Psalms 121-123: Looking Up
This was Monday's reading; it was one of the earliest psalms I learnt in my childhood.
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
In this modern age, the archaic elegance of the King James Version doesn't always allow the meaning of some of these phrases to shine forth. The last line is often translated as 'the LORD will watch over your comings and goings...' The psalm thus transits from God's help in times of dynamic equilibrium ('He will not let your foot slip' is how the third line can be translated, and is related to wrestling) to times of movement and change. It has spoken to me a lot in the last few weeks.
Psalm 122 was Tuesday's reading; it spoke to me about something completely different: not so much about the state of the journey, but the object of the journey. Every one of us has Jerusalems, cities at the edge of time, places of the Grail. For much of my life, I aimed to serve and be nothing more than a servant in the streets of my own Jerusalem. This was not to be. However, the 122nd Psalm says:
I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.
Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together:
Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD.
For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.
Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces.
For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee.
Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek thy good.
I was indeed glad when I was asked to go to my Jerusalem; I remain glad to have served there, and I continue to wish it well. The combination of peace and prosperity that one wishes for a city that one may no longer enter or which one has been exiled from is a rare thing. But as another psalm (the 137th) says, "If I forget Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill."
When one has been part of the uncommonly great, one is touched with a little magic of that time. And one never forgets. And that is what leads us to Wednesday's reading, the 123rd Psalm:
Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.
Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.
Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us: for we have endured much contempt.
Our soul has been filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.
Sometimes, it's easy for masters to forget that almost everything their servants receive might come from them: housing and food and funding and life, in the days of the Bible. It is easy to write off a poor servant as bad forever, and to think of him as an unworthy slave. While the indenture is secure, this may well be true.
But how can one treat a free man in the same way? Should those who act as fathers continue to frustrate their children? As Dorothy Dunnett once wrote, " 'God is my Master,' the Patriarch said. 'It makes for simplicity. I commend it. For that is your trouble, isn't it?' "
I know I've been prideful and wrathful in the past and it continues to be a weakness. Those of you who read this and believe in prayer can continue to pray for me in these areas. But never once have I failed to believe in my Jerusalem and my God, in ascending order of trust.
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
In this modern age, the archaic elegance of the King James Version doesn't always allow the meaning of some of these phrases to shine forth. The last line is often translated as 'the LORD will watch over your comings and goings...' The psalm thus transits from God's help in times of dynamic equilibrium ('He will not let your foot slip' is how the third line can be translated, and is related to wrestling) to times of movement and change. It has spoken to me a lot in the last few weeks.
Psalm 122 was Tuesday's reading; it spoke to me about something completely different: not so much about the state of the journey, but the object of the journey. Every one of us has Jerusalems, cities at the edge of time, places of the Grail. For much of my life, I aimed to serve and be nothing more than a servant in the streets of my own Jerusalem. This was not to be. However, the 122nd Psalm says:
I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.
Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together:
Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD.
For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.
Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces.
For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee.
Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek thy good.
I was indeed glad when I was asked to go to my Jerusalem; I remain glad to have served there, and I continue to wish it well. The combination of peace and prosperity that one wishes for a city that one may no longer enter or which one has been exiled from is a rare thing. But as another psalm (the 137th) says, "If I forget Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill."
When one has been part of the uncommonly great, one is touched with a little magic of that time. And one never forgets. And that is what leads us to Wednesday's reading, the 123rd Psalm:
Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.
Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.
Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us: for we have endured much contempt.
Our soul has been filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.
Sometimes, it's easy for masters to forget that almost everything their servants receive might come from them: housing and food and funding and life, in the days of the Bible. It is easy to write off a poor servant as bad forever, and to think of him as an unworthy slave. While the indenture is secure, this may well be true.
But how can one treat a free man in the same way? Should those who act as fathers continue to frustrate their children? As Dorothy Dunnett once wrote, " 'God is my Master,' the Patriarch said. 'It makes for simplicity. I commend it. For that is your trouble, isn't it?' "
I know I've been prideful and wrathful in the past and it continues to be a weakness. Those of you who read this and believe in prayer can continue to pray for me in these areas. But never once have I failed to believe in my Jerusalem and my God, in ascending order of trust.
etched with acid at 7:04:00 am
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