An Atheist Explores the Bible Part 121: Mowing Grass and Making Babies (Psalms 126-130)

Psalms 126-130
Mowing Grass and Making Babies



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 126
“(A Song of degrees.) When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.”

I remember last time wondering when the meaning of the musical instructions became obscured. This psalm looks to be written after the Abyssinian captivity, making that disaster less likely to be when the knowledge was lost. I suppose it could refer to Egypt, but then Zion (i.e. the city of Jerusalem) didn’t exist at that point, so it must be one of the Mesopotamian invasions.

Which would lend weight to my theory that it was the Jewish war of the 70s AD that ended the temple singer tradition.

Anyway, this psalm , again a short “song of degrees” carries the message that good things can come from bad – “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy”, in other words, cheer up mate!

Psalms 127
“(A Song of degrees for Solomon.) Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”

A song for Solomon, not by Solomon. David writing advice for his son? A loyal subject making an offering to his king? Uncertain, although the slightly admonishing term of the first few verses suggests something like the former.

The psalm begins by telling the listener that, unless God is with your enterprise there’s no point in doing it, sort of combining advice to remember God in all that you do with a bit of a veiled threat – remember that God is quite capable of destroying your enterprise should He wish.

But then the psalm switches track (at least to my mind) to advise that having lots of children is the best blessing a man can have from God.  Considering how short these psalms are you could make two different ones with the two different points, or perhaps continue with other words of fatherly advice.

Psalms 128
“(A Song of degrees.) Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways.”

The psalm goes on to expound on the blessings due to one who upholds the ways of God – lots of children and a peaceful life, which doesn’t sound too bad really. It’s a bit of a shame that the wife mentioned in this psalm (and so assuming that the listener is male) is reduced to something of a baby-making device, but at least the sentiments are for simple happiness and not for and death wished on enemies.

Psalms 129
“Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up”

Oh, but here we are again wishing misfortune on enemies of Zion. There’s an agricultural theme running through this psalm with its similes and metaphors. The enemies try to plough up the earth of Zion (metaphor for the psalmist’s faith?), but are like withered grass (on the house-tops, an early experiment in green roofing?) and mowers and sheathers are also mentioned, although the exact meaning here eludes me; the metaphor gets a bit mixed, I think, between the “mowing down” of enemies but also the fact that the reaping indicated also seems to imply the reaping of good things. Uh. I think.

Psalms 130
“My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.”

Another short song of degrees, there’s been quite a run of them in this last quarter of the book of psalms. This one is about calling out to God and hoping He answers, a very common theme in the psalms overall. Here’s how you can spoil it for yourself: read the above quote in the voice of Foghorn Leghorn (who, actually, I could see as being prone to biblical quotations. Maybe it’s the hint of Southern Baptist Preacher about him).

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