, “if I have repaid my friend with evil” — the word translated “my friend” is sholmi (from shalem — meaning “one who is at peace with me”) — and closely related to the name Abshalom (“father of peace”). We didn’t try to capture this in our translation because it requires a preacher to explain the text.

Structure:

Our eight stanza structure works hard to capture the movement in the Psalm. Stanza 1 and 2 both open with the line, “O LORD, my God” (verses 1 and 3), while stanzas 3-6 each open with references to God (verses 6, 8, 9, 12). Since verses 12-16 then turn to the wicked, it is impossible to open stanzas 7-8 with a divine reference, but the last half of stanza 8 (verse 17) does so.

In contrast, the Book of Psalms for Worship extends the Psalm to nine stanzas, and Sing Psalms has ten stanzas (using the same meter).

Translation Notes:

Some may wonder how we blended two versions that were both longer, and wound up with a shorter text! We did this by following each when they chose to condense, since our goal was to be as succinct as possible. For example:

Psalm 7:5 (ESV) — “let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, and let him trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust.”

Sing Psalms devotes an entire stanza to this verse: “Then let my foe pursue relentlessly that he may vent his hateful spite on me, and let him trample me into the ground; so will my honour in the dust be found.” [The underlined text supposedly translates “overtake it”]

Our translation — “Let my pursuer overtake me now, and trample in the dust my life, my soul.” [Following the Book of Psalms for Singing in omitting the phrase “my glory.” The Book of Psalms for Worship alters the phrase, but does not reintroduce “glory.”]

Since our goal is to sing the whole Psalm at one time, we strove for economy of language.

In verse 9, the ESV says, “you who test the minds and hearts,” where the Hebrew literally says “the hearts and kidneys.” Sometimes you hear people say that Hebrew has no word for ‘mind’ — and so they claim that the Hebrews were less rationalistic than the Greeks. Or they will say that since Hebrew uses the word “heart” to talk about thinking, therefore Hebrew is more affective — ironically using the Greek concept of heart to define what is “affective”! Given that English has adopted our mind/heart distinction from Greek, it can be a little challenging to render the heart/kidney usage in Hebrew. Here, in Psalm 7, it’s fairly easy — since it is clear that the Psalmist wants God to test his inward self, both his thinking and his feeling.

But this brings us to the central challenge of Psalm 7. Verse 8 has just said, “judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me.” If God is a righteous judge (v11), then how can the Psalmist expect to pass the test? After all, he is not asking for a test of outward deeds — he is saying that God tests the heart and the mind. The Psalmist says that God tests the inward disposition of men — and yet he expects to pass the test without difficulty! Certainly this was true of Jesus — and certainly Jesus is the best singer of this Psalm! — but David is making a point about the present, and further, he is writing a song for Israel to sing for centuries to come, as they look forward to the greater Son of David.

This is where Hushai and Absalom come in handy. Whether it was the original context of Psalm 7 or not, it provides one clear example of how someone could sing Psalm 7 with a clear conscience. In verses 3-5 David has declared his innocence. He did nothing to deserve the way that Absalom has treated him. David is the rightful king of Israel. While Saul was king, David had always been careful not to mistreat the LORD’s anointed — but now Absalom and his conspirators have betrayed him. With respect to the case at hand, David is innocent. And so David prays, “Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and may you establish the righteous — you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God!” (v9)

And then he warns the conspirators in verses 12-16 that if they do not repent — if they do not turn back from their path — then they will fall into their own pit. Or, to use one of the most memorable lines in the Psalm: “Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies.”

This is a good reminder that there are times when we are innocent! And especially since we have been justified in Christ, we stand before God as his innocent people (remember the point in verse 12 — “if one does not repent…”!). Again, the Absalom story is helpful: what if Absalom had repented? Is it not obvious from the story that if Absalom had repented, David would have forgiven him? But God does indeed “whet his sword” and “make ready his instruments of death” against those who refuse to repent (v12-13).

Tune Notes:

Song 24 is a wonderfully dark and foreboding tune mostly in the Dorian mode, quite fitting for a lament. Gibbons himself only composed the soprano and bass lines — so the inner parts were added by The English Hymnal (1906).

It is used in the 1987 Psalter Hymnal with an alternate version of Psalm 51 (#167), and with hymn 308, “Come, Risen Lord, as Guest Among Your Own.” While Gibbons’ original tune began with a half note at the beginning of each line, the inflection works better with a quarter rest and a quarter note at the beginning of each line. Since most people are not familiar with this tune, this alteration will not be noticeable to most.

