Week 95: Proverbs Part 4
May 14, 2012
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Poetry
The second thing that we need to be aware of is that proverbs are poetic. They are presented in a form that is easy to remember.
Let me translate a familiar proverb for you:
In advance of committing yourself to a course of action, consider carefully your circumstances and options.
Or, to rephrase:
There are certain corrective measures for minor problems which, when taken early on in a course of action, forestall major problems from arising.’
Those are both translations of ‘Look before you leap’! Which is easier to remember?!
We noted in Part I that Hebrew poetry is a unique form. It is not based on rhyme, as most English poetry is, but on rhythm. The rhythm is not only a matter of beat or metre; it is also a rhythm of thought. So Hebrew poetry often consists of pairs of lines (called parallelism) in which one line relates to the other in one of three different ways. In synonymous parallelism the thought in the first line is repeated in the second. For example:
Pride goes before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall.
In antithetical parallelism the second line contrasts with the first one:
He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker,
but whoever is kind to the needy honours God.
In synthetic parallelism the thought in the first line is advanced by the second:
Stay away from a foolish man,
for you will not find knowledge on his lips.
In the examples above, the words and, but and for give a clue as to which type of parallelism is being used.
All the proverbs fit into this kind of pattern, but they are not as easy to remember in English because the rhythm is lost in translation. But Jewish parents passed on values to their children in this way, and we still do so today.
There are other devices that are used in Proverbs. Chapter 31 is arranged as an acrostic – that is, each line begins with a new letter of the Hebrew alphabet. On other occasions the structure is numerical: ‘there are three things … and four things …’ or ‘there are six things God hates …’ and so on. These forms enable the reader/hearer to commit the proverb to memory.
Patriarchy
The third thing that we need to bear in mind is that this book is patriarchal. It is presented as a father’s advice to a youth. It offers no advice at all to women! Such an approach is common throughout the Bible. For example, the letters in the New Testament are not addressed to ‘brothers and sisters’, but to ‘brothers’. This apparent chauvinism is the result of one of the fundamental assumptions in Scripture – that is, that if the men are right, the women and the children will be right also. The Bible is deliberately addressed to men – precisely because it is their responsibility to lead their families, by teaching and example.
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Week 94: Proverbs Part 3
May 7, 2012
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
The book’s style
Before examining the content of the book, we need to consider some background points about its style and intention.
Proverbs, not promises
First, it is crucial to realize that this is a book of proverbs, not a book of promises. We should never quote a proverb as if it is a divine promise.
The English word ‘proverb’ comes from the Latin proverba. Pro means ‘for’ and verba means ‘word’. The two combined mean ‘a word for a situation’. A proverb is an appropriate word that fits the situation. It is thus a timeless truth that can be used in different situations in life.
The Hebrew word that we translate as ‘proverb’ is maschal, which means ‘to resemble or to be like something’. Jesus began a number of parables with the phrase, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like this …’
So a proverb is a general observation on life, whereas a promise is a particular obligation.
Let me illustrate. Here is a proverb: ‘Pawson has a passion for punctuality.’ How is that proverb applied? It means that Pawson likes to be on time, but that is not the same as saying that Pawson makes a promise to be at a certain place by a certain time. I am not morally to blame if the proverb breaks down, but I am to blame if a promise breaks down. So a proverb is only generally true. We shouldn’t apply a proverb to every situation and expect it to work. We must not assume that God is making promises to us when we read proverbs.
Thinking that a proverb is a promise has caused problems to many people. For example, ‘honesty is the best policy’. This is generally true, but not always true. I know people who have lost a fortune through being honest!
Furthermore, proverbs can contradict each other – for example, ‘more haste, less speed’ and ‘he who hesitates is lost’.
Turning to the Book of Proverbs, we find the same features. In chapter 26 we read, ‘Do not answer a fool according to his folly’, but the very next verse says, ‘Answer a fool according to his folly’!
Two proverbs that have frequently been used as promises have caused Christians great consternation. One of them is ‘Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed’. Christians have started all sorts of business ventures on the basis of this verse. Although it is generally true, it doesn’t mean that every business venture that is committed to the Lord is bound to be a success.
The second proverb that has caused problems is this: ‘Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it’.
Many parents with children who are not believers have a problem with this verse. They say they trained their children in the way they should go, but are disappointed that they seem to have departed from it.
Once again, the proverb is not a promise – it is only generally true. Children are not puppets, and we can’t force them to go our way. They will reach an age when they will make their own decision, and they are free to do so. Both these proverbs are guidelines, not guarantees. If the users of the proverbs had realized this, much heartache would have been averted.
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Week 93: Proverbs Part 2
April 30, 2012
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Why was Proverbs written?
