An Atheist Explores the Bible Part 111: Strife, Strife and More Strife (Psalms 76-80)

Psalms 76-80
Strife, Strife and More Strife.

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 76

“The stouthearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep: and none of the men of might have found their hands.”

Another psalm of Asaph, a short one this time but also quite odd in its subject matter; or rather, in the way that the language is used. Possibly this is a translator issue, possibly they translated it faithfully but lost clarity of meaning, but poetry here seems more important than a clear lesson.

It is largely a song of praise of God, but to me it appears to say that God is to be praised because He is to be feared, and also that He brings about an end to war – “brakes” the arrows of the bow and sending stouthearted men, horses and chariots into a kind of sleep. Also God will save the meek and “cut off the spirit of princes”. Here God is portrayed as being very much a tough, almost ruthless, protector of the weak against violence and oppression, or so my reading goes. It’s possibly a daring theme for Asaph, a royally-appointed musician, to be pursuing.

Psalms 77

“In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.”

Another psalm from Asaph. In it the psalmist is troubled, possibly sick, possibly in mental torment. He calls out to God but God apparently doesn’t regard him. To comfort himself, the psalmist recalls all the cosmic works of God; the seas, thunder and lightning, and the interventions with Jacob, Joesph and Moses. I guess it’s meant as a didactic tool – don’t think that God is powerless just because He doesn’t help you directly, remember all the things the He has done in the past. Possibly it also implies (but doesn’t state overtly), that if God did all this He will attend to you in time if you have faith. I’m not sure I personally find it a particularly comforting message, but there it is.

Psalms 78

“I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:”

This lengthy psalm is basically a summary of the events of Exodus, skipping a bit in time but encompassing the plagues in Egypt, through the flight across the Red Sea, the wanderings in the wilderness and finally up to the kingship of David. The psalmist reiterates the various times that the Israelites made God angry with them, but how in the end He always forgave them (maybe after a bit of light smiting). It’s prefaced with how this story should be passed on to the children so that they know where they came from, reinforcing cultural identity. It’s quite a good little look back at previous events, but I don’t have anything to add that I haven’t already discussed back in Exodus and Deuteronomy.

Psalms 79

“(A Psalm of Asaph.) O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.”

Dark times in the psalm – heathens have sacked Jerusalem, leaving bodies as carrion, defiled the temple and carried off slaves. The psalmist calls out for God to avenge them – a familiar theme in the psalms – as much to stop the heathens from mocking the Jews because their God apparently lacks power. This is very similar to other psalms, although the language makes the events seem a lot more visceral and unpleasant; it’s also another one that could be read metaphorically if one so chose, to generally refer to those who mock the psalmist’s faith.

Psalms 80

“Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.”

To begin with, this psalm has a new instruction – shoshannim-eduth. As usual, I looked this up, it translates as “lilies of testimony” and is probably the tune to use.

So, to the rest of the psalm; its theme is similar to the previous psalm but there’s some nice use of simile here. The Jewish people are likened to a vine planted by God and allowed to grow, but now wild beasts (enemies) are breaking through its defences and eating its fruit. The psalmist calls upon God to protect His chosen people against the enemies that are defeating it (and there are also implications of civil war). Unusually for the psalms so far the metaphor is maintained throughout, apart from a comparison to God as a shepherd herding his people, his flock, in the first line, and the psalm works well because of it; certainly better than the pretty straightforward language of the previous psalm.

So, civil war? I got the impression from V6 “Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves”, but “neighbours” could refer to neighbouring nations as much as literally neighbours (i.e. internal strife). I went back and checked when Asaph was chief of singers, and it was during David’s time, not one of the post-Solomon useless kings when the kingdoms of Israel and Judah split, so I think I was wrong on the civil war front. It could still mean a lack of coherent response to external threats, though, which would certainly leave the Israelites open to attack.

Oh, and finally V17 “Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself” is the kind of line that could be taken as a prophecy of a Messiah, but which I think probably just refers to King David, or any rightful and righteous king of the Israelites.