Psalm 58
The righteous will rejoice when they see vengeance done;
they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.
People will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
surely there is a God who judges on earth.”
Really? Is that really what the righteous long to do? To rejoice over vengeance? To bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked?
But don't worry, it's the Koran that is a book of violence, not the Bible.
[if you know me at all you know that sentence is dripping with sarcasm]
When reading passages like this one I believe that there are a few things we need to keep in mind:
The first thing we need to do is be honest about what the Bible contains, and the truth of the matter is that it contains quite a bit of squeamish moments. There are times when people in the Bible, including God act in a way that seems to be a bit barbaric, and it seems that way because it is that way.
The second thing we need to do is to be honest about the people who are in the Bible, namely that they do not live in the 21st Century, they neither have our knowledge nor our morality. The Bible is a story of a people and these people evolve over time, we live on the other side of the incarnation [i.e. Jesus] and so we are held to a much different standard than some of the people in the Bible.
The third thing to remember is that just because it is found in the Bible, or any other holy book for that matter, does not necessarily mean it is what we are meant to do in our lives today. This goes back to my point about living on the other side of Jesus, we have to read what comes before Jesus through the Jesus lens, if it doesn't match up with what he calls us to then it isn't something that we are supposed to do.
The fourth thing we need to realize is that the people in the Bible are kind of like us, they were trying to do the best they knew to do, sometimes it succeeded and sometimes it failed. And like them we may be looked at from a far distance of time as being a backward people who didn't know their head from a hole in the ground, in other words try not to judge them too harshly, because we are judged by the same measure by which we judge.
+ How do you feel when you read passages like this Psalm?
+ What other things do you think we need to keep in mind when reading through the Bible, especially the First Testament?
I agree with what you are saying Kenny. I want to post what I think after reading the Psalm. We know that there was a lot of war in the Old Testament. War that usually God commanded Israel to take part in. We also know that David was to be king and therefore; Saul wanted him dead.
ReplyDeleteI know we are to live like Jesus and to love everyone. But what about how we feel about abuse, sex trafficking, war, white supremacists, terrorists, cars that don't keep up with traffic, people who break line at the food pantry, etc.
It is our nature to fight back. It takes a lot of restraint to let it pass.
I love almost all music but this reminds me of an old hymn.
Tempted and tried we're oft made to wonder
Why it should be thus all the day long
While there are others living around us
Never molested though in the wrong
Farther along we'll know all about it
Farther along we'll understand why
Cheer up my brother live in the sunshine
We'll understand it all by and by