Conclusion

Psalm 7 can be a hard song to sing for those who have been trained that Christians should never pray for vengeance. But Psalm 7 is a good place to learn how — since it includes the reminder that repentance is always an option, and it focuses on how God is the one who brings vengeance (not us), and on how sin invariably trips itself and destroys itself.

You can hear a choir singing a different text to Song 24 at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4GAJQCn-Sg

(starting at the 4:30 mark)

I have not yet preached on Psalm 7.

— Peter J. Wallace

Is the Psalter an Obsolete Songbook? – 3 – But Do We Have to Sing *That*?

by Michiana Covenant | Jan 20, 2014 | Psalmody, Psalms, Psalter Hymnal

Is the Psalter an Obsolete Songbook? Why Sing All 150 Psalms AND the Best of the Best of All Ages?

Part 3

In the first two sections we have sought to show the proper place of the Psalter in Christian worship. The chief objections to the Psalms are often focused on some of the language in the Psalter. In the final two installments, we will focus first on the imprecatory Psalms, and then on the theme of death.

But Do We Have to Sing That?

There are some Psalms that are really hard to sing. Psalm 137:8-9 says:

O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,
blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us!
Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!

How can the church of Jesus Christ sing this?

Some people have argued that the New Testament has a fundamentally different attitude about our enemies. After all, Jesus taught us to love our enemies, and pray for those who persecute us. It would be easy to come up with a list of NT passages that appear to teach contrary to many Psalms, and thus argue that many Psalms are unworthy of Christian worship. But I would argue that there is not a single sentiment in the Psalms that is not echoed in the NT as well.

Let me give a few examples of the worst statements in the Psalms. For instance, the statement in Psalm 137:8-9, quoted above, declares a blessing on the one who destroys “daughter Babylon” (cities are often called “daughters” in the Old Testament). Given that Revelation 17-18 speaks of the fall of Babylon and her destruction, it is worth noting the cry of the heavenly host in Revelation 19:1-2 –

“Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
for his judgments are true and just;
for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality,
and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

We need to remember that vengeance is a good thing. Scripture warns us not to take revenge, but does so through God’s promise, “Vengeance is mine, says the Lord, I will repay” (Romans 12:19). Therefore, according to Paul in Romans 12, we should pray that God will bring vengeance against those who seek to destroy us.

Paul explains this further in the previous chapter, in Romans 11:9-10, where he quotes Psalm 69:22-23 and applies it to rebellious Israel:

“Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them; let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever.”

Here Paul says that David’s imprecation against his enemies should be applied to rebellious Jews in his own day. Paul will not seek to make God’s curse come to pass (he will not wage war against rebellious Israel), but he will pray that God will make it happen.

In the same way, the souls under the altar in Revelation 6:10 pray,

“O sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

This is the prayer of the faithful: that God will make all things right in the end by bringing vengeance against those who have persecuted them.

Of course, this raises a serious question: when is it appropriate to pray for God’s destruction of our enemies? After all, Jesus did pray, “Father, forgive them” (Luke 23:34), and Stephen asked Jesus, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:60). It is worth noting that you find this same attitude in the Psalms. David says in Psalms 35 and 109 that he prayed for his enemies and afflicted himself in fasting for their healing when they were sick. But there comes a time when David asks God to destroy them. Likewise, we need to understand that Jesus’ prayer, “Father, forgive them,” does not mean that we never pray for vengeance.

Let’s start with Psalm 58, which offers a particularly sharp example of David’s curse against the wicked. He speaks against the “gods” – those who judge the children of mankind (probably referring to foreign kings – but possibly referring to Israelite judges). He compares them to serpents and adders, and calls on God to “break the teeth in their mouth” and “let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime, like the stillborn child who never sees the sun.” Then he concludes in verses 10-11:

“The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
surely there is a God who judges on earth.”

The image is rather shocking. But what happens when you crush the head of your enemies? Your feet are spattered with blood! In the Old Testament, spiritual warfare had a strong physical component. And so Paul will apply these principles spiritually: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Romans 16:20).

But what does this look like? When Paul writes to the Thessalonians to encourage them in their afflictions, he says in 2 Thessalonians 1:5-8 –

“This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering—since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”

Those who attack and trample God’s people underfoot will receive God’s righteous judgment in the end! The New Testament says, “God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you….inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God…”

We should never hold a grudge – and we should always pray that God would have mercy and convert the wicked – but at the same time, we should also pray that God’s vengeance would come against those who “stir up strife,” and who seek to destroy God’s people. So long as rulers devise wrongs in their hearts – and so long as the gods of the age deal out violence on the earth, we will need to sing Psalm 58.

