Prayer: A Handy Reminder

If you put your hands together in the traditional praying posture, your fingers might remind you of some things to pray for:

Thumbs: your family and friends and all those closest to your heart
The index / pointing finger: all those who lead and direct others, the clergy, teachers, the media etc.
The tallest finger: those in high places, HM The Queen and all in authority
The next finger is the weakest: all those in special need
The little finger: little old me!

(One thing I learned in church today!)

More Bavinck on Scripture

Some further jottings. Bavinck is especially good in describing and defending what he calls a more organic (historical and psychological) view of full inspiration against some excessively mechanical accounts.

Reformed Dogmatics, volume 1, chapter 13, The Inspiration of Scripture

“From the beginning Holy Scripture was recognised as the Word of God by all Christian churches. There is no dogma about which there is more unity than that of Holy Scripture.” (p402)

In later times, the Jews called the Torah the wisdom, image, daughter of God, the highest good, the way to life (p402)

“If Israel had not sinned, it [the Torah] would have been sufficient.” (p403)

“Nothing in it [the OT] is superfluous: everything has meaning – every letter, every sign, right down to the very form and shape of the word – for everything comes from God.” (p403)

“The church was never without a Bible. It immediately accepted the OT, with its divine authority, from the hands of the apostles. From the beginning, the Christian faith included belief in the divine authority of the OT.” (p403)

“The apologists of the second century compare the authors of Scripture to a cither, lyre, or flute that the divine musician employed as his instrument.” (p404 – with citations)

Dictation (p404)

Jerome: “Each and every speech, all syllables, marks and periods in the divine scriptures are full of meanings and breathe heavenly sacraments.” (p404)

The self-consciousness of the writers in inspiration stressed (p404f) – prior investigation, differences in intellectual development, uses of sources and memory (p405)

Celebration of the physical object of the bible in the middle ages (p407)

Calvin “assumes the presence of an error in Matthew 22:9 and 23:25 but not in the autographa.” (p415) [??? What error did he think was in them]

The Reformed view (p415)

“Occasionally one can discern a feeble attempt at developing a more organic view of Scripture.” (p415) – The authors used their own intellect, memory, judgement and style (p415) Writers not authors but scribes (p415)

Differences in style sometimes attributed to the Holy Spirit wanting to write in a different way (p415)

“Inspiration is possible because the Spirit of God is immanent in creation” – but a special work of God (p388, editor’s summary)

“Scripture teaches us that the world is not independent, does not exist and live by itself, but the Spirit of God is immanent in everything that has been created. The immanence of God is the basis of all inspiration, including divine inspiration (Ps. 104:30; 139:7; Job 33:4). Existence and life is conferred upon every creature from moment to moment by the inspiration of the Spirit. More particularly, that Spirit of the Lord is the principle of all intelligence and wisdom (Job 32:8; Isa. 11:2); all knowledge and skill, all talent and genius proceeds from him….” (p426) The Spirit’s inspiring of Scripture “accordingly, is not an isolated event; it is linked with all his imminent activity in the world and the church. It is the crown and zenith of it all. The inspiration of the authors in writing the books of the Bible is based on all those other activities of the Holy Spirit.” (p426) – creation, upbringing, education etc.

Inspiration is possible without regeneration (Num 23:5; John 11:51; cf. Num 22:28; 1 Sam 19:24; Heb 6:4) (p427)

 God is the actual speaker and primary author (p428)

Not just impressions etc. but God speaking in human words so that the words of the human writers are his words (p429)

Critical of mechanical views of inspiration which fail to do justice to the activities of the secondary human authors (p430)

It is not necessarily impersonal for people to receive a message from outside themselves that they do not fully understand (p430)

Rejects the disregarding of human personality of the authors as if God lifted them out of history and time and used them “only as mindless, inanimate instruments in the hands of the Holy Spirit.” (p431)

Though the Fathers would speak of the human writers as like musical instruments or pens, “they firmly and unanimously rejected the error of Montanists, who claimed that prophecy and inspiration rendered their mouthpieces unconscious, and often clearly recognized the self-activity of the biblical authors as well.” (p431)

The historical and psychological mediation of revelation more fully appreciated in modern times and that the mechanical view has increasingly given way to a more organic one (p431)

God “confirms and strengthens” “the self-activity of human beings” and does “not destroy” it (p432) – God maintains the distinct though dependant nature of his creatures and allows them to function according to their own nature, personality, rationality and freedom (p432)

