Psalm 137: A dash of theodicy
September was the month for posting on Psalm 68. But toward the end of the month momentum starting building for discussions of Psalm 137. I’m still seeing quite a lot of buzz about this psalm.
Why is 137 important? Well, on one hand it is one of the most poetically beautiful of the psalms. But joined to some sublime poetry are lines of intense ethnic hatred. For those of us who believe that “all Scripture is God-breathed” this throws the question of God’s goodness in our face.
Bob gives a possible explanation on one of my posts:
“Definitely sing, meditate, pray the yucky parts – but leave the resolution to the one who loves you and knows how to deal with enemies. The Anglican Psalter leaves out the last two verses of Psalm 137 – that leaves the poem unbalanced and makes you miss the sarcasm in the beginning – Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”
John Hobbins has been posting recently on Psalm 137:
- “Everybody won’t be treated all the same”
- Bialik’s Prayer and Psalm 137
- Tilling’s Definition of Heresy
- And several others!
Chris Tilling broaches the subject:
Yesterday, Henry Neufeld wrote a wonderful post on the topic:
I’m sure many more have written on this. Feel free to share links to other posts in the comments.
By the way, the technical term for “the defense of God’s goodness” is theodicy. You might hear that word bandied about on some of the posts above.
Gordon Fee notes that “The imprecations call for God to punish according to the covenant curses.” That is, they are not self-styled “death wishes” but the promised results of disobeying God.
Further, Fee notes that the anger is addressed to God (although the psalmist may address the enemy in the psalm) and enables the speaker to get rid of the anger rather than act upon it violently. It seems to me that God wants us to bring all our emotions to Him; He then thereby defuses the emotion and this enables us to take the next step, viz. to choose to forgive.
Do not be misled by my initials, Donald Robert. It’s just Bob. Maybe someday I will go back to school.
We don’t need to defend God’s goodness on a theoretical level. Note the potential wordplay see the brief diagram here. Poets who work out word plays are, as the saying goes, eating their vengeance as a cold dish. The implication is that the daughter of Babel is being suckled on a violence-inducing milk.
The redemptive destruction of Babylon is in the death of Christ. If we come to life through that death then we are no longer being nurtured by a violence inducing milk. So the one who weans Babylon will be blessed. That is the blessing of the righteous.
September was the month for posting on Psalm 68.
Not in my book. I am on verse 11. That means I should finish some time before Christmas. I am a plodder. There will not be one stone unturned.
However, I don’t have much time for the internet this fall so it could take forever.