weds night ...10/25

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

weds night ...10/25
Psalm 80:Vs. 1-3 : Find the introductory petition and the address to which it is attached......Note the invocation of the deity-not unlike the epic poet's invocation of the Muse- is the call to the Most High who is remembered (praise is to never forget) as the source of the great good fortune of the past. If you have no remembrance of having been blessed, is it possible that your lament will never be as deep and your praise will never be as high?Find the verbs that illustrate the action of faithful petition for the Yahwistic believer...Do you find here a truly personal God....Vs. 4-7: Here find the complaint... Is the complaint rooted in the life of the believer or in the believer's relationship with the divine...Note the use of the address ...Thou...Thou...Thou...: "The accusation of God is the nerve center of all the lamentations in the Psalms". Suffering is not thought to come from some ungodly irritant but instead "in God alone".Suggest the significance of the "bread of tears" and " the cup of tears"...See Lamentations 3:15-16Vs 6 provides the 3rd element of the lament:Find mention of the enemy and its mockery of the plaintiff...Vs 7 marks the refrain ,labeled by Watson in Classical Hebrew Poetry as " a variant refrain"(295): see vs 3,7,19. Westermann notes that this refrain is not a mechanical chorus at the end of each stanza but instead a meaningful rejoinder to fit the sense of the particular petitions to which it is connected.Vs. 8-11: "...Past personal experiences of God's goodness and faithfulness" are the foundation of faith to which the complaintant grasps tightly(emunah-Hebrew word for faith).Find the vinedresser imagery. Why is it a particularly efffective representation of the God of Israel's saving actions?Why does Westermann think this image is more effective as "history" than as lyrical symbol?Can you find the "the historical creed...the basic confession of faith of the people of israel" in these verses?How does vs 11 bring us back to the complaint?Vs. 12-13: Find the question of vs 4 and compare it to vs 12...Interpret the accusation against the vinedresser as planter and now destroyer...How does vs 13 re-introduce the enemy and to what effect?Compare the sequences of 12-13 and then 14 ; and 4-6 and then 7...Vs. 14-15: From whence shall salvation come?Vs. 16-17: In the battle between enemy and lamenter , where does the Psalmist place emphasis?Vs.18-19 : do you agree with Westermann that this vow is the true pledge of allegiance free of " a bargain promising ...a recompense for ...deliverance" (34).