God does not obliterate but restores, strengthens and purifies created humanity (p432)

The Bible citations of the human authors shows that “Moses, David, Isaiah, and others, though led by the Spirit, were in fact in the full sense of the word the authors of their books (Matt. 13:14; 22:43; John 1:23, 45; 5:46; 12:38). … the Spirit of the Lord, so far from suppressing the personality of the prophets and apostles, instead heightens the level of their activity…. Their native disposition and bent, their character and inclination, their intellect and development, their emotions and willpower are not undone by the calling that later comes to them… Their whole personality with all their gifts and powers are made serviceable to the calling to which they are called.” (p432)

“the prophets and apostles, as they write, completely remain themselves. They retain their powers of reflection and deliberation, their emotional states and freedom of the will. Research (Luke 1:1), reflection, and memory (John 14:26), the use of sources, and all the ordinary means that an author employs in the process of writing a book are used.” (p433)

As they write they “retain their own character, language and style.” (p434)

“the theory of organic inspiration… is the working out and application of the central fact of revelation: the incarnation of the Word. The Word (logos) has become flesh (sarx), and the word has become Scripture; these two facts do not only run parallel but are most intimately connected…. [Like the incarnate Christ] the word … entered the world of creatureliness, the life and history of humanity… right down into that which was humanly weak and despised and ignoble. ” (p434) – whole passage worth reading! – weakness, lowliness, a servant form in Scripture (p435)

“just as Christ’s human nature, however weak and lowly, remained free from sin, so also Scripture is “conceived without defect or stain”; totally human in all its parts but also divine in all its parts.” (p435)

An organic view of inspiration “more historically and psychologically” (p438)

“Included in the thoughts [which the Spirit inspired] are words; included in the words are the vowels.” (p438)

“Scripture may not be viewed atomistically as though every word and letter by itself is inspired by God as such and has its own meaning with its own infinite, divine content.” (p438)

“Inspiration has to be viewed organically, so that even the lowliest part has its place and meaning and at the same time is much farther removed from (p438) the center than other parts.” (p439)

The Battle against / for the Bible is primarily ethical – as people have always opposed Christ so they oppose the Bible (p439) – Heb 4:12

“It [Scripture] not only was inspired but is still “God-breathed” and “God-breathing”. (p439) “The Holy Spirit does not, after the act of inspiration, withdraw from Holy Scripture and abandon it to its fate but sustains and animates it and in many ways brings its content to humanity, to its heart and conscience.” (p440)

“Scripture is the handmaiden of Christ” (p440) – The ungodly react to it with opposition as they did to Christ

“ignorance of the Scriptures is automatically and proportionately ignorance of Christ (Jerome).” (p440)

 “the Holy Spirit, in the inscripturation of the word of God, did not spurn anything human to serve as an organ of the divine. The revelation of God is not abstractly supernatural but has entered into the human fabric, into persons and states of being, into forms and usages, into history and life. It does (p442) not fly high above us but descends into our situation; it has become flesh and blood, like us in all things except sin. Divine revelation is now an ineradicable constituent of this cosmos in which we live and, effecting renewal and restoration, continues in operation. The human has become and instrument of the divine; the natural has become a revelation of the supernatural; the visible has become a sign and seal of the invisible. In the process of inspiration, use has been made of all the gifts and forces resident in human nature.” (p443)

Differences of language and style between the human authors perfectly natural (p443)

“grace does not cancel out nature but perfect it” (p443)

“ordinary human life and natural life… is made serviceable to God” (p443)

“Even if a book on geography, say, was inspired from cover to cover and was literally dictated word-for-word, it would still not be “God-breathed” and “God-breathing” in the sense of 2 Timothy 3:16. Scripture is the word of God because it has the Word-made-flesh as its matter and content. Form and content interpenetrate each other and are inseperable…. Christ counted nothing human as alien to himself; and Scripture does not overlook even the most minor concerns of daily life (2 Tim 4:13). Christianity is not antithetically opposed to that which is human but is its restoration and renewal.” (p443)

The one thing necessary

Yesterday I heard a helpful exposition of Luke 10:38-42, the account of Mary and Martha. Alliteration's aidful art was perhaps worth noting:

(1) The position of disciples - welcoming and receiving Jesus into their home, sitting at his feet and listening to him

(2) The potential for distraction / The pressure of duties and service, often good and useful service

(3) The priority of listening to Jesus - we need another "D" for that, of course!

