Threads from Henry's Web

Category: Bible Passages

  • Psalm 119:120

    Psalm 119:120

    I get goosebumps from dread of you,
    I’m afraid of your judgments.

    C. S. Lewis has a wonderful quote on this, which is fairly well known. I suspect, however, that many people don’t know the context.

    Sometimes this question has been pressed upon our minds with the purpose of exciting fear. I do not think that is its right use. I am, indeed, far from agreeing with those who think all religious fear barbarous and degrading and demand that it should be banished from the spiritual life. Perfect love, we know, casteth out fear. But so do several other things—ignorance, alcohol, passion, presumption, and stupidity. It is very desirable that we should all advance to that perfection of love in which we shall fear no longer; but it is very undesirable, until we have reached that stage, that we should allow any inferior agent to cast out our fear.

    C. S. Lewis, “The World’s Last Night” in The World’s Last Night

    This question is asked in the context of concern about the second coming or the end of the world, however you see it. Lewis argues that an emotion of fear would not be helpful in that case, because the valuable results of a rational fear cannot be sustained for a long time. I would argue that repeated claims that the end of the world is around the corner make fear ineffective.

    There is valuable fear. That’s the kind of fear that keeps us from doing stupid things. Well, sometimes it fails to keep us from doing stupid things. That’s what Lewis is talking about when he says that ignorance, alcohol, passion, presumption, and stupidity can cast out our fear. I recall quite a number of times I did stupid things. In fact, even though I have never been drunk, there were a number of times when I did stupid things with people who were drunk, because I was part of they group, and hey!, the stupid things were fun!

    I figure the Lord had to have angels working over time to allow me to attain maturity. Not necessarily intelligence and good judgment, but survival, at least!

    There’s another way in which fear can be destructive, and that’s when it’s random fear. A child who is abused by a parent and can’t find a way out is threatened with destruction by the fear. The fear is constant, whether the abuse is currently taking place or not.

    Evil is the source of that kind of fear. Effective fear is consistent with reality and helps direct our paths.

    Often, people try to remove “fear” from the “fear of the Lord.” There’s a good point to this. There are those who live in fear of God as they would fear an angry, abusive father. That is not the fear of the Lord. But there is a healthy fear. The God who made gravity made it such that gravity will get you at the bottom of a cliff. You should fear jumping off.

    In our verse today what strikes me is the personal closeness of this fear. There are several ways to translate the Hebrew words, especially of the first line. But what is clear is that the fear is producing a reaction in his body. He is reacting to the presence of God and the realization of who he is and who God is.

    But then, in the presence of God, there is the perfect love. Continuing in the presence of God will cast out that fear, replacing it with a realization of love.

  • Psalm 119:119 – Scorn

    Psalm 119:119 – Scorn

    You hold in scorn all the wicked of the land,
    therefore I love your testimonies.

    I will confess that the lasts several verses seem to have given me less elevated thoughts. Holding people in scorn often sounds like a pretty good idea. How can those idiots do such stupid things. Not just wicked, but stupid! God is right to be scornful of them!

    At this point, I recall something I say all the time about teaching an preaching: Be sure to target the text at yourself before you target it at others.

    There’s a second issue as well. Why is it that I read this text as one of the good guys? Now you might quickly say that the author is speaking as one of the good guys. I’m not so sure of that. He frequently invokes God’s aid, and as I’ve done a few times thus far, I can point to verse 176 – “I have gone astray like a lost sheep …”

    Now I imagine there’s a sense in which the psalmist does regard himself as one of the good guys. He is, after all, one of God’s chosen people. He has God’s Torah with statutes, testimonies, commands, and yes, the stories of God working with the people. So he’s in the family. That’s one thing. At the same time, he has shown considerable awareness of shortcomings, and of his need for God to work with and on him in dealing with those.

    So we could view this verse in a completely different way. Not a condemnation of “them” and a congratulation of self, but rather as an accurate observation. God doesn’t look well on the wicked. The very laws of nature tend to punish those who will not cooperate. But the way the psalmist is advocating for avoiding this is love for God’s testimonies.