Proverbs is unusual among the books of the Bible in that it tells us why it was written. The prologue says that learning from proverbs will lead us to wisdom, and it tells us that the very first step in becoming wise is to ‘fear God’ (that is, Yahweh, the God of the Jews). If we come to understand that he hates evil and that, as the all-seeing Judge, nothing escapes his attention, then we will see our folly and our need for help in order to live life as he desires. Wisdom comes from fearing him, asking him for wisdom and learning how to handle the affairs of this world in a shrewd and sound way.
The book also tells us that wisdom comes from God via other people. God has chosen to pass on his wisdom especially through parents, grandparents and other people who are more experienced than us. So Proverbs contains many references to the family relationships that form the context in which wisdom is shared.
The author
The man who is most associated with wisdom in the Bible is the man who wrote the Book of Proverbs, King Solomon. On his accession to the throne God offered him anything he asked for, and he asked for wisdom to govern others. God gave him wisdom, along with other things that he didn’t ask for, such as fame, power and wealth. His wise words were legendary, although he seemed to have more wisdom for others than for himself. After all, collecting 700 wives (and presumably 700 mothers-in-law!) was hardly wise, not to mention 300 concubines.
But there was an important condition attached to God’s promise of wisdom. He told Solomon in 1 Kings: ‘I will give you a wise and discerning heart … if you walk in my ways and obey my statutes and commands’. So we must conclude that the evident folly of his latter years was the result of neglecting these conditions.
In his prime, Solomon became so famous for his wisdom that the Queen of Sheba made a long journey not just to see his wealth but to hear his wisdom. Modern philosophers look back to the wise men of Greece such as Plato, Socrates and Aristotle, who lived around 400 years before Christ, but they forget that back in the Bronze Age, about 1,000 years before Christ, there was a wise man who was just as famous. Solomon wrote many of the proverbs in the Book of Proverbs, and he collected many others. He also wrote the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes.
He wrote the Song of Songs when he was a young man, so much in love that he forgot about God altogether. It is a book of the heart. He wrote Proverbs when he was middle-aged. It is a book of the will. His last book, Ecclesiastes, was written in old age. It’s a book of the mind, as he meditates on his life and wonders whether he has achieved anything with it. So we have Solomon as a young lover, a middle-aged father and an elderly philosopher, writing these three books of wisdom.
One of the most intriguing things about the Book of Proverbs is that some of the proverbs in it come from outside Israel. There are some proverbs from Arabic philosophers, and a whole chapter from Egypt, probably collected through one of his wives, who was the daughter of Pharaoh. Solomon recognized that God had given wisdom to people outside the land of Israel, and so he was happy to include it in his work. These sayings were brought into the framework of a life lived under God.
But that is not to say that the Book of Proverbs does not have a strong reverence for God. God is mentioned 90 times in the book as Yahweh, the God of Israel – not some god that other nations might believe in. There is certainly no suggestion that the Arabic or Egyptian gods have any value.
Part of the collection was completed by King Hezekiah, who collected many of Solomon’s unwritten proverbs some 250 years later, and these too are included in the book. So Proverbs as we have it today was not completed until about 550 BC.
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Week 92: Proverbs Part 1
April 23, 2012
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Introduction
Proverbs seems at first to be a strange book to be included in the Bible. It contains humorous observations and pithy sayings that seem to be little more than common sense.
The book doesn’t seem very spiritual. It says little about private or public devotions, and some of its themes seem distinctly mundane.
Some of the proverbs make points which are obvious to everyone. For example: ‘Poverty is the ruin of the poor’; ‘A happy heart makes the face cheerful’; ‘Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife’; ‘Like one who seizes a dog by the ears is a passer-by who meddles in a quarrel not his own’.
Some of the proverbs seem more entertaining than edifying, and others seem downright immoral. For example: ‘A bribe does wonders, it will bring you before men of importance’.
Many of the proverbs have found their way into everyday speech:
‘Spare the rod and spoil the child’;
‘Hope deferred makes the heart sick’;
‘Pride goes before a fall’;
‘Stolen food is sweet’;
‘Iron sharpens iron’.
The Book of Proverbs describes life as it really is – not life in church, but life in the street, the office, the shop, the home. The book covers all aspects of life – not just what you do on Sundays in church. It considers how you should live throughout the week in every situation.
So the characters who are found in the Book of Proverbs can be easily recognized in all cultures. There is the woman who talks too much, the wife who is always nagging, the aimless youth hanging around on street corners, the neighbor who is always dropping in and staying too long, the friend who is unbearably cheerful first thing in the morning.
Indeed, the 900 proverbs cover most of life’s important subjects, often presenting them as contrasts: wisdom and folly, pride and humility, love and lust, wealth and poverty, work and leisure, masters and servants, husbands and wives, friends and relatives, life and death. But there are significant and surprising omissions. There is very little which is ‘religious’, no mention of priests and prophets, and very little about kings – all people who figure prominently in the rest of the Old Testament.
