An Atheist Explores the Bible Part 116: Whales, Quails and Pelicans (Psalms 101-105)

Psalms 101-105
Whales, Quails and Pelicans.

Psalms 101
“I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.”

In this psalm, the psalmist says to God that he will behave in a decent fashion, and avoid the company of liars, slanderers and the proud. Which is a fine sentiment, and an older version of “life’s too short to put up with fools”. I do wonder, though, if it’s really the best way to righteous behaviour. There is a risk of one becoming overly proud and moralistic oneself by doing this, but also perhaps it is better to mingle with people that you dislike but not to let them affect you, more so than avoiding them completely?

Psalms 102
“For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth.”

This psalm is labelled as “A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the LORD”, and it reads like much of Job; the psalmist lists his woes (and bones crop up a few times) which include hunger and oppression by enemies. There are some strange metaphors –“I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert” that perhaps lose something in translation but some others that work quite well, with people wearing out like a piece of old clothing. The ending doesn’t seem very comforting (much like Job again) – in the end the psalmist is a mere mortal to God’s eternal existence, and although he knows that God will one day “loose those appointed to death” it might not be in the lifetime of the psalmist; it’s the sense of giving oneself up for what is seen to be a greater good, I suppose.

Psalms 103
“Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies”

So, this is one of David’s again. It’s a hymn of praise, glorifying God as usual, but also presents a sort of counterpoint to the previous psalm. In this one, the psalmist promises the listener that God will reward the faithful, at the very least as some kind of afterlife, but also during their lifetime (“satisfying the mouth with good things” – this could equally mean words of praise coming out as it could tasty food going in). As with the previous psalm it counterpoints humanity’s short lifespan to the eternal nature of God, but is a bit less gloomy about it.

Psalms 104
“Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind”

This is rather a nice, unattributed, hymn of praise. It lists the works of God in a retelling of Genesis 1, where God orders all things in nature – the waters arising from springs that provide drink for animals, the waters on the sea where ships sail, plants for things to eat, the lifespan of living things and so on. Some specific mentions to things, such as “wine that maketh glad the heart of men” as well as “oil to make his face shine” (an interesting cultural snippet) and that mighty mythologised whale, Leviathan gets a mention. The Lebanese cedar seems a popular biblical tree, and there is the odd little specific detail that the stork prefers to nest in fir trees.

In all, it reads rather nicely, and you don’t have to believe in a divine hand behind the natural world to at least appreciate the poetry.

Psalms 105
“O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen.”

If the last psalm was a retelling of Genesis 1, this one retells the latter chapters of Genesis and early Exodus. It reiterates the covenant made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, of Joseph’s sojourn in Egypt and then on to the time of Moses and Aaron, describing the plagues visited on Egypt and the start of the exodus, including the miraculous provision of food and drink, using the (I think) Deuteronomy version with quails rather than manna. Oddly there is no mention of parting the Red Sea either.

This feels almost like a teaching tool as much as a hymn of praise, reminding the listener of their covenant and their shared history in a shorter format than going through the whole of Exodus.

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