The Word of God

Bavinck gives examples of the following senses of the word of God:

(1) the power of God by which he creates and upholds all things

(2) special revelation by which God makes something known to the prophets

(3) the content of revelation

(4) the gospel

(5) scripture

(6) Jesus

And then he waxes lyrical:

Christ as the Word of God: “He is the Logos in an utterly unique sense: Revealer and revelation at the same time. All the revelations and words of God, in nature and history, in creation and re-creation, both in the Old and the New Testament, have their ground, unity, and centre in him. He is the sun; the individual words of God are his rays. The word of God in nature, in Israel, in the NT, in Scripture may never even for a moment be separated and abstracted from him. God’s revelation exists only because he is the Logos. He is the first principle of cognition, in a general sense of all knowledge, in a special sense, as the Logos incarnate, of all knowledge of God, of religion, and theology (Matt. 11:27).” (Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 1 p402)

The surprising extra meaning of the Bible

“we are often surprised by the meaning that the NT authors find in the text of the OT … [list of examples] In the case of Jesus and the apostles, this exegesis of the OT in the NT assumes the understanding that a word or sentence can have deeper meaning and a much farther reaching thrust than the original author suspected or put in it.” (p396) – similarly with Goethe and other classical authors! “In Scripture this is even much more strongly the case, in the conviction of Jesus and the apostles, it has the Holy Spirit as its primary author and bears a teleological character.” (p396-7, Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 1)

The immediate and automatic authority of Scripture

Bavinck again:

“All that can be said is that the recognition of these writings in the churches occurred automatically, without any formal agreement. With only a few exceptions, the OT and NT writings were immediately, from the time of their origin and in toto, accepted without doubt or protest as holy, divine writings. The place and time at which they were first recognized as authoritative cannot be indicated. They have authority of themselves, by their own right, because they exist. It is the Spirit of the Lord who guided the authors in writing them and the church in acknowledging them.” (Reformed Dogmatics, v1, p401)

The word of God O & NT

I'm afraid I've not been able to resist typing out chunks of Bavinck.

Bavinck argues that there is a striking difference in the way the phrase “the word of God” is used between the testaments. In the Old Testament it is used in the sense of God’s special revelation making something known to the prophets. On almost every page, over and over we read: “the word of the Lord came.” “In the NT we find it in this sense only in John 10:35; now the word does not “come” anymore; it does not come now and then from above and without to the prophets but has come in Christ and remains.” (Reformed Dogmatics, v1, p402)

The distinctive presence of Christ in corporate worship

In my humble opinion, Dr Garry Williams is always worth listening to. I have just had an excellent pre-breakfast work out with his paper from the John Owen Centre 2015 conference on Putting Theology Back into Practice - Everything is Ordinary: Pragmatic Minimalism and the Presence of God.