It is important that from the outset we are clear about the way in which we should view the subjects that are covered. Some people would make the mistake of claiming that Proverbs focuses upon ‘secular’ life, but the so-called ‘secular/sacred divide’ is not one that the Bible endorses. Indeed, as far as God is concerned, the only thing that can be described as ‘secular’ is sin itself.
The idea that only the ‘religious’ is ‘sacred’ comes from the Greek philosophers and has filtered into much modern thinking, even among Christians. The Bible knows of no such division. Any activity can be sacred if it can be devoted to God. He would rather have a good taxi driver than a bad missionary. All legitimate jobs are at the same level.
So Proverbs is interested in where most of our waking life is lived. This book tells us how we can make the most of life and warns us that many people waste it. It is about the ‘Good Life’. Its wisdom enables us to arrive at the end of our days pleased with all that we have accomplished.
How is Proverbs related to the message of the rest of the Bible? The apostle Paul, in his second letter to Timothy, said that the holy Scriptures are able to make him ‘wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus’. But a reading of Proverbs may leave us wondering where ‘salvation’ appears, since the themes of redemption that are common in other biblical books are strangely absent.
But the theme is there. The word ‘salvation’ is very close in meaning to words such as ‘salvage’ or ‘recycling’. God is in the business of recycling people so that they become useful. Christians are changed from sinners into saints, but also from being foolish to being wise. The message of the Bible is that the real cause of pollution on the planet is people. Jesus himself likened hell to the rubbish dump in the valley of Gehenna outside Jerusalem, where all the garbage was thrown. He spoke of people being ‘thrown’ into hell as if they were good for nothing. God recycles people who are heading for hell, turning fools into wise people.
So in that sense Proverbs is full of ‘salvation’, since it tells us the sort of life we are saved for and reminds us about the sort of life we have been saved from. It thus corrects an imbalance that is common in the preaching of many churches. Too much attention is paid to what we are saved from and not enough to what we are saved to and for.
What about wisdom outside the Bible? Many would argue that there is a lot of wisdom that is not included in the Bible. What about the wisdom of Plato, Socrates, Aristotle and Confucius? It need not surprise us that there is wisdom outside the Bible, for all men and women are made in the image of God, and so they are able to make sense of life. But this is not to say that they have enough sense to make the most of life. Only when Christ redeems us do we grasp the real meaning of life and live as God intends. So in this respect the world’s ‘wisdom’ will always be folly, for it lacks eternal perspective.
So Proverbs is affirming the truth that God is ‘the All- Wise God’, the source of all wisdom, and that it is his wisdom that created the whole universe, with all its complexity.
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Week 91: Song of Songs Part 3
April 16, 2012
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Why should we read this book?
There are two reasons why we should read it and study it. First, at the heart of Christianity is a very personal relationship. Being a Christian is not going to church, reading a Bible or supporting missionaries; being a Christian is being in love with the Lord. The only point of singing hymns is that we are singing love songs. If we miss this, we miss everything.
So at the heart of the Bible is the very intimate, loving relationship between Solomon and a country girl.
The book adds a wider dimension to the portrayal of the relationship between God and his people. Sometimes in the Bible, God is spoken of as a husband and Israel as a wife. He courts her and marries her at Sinai when the covenant is established. When Israel goes after other gods, she is described as an adulteress.
This theme underlies the prophecy of Hosea. The Lord asks the prophet to find a prostitute in the street. He protests and asks God why. He is told to marry her, and she will have three children. She will love the first child, but not the second, and the third child, who won’t even be Hosea’s, is to be called ‘Not Mine’. God tells Hosea that she will return to life on the street in her old profession, leaving the three children with him. He is to find her, buy her back from the pimp who is controlling her and bring her back home, and then he is to love her again. Finally, God tells him to tell Israel that this is how God feels about them.
In fact, the whole relationship in the Old Testament between God and Israel is that of a husband whose wife behaves appallingly. He woos her, wins her, loses her, still loves her, and wants to get her back home again.
When we move to the New Testament, this same theme continues. Jesus is depicted as the bridegroom looking for a bride. On the last page of the Bible the bride is eager for the wedding and says ‘Come!’ She has made herself ready with white linen, which is righteousness. So the whole Bible is a love story from beginning to end.
The Song of Songs expresses this relationship. The words of the young man to the bride are the words that God says to us. Her replies are the sort of responses we can make. So it’s not an allegory, nor is it full of hidden meanings. ‘Pomegranates’ means ‘pomegranates’ and ‘breasts’ mean ‘breasts’. God means what he says, but it’s an analogy of the relationship that we can have with God.
We need to be careful in our interpretation. Our relationship with the Lord is not erotic, but it is emotional. Even though the song includes sexually explicit language, there is appropriate restraint. It doesn’t enter into the physical details that modern literature would.
