Psalm 129: In Affliction

Today's reading comes from the 129th Psalm, a piece which seems like a rather stern indictment of oppressors, but is actually mild and regretful in tone. Even the last few curses are framed as things which do not happen, rather than things which do.

Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say:
Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me.
The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.
The LORD is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.
Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.
Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up:
Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom.
Neither do they which go by say, "The blessing of the LORD be upon you: we bless you in the name of the LORD."

The idea of Zion, now a political flashpoint to many, is all about the holy mountain, the object of the quest. This psalm is about the fate of those who refuse the dream, and thus deprive themselves of blessings. Slowly, those who deny the quest fall by the wayside, and the pilgrims who carry on no longer bless them. It urges us, indirectly, to continue on in the pilgrimage lest we become those who are empty of inspiration and of the true life.