Really helpful Reformed Scholastic clarifications on the presence of God applied to corporate worship (especially preaching, supper and prayer). Some very scrappy notes below will give a flavour: How normal might public worship be? How comfortable can the non-Christian expect to feel in church? A peculiar presence of God in public worship A Reformed Scholastic map of God’s presence God’s infinity – an aspect of God’s moral qualities – God is infinitely holy immeasurability – (1) temporal – eternal – (2) space – immensity – in and beyond all places, unbounded by place Omnipresence – (1) his operations – he everywhere acts, of power (2) His knowledge (3) His essence – the Socinians denied this – Stephen Charnock – God fills heaven and earth God’s immutability implies omnipresence We are present circumscriptively, circumscribed Angels have a definitive presence – place but not circumscribed God has his own unique repletive presence – he fills all space Turretin – this language is possibly too physical Helm – our language is time infected – it is also place infected God accommodates himself to us – he speaks creaturely to us God speaks richly to us God not contained by creation. It is contained by him. God is not extended like a body but simple infinity of essence. (Turretin)   God is everywhere, but not physically by multiplication, mixture, extension, diffusion, division etc. (Charnock) God is beyond the world but not just by being in other places – e.g. not just in the heavenly throne room – beyond all worlds – God is beyond space in himself – but notice the “in” even here How is God distinctively present in some places? Visibility Operation – sustains all things In heaven – not by essence but by physical manifestations of his glory – not the prison of his essence but the court room of the revelation of his majestical presence (see Charnock) Gracious and covenantal presence with his people, efficaciously God’s presence to the lost – in grace, sustaining but also in wrath Present to bless or departing from us with his blessing, leaving us to his frown or coming to us in with the arms of his blessing Distinguish but not separate these presences – God’s essential presence is the foundation of his operational presence Tabernacle – not more there in essence than elsewhere but in a heaven like visible manifestation of his presence, there for Col 1:19 – in Christ – the essence of God not more present there than elsewhere – the distinctive operation of the hypostatic union – God made Christ’s humanity uniquely his God’s presence in us by the Spirit – which bit of me? Not like my heart or lungs! Not physical – God relates to us in a new way, operates in us Corporate worship – special operational presences of God in corporate worship (1) Preaching – 2nd Helvetic Confession – the preached word of the God is the word of God – God is present speaking Eph 2:17 – when did Christ preach like this? In his death? In his earthly ministry? Through the preaching of his messengers, the ascended Christ preaches Rm 10:14 – how do they believe him whom they have never heard? – Cranfield, not just heard about – Christ is the one who is heard – he speaks to bring about faith Acts 26:23 – the risen Christ proclaims to the Gentiles – also 4:31; 13:34 1 Thess 2:13 Gal 3:1 – The preacher’s words, which are the words of Christ, presence Christ in his glory before the people – an oral manifestation of cross aurally received – equivalent effect of the physical presence of Christ Calvin (2) The Lord’s Supper 1 Cor 10:16 – cf. Pagan concepts of communion with demons – you can feast with demons OT background Thisleton – sharing in Christ We share in Christ’s body and blood in the Spirit An actual deepening of the believer’s relationship with Christ – an exclusive union which excludes others (demons), bound in covenant with Christ (3) Prayer Mt 18:19-20 relate to previous section v18, “on earth” – thing – pragma – the stuff you agree about – sometimes a specifically judicial sense – subject of forgiveness next too – primarily about the judgements of the church which Christ is present to underwrite – name, presence – Ex 34 – Christ is the glory of God present with his people who meet in his name All 3 of the above presences of the risen Christ by his Spirit All of life is lived in God’s essential presence Christ’s operational presence in corporate worship Christ is here to do stuff in corporate worship – what are the practical implications of this? See Westminster Directory of Public Worship for attempt to state the non-negotiable elements of public worship – preaching, praying etc. – The debates are about how / the manner of preaching and praying An ethos and habit for corporate worship “atmosphere” / “temperature” – The Lord Jesus is here to do something A habit – habitus – disposition of the soul What if the preacher thinks of his words as the presence of Christ speaking, not a person standing up to talk about Jesus or explain the Bible? Not just A talking to B about C. God remote, removed, 3rd person – almost deist. C talking to B through / in the words of A. I / you. The operative presence of God should be accompanied by fear (awe) and joy (Acts 2, phobos came upon every soul). Not joking around, flippancy, triviality, not dower, dull, cold, unfriendly, uptight.

Taught Greek by the Holy Spirit?

Obviously it would be helpful!

Whitaker acknowledges the different styles of the human authors of Scripture but goes on to say:

“Although Isaiah, who was educated in the royal court, hath a much purer and more elegant diction than Amos, who lived amongst shepherds, yet this shepherd speaks in such a manner as to be intelligible to all who can understand anything: for he had learned to speak from the best master of speech, even the Holy Spirit. So, although Paul, brought up by Gamaliel, the most learned of the Pharisees, speaks otherwise than Peter or James, who had passed all their lives in fishing; yet the difference is not very great, since Peter and James did not learn to speak Greek in their fishing occupations, but were taught by the Holy Spirit, a much better and more eloquent instructor than Gamaliel.” (Disputation on Holy Scripture, p478-9)

8 ways to find the true meaning of Scripture

According to William Whitaker's Disputation on Holy Scripture:

(1) prayer (p467) – Mt 7, ask etc.; James 1:5

(2) know the original languages (p468)

(3) consider which words are proper and which figurative and modified (p470)

(4) consider the scope, end, matter, circumstances (persons, place, time), antecedents and consequences of each passage (p470) – context – the series and connection of the text (p471)

(5) one place must be compared and collated with another, the obscurer with the plainer (p471)

(6) not only similar passages are to be compared with similar, but also dissimilar passages are to be compared together (p472)

(7) all our expositions should accord with the analogy of faith, the constant sense of the general tenor of the clear passages of scripture, creed, Lord’s Prayer, Decalogue, catechism (p472)

(8) ask those who are more skilled and read learned books (p473)

Fed but not stuffed

Augustine: de Doctr. Christ. Lib. II. c. 6: “The Holy Spirit hath so modified the scriptures, combining ornament with utility, as to provide for our hunger in the easier places, and prevent satiety by the more obscure. For scarce anything can be gotten out of those obscurities which may not be found spoken elsewhere with the utmost plainness.” (quoted in Whitaker, Disputation on Holy Scripture, p393)

Why did God make so much of the Bible hard?