Nevertheless, it is an emotional relationship. The story reminds us of the conversation between Jesus and Peter in Galilee after Jesus’ resurrection. Peter had denied the Lord at a charcoal fire in a courtyard, and the only other charcoal fire mentioned in the New Testament is a few weeks later, in Galilee. So Peter sees the fire and he remembers those awful moments. Yet Jesus doesn’t say how disappointed he is with him, nor does he exclude him from future service. No, he tells Peter that he can cope with him, provided that he is sure of one thing – that Peter loves him.
In the same way, the Lord doesn’t ask us how many times we have been to church or how many chapters of the Bible we have read this week. He asks us: ‘Do you love me?’ Jesus said that the law could be summarized as: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love really is as important as this.
Secondly, not only is your relationship with the Lord a very personal one; it’s also a very public one. Most people falling love with the Lord because they see him as their Shepherd, the One who will be with them in the valley of the shadow of death, the One who will lead them by the still waters and the green pastures. But at some stage after we have fallen in love with Jesus as our Shepherd, we discover that he is also a King! He’s the King of Kings, and we are his bride. We are going to reign with him and become his queen. So we are in very public view, which puts an extra responsibility on us. It would be nice if we could keep it private and return to the forests of Hermon, keeping our relationship with the Lord secret. It would save a lot of unpleasantness, criticism and exposure. But he wants us to remain in the spotlight, forever pointing to him as the source of our life and sharing with him the responsibility of reigning over the earth.
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Week 90: Song of Songs Part 2
April 9, 2012
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
The book’s author
The book was written by King Solomon, who had a gift for writing lyrics. In 1 Kings we learn that he wrote 1,005 songs in all, though only six were included in the Bible. My theory is that Solomon wrote a song for each of his 700 wives and 300 concubines, but of all these 1,000 women, only one was God’s choice for him, and so the song that he wrote for her was the only love song that was published as part of the Bible. The Song of Songs tells us that by the time he wrote the song he already had 60 wives.
Three people or two?
Scholars are divided about the plot. Some argue that it involves three people – a triangular tug of war between a shepherd boy, a king and the girl, who is torn between the two. It makes an interesting story and a good sermon, because you can finish it with a moving appeal: ‘You are that girl! Will you choose the prince of this world or the Good Shepherd?’ But unfortunately this plot does not fit the text – why would Solomon compose a song depicting the king (himself) as the villain? Furthermore, the atmosphere is one of innocence, not guilt. This is not an evil king seducing a simple girl. It’s a pure love song all the way through.
So it is more likely to be a plot featuring just two people, which means that the king and the shepherd are the same person. This may seem improbable until we remember that some of the kings of Israel were once shepherds – David being an obvious example. Moses too was a shepherd before he became a leader of God’s people. It is not an unusual combination.
But even assuming that the king and the shepherd are one and the same, it is still not easy to understand exactly how the story fits together. It is a little like taking the lid off a jigsaw box and seeing all the different colored pieces mixed up inside. We despair of ever finishing unless we have the picture on the lid to help us.
So let me give you the picture on the lid so that when you read the story for yourself, all the little bits will fit together.
The story
Solomon had a country estate on the slopes of Mount Hermon. He used it as a retreat from the pressures of being King in Jerusalem. He could relax, go hunting and forget for a while that he was the King. On occasions he would lead sheep to find green pasture and water amid the rocky terrain. He might typically travel 15 miles in any one day.
On Solomon’s country estate a tenant farmer had died. The farm passed to his sons, though we don’t know exactly how many there were. There were probably three or four sons and two daughters. One of the daughters is a child; the other is grown up and is the subject of the song. Her life lacks any excitement. Her father divided the estate, giving vineyards to the sons and daughters, but the sons make her do all the work in the house and a lot of the work on the farm. She complains that she had to look after their vineyards so much that she neglected her own. Furthermore, because she had been working outside, her skin had become dark. Although bronzed skin is an attractive feature in our culture, the reverse was true for her – indeed, a bride would be kept out of the sun for 12 months before her wedding. So she was conscious of the fact that her dark looks meant that she would probably remain a slave to her brothers for the rest of her life.
One day she is working in the fields and meets a young man. They enjoy conversation and arrange to meet the next day. After a few occasional meetings, they agree to meet every day. The meetings become the highlight of the day, and after a fortnight they are deeply in love. The one thing that troubles the woman is that she doesn’t know who the young man is. She keeps pestering him, asking which farm he comes from and where he rests his sheep at midday. But he evades her questions and will not tell her who he is.
She is deeply in love with him and he with her, and finally he asks if she will marry him. She has waited years for this! She is overjoyed and says ‘Yes’ immediately. He tells her that he has to leave the next day to return to work in the south in the big city. He leaves her to get ready for the wedding and promises to return.