    I suspect this latter has a great deal to do with what the Psalmist is saying. And one of the elements I see in the use of “testimonies” here is that look at how God has acted.

    To reference another Psalm I love, Psalm 78:

    He established a decree in Jacob,
    and appointed a law in Israel,
    which he commanded our ancestors
    to teach to their children;
    that the next generation might know them,
    the children yet unborn,
    and rise up and tell them to their children,
    so that they should set their hope in God,
    and not forget the works of God,
    but keep his commandments;
    and that they should not be like their ancestors,
    a stubborn and rebellious generation,
    a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
    whose spirit was not faithful to God.

    Psalm 78:5-8 (NRSV)

    I think Psalm 119 as a whole is doing precisely this.

    What will you pass on to the next generation, whether biological or spiritual?

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI and edited slightly by me.)

  • Psalm 119:118 – Deceit

    Psalm 119:118 – Deceit

    You disdain all those who stray from your statutes,
    for in falsehood is their deceit.

    I spent most of my time thinking about translation issues today, because this verse is rather difficult. You’ll notice the second line, which could be literally translated, “for lying is their lie.” Let’s look at some other solutions.

    You reject all who stray from your statutes,
    for their whole talk is malice and lies.

    REB

    You spurn all who go astray from your statutes;
    for their cunning is in vain.

    NRSV

    You treat with contempt all those who revolt against your statutes,
    because their thoughts are crooked.

    LXX (my translation)

    Suspended have you all who stray from your statutes
    for falsehood is their deceit

    Bob MacDonald, Seeing the Psalter, p. 386

    Bob provides the following note: “118 suspended, סלה (slh) the same letters as in the untranslatable pause or suspense in a psalm, and used of wisdom suspending in the balance, weighing (Job 28:16).” This is quite a good explanation and a real possibility for the first line. “Falsehood is their deceit,” remains a bit difficult still.

    Mitchell Dahood, well known for creative reconstructions of the text, translates:

    Make a mound of all who stray from your precepts,
    because their idolatry is false.

    Psalms III, p. 168 and note

    Both of these changes, “make a mound” and “idolatry are possible, though I would not regard them as probable.

    The difficulty with a verse like this is that it uses a number of words that have similarly spelled roots to others, and that are not found in the Hebrew scriptures very many times. The most important element in understanding the precise meaning of a word is the context, and in poetry, it’s hard to determine precisely what the intention is, as the context itself is flexible.

    This illustrates why you should be interested, but not worried, if you find footnotes in your Bible that indicate alternate texts or possible translation. This is part of the process of working with translation, and especially with translation of ancient documents where we have some difficulty discerning the intent.

    It also suggests that we should be grateful to those who do this work. The sources I’ve mentioned here each involved significant research and discussion by many people. I benefited by simply having a reference that gave me the results of their efforts.

    And finally, one thing is clear in the text: Rebellion against God’s statutes and deceit and falsehood are not good things.

  • Psalm 119:117 – Sustain

    Psalm 119:117 – Sustain

    Sustain me and I shall be saved,
    And I will continually meditate on your statutes.

    The Message gives a nice feel for this verse:

    Stick with me and I’ll be all right;
    I’ll give total allegiance to your definitions of life.

    Psalm 119:117, The Message

    Now this translation has the problem that many do, which is that it’s clearer than the text it translates. One of the features of poetry is expression which evokes meaning and feeling, but does not lay it out blow by blow. Nonetheless, a translation like The Message can sometimes force us to look for the boundaries of a text.

    One thing I prefer over The Message on this verse is the idea of meditation. The verb used in Hebrew can cover a lot of ground, such as “gaze at,” “pay attention to,” and yes, “meditate” or “keep/observe.” The precise point in that range of meanings that the author intended is difficult to say for certain. My view is that in poetry, the intent is often to evoke broader meaning. When we narrow such a verse to just one set of precise meanings, we can lose the intention of the verse.

    And that’s the thing about meditation. An attorney needs to know more than simply the textual content of the law. In our legal tradition, they need to know the history of interpretation in the form of previous court rulings. Once they know that, they also need to be able to understand the story into which they have been drawn in order to know how they can apply all that material to their particular situation.