William Whitaker suggests 9 reasons though he says "other causes more besides these might be adduced":

(1) So that we pray for help in understanding it

(2) To excite our diligence in studying if

(3) To keep our interest

(4) That we might appreciate the great truths obtained by great labour

(5) To keep us humble

(6) So that God’s word is not exposed to dogs and swine but only to pure and holy minds who appreciate its value

(7) So that we give time to them and are not entirely taken up with external things and our daily occupations

(8) To accustom us to internal purity and sanctity of thought and feeling so that the profane lose their trouble and oil

(9) Because God intended to honour the Scriptures and the ministry, some being teachers and some disciples

(Disputation on Holy Scripture, p365f) 

Psalm 7 jottings

I have not spent time tidying up these notes and the Hebrew transliterations are random, but in case this is of any help to anyone:

Psalm 7 notes

Summary:

A prayer of trust in Yahweh for vindication, for justice and for deliverance from enemies.

Uses:

When persecuted or opposed unjustly

To focus on God’s character in difficult circumstances

Praising God’s righteousness and judgement

Giving thanks for deliverance or in the confidence of future deliverance

Prayer:

Lord, you search me and you know me.

I confess that I am a sinner, entirely dependent on your grace.

Make me a person of righteousness and integrity, I pray.

May I be faithful and consistent, as you are, keeping my word, honouring my friends and partners, always dealing fairly with others and fulfilling my responsibilities.

May I never give others cause to hate me or to hate you.

Lord, I pray for justice for myself and for the world.

Vindicate me, and all who are wronged.

Deliver your faithful people who are persecuted without cause.

I look to you as my refuge and shield, my only confidence in this world and in the next.

Arise and fight for your people, I pray.

Yours, Lord, is the battle and the victory.

May your kingdom come and your will be done.

May your just rule be seen upon the earth.

Thank you, Lord, for your righteousness, that I can have complete confidence that the judge of all the world will do right.

Thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ: the only perfectly innocent one who suffered unjustly for me and whom you delivered from death and hell, triumphing over all his enemies.

Thank you for the vindication of his resurrection and ascension and that all evil will be undone.  

All praise to your high and holy name.

Amen.

Outlines / structure:

Expositor’s Bible:

The righteous God loves the righteous

(1)  A - Prayer for refuge (vv1-2)

(2) B - Oath of innocence (vv3-5)

(3) C - God’s righteous judgement (vv6-13)

(4) B’ - Judgement of the guilty (vv14-16)

(5) A’ - Praise of God’s righteousness (v17)

Goldingay, Baker Commentary

On trial, in battle, hunted

Wilcock, BST:

(1) Concerning Cush: a lion (vv1-5)

(2) Concerning God: a courtroom (vv6-9)

(3) Concerning God: an armoury (vv10-13)

(4) Concerning Cush: a pregnancy and a pit (vv14-17)

Kidner, Tyndale:

A cry for justice

Vv1-2, The hunted man

Vv3-5, The oath of innocence

Vv6-11, The righteous judge

Vv12-16, “Sin, when it is finished…”

V17, Thankful praise

Dale Ralph Davis, The Way of the Righteous in the Muck of Life

Just Justice

Take care with your prayer (vv1-5)

Find hope in God’s anger (vv6-11)

Watch Judgement take place (vv12-16)

Remember praise is due (v17)

Notes:

Title:

Goldingay calls a siggayon a lament on the basis of the Akkadian sigu

Shiggaion – Wilcock guesses it could be related to the verb to wander and therefore wild, rhapsodic music

David

Sang to the LORD

Davis has “on account of the words of Cush”

Cush – Sudan (Goldingay) – the area south of Egypt not Ethiopia

2 Sam 18:20-32 the Sudanese – Shimei and or Sheba both styled Benjaminites (Goldingay) – see Goldingay p144 for verbal links between this story and the Psalm

Cf. 1 Sam 24

Concerning Cush, a Benjamite – not mentioned elsewhere in the Bible

When David was pursued by Saul the Benjaminite?

Or during Absalom’s rebellion the latent hostilities of the Benjaminites resurged – 2 Sam 16:5-14; 20:1-22

How is God pictured and described in this Psalm?