The next few months are the most exciting of her life. She never thought it would happen, but now at last she is to be married. But she begins to have nightmares. It doesn’t take a very deep knowledge of psychology to interpret her dreams. All the dreams are centerd on one theme: ‘I’ve lost him and I’m looking for him.’
One night she dreams that she is running through the streets, looking for her lover. She meets the watchman and asks whether he has seen him. But he hasn’t. She runs around the streets, frantically searching for him. When she finds him, she gets hold of him, drags him back to her mother’s bedroom and tells him she will never let him go. When she awakes, she finds that she is holding the pillow.
Another time she dreams that her lover is at the door and puts his hand through the hole in the door to lift the latch on the inside. But he is unable to open it because it is bolted further down. She is paralysed and can’t move. She can’t get off the bed, and he’s trying to open the door, and she becomes frustrated. Then his hand disappears and she finds that she can move. She runs to the door and – he’s gone!
The nightmares have a simple explanation: she’s afraid that he won’t come back to marry her. She thinks this is only a holiday flirtation, and her lover won’t keep his promise.
Then one day, she’s out in the fields and notices horses and chariots and a great cloud of dust approaching. She asks her brothers who it is.
The brothers say it is the landlord, King Solomon from Jerusalem, who has come to visit his estates. They get ready to bow down low before the King. She has never seen him, and so she takes a look – only to find that the King in the big chariot is her young man!
Since everyone knows that he has got 60 wives already, she realizes that she must be number 61!
So she leaves the farm and travels south to live in the palace. They are married, and she appears at the first banquet, held to honour her. She sits at the top table next to the King, and feels distinctly inferior to the 60 beautiful, fair-skinned queens in their robes all around her.
When a man has more than one woman, each woman begins to feel insecure and asks whether he loves her more than the others. So she asks Solomon if they can go back north. ‘Can’t we just lie on the grass under the trees? Couldn’t we go and live on your estate up there?’ He explains that because he is the King he must live and reign in Jerusalem. Finally she asks about the beautiful women all around her. She says with a tone of real inferiority, ‘I’m just a rose of Sharon, I’m a lily of the valley.’
We assume that these are beautiful flowers, but in Israel they are tiny little flowers which you would walk on like daisies in a lawn. The lilies of the valley grow in the shadows, and the rose of Sharon is a tiny little crocus that grows on the flat plain next to the Mediterranean Sea.
The King’s reply, that she is a lily among thorns, delights her, for lilies among thorns, by contrast, are the most beautiful flowers in Israel. This lily is white with a graceful form, and this is how her beloved sees her. So she sings a little song to rejoice, and the song is: ‘He brought me into his banqueting hall and his banner over me is love.’
This, then, is the outline of the story – the picture on the jigsaw box.
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Week 89: Song of Songs Part 1
April 2, 2012
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Introduction
Many people are surprised to find the Song of Songs included in the Bible. It is one of only two books in the Bible where God is not mentioned even once (Esther is the other). There is no mention of anything obviously spiritual in it from beginning to end, and its graphic description of human sexuality means that it’s one of the books of the Bible that are generally avoided during Sunday school!
The very title ‘Song of Songs’ sounds strange. Hebrew writing does not include any adjectives, so phrases such as ‘fantastic song’ or ‘brilliant song’ are not possible. So instead of ‘the Greatest Song’, the expression ‘the Song of Songs’ is used, just as ‘the Highest King’ is known as ‘the King of Kings’ and ‘the Greatest Lord’ is called ‘the Lord of Lords’.
But accepting that it is a lovely song gives us no clear understanding of why it is in the Bible, for not only is it unspiritual, but it is also very sensual. It touches all five senses – smell, sight, touch, taste and hearing – and gives an erotic description of the bodies of the young man and the young woman in the drama. So although it is not taught at Sunday school, it becomes something of a favorite with young people!
For many years I didn’t preach from this book because I didn’t know how to handle it. But I found that the Jewish Rabbis treated it as a very holy book. They called it ‘the Holy of Holies’ and even took off their shoes when they read it. Furthermore, I learnt that some Christian devotional writers raved about it. I determined to get to grips with it for myself, and so I bought commentaries and devotional expositions of the book in order to gain some understanding of it. But this just increased my sense of guilt. I was told that the book was written in a hidden code and that none of the words meant what I thought they meant. I reached rock bottom when I read one commentary’s explanation of a verse in chapter 1 where the woman in the drama speaks of her lover resting between her breasts, and the commentator said that this means between the Old and the New Testaments! I confess that this was the last thing in my mind when I read that verse, and so I concluded that God must have put this book in the Bible as a kind of ‘Catch 22’ to find out whether you were spiritual or carnal. It was many years before I was able to explore the book in any depth.
