Map of life expectancy at birth from Global Education Project.

Sunday, April 14, 2024

Sunday Sermonette: Yahweh Dah Bomb!

We now get a run of (mercifully short) songs of praise. Again, there are multiple gods but our god is the biggest and baddest. Yes, he is also the creator, but that's sort of a contradiction. If the Big Y created the heavens and the earth, where did all these competing gods come from? This is never explained.


There is some weird imagery in these, with geographic features engaging in anthropomporphized activities. As a final note, these were evidently written during times of victory and prosperity. They obviously don't pertain to the exilic situation in which the book was compiled.

98 O sing to the Lord a new song,
for he has done marvelous things!
His right hand and his holy arm
    have gotten him victory.
The Lord has made known his victory,
    he has revealed his vindication in the sight of the nations.
He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
    to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
    the victory of our God.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
    break forth into joyous song and sing praises!
Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
    with the lyre and the sound of melody!
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
    make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord!

Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
    the world and those who dwell in it!
Let the floods clap their hands;
    let the hills sing for joy together
before the Lord, for he comes
    to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
    and the peoples with equity.

 

99 The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble!
    He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
The Lord is great in Zion;
    he is exalted over all the peoples.
Let them praise thy great and terrible name!
    Holy is he!
Mighty King,[a] lover of justice,
    thou hast established equity;
thou hast executed justice
    and righteousness in Jacob.
Extol the Lord our God;
    worship at his footstool!
    Holy is he!

Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
    Samuel also was among those who called on his name.
    They cried to the Lord, and he answered them.
He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud;
    they kept his testimonies,
    and the statutes that he gave them.

O Lord our God, thou didst answer them;
    thou wast a forgiving God to them,
    but an avenger of their wrongdoings.
Extol the Lord our God,
    and worship at his holy mountain;
    for the Lord our God is holy!

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 99:4 Cn: Heb and the king’s strength

100 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the lands![a]
    Serve the Lord with gladness!
    Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the Lord is God!
    It is he that made us, and we are his;[b]
    we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
    and his courts with praise!
    Give thanks to him, bless his name!

For the Lord is good;
    his steadfast love endures for ever,
    and his faithfulness to all generations.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 100:1 Heb land or earth
  2. Psalm 100:3 Another reading is and not we ourselves
 
 

 

1 comment:

Don Quixote said...

Cervantes – – I still don't see what you're talking about in psalms 98, 99 and 100. I don't see anything about multiple gods, just the one.