Movement from lament to thanksgiving

A broadening out to God’s eschatological rule over the nations? – then God’s people will no longer be troubled

2 Thess 1:5-10 – the coming judgement

Themes / genres: individual lament (vv1-2), oath (vv3-5), kingship psalm (vv6-12), thanksgiving hymn (v17)

Justice and salvation go together here

From intensely personal to global (v7-8)

Cf. Naboth

Num 5:11-28; Dt 8:7-20; 1 Kings 8:31-32

Vivid pictures of David’s opponents: a lion, a pregnant man (!), and a digger of holes

Of God: judge and warrior (Wilcock, p35)

Wilcock: 4 chiastic stanzas: Cush / God / God / Cush (p35)

David lays out before the Lord his position (v1a), his danger (vv1b-2) and his conscience (vv3-5) (Davis, p86)

V1 – Yahweh, My God (repeated in v3) – an initial note of confidence

V1 – I take refuge in you – loyalty, trust

Cf. other supposed refuges… “Other refuge have I none” (Charles Wesley, Jesus Lover of My Soul)

Kidner says the tense shows that “while David’s preservation and deliverance were still matters for prayer (v1b), his unseen refuge was already a fact”

Vv1 & 2 – repetition of save

V2 – lion imagery

V2 – God his only hope – an argument for God to act

Vv3-4 – If, ‘im, 3x in MT

V3 – “this” – whatever his enemy is accusing him of

Dt 25:16

V3 – awel – guilt (NIV) is meanness, deception, hostility, unfaithfulness

Cf. Is 1:15; 59:3, 6

Vv3-5 – an appeal to God’s justice – of course the Psalmist cannot claim sinless perfection but he knows himself to be in the right with respect to his enemies. They are baddies and he is a goody. Their opposition is undeserved.

Cf. Job’s claim to righteousness – 1 Cor 4

Is the Psalmist at all confused about this / really questioning it or is this rhetorical?

He who is at peace with me equivalent to a close friend Ps 41:9; Jer 38:22 – cf. Judas?! – an ally?

2 Kings 7:17

Perhaps david feels slandered, misunderstood, falsely accused of bribes, treachery etc. – cf. Absalom’s smear campaign – 2 Sam 15:1-6

Cf. God’s knowledge and an illustration from the art of spying – CIA photos from 1973 in which one can make out the time on the soldiers watches (Davis, p86f)

V4 – David’s supposed betrayal of Saul?

Vv4-5 suggest a war context

V4 – solem - friend, strictly, ally – someone in a committed salom relationship

Ex 23:4f; lev 19:17f; 1 Sam 24:10f; Prov 25:21

V4b – Goldingay, “but released my watchful foe without cause” – says halas never elsewhere means to plunder – a former ally who has become a foe?

Unprincipled leniency to foes? – cf. Saul to Agag 1 Sam 15

V5 – kebodi, kabod, my glory – personal worth? – can sometimes refer to the liver or inner being, heart – cf. 4:2 / honour – 3:3

Cf. Job 31

V5 – evil as an army

V5 – Selah – Goldingay translates this “(Rise)” – Willock: an interlude for music or meditation? – a pause to read related Scriptures? (Goulder)

Vv6-11 – Kidner: breadth of vision here; concern for universal justice

V6 – God’s anger

V6 – An appeal to God’s anger against the anger of the enemies – God’s anger is the Psalmist’s hope; the attackers’ anger is the Psalmist’s threat (Goldingay)

Cf. Heb 4:13 – God as all-knowing judge – There’s no fooling him!

Cf. 5:5; 6:1

V6 – appeal to God to arise and awake – God does not sleep of course, but it can seem like he does!

V6 – God, you must have ordered a decision

God is more powerful than any enemies and he cares

Cf. Acts 17:31

V6 – repetition: arise, rise up, awake

Cf. Num 10:35-36 and Ps 3:7

V7 – MT suba, return, not seba, rule – return on high, LORD

Return to your judgement seat throne / sit as judge

Vv7-8 – an appeal to God to exercise his rule and judge, to God’s righteousness and integrity / character

A prayer for vindication, declare me in the right – judge my case and find for me, Lord

Cf. 2:8-9

V9 the hinge of the Psalm – movement from prayer to expressions of confidence and praise

V9 – The righteous God searches minds and hearts – both David and his enemies are open books to the LORD

God not grandfatherly and mildly indulgent! (Wilcock)

A court with teeth! (Wilcock)