What sort of literature is it?
Allegory?
An allegory is a fictional story that is intended to communicate a hidden message. For example, The Pilgrim’s Progress, the seventeenth-century classic by John Bunyan, is an allegory in which each part of the story is intended to depict a spiritual truth. Many have interpreted the Song of Songs as an allegory, but each commentator seems to invent his or her own code, often with little reference to the text itself. It seems that the commentators see what they want to see and are reluctant to take the plain meaning of the text, because they don’t believe that the book, with its graphic descriptions of sexuality, is acceptable as it stands.
One reason for this is that Christians have generally been more influenced by Greek thinking than by Hebrew thinking. The Greeks believed that life was divided between what they termed ‘the physical’ and ‘the spiritual’, with the latter regarded as more important. By contrast, the Hebrews believed in one God who made both the physical and the spiritual, and they saw no difference in value between the two. If a good God made this material world, then material things are good; and if this same God made us male and female, with the capacity to fall in love and become man and wife, this too was good.
Affirmation
This Hebrew way of thinking can help us in our interpretation of the book, for, rather than seeing the book as an allegory, we should see it instead as affirmation. Here in the middle of the Bible, God is affirming the love between a man and a woman. His inclusion of the Song of Songs within the Bible reminds us that sexuality is God’s idea. He thought it up. Indeed, one of the biggest lies that the devil has spread around the world is that God is against sex and Satan is for it. The truth is the exact opposite. God is saying that sex is a clean and legitimate part of a married couple’s love for one another. Indeed, when conducting a marriage service, I always read part of the Song of Songs and tell the couple to read the rest of it on their honeymoon.
Analogy
But the Song of Songs is more than affirmation – it is also an analogy. This is clearly distinct from the fanciful allegorical interpretations that we have discounted. An allegory is a work of fiction with a hidden meaning, whereas an analogy is a fact which is like another fact. Jesus used analogies in his teaching. For example, he would describe the Kingdom of Heaven in terms that his hearers could grasp. The Song of Songs functions in a similar way. The love between a man and a woman is like the love between God and human beings. Both are real, and the former helps to explain the latter. The Song of Songs is saying that our relationship to God can be like that. We should be able to say, ‘My beloved is mine and I am his’, in the same way that lovers speak of one another.
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Week 88: Psalms Part 10
March 26, 2012
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
The Psalms’ view of God
The Psalms are remarkably balanced in their view of God. We have already seen how his transcendence (Elohim) is balanced by his immanence (Yahweh).
The Psalms encourage us to magnify God, not because we can make him bigger, but so that our view of him may be enlarged.
The Psalms tell us about God’s attributes – that is, what he is. Psalms 8, 9, 29, 103, 104, 139, 148 and 150 are good examples of this. Psalm 139 describes his omnipotence (i.e. he is all-powerful), his omniscience (he is all-knowing) and his omnipresence (he is everywhere).
The Psalms also tell us about God’s actions – that is, what he does. Psalms 33, 36, 105, 111, 113, 117, 136, 146 and 147 are good examples of this. In particular we learn about his two major acts:
- creation (e.g. Psalms 8 and 19) and
redemption (e.g. Psalm 78, which tells the story of the Exodus).
The Psalms tell us that God is Shepherd, Warrior, Judge, Father and, above all, King.
In view of these attributes and actions of God, it is no surprise that in the Psalms theology very quickly becomes doxology. Truth leads inevitably to praise.
Using the Psalms today
It is clear from the New Testament’s use of the Psalms that it is legitimate and desirable for Christians to use them. The songs in the New Testament are modelled on the Psalms (e.g. Luke chapters 1 and 2). The apostles turn to the Psalms when they are under pressure (e.g. Acts 4), and they often use them when they are preaching (e.g. Acts 13).
The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews quotes the Psalms extensively. Each of the first five chapters of Hebrews includes a reference to one or more psalms.
Jesus quoted from the Psalms in his public teaching (e.g. the Sermon on the Mount), in answering the Jews, while cleansing the Temple and at the Last Supper.
So how should the Psalms be used today?
It is best if they are read aloud or sung. Some of them explicitly encourage shouting! Their impact and value is greatly diminished if they are read silently. Many psalms also encourage bodily movement such as lifting hands, clapping, dancing and looking upwards.
We are commanded in the New Testament to use the Psalms in corporate worship (e.g. Ephesians 5). They can be sung or read aloud to the congregation by singers or readers, or the whole congregation can read, sing (or even shout!) them together.
Clearly the Psalms are meant to be sung to musical accompaniment. As we have already seen, the Hebrew word that we translate as ‘psalm’ literally means ‘pluck’, implying that stringed instruments normally accompanied the singing of psalms (though other instruments are also mentioned in the Book of Psalms). In many psalms the word Selah occurs. It is probably a musical direction to the choir-master meaning ‘pause’ or ‘change key’ or ‘play louder’ or even ‘lift up your voices at this point’.