    It is similar with God’s law. God could have inspired a compendium, carefully cataloged and containing just the specific ordinances. But that’s not what we have. If you’d like to see what that would look like, consider passages such as Exodus 22 & 23 or the Hammurabi Code. These are codes of law, but in the case of those chapters of Exodus, the code is contained in history, and the foundation of that code of law is in the actions of the lawgiver.

    Is it any wonder that the psalmist can spend 176 verses expressing his joy in the law? He can see his God in that law, and in the way in which that law was presented. He knows that the reality behind the law is the creator-redeemer God. The word used here for “saved” as I uncreatively translated it, can also be translated with words like “be rescued” or “be victorious.”

    The God revealed in the law is the God who saves. When one meditates on the law, one learns about the lawgiver who also rescues, supports, and sustains to the end.

    I again find this verse to be an encapsulation in two short lines of the message of the Psalm.

    Live today as a child of the Creator who sustains you. Always!

    (Featured image credit: Viktor Aheiev. Licensed via iStockPhoto.com.)

  • Psalm 119:116 – Supported

    Psalm 119:116 – Supported

    Support me according to your word that I may live
    and don’t let my hope fail.

    As a note on translation, this verse is simply and sparsely expressed in Hebrew, which leaves some work to the translator in choosing precisely how to translate. Yet the overall result doesn’t change that much. Try comparing a number of translations. The words will vary, but the overall meaning remains similar.

    Sometimes we stress too much about translation details. It’s quite possible to get so hung up on precise words that we miss the message, which is unfortunate. I keep quite a collection of Bible translations and editions, and I deeply appreciate the vast majority of them.

    This verse fills an important role in the tapestry of Psalm 119. We find the psalmist grateful, determined, confident, hopeful, and fearful. We find him claiming accomplishments in one verse and calling for God’s help in another. The overall effect is a powerful picture of a person of faith carrying out life as one of God’s own.

    Our verse today covers much of this ground in one poetic couplet. The psalmist calls on God’s support that he may live. He recognizes the dependence on God for his very existence. If the creator and sustainer of the universe doesn’t sustain him, he can’t live. It’s as simple as that.

    At the same time he is expressing confidence. God’s sustaining power will provide life, and let him attain to his hope.

    Sometimes we have that kind of dual feeling. Confident, but feeling the need of support. Sports teams feel it with supportive crowds. The professional athletes are not underconfident. They know what they’re doing, but they’ll still acknowledge the value of that support.

    Sometimes we separate our efforts and what God does, but they are not so easily divided. If we hold that God is the creator, and that God’s creative power upholds the universe (Psalm 104 comes to mind), then we also know that our existence is dependent. At the same time, we know that those laws that God created are reliable enough that we don’t need to be concerned that the will end.

    For the believer, this covers everything, both physical and spiritual. The connection is there. Support me, and I will live. I hope, but I know that you, God, are the real hope, because you are the source and foundation of all hopes.

    Today, try to feel the support that God gives you. Look for ways in which he is taking you toward your greatest hopes.

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)

  • Psalm 119:115 – Leave!

    Psalm 119:115 – Leave!

    Leave me you evildoers
    that I may obey the commands of my God.

    Being harassed as you try to do good can be a problem. Both bad influences, those who by word or example lead you toward bad behavior, and bullies who try to pressure you into doing wrong are a reality. That’s what I think the Psalmist is saying here. “I want to follow God’s commands. If you’re not on that program, go away!”

    This reminds me of the very first verse in Psalms:

    Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of evildoers, nor does he stand in the way of sinners, nor does he sit in the seat of scornful people.

    Psalm 1:1 (my translation)

    And in that case too, the next line talks about the man’s delight in God’s law. Good advice, I think.

    But this made me think of another situation, one in which someone claims the wicked as an excuse, but is actually responsible. This is the person who wants to do something wrong and then finds an evildoer to use as an excuse.

    “But everyone is doing it” was an excuse many of us used in our youth. “How can I resist if I’m the only one?”