Vv9-11: 6 descriptive phrases of God: righteous God, tester (one who searches my heart, v9), my shield, saviour, righteous judge, God who expresses his wrath

The ungodly will experience God’s sword; the repentant will benefit from his shield. It is precisely by dealing with the wicked that God delivers the innocent. We ought to be grateful for the fierceness of the Biblical God because it guarantees that eventually all will be as it ought to be (Wilcock, p37)

Chiasm:

A Tester

B Righteous

C Shield

C’ Saviour

B’ Righteous judge

A’ Indignant

(Expositor’s Bible Commentary, p132)

The confidence of a believer before God

Heb 10:19-23; 2 Tim 8:8

V9 – mind and heart, lit. hearts and kidneys, inmost being, the deepest part of a person, innards, Ps 26:5; Jer 11:20; 17:10; 20:12 – God knows the heart Jer 17:9

V10 – God as shield – cf. 3:3; 18:35 – Heb. Lit, my shield is on God

The Lord as righteous judge with the nations gathered around him a familiar image in the kingship of Yahweh Pss 95-99

V12 – God’s delay has given an opportunity for repentance

V12 – God as warrior – cf. Ps 98 – he will fight his peoples’ battles on their behalf

V12 – darak, maybe lit. he treads his bow, pulling the string with his foot

V13 - God’s lightenings like flaming arrows – Ps 18:14

Judgement inescapable and deadly. David’s predicament will be reversed.

Vv14-16 cf. Prov 26:27; 28:10

V14 – pregnancy and birth metaphor

Wickedness may be allowed a gestation period

V14 – The first verb in the verse, habal, elsewhere describes the pain and anxiety of actually giving birth. There are several roots: a common one denotes “act corruptly” or “destroy” (Goldingay).

Cf. begetting and digging – Is 51:1-2 – pregnancy and digging (hara and kara) sound like one another

Evil is fertile but futile (after Kidner)

V14 – NIV disillusionment = saqer, lie, falsehood

Cf. James 1:14f

V15 – word play in the Heb – wayyippol, falls, yipal, made

Falls back, yasub, the same as turns (v12)

The lion of v2 falls into the pit of v15

V15-16 – they provoke their own downfall – their plots rebound on themselves – they fall into the pit they have dug – no doubt they think themselves so very clever and well prepared – perhaps they gloat over how they will ruin their enemies, not knowing that a great downfall awaits them

Sin comes home to roost

Wrongdoing is a boomerang – Prov 26:27; Mt 26:52

God stands behind all things – no such thing as merely natural consequences but the way God has established and governs the universe

Davis p90 – an Eskimo technique of getting a wolf to lick itself to death on a knife covered in frozen blood

Cf. the cross – the innocent unjustly suffering one delivered, the evil of his persecutors will rebound on them

V16 – the abcc’b’a’ structure of the verse mirrors the reversal it describes (Goldingay)

V17 – Application: resolve to thank and praise God

Mk 7:37

V17 – the exact expression Yahweh Most High only elsewhere in 47:2

V17 – The name of the LORD most high – note in Expositor’s Bible Commentary on the Name of Yahweh (p135) – The Creator-Redeemer-King God who has revealed himself, the God of the covenant – reliable, promise-keeping, God’s people who call on him can expect his blessing and protection – God’s name recalls his perfections and mighty acts and will be praised – list of other Psalms which use The name of the Yahweh on p136

Name / character

Hope in God’s faithfulness and power

Trial / war / hunt imagery often used together (Goldingay, p152)

Isaac Watts: O bless the Lord, my soul, nor let his mercies lie / forgotten in unthankfullness, and without praises die.

Troubles à prayer à deliverance à praise

Whether in trouble or in thankfulness, pray!

Paul's shopping lists not infalible

The “prophets and apostles may have written some things in the ordinary way to private persons, as, for instance David sent private letters to Joab. These things ought not to be received into the canon. But whatever they wrote as prophets, and inspired by God, for the public instruction of the church, have been received into the canon. ” (William Whitaker, Disputation on Holy Scripture, p300-1)

4 offices of the church with respect to Scripture

Whitaker argues that the church is:

(1) notary - witness and guardian of the sacred writings (p283)

(2) champion - “the church is, to distinguish and discern the true, sincere and genuine scriptures from the spurious, false and superstitious.” (p283) “for the performance of this function it hath the Spirit of Christ to enable it to distinguish the true from the false: it knows the voice of the spouse” (p283-4)

(3) herald - “the church is to publish, set forth, preach and promulgate the scriptures” (p284)

 (4) interpreter - to expound and explain them (p284)

(Disputation on Holy Scripture)

Turretin gives a similar list:

The church’s functions with respect to Scripture: (1) keeper (2) guide to point them out (3) defender of them (4) herald to promulgate them (5) interpreter (IET, vol 1, p90)

Holy / Special Language

William Whitaker defends vernacular Bible translations, services and prayers at length against the Roman Catholics of his day in his Disputation on Holy Scripture.