How should we sing psalms today? I think they should be sung ‘whole’. Too many songs, choruses and hymns use only parts of a psalm, and in doing so they violate its original sense and context.
Some psalms can be sung in metrical verse (as is often done in churches in Scotland). Some psalms are well suited to being sung by a choir. The Psalms are also well suited to private use. Here are some guidelines:
- Reading one psalm per day is a good habit.
- Some psalms are ideal bedtime reading. They can be a help against destructive emotions and bad dreams.
- Read psalms even when they don’t seem to be relevant to your circumstances, because there will come a time when they will be.
- Try giving a title to the psalm – this will help you to concentrate on its content.
- Translate the psalm into your own words. (See my examples earlier in the chapter.)
- Some psalms are a great comfort when you are ill – or even when you are dying.
While there is great value in studying the Psalms, we derive the greatest benefit from them as we use them in our lives. We discover their true beauty and power when we read them aloud, sing them, and shout them. The Psalms are meant to lead us into a passionate praise that glorifies God.
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Week 87: Psalms Part 9
March 19, 2012
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Imprecatory psalms
In these psalms the psalmists ask God to visit their enemies with judgement.
For example:
- Let the heads of those who surround me
be covered with the trouble their lips have caused.
Let burning coals fall upon them;
may they be thrown into the fire,
into miry pits, never to rise.
from Psalm 140
One of the best known imprecatory psalms is Psalm 137, which was composed in Babylon:
- By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
There on the poplars
we hung our harps,
for there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they said, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’
How can we sing the songs of the Lord
while in a foreign land?
If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill.
May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.
Remember, O Lord, what the Edomites did
on the day Jerusalem fell.
‘Tear it down,’ they cried,
‘tear it down to its foundations!’
O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is he who repays you
for what you have done to us –
he who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.
This is not pleasant. There is no forgiveness for the enemy and certainly no recognition that what is being said might be inappropriate. It is understandable that some people should ask whether Christians should use these psalms at all.
Can Christians use imprecatory psalms?
First, we must remember that the Jews only had the Old Testament. Hence, we mustn’t expect the Old Testament to feel fully Christian. They had no knowledge of Jesus, who said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing’.
Secondly, these psalms are good models of honesty in prayer. If we feel a certain way, then it is appropriate to tell God how we feel. It is just as bad to feel the way the psalmist does and not say it, as it is to say it. In fact it is worse, because we are trying to hide it from God.
I remember a Christian lady who had been in a terrible car crash. For 20 years afterwards she was dreadfully handicapped; she could only stagger around on crutches and was in constant pain. One night, as she was going into her bedroom, she cursed God for her agony. But then she caught her foot on the carpet and fell over, knocking herself out. She was unconscious for many hours, and when she woke up it was morning, and sunlight was coming through the window and shining directly into her eyes. She was convinced that she had died and was now facing the Lord, and with horror she remembered that the last thing she had done in life had been to curse God. She assumed that she would have to go to hell because of this. But then she realized that the bright light was in fact just sunshine and she was still in her bedroom. The relief was enormous. Then she suddenly noticed that she had no pain. She got up and discovered that she was totally healed. She could move every limb! She dashed out into the street and told everybody she met that she had cursed God but he had made her well! Of course, this is not a good model to copy, but the point is that because she was honest with God, this lady received healing from him. How gracious he is!
Thirdly, the enemies of Israel were also God’s enemies. The imprecatory psalms do not just ask for vengeance on the psalmists’ personal enemies; they also remind God that the psalmists’ enemies are His enemies. For Christians today, the enemies of God are not flesh and blood, but the principalities and powers. If we really love God, we will hate the devil and all evil. The Old Testament saints did not have the knowledge that we have about the Day of Judgement and heaven and hell, so they had to pray that the wicked would be punished in this present world. They believed that after death everyone went to a place called Sheol – a kind of railway station waiting-room where no trains arrive. They had to pray for God to be vindicated in this life. They were crying to a good God for justice.
Fourthly, in every case the psalmists refuse to take revenge themselves, but leave it to God. This is a principle that Paul teaches in Romans 12: ‘Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath’. He will take vengeance on the wicked.
Finally, it is important to note that in this matter the New Testament is no different from the Old. There are also imprecatory prayers in the New Testament. In Revelation 6 the souls of the martyrs in heaven are praying, ‘How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?’. These prayers are no different from the imprecatory psalms, even though they are made ‘in heaven’. The Christian martyrs are asking God to vindicate himself and to bring justice.
So if we do it in the right spirit, we have no problem using these psalms today. One day every sin will be punished, the righteous will be vindicated and the martyrs will sit on the very thrones that condemned them to death.
