An Atheist Explores the Bible Part 102: Don’t be a donkey or a hungry lion cub (Psalms 31-35)

Psalms 31-35
Don’t be a donkey or a hungry lion cub.

Welcome to another instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Bible version).

In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the King James Bible, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology.

For more detail, see the introductory post http://bit.ly/2F8f9JT

For the online KJV I use, see here http://bit.ly/2m0zVUP

And now:

Psalms 31

“Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me.”

This is quite a long psalm compared to many, but the topic is a familiar one; the psalmist speaks of previous times that God has helped him, despite his own sins, and calls upon God to help him now in his time of trouble. Once again vain, lying people seem to be singled out for particular opprobrium.

In previous comments, particularly in Job, I’ve dismissed the notion of God as a mover of the machinery of the universe, but I have to admit that this area is one where religion and spirituality can do what science and rationality cannot, to give succour and hope to those in adversity.

Psalms 32

“(A Psalm of David, Maschil.) Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”

“Maschil”, another new psalm word, which I had to look up. It apparently denotes a psalm with a didactic element, which this one does. The general message of the psalm is that it is better to confess your sins to God than to not; it is implied that actual physical problems will come from keeping secrets, although this works well as a metaphor for a troubled soul. I thought verses 8 and 9 were interesting – “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.” The psalmist is saying to his audience that he will give them instruction (as per a “maschil” psalm ought to be, I guess), but immediately after he is also telling them not to blindly follow orders, or at least how I read it. So the instruction is more to impart a sense of wisdom and self-understanding than a rote list of things to do and not to do. The psalmist is saying, I’m not going to tell you how to act, but I’m going to let you know what happens if you do one thing or another and let you see the wise thing to do for yourself.

Psalms 33

“Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright.”

This psalm starts out as a joyous song of praise. I particularly like that it calls for praising God with harp, psaltery and “an instrument with ten strings” as if the psalmist couldn’t remember the proper name. “Oh, you know, that one. With ten strings”. It lists all the cosmic accomplishments of God in creating the heavens and the earth, but then kind of loses its way is it goes on to compare nations and individuals with God on their side against those who don’t, and what starts in an exaltant mode kind of stumbles down into pathos and misery, with famine and death awaiting those who do not fear God (note the emphasis on fear as compared to the earlier praise). It’s like two different psalms got shunted together – a “praise God for He is almighty” one with a “only God can save you from misery” one.

Psalms 34

“The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.”

This one is given as a “psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech”. I thought this related to an incident when he was on the run from Saul but I went back and the only Abimelech who gets mentioned in the story of David is a priest who gets mentioned in one of the rolls in Chronicles. Otherwise Abimelech is one of the judges, and predates David.

Anyway, this is another hymn of praise, and is more consistent in tone than psalm 33. The psalmist sings of a specific time when God saved him, and expands it to general terms of how God saves all who put their faith in Him. I don’t have much more to say, it’s quite a nice one for use of language (I particularly liked the quoted line). Also that David seems to have a thing about bones, and how bones are wracked or broken or burning in the sinful. Maybe he suffered arthritis or something which is why it always seems to be on his mind.

Psalms 35

“Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the LORD persecute them.”

One of those psalms whose theme is for God to confound the enemies of the singer. There’s a list of punishments that involve their own devices being turned against them (“Let his net that he hath hid catch himself”), but it is interesting in the first verse that the psalmist asks God to “plead [his] cause” with the enemies; the first desire is for a kind of judiciary intervention rather than an immediate smiting. There’s some great grotesque imagery in this one, with the enemies that have “gnashed upon me with their teeth”, and also of note is where the psalmist compares his own behaviour to the enemies, as if they were a friend or brother, offering prayer for them when they were sick, with the enemies’ behaviour, mocking him for doing so and taking advantage of his own adversity. Truly, it’s hard to be a good person in a wicked world!