In the Council of Trent, Session XXII, cap. 8, it is said “not to seem good to the fathers, that the mass should everywhere be celebrated in the vulgar tongue.” (p250)

 Some papists argued that: “The majesty of religious offices requires a language more grand and venerable than the vulgar tongues of every nation.” (p251)

 Whitaker says, “I deny that the majesty of sacred things can be diminished by any vernacular tongues, however barbarous.” (p251) pointing out that by the power of the Holy Spirit the apostles used barbarous languages in Acts 2.

Some papists including Bellarmine argued that “Three languages [of Latin, Hebrew and Greek] were hallowed upon the cross [by the sign above Jesus' head]: therefore we ought to be content with those three languages in the public offices of the church” (p257)

 Whitaker argues the purpose was not to consecrate these languages but that the report of Christ’s death should be diffused as widely as possible. (p257) In fact this fits with the desire for the message of the gospel to be understood.

Whitaker does not do so but a theological appeal might be made to the incarnation and to what we might call the full and real humanity of Scripture to attack the idea that there are certain special or holy languages. God's power is magnified by the weakness of human flesh and language that he is able to perfectly reveal himself through them.

A magical view of Scripture

Origen apparently thought that “the mere words of scripture may have a beneficial effect, after the manner of a spell, upon the man who reads them, through certain spiritual powers which he supposes to be in intimate contact with our souls.” Footnote 1, p266. Philocalia, c. 12, p. 40, ed. Spencer and Huetius’ Origen, T. 1. P. 27. C. William Whitaker, Disputation on Holy Scripture. The footnote comes from Whitaker’s translator and editor, William Fitzgerald, I think.

Death

It was a privilege today to attend the funeral of The Revd John Cheeseman.

Using an idea from someone else, the preacher said that death is like a horrible grotty old porch, which for the believer leads into the most glorious mansion.

Against dynamic equivalence

William Whitaker wants translators to err in the direction of word for word literalness:

 “it behoves a translator of scripture not merely to take care that he do not corrupt the meaning, but also, as far as it may be possible, not to depart a hand’s breadth from the words; since many things may lie under cover in the words of the Holy Spirit, which are not immediately perceived, and yet contain important instruction.” (Disputation on Holy Scripture, p165)

Rome on the Vulgate

The Council of Trent makes this pretty extraordinary claim for the Latin Vulgate:

"Moreover, the same sacred and holy Synod,--considering that no small utility may accrue to the Church of God, if it be made known which out of all the Latin editions, now in circulation, of the sacred books, is to be held as authentic,--ordains and declares, that the said old and vulgate edition, which, by the lengthened usage of so many years, has been approved of in the Church, be, in public lectures, disputations, sermons and expositions, held as authentic; and that no one is to dare, or presume to reject it under any pretext whatever."

(Session 4)

I have been reading William Whitaker Disputation on Holy Scripture which attacks the Vulgate at length.

Now, as I understand it, the Roman Catholic church doesn't go in for repudiating its councils, but it is worth nothing that things have changed somewhat. As Tony Lane points out, Pope Pius XII's Divino afflante Spiritu (1943) talks of the duty of exegetes to make use of the Hebrew and Greek: "The original text... having been written by the inspired author himself, has more authority and greater weight than even the very best translation, whether ancient or modern" (section 16).

It is said that Trent's declarations about the Vulgate apply "only to the Latin Church and to the public use of the same Scriptures."

Lane summarises: "The Vulgate is "free from any error whatsoever in matters of faith and morals" and so can be safely used for teaching and preaching. But when it comes to establishing the correct text of Scripture it is the original Hebrew and Greek that is normative." ('Roman Catholic Views of Biblical Authority from the Late Nineteenth Century to the Present' in Carson, The Enduring Authority of the Christian Scriptures, p299)

By the time of Vatican II's Dei verbum (1965) "the Vulgate is listed as one of a number of ancient translations to be held in honor. Vernacular translations should be made from the original texts." (Lane, p311)