In fact, if you study the imprecatory Psalms, you quickly realize that there are only two times when the Psalmists will pray for God to curse people:

1) when wicked Israelites are oppressing helpless Israelites (e.g., Psalms 5, 7, 9-10, etc.; this is especially prominent in books 1-2 of the Psalter – which has the Davidic kingdom as its presupposition);
2) when wicked foreigners are oppressing Israel (this occurs occasionally in books 1-2, but becomes especially prominent in book 3, with the Psalms of exile: 74-83 all have at least echoes of wicked foreigners in view).

In other words, we need to pray the imprecatory Psalms against:

1) wicked Christians (apostates) who are oppressing helpless Christians in the church;
2) wicked rulers who are knowingly and intentionally persecuting the church.

Notice that the Psalms are not hostile towards “the nations.” Think of the positive treatment of Babylon in Psalm 87 (especially intriguing in light of the curses on the nations in Psalms 74-83!):

“Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon;
behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush –
‘This one was born there,’ they say.
And of Zion it shall be said,
‘This was and that one were born in her’;
for the Most High himself will establish her.
The Lord records as he registers the peoples,
‘This one was born there’ (Psalm 87:4-6).

All the enemies of Israel – even Babylon the cursed – will be reborn in Zion! The only time that the Psalms call for God to judge the nations are when the nations are pillaging and plundering Zion.

Finally, what about curses? Paul says in Romans 12:14, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.” Some would say that this is conclusive evidence that Christians should never curse those who persecute them! And it is true that Christians should not revile and swear like the nations do. But remember that five verses later, Paul says, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (Romans 12:19). In other words, Christians should never seek to do anything to curse their enemies, but we should pray that God will bring vengeance – like in Psalm 94.

Consider the example of Jesus and the apostles.

1) In Matthew 23, Jesus hurls imprecations upon the scribes and Pharisees. The seven woes upon the scribes and Pharisees conclude with “You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell” (v33) – clearly reminiscent of Psalm 58’s description of the wicked rulers.

2) In Acts 8:20, Peter curses Simon Magus, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money.” Certainly Peter calls him to repentance – but that doesn’t stop him from cursing him!

3) Likewise, in Acts 13:10, Paul, “filled with the Holy Spirit,” said to Elymas the magician, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.”

4) In Matthew 10:14, Jesus says to his disciples that if a town will not receive them, “shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly I say to you it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.” Paul, and Barnabas, in Acts 13:51, apply this to the Jews in Pisidian Antioch: “they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium.” Likewise in Acts 18:6, when Paul faced opposition in the synagogue in Corinth, “he shook out his garments and said to them, ‘Your blood be on your own heads!” and went to the Gentiles.

This last episode is particularly fascinating, because one of the people who heard that curse was a man named Sosthenes (the ruler of the synagogue who was beaten by the Gentiles in v16). Several years later, Paul writes to the same church at Corinth: “Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes” (1 Cor 1:1). Paul had cursed Sosthenes and the rest of the synagogue – not out of malice, or out of any personal sense of ill will – but simply because Jesus had commanded that those who will not heed the call of the gospel need to know that God’s curse rests upon them until they repent!

What pattern do you see here? The ignorant are dealt with gently. Those who willfully rebel are forborne as long as possible – but then the curse of the gospel is proclaimed against them. When was the last time that you said, “Your blood be on your own head,” or “you son of the devil” to someone who persistently refused to hear the gospel? (This would be especially appropriate in the case of a religious leader who is leading people into destruction). I would suggest that one primary reason why we have failed to heed this New Testament teaching is because we have labeled it “obsolete” in the Psalter and removed it from our singing.

Psalm 5 – ph

by Michiana Covenant | Dec 31, 2013 | Psalmody, Psalms, Psalter Hymnal

Psalm 5

Text: 77 77 D (The Psalter, 1912; adapted by Rowland Ward, 1991; alt. MCPC, 2012)

1 Hear my words, O LORD my God; to my groans attentive be.
2 Hear my cry, my King, my God, for to you alone I pray.
3 When the morning comes, O LORD, you shall hear my pleading cry;
when the dawn comes, I will watch, and direct my prayers on high.

