UNBLOCKING THE WELL OF THE LIVING WORD

READ PSALM 26-30

SUGGESTED PATTERN Read Psalm 26-30 with your spouse or household  then re-read Psalm 29 again with spouse or household, then spend 2 mins in silence focussing on  Psalm 29 asking the Lord, the question “What does this text mean?” then 2 mins in silence asking the Lord what He is saying to you personally through Psalm 29: 3-5  and then share together with your spouse or household what the Lord has been saying. Finally one person reads out loud the devotional below and then pray for one another.  

PSALM 29: 3-5 “ The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty Waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the  voice of the Lord is majestic. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon ”

My journey in how to interpret the bible the Emmaus way, that I referred to yesterday has included a trip along the Emmaus road (1), in Jerusalem last year, and the reading of a challenging book by Bradley Jersak (2), A more Christlike word: Reading Scripture the Emmaus way.

How do we read Psalm 29, the Emmaus way, interpreting the Scriptures, as Jesus did, concerning himself ? David, when writing Psalm 29 was probably impacted by watching a storm, seeing God’s power at work through an awesome thunderstorm, thick dark clouds, flashes of lightning and rumbling of thunder. But what does the phrase “The voice of the Lord’ mean in Psalm 29. Is it a metaphor subtly referring to the voice of the Lord at creation?.. or maybe referring to the voice of The Father at the Baptism of Jesus, saying from heaven, “You are my Son, whom I love , with you I am well pleased?”  Is there one meaning .. or could this passage have multiple meanings?

At the beginning of this Lent devotional I referred to how Tom Wright (3) who  says that “The Psalms transform our worldview”. Bible teacher Alec Motyer (4) one of the very best evangelical interpreters of scripture over the past half century or so explains how  Psalm 29 can transform our worldview. He says “It is best simply to let the wonder and awesomeness of this psalm sweep and swirl around us until we are so possessed in spirit by the majesty of the Lord that we too cry Glory.”  As we seek to recover pre-modern exegesis it is important to (5) firstly reading the Bible as a unity, centred on Jesus Christ and secondly let the literal sense control all meaning. According to ancient tradition, one can distinguish between two senses of scripture, the literal and the spiritual … the spiritual was divided into allegorical moral and anagogical. A medieval couplet says “The letter speaks of deeds, Allegory to faith; the moral how to act; Anagogy our destiny”

1 The bible as a unity centred on Jesus Christ   Alec Motyer has written that the “Old Testament is Jesus predicted, the gospels are Jesus revealed, Acts are Jesus preached, the Epistles Jesus explained and Revelation, Jesus expected.”The reason the New Testament came into existence is that it embodied the conviction of the apostles that Jesus Christ is the fulfilment of the Old Testament.  The message centred on Jesus Christ that Psalm 29 speaks to me is.. “The voice of the Lord Jesus Christ is authoritative, powerful and majestic.”

 2 Literal  (6) The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation. Here in Psalm 29,  the  over-arching theme of this passage which is a poem written by David inspired possibly by a storm?, is the authority of the voice of God, evidenced in His creation.

  Spiritual :-

Allegorical We can acquire a more profound understanding of events by recognizing their significance in Christ eg the crossing of the Red Sea is a sign or type of Christ’s victory and also of Christian baptism. Psalm 29 The voice of the Lord breaking the cedars of Lebanon ,as lightning strikes the trees, is a common metaphor in Hebrew poetry and prophecy for God humbling the proud, cutting them down in judgment.

Moral. The events in Scripture ought to lead us to act justly. Psalm 29 Anything that proudly sets itself up against, the voice of God is going to be cut down.. the whole creation must humbly give allegiance to King Jesus and give him glory.

Anagogical ( anagoge= leading) We can view realities and events in terms of their eternal significance, thus the Church on Earth is a sign of the heavenly Jerusalem. Psalm 29 Anagogically ( My attempt!) Jesus is the word of God incarnate, the living voice of God and when he humbly came on this earth he continually pull down the proud in the imaginations of their hearts .. one way was using parables. Eugene Peterson(7) says that the voice of Jesus “was powerfully subversive, casting down the proud in the imagination of their hearts, through ordinary parables. When Jesus spoke listeners relaxed their defenses. They walked away perplexed, wondering what they meant, but the stories lodged in their imagination. And then, like a time bomb, they would explode in their unprotected hearts”

Prayer

Lord, as Jeremiah said the “word of God is a hammer”. As we seek to  hear your voice and pray together, I submit to your powerful majestic  voice today, show me my pride and  ‘break the cedars,’ in the world today that are standing against your kingdom. In your temple may all cry ‘Glory.’”

References

(1) See https://www.jc2033.world/en/blog/easter-in-jerusalem-752.html

(2) Jersak, B. A. more Christlike word: Reading Scripture the Emmaus way

(3) Wright,T.  Finding God in the Psalms, 2.

(4) Motyer, J.A. “The Psalms,” in New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, ed. D. A. Carson, D.A. et al., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), 503.

(5) Carter, C.A. Interpreting Scripture and the Great Tradition, Drawn from 129-191.

(6) Jersak, B. A. more Christlike word: Reading Scripture the Emmaus way, 131.

(7) Peterson, E. The Subversive pastor. http://www.cfdiocese.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/The-Subversive-Pastor-_-Leadership-Journal.pdf