    As adults and even leaders, we often replace this with the excuse that other people, or the other “side” does certain things, so it’s OK for us. Sometimes this is presented as a necessity. In order to match those other guys, which I call the “infernal they,” we have to use the tactics or that they do. We’ll be weak and lose if we behave well.

    There’s a view of war that suggests that we really can’t fight a war without becoming more like our enemy. I suspect that is true. If you get into the fight, in which winning is important, you will often find yourself embracing tactics that you might have rejected at the start. The question is, I think, what happens to your soul in the process?

    Psalm 1 suggests a few things. Speaking of the blessing that results from not following the counsel of the wicked, the righteous person is compared to a tree planted by streams of water. “Whatever he does will prosper,” ends this blessing.

    “Not so the wicked,” the Psalm continues. Their description ends up with the opposite. “The way of the wicked will perish.” Following the temptation to become more like sinners in order to have success is predicted by the Psalmist to result in failure. I see the path coming to an end.

    How we do things matters. The process matters. We can ramrod an idea through our church council, pushing people around in order to get our way, but what does that do to the longer term work of the church. Henry Hazlitt, an economist, in his book Economics in One Lesson says that every error in economics results from looking at things over too short a period of time and/or too narrow a range (I paraphrase).

    The choice of destructive tactics may make you a winner in the short term, but in the long term, you, or more likely others, will pay.

    Keep away from me, evildoers. In fact, keep away from my mind. I don’t want to think about the success of evildoers nor to be tempted by their methods.

    What tactic tempts you that cannot be reconciled with godly living?

    (Featured image was created in Adobe Express using two separately generated images. The engine for image generation in Adobe Express is Firefly.)

  • Psalm 119:114 – Hope

    Psalm 119:114 – Hope

    You are my hiding place and my shield,
    In your word I place my hope.

    My meditations went today to the word hope. Hope is important. Hope is easy to lose.

    When the psalmist places his hope in God’s word, he is placing it not just in the law-giving power, but in the creative power that stands behind those laws and makes them real.

    For me, that comes down to the hope that comes from believing that the world is not pure chaos, that there are natural laws and that natural laws lead to many of our moral and ethical laws. We can work with the hope that good actions will tend to produce good results. It’s worthwhile to make an effort.

    In ancient near eastern mythology creation was often symbolized as a fight between chaos and whatever God was credited with establishing order. Order allowed planting and harvesting. It allowed building, growth, and provision for a future. Genesis 1:2 reflects this pattern with darkness over the face of the deep (tehom) and God’s spirit/wind moving above it.

    Then God’s Word comes, and light shines into the darkness. As God continues to speak order is created from the chaos. Because of that chaos, humanity can find a place to live, and grow, and yes, create, as one made in the image of the ultimate Creator.

    We sometimes see grace as working counter to this. We do not reap what we sow, but what another has sown. At the same time, grace speaks the same victory over the chaos, the same offering of potential. The one who planted a garden in Eden and there placed the first man and woman, also provides a way of escape for those caught in the chaos.

    The challenge is to find those small victories over the forces of chaos, to believe they are possible, to reach out for them, and receive them. God provides the hiding place and the shield.

    In the chaos that threatens your life today, remember the Word who has defeated it.

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)

  • Psalm 119:113 – Hate and Love

    Psalm 119:113 – Hate and Love

    Lawbreakers I hate,
    But your instruction I love!

    Well, now. That’s harsh!

    Commentary on verses uses “hate” and “love” often centers on explaining that these two words don’t always mean the same thing. For example, Malachi 1:2-3 includes the words “Jacob I love, but Esau I hate.” This again sounds pretty harsh, but commentators point out that the Hebrew words “love” and “hate” can mean something like “chosen” and “rejected,” even if that relates to selection for a role.

    That’s sort of correct, as long as people realize that “love” and “hate” in Hebrew also include the emotional preference and a range of meanings. And in case you’re trying to make “hate” too gentle in that particular instance, Malachi 1:4b says “They will be called a country of wickedness, a people with whom the LORD is angry for ever.” This is a fairly energetic form of rejection.