4 Truly, you are not a God who in evil takes delight;
evil shall not dwell with you, 5 nor the proud stand in your sight.
Evildoers you do hate; 6 you destroy all those who lie;
for the LORD abhors and hates those who murder and deceive.

7 But in your abundant grace to your house I will draw near;
looking to your holy place, in your fear I’ll worship there.
8 Guide me safely, O my LORD, in your perfect righteousness;
since my enemies are near, make straight paths before my face.

9 Not one word they say is true; from their heart destruction comes;
like an open grave their throat; and they flatter with their tongues
10 Make them bear their guilt, O God; by their counsels let them fall;
cast them out for all their sins, for against you they rebel.

11 But let all who flee to you find their refuge and rejoice;
let them ever sing for joy; spread protection over them.
Those who truly love your name will exult in you always.
12 For you bless the righteous, LORD, and you shield him with your grace.

Tune: Aberystwyth (Joseph Parry, 1876)

Commentary

Psalm 5 is titled, “To the Choirmaster: for the Flutes. A Psalm of David.” Note on authorship: the reference to the “holy temple” may suggest that this Psalm was written in the days of Solomon or later.  The phrase “A Psalm of David” does not require that David himself actually wrote it.  It is not likely that David would refer to the tabernacle as a temple, or speak of entering God’s “house” (v7).  David was most painfully aware that God did not have a house, and only God’s intervention prevented him from building a temple (2 Samuel 7).

So why do these Psalms have the title, “A Psalm of David”? I would argue that the Davidic titles of the Psalms (especially here in books 1-2) are reminders for us to sing these Psalms with a Davidic focus — which means a Messianic focus. As these Psalms were sung in the temple, and as they were drawn together into the Psalter, they would have been constant reminders of how David was central to Israel’s future (think of how God told Ezekiel that he would “set up over them one shepherd, my servant David” (Ezekiel 34:23). The idea that you have to choose between a “David-centered” or a “Christ-centered” interpretation of the Psalms is wrong headed, because David is the Christ.

Structure:

Our five stanzas take their shape from the ESV layout of Psalm 5 in five stanzas. We considered the Sing Psalms text — but that required ten stanzas, which broke the Psalm up awkwardly. And since Aberystwyth has been used so much in our churches, we thought it prudent to work of off the text

Translation Notes:

The 1912 Psalter text (which is set to Aberystwyth in the Trinity Hymnal #51) needed considerable work, which Rowland Ward began in his 1991 Complete Book of Psalms for Singing. The whole Psalms was largely retranslated to bring it into conformity with our desire to eliminate the use of “Jehovah” and other archaic language, as well as to restore the language of “groaning” in verse 1. One comparison may be especially helpful:

Verse 10 (ESV) — “Make them bear their guilt, O God; let them fall by their own counsels;
because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out, for they have rebelled against you.”

(1912 Psalter in TH) — “Bring, O God, their plans to naught, hold them guilty in thy sight,
for against thee and thy law they have set themselves to fight.

(Ward in CBPS) “Give them justice, O my God; them for all their sins expel,
in their own schemes catch their feet: you they hate, and thus rebel.

(BPW) Make them bear their guilt, O God; snare them in the things they planned!
Cast them out for all their sins: rebels who against you stand.

(MCPC)  — “10 Make them bear their guilt, O God; by their counsels let them fall;
cast them out for all their sins; for against you they rebel.

Verse 10 makes four points: 1) make them bear their guilt; 2) let them fall by their own counsels; 3) cast them out for their sins; and 4) do all this because they have rebelled against you. The 1912 Psalter leaves out #3, Ward alters counsels to schemes; the BPW changes “fall” to “snare.”

Again, I don’t claim that we have succeeded in every line — but working through the Hebrew text with Bryan Estelle was tremendously helpful.

Tune Notes:

Aberystwyth is a beautiful, haunting Welsh tune. Given that the Psalmist opens with a cry for help and a reminder to God that he hates all evildoers, this Psalm needs a tune that has some darkness in it. On the other hand, at the center of the Psalm — stanza 3 (verses 7-8) — there is the robust confidence of a man who enters God’s house and bows down toward the holy temple. Aberystwyth works with this as well, by bringing in the major at the beginning of the 3rd and 4th lines.

Furthers, Aberystwyth is used with Psalm 5 in the Trinity Hymnal (#51) and the Trinity Psalter, as well as the BPS and the BPW, so we knew that we would be summarily executed if we tried to replace this…

Conclusion

My sermon on Psalm 5 can be found at: http://peterwallace.org/sermons/Ps05.htm

— Peter J. Wallace