An Atheist Explores the Bible Part 122: Welcome Home God (Psalms 131-135)

Psalms 131-135
Welcome Home God.

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

Psalms 131
“(A Song of degrees of David.) LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.”

A really short psalm of just three verses, with the psalmist announcing how humble and well-behaved he is, all of which puts me in mind of the neologism “humblebragging”.

Psalms 132
“A Song of degrees. LORD, remember David, and all his afflictions”

If the idea of a song of degrees is one to be sung going up the temple steps, this one fits very well. It is a reminder of how David made a promise to build a temple to God in Jerusalem, and is a kind of welcoming in of God into His new home, while at the same time proclaiming how Jerusalem/Zion has been made great by having God living there. There’s not a lot to comment on for this one; as with all of the relatively short songs of degrees they are pretty much to the point.

Psalms 133
“(A Song of degrees of David.) Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”

Although the various histories up until now have tried to establish the Israelites as a unified people who stick together for mutual survival against hostile outsiders, this is, I think, the first overt reference to the idea of fraternal unity. It is, as this three verse psalm claims, like having oil poured over your head so it runs down your beard all the way to the hem of your robe. This is also likened to dew in a leap of simile. I think I get the comparison, something all encompassing, refreshing like dew. This is a concept taken up by the early Christians living in their little communes or communal churches. I could quibble here with the psalm being given over purely to the male form of nouns – are women excluded from this brotherly love? More likely it’s for ease of pronouns. However, people living together in peace is not really an idea I can complain about.

Psalms 134
“(A Song of degrees.) Behold, bless ye the LORD, all ye servants of the LORD, which by night stand in the house of the LORD.”

Another three verse psalm, and this one can be summed up as “Give praise to God”, which to be honest is not something that really merits much discussion. However, I was intrigued by the mention in V1 to the “servants of the Lord” who “by night stand” in the temple. Is this a prayer specifically for some branch of the Levites who maintain rituals overnight? Or perhaps a psalm to be sung for night-time services? There’s no indication from the rest of the psalm.

Psalms 135
“He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain; he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries.”

After a run of really short psalms it’s quite nice to get something a bit longer (21 verses), but frustratingly the subject matter is nothing very new. It’s an exhortation to praise God, which I think we can largely expect from the psalms at this point, and it’s one that summarises the various mighty deeds attributed to God, from the weather as in the quoted verse, to the various victories over the Egyptians and the Canaanites (and I was pleased to see King Og of Bashan get a mention again. Or is he Bashan of Og? It seems to change each time). It then ends by denying the power of idols, but the formula used here is one that we have already seen, about the statues having eyes yet not seeing, mouths yet not speaking etc.

So, although it’s all fine stirring stuff it doesn’t really stand out to someone who has waded their way through 134 prior psalms to get to this point. Here’s hoping for some more novelty in the remaining fifteen!

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