    Sometimes we’re looking for harsh. It brings clarity. The popularity of movies such as the early Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and a number of adventure movies show this by their popularity. What do these movies have in common? There are good guys and bad guys, and we know which is which. We also know that the bad guys lose and the good guys win. We like it to be that way.

    Then reality sets in. A reality in which the good guys and the bad guys overlap and sometimes change places, and we can’t always be sure who wins, at least in the short term.

    One reason we really like fiction that has a clear line between good and evil is that real life doesn’t generally work out that way. We are usually flawed people working with other flawed people and trying to make things work out reasonably well. We often can’t agree on what is good and evil.

    There’s a passage from one of my favorite Science Fiction writers, David Weber, in his book A Rising Thunder. Someone is looking at the difference between shades of gray and black and white (the long, tall niece in the passage sees more black and withe).

    “Well, usually, that’s what it is.” Benton-Ramirez y Chou’s tone was suddenly much more serious. “But sometimes it isn’t, and my long, tall niece here has a point.” He smiled a little sadly at Honor. “Comfortable or not, when those ‘sometimes’ come along, the only coinage history seems willing to accept is our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

    David Weber, A Rising Thunder (ePub Edition), 308.

    And that’s why we like fiction, like many of Weber’s books, where the lines are much more clearly drawn.

    I think it’s important, while recognizing our own faults and failings, to also realize that there are lines that we should not cross, things we should and should not do, and that we should be willing to back those lines with our emotions and actions.

    Sometimes “harsh” is also “true.”

    What lines are you facing? What lines might you need to draw?

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)

  • Psalm 119:112 – I Choose

    Psalm 119:112 – I Choose

    I choose to keep your statutes
    absolutely forever.

    My meditations went in one direction and then I encountered a blog post that tangentially relates to this verse. I want to call attention to that and comment, and then I’ll return to what I was actually meditating on during the day and not just for the last 10 minutes!

    The article is on Crossway, and is titled Do the Psalms Contain Self-Righteous Boasting? (Psalms 7, 17, and 26). The article is extracted from the ESV Expository Commentary, Volume 5. The article bounces a bit off of C. S. Lewis’s book Reflections on the Psalms, amongst other books. The key point is to challenge the idea that some Psalms are self-righteous. I recommend reading the article, but even more reading Lewis’s book.

    I bring this up to point out that there is no reason to assume that all the Psalms reflect perfect, theologically correct ideas. The Psalms tell us about the worship life of Israel, which was no more likely to be perfect in all ways than our own is. I would suggest that the most important error that the Psalms would need to avoid would be giving a false impression of the people who are praying, lamenting, praising, worshiping, and exhorting. I believe one of the greatest blessings of the Psalms is its reality.

    This doesn’t mean we can’t get valid theological points in the Psalms. The Psalms are much quoted in the New Testament, and have been a great blessing to many in different faiths over the years. I believe this value is enhanced by authenticity.

    This is something we should emulate in church leading and teaching. My own pastor comments most weeks about how he has to preach his own sermon to himself before preaching it to the congregation. That’s an attitude that I value, as I know him and I know this isn’t an act. This is what he believes and practices. He tells the congregation where he has failed during the week. This authenticity, rather than weakening the message as some might think, makes it much more effective.

    I think we all have a story in our lives of being falsely accused, and proclaiming our innocence. We like to tell stories of when that innocence was eventually proven. Realizing that we have failures doesn’t mean we can never claim to be right, either in beliefs or in practice. Realizing our failures means we know that we are not always right, and we can be corrected. But it’s quite possible to honestly pray, “Look, Lord, I didn’t do anything to deserve this! Avenge me! Make things right again!”

    Usually by the next morning we may realize that we have done more failing than we imagine, but nonetheless, we may well claim innocence, and claim to be the ones wronged, with some validity.

    And that leads me to what I was actually meditating during the day. No, comments on the number of words I expend on something I only considered for a few minutes are not welcome!!

