Date: 26 Jul 2000
Time: 02:56:10
I can just imagine that King David, while with Bathsheba, had more than a few moments of saying (privately to himself) "there is no God". Sarah from Canada
Date: 27 Jul 2000
Time: 10:59:23
Dear Sarah, I guess we are the only two considering the Psalm. When I read it (in the Peterson translation) suddenly I had a flash of inspiration(?). What a commentary on the political system! Not just David (although he is a perfect illustration), but all politicians must in the end disappoint us. Why? Because they are all evil? No. But because the political process is flawed from the beginning. The fundamental engine that drives politics is the hunger of the people, hunger for food, hunger for justice, hunger for health care, hunger for all sorts of things. This universal, grassroots hunger rises up like something alive, powerful, eventually becoming winds and currents we call "public opinion." Politicians necessarily use and abuse this groundswell of forces, listening to it, manipulating it, learning to ride it into positions of power. They say "I feel your pain." Christianity is a radical alternative to the political process. Jesus doesn't say "I feel your pain." He takes our pain away. He feeds the hungry (the John text this week) heals our sickness, etc. But then he demands that we take up our cross, which leads to a whole new level of hunger and pain.
Date: 27 Jul 2000
Time: 11:00:32
Sorry, I forgot to sign that. Boyd in NC
Date: 27 Jul 2000
Time: 13:47:34
Verse 5 and 6 say that the Lord is with the company of the righteous, that God is the refuge of the poor.
Two problems with this:
1) Who is righteous? After reading verse three, it seems that no one is. So, who is God with?
2) If God is a refuge to the poor, then why in our 2 Samuel passage did Uriah die? Sure, God brought justice, but is God proactive or reactive?
DSS
Date: 27 Jul 2000
Time: 15:59:54
If you read between the lines, just a little, you can see that the "they" the psalmist refers to is a specific bunch of "fools" and "evildoers", that "they"doesen't include "us". "Us" is the poor, Jacob, Israel,"my people", who wait upon the Lord to bring justice from Zion. "They" are the controlling powers-that-be running roughshod over the righteous, the "Right-e-o Us!". They do abominable deeds, no one (of them) does good. They eat up my people, but God will restore the fortunes of HIS PEOPLE, we will be glad. Amen. tom in TN(USA)
Date: 27 Jul 2000
Time: 20:22:25
Thank you, Tom in TN When this psalm is coupled with the Old Testament reading, we get a horrible shock since it is the Hittite that is righteous and the Jew sitting near Zion who is not.
Date: 29 Jul 2000
Time: 03:06:11
OOH!. I hadn't made that connection. Thanx back to you , that just might preach. We were discussing David and Goliath earlier this week in VBS. The adult curriculum asked what were the giant sized problems facing us today. Then asked when the Church had been the giant, such as agressive Westernizing evangelization of indigenous peoples everywhere. Pogo's words are ever fresh-"We have met the enemy and he is us." Is it in becoming king that giant killers become wolves in shepherds clothing? tom, pondering in TN(USA)