Psalms

Our lesson this week was on the book of Psalms.  That's huge enough by itself, if you don't assume that the next lesson after 2 Samuel is 1 Kings, like I did, and only get out the teacher materials on Sunday because I was busy on Thursday and Friday.  The lesson does not try to cover all the Psalms, but the manual suggests that each student browse and choose fifteen (why that number? don't know), including at least some of the following: 22,  51, 119, 122, or 137.  It was kind of intimidating.

There is a supplemental section about the differences between our cultural patterns.  "The Oriental paints a scene whose total effect is true, but the details may be inaccurate; the Occidental tends to draw diagrams accurate in detail."  It uses the example of the parable of the mustard seed--it is not actually the very tiniest seed on earth, nor is the plant the very greatest.  Yet, speaking of imagery rather than concrete botany, the contrast is astonishing, and the smallness and largeness, respectively, are pronounced.  In other words, when reading the Psalms and other poetical expressions, look at the whole and don't be too nit-picky literal.

I was part gospel teacher, part literature teacher, and I told the class that the latter would be easier in a European tradition, but our understanding of the meanings is enhanced with an understanding of their framework.

Hebraic poetry is not poetry in the form that we know it, with specific meters and rhymes.  It is a poetry of meaning and structure.  One of my sources made the observation that this poetry translates from one language to another readily precisely because it is a poetry of meaning rather than meter fit with exacting words.  There are other examples than in the Psalms, and other composers of psalms besides David.  Lowell Bennion (Unknown Testament) quotes Habukkuk 3, verses 17-19 as one.  2 Nephi 4 is often known as the psalm of Nephi.  He terms the Psalms "the beauty of pure worship."  The Lord says in several places that we are to come unto him , and he will give us rest.  I think the Psalms are a form of spiritual rest.

I was able to find the Ensign article that I still remember, about the structure of chiasmus in the Old Testament and in the Book of Mormon.  It was striking as a newly realized concept, something that runs true that Joseph Smith had no inkling of, another evidence of his calling.  I put one of the simpler charts up on the board and traced the parallelism and inversion of the words.  I know that if unfamiliar, and impatient, you come to these writings and think, they already said that, why do they have to keep saying the same thing?  Why can't they just get on with it?

But if you can shift gears and go with how the meanings flow and build, you get a lot more out of it.  As it ceases to be strange, it begins to be peaceable.

There are a lot of lists of categories in the book of Psalms, but the very simple list in the teacher materials was four parts:  Messianic,historical, hymns of praise, and pleadings for help or forgiveness.  The Messianic ones are quoted so many times in the New Testament, but I hadn't realized that they each contain only glimpses of coming experience.  Isaiah offers up vision at length, but the Psalms don't.  Nevertheless, the Savior targeted and fulfilled those bits of prophecy.  We think of the historical ones being part of the psalms of David, but Psalm 90 is a song of Moses.  The praises and pleadings, as we read, we find that we know well.

Some of them quote others of them.  There are so many images that are often repeated in the scriptures, not because the writers are lazy, but because those images fit so well.  Eagles' wings, sheep and shepherds, fruit and vineyards, fountains of water.


I like Psalm 96, "sing to the Lord a new song," and number 77.  We went to Alma 5: 26 And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a ^achange of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the ^bsong of redeeming love, I would ask, ^ccan ye feel so now? and talked about songs.  My first column for the Nauvoo Times ends with this verse.  The Lord told Emma that the song of the heart was a prayer unto him.  The heart and mind filled with the Spirit will soar, and sing.

The Redeemer gave Joseph Smith this as part of a grand revelation on priesthood. (Section 84)
  
 98 Until all shall ^aknow me, who remain, even from the least unto the greatest, and shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, and shall ^bsee eye to eye, and shall lift up their voice, and with the voice together ^csing this new song, saying:

 99 The Lord hath brought again Zion;The Lord hath ^aredeemed his people, ^bIsrael,According to the ^celection of ^dgrace,Which was brought to pass by the faithAnd ^ecovenant of their fathers.

 100 The Lord hath redeemed his people;And Satan is ^abound and ^btime is no longer.The Lord hath gathered all things in ^cone.The Lord hath brought down ^dZion from above.The Lord hath ^ebrought up Zion from beneath.

 101 The ^aearth hath travailed and ^bbrought forth her strength;And truth is established in her bowels;And the heavens have smiled upon her;And she is clothed with the ^cglory of her God;For he ^dstands in the midst of his ^epeople.

 102 Glory, and honor, and power, and might,Be ascribed to our God; for he is full of ^amercy,Justice, grace and truth, and ^bpeace,Forever and ever, Amen.

I chose a hymn for beginning the class with deliberate thought.  Many hymns in the book quote the Psalms, but one, it seems to me, is a psalm. Hymn # 129:

1. Where can I turn for peace?
   Where is my solace
   When other sources cease to make me whole?
   When with a wounded heart, anger, or malice,
   I draw myself apart,
   Searching my soul?
2. Where, when my aching grows,
   Where, when I languish,
   Where, in my need to know, where can I run?
   Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish?
   Who, who can understand?
   He, only One.
3. He answers privately,
   Reaches my reaching
   In my Gethsemane, Savior and Friend.
   Gentle the peace he finds for my beseeching.
   Constant he is and kind,
   Love without end.

Members of the class had a chance to share some of the Psalms that spoke to them.  One brought a musical setting that someone she knew had composed. (That was beautiful.) I had sent out advance materials, such as the Ensign link, and the question of whether anyone wanted to try writing one of their own.  On Wednesday no one had, though apparently two people in the evening class did. 

However, I did.  This is what I brought to close with--

 
My way is not swift, but it is sure.  You lay it out before me, day by day, and I go forward.  When I begin to fear, you touch me with peace.  I cast but a thought to heaven and you calm my troubled heart.  Your name is comfort, comprehension, and hope, your touch on my soul is light and love.  Your arms encircle me to keep me from stumbling.

Darkness cannot touch me if your light shines ‘round.  Evil cannot conquer, and despair cannot overcome.

You show me promises I cannot see the way to find, yet I know they are true, for you speak only truth.  I will wait upon them in patience and hope, and in each step I will be led, until I gain all and arrive indeed at joy. 

How then can I lack for any thing at all?  I will rejoice even in trial and sing even in grief, for you are with me always, and your promises will not fail.  Though I must pass through pain, you will at last bring me home.