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Week 86: Psalms Part 8
March 12, 2012
(from Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson)
Special psalms
There are also certain other special categories of psalm.
Royal psalms
Just as David wrote about his experiences as a shepherd, he also wrote from his experiences as a king. Psalms 2, 18, 20, 21, 45, 72, 89, 101, 110, 132 and 144 fit into this category.
The British national anthem is based on a number of these psalms. Psalm 68 focuses on the king’s victory in battle, which is the background to the line ‘Send her victorious’ in the anthem. The big difference, of course, is that a British monarch is not the ruler of the Lord’s people, so many of these statements are inappropriate. There is only one nation that God chose to be his nation, and that is Israel. We must never forget that any non-Jewish nation is a Gentile nation, and so cannot be special in the same way as Israel.
There is, however, a wonderful psalm about a queen. Psalm 45 reflects on how unworthy the queen felt to be the king’s wife. This is a good picture of how we ought to feel as the bride of Christ. We are going to sit on thrones with Jesus, and live like royalty.
Many nations have thought that they were the chosen nation, and so used the Psalms wrongly. The lion and the unicorn in the English coat of arms come from Psalm 22. One of the earliest English translations of the Bible includes the unicorn, even though the word was not in the original.
Canada is the only nation in the world with ‘The Dominion’ in its name. The name ‘The Dominion of Canada’ is based on Psalm 72: ‘He shall have dominion … from sea to sea’ (AV). Canada stretches from the Pacific to the Atlantic and so was called the Dominion of Canada by its founding fathers.
Messianic psalms
Some of the royal psalms are also messianic or prophetic psalms. David was a model of the ideal king, and these psalms reflect the desire for a king who is truly worthy of God’s honour.
The word ‘Messiah’ means ‘anointed’. Every king of Israel was anointed with oil at his coronation as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Even the kings and queens of England have what is called ‘the unction’, the anointing with oil (a special blended oil made from 24 different herbs and oils).
The word ‘Messiah’ (meaning ‘anointed one’, as does ‘Christ’ in Greek) occurs only once in the whole of the Old Testament, in Psalm 2. But if the Psalms are examined for their prophetic element, we find that 20 of them are quoted in the New Testament. It is astonishing to note what is prophesied about Jesus, the Son of David, in these psalms:
- God will declare him to be his Son.
- God will put all things under his feet.
- God will not let him see corruption in the grave.
- He will be forsaken by God and scorned and mocked by men; his hands and feet will be pierced; his clothes will be gambled for; but none of his bones will be broken.
- False witnesses will accuse him.
- He will be hated without a cause.
- A friend will betray him.
- He will be given vinegar and gall to drink.
- He will pray for his enemies.
- His betrayer’s office will be given to another.
- His enemies will be his footstool.
- He will be a priest after the order of Melchizedek.
- He will be the chief cornerstone and will come in the name of the Lord.
David called himself a prophet because he could see someone else as he wrote. It is amazing how David was able to enter into the sufferings of Jesus on the cross, without ever having experienced them himself.
Psalm 22 begins, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ (the words that Jesus cried from the cross).
It speaks of pierced hands and feet centuries before the Romans used crucifixion as a method of execution. One of the greatest ‘I am’ statements of Jesus occurs in this Psalm, and is very unexpected: – ‘I am a worm and not a man’.
Wisdom psalms
The ‘wisdom psalms’ are the result of quiet reflection and meditation. They resemble the Book of Proverbs, and are full of practical wisdom for life.
Wisdom in the Bible is concerned primarily with two things: – the conduct of life and the contradictions of life.
The Book of Psalms begins with a wisdom psalm about the conduct of life. There are two ways in which we can walk: ‘the way of the wicked’, or ‘the way of the righteous’. Towards the end of Matthew’s account of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus uses similar words: ‘For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it’. So Psalm 1 implies that this Book of Psalms is for those who are walking in the right way. It is not for those who sit, walk or stand with the evildoers. If we walk with someone, we pick up something from them. If we stand around with them, the relationship is getting deeper. If we sit with them we become friends. We read that we must not walk, stand or sit in the way of sinners, because the company we keep is probably the biggest influence in our life.
The wisdom psalms also focus on the contradictions of life. The biggest contradiction is that bad people often get away with their evil behavior while good people suffer.
Psalm 73 tackles this problem head on. The psalmist feels as if he has cleansed his heart in vain, that it is a waste of time trying to live a good life, because wicked people die in their beds in peace, having made plenty of money.
The psalmist says he is troubled all the day and can’t sleep at night. His solution is to go to the Temple and reflect on God’s glory and the end that the wicked will face. It is one of the few psalms that mention the afterlife. The concept of the afterlife isn’t explained as thoroughly in the Old Testament as it is in the New.