    This verse states an intention that no human is likely to be able to accomplish. Keeping the whole law is a very difficult, even impossible thing to accomplish. But here’s where I look at perfectionism, and having high goals.

    Perfectionism requires one to try for a goal that is never to be accomplished. “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” There’s a reason for that. Two things often happen to a perfectionist. The first is that, being certain that perfection is required, whether by God or ones own mind, the person simply decides that whatever he does is, in fact, perfect. From that perspective, one can look down on other people, rejecting all possible evidence that one is not superior. That’s one form of self-righteousness.

    Alternatively, one may simply give up on trying at all. If perfection is required and I can’t attain it, why try at all? This results in carelessness and apathy.

    One can also set a goal somewhere between. “I have to be this good, but not perfect for it to be acceptable.” The problem with lowering the standard is that we tend to fall below whatever point to which we have set the standard. Then we keep lowering it to make it possible.

    Whether it is our own psychology at work or our belief in God’s requirements, any of these approaches can be very instructive. Failure to attain the standards we set for ourselves can attack our very identify.

    But both in Israelite religion and in Christianity you have a high standard for living, but at the same time the recognition that attaining this is not humanly possible. Even when he did not attain to perfection in keeping the law, the Israelite knew that he was still one of God’s people, God’s chosen. That was who he was.

    Now if you determine to keep God’s statutes forever, and plan to do it on your own, and judge yourself by your success at this enterprise, things will not go well. But once you find your identity in belonging to God, something which cannot be lost through your failures, you can make a determination, and keep right on pressing on the upward way.

    After all, as this Psalm concludes in verse 176, “I have one astray like a lost sheep. Seek your servant ….” Then you can confidently determine again to stay on the path. God’s got it. God’s going to get you in the end!

    What should you determine to do today? What failures should you put behind you?

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI. I particularly like the fact that it looks like the guy isn’t really connected to the mountain he’s climbing and should at any moment be falling with nothing to stop him.)

  • Psalm 119:111 – Inherited Testimony

    Psalm 119:111 – Inherited Testimony

    I have inherited your testimonies forever,
    for they are my heart’s joy.

    This is a very rich text, getting a great deal into a few words. But my meditations took a path that would have surprised me when I first took a look at this today.

    When I read this, my focus was on forever, and then I thought of the history of God’s testimonies and how I, as a Christian can claim them. One critical element, I believe, is claiming God’s heritage without denying it to those who first received it. This is a matter of attitude. It is also a matter of reading scripture. The theme of “blessed to be a blessing,” not to mention numerous texts in 2nd Isaiah (chapters 40-55) tell me that God’s blessing is not intended as a possession in the exclusive sense. At the same time, if I receive a blessing because of someone else’s efforts, it is rude of me not to acknowledge those who received it and transmitted it.

    That is, after all, how “testimony” works. One tells another, and the testimony is passed on. Psalm 78:1-8 (and the rest of the Psalm) is a powerful example of this, citing four generations of passing on the wonderful works of the LORD.

    I was in a study group the other night, and mentioned some of the things I remembered my parents doing that had formed my own faith. One of the members commented that it was frightening to think that 40 years from now someone might be mentioning the impact his parenting had on his children. It’s worth considering.

    But there’s another point. What if you fail to acknowledge those who have passed on faith, good habits, knowledge, and experience, and pretend that you did it all yourself? My parents made sacrifices so that I could be the person I became. They gave me that opportunity.

    I can read the Psalms because people in Israel recorded and preserved the text. But beyond that, I can enjoy the Psalms because Israelites, and then Jews, experienced life, often difficult life, and recorded their thoughts and their walk. They left something for their children, but also for the entire world. I need to acknowledge that.

    This heritage of knowledge, faith, and life experience is not a limited commodity. It’s not an economic good. It’s not in short supply. Unless. Critical unless. Unless we fail to acknowledge it and pass it on.

    So tonight I’m thankful to many in Israel and Judah, and Jews dispersed through the world, for the preservation of the history of faith from which so many can benefit. Often in the face of death, they held on, they kept the record, and provided an example to all.

    It’s your heritage forever. Thank you for telling me about it.

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)