As I'm reading Robert Alter's translation of "The Book of Psalms", he translates verse 2 of chapter 1 interestingly:
"But the Lord's teaching is his desire, and His teaching he murmurs day and night."For some reason, I'm used to that word having a negative connotation connected to complaining. However, the word he translated is the verb hagah which means to make a low muttering sound. I also found out that in Hebrew culture there is no silent reading. I haven't researched that, but it's so interesting to know that any reading for the Jew was always meant to be read and heard. We translate this word as "meditate", but in this case, it was an "outloud meditation".
I had some thoughts in response to this "murmuring".
First was this murmuring has substance. Not just a vague thought, but rather "the Lord's teaching". I love Richard Foster's contrast of eastern meditation with biblical meditation. In eastern meditation, there is an emptying of the mind, whereas in biblical meditation there is a feasting of the mind. A focusing. A centering. Would I learn to murmur truth, God's truth. Would that be the desire of my heart, and not just a discipline I force myself to do occasionally.
Secondly, this murmuring is not restricted to "sacred spaces" but rather is meant to permeate and infect every aspect of existence, day and night. To quote a later Psalm, "the earth is the Lord's and everything it." Would our lives too say the same. This murmuring helps anchor us to the truths that ground us. Being such a forgetful people, we need all the help we can get! Would we murmur in the morning as we rise, murmur in the shower, brushing our teeth, murmur at work, in crowds of people and while we are alone. There is no "inappropriate" time to murmur, for every situation can be seen and understood in the context of the gospel. Paul said it this way in his first letter to the church in Corinth, "Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." The difference most of the time is not the activity itself (although it can be), usually it's the motivation behind it. AW Tozer described it like this: "If you cannot worship the Lord in the midst of your responsibilities on Monday, it's not very likely that you were worshiping on Sunday either." That's heavy stuff.
Thirdly, I'm just reminded I need to memorize more Scripture. How are we to murmur if we don't have anything to murmur? Would my mind, heart, and lips overflow with the words I'm memorizing. This is a discipline I've consistently ignored for years. I need to start again with a couple simple goals. Maybe try to meet with a couple guys to do it.
Would I be a man who murmurs. Would we be a murmuring people.
great thoughts! I love Robert Alter's insights on more than one biblical interpretation. He gives some great perspectives on the OT. You Might also be interested in some of Kenneth Bailey's work (i.e. Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes) He brings some interesting thoughts to the table regarding parables and the cultural hermeneutic.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I used "We Enter Your Gates" this past weekend for communion at our church. People really seemed to connect with it. Thanks for your work on writing that song, and be encouraged that it is impacting people in California!
hey drew, that's awesome that you used "we enter your gates"... what church are you at there again?
ReplyDeletei'd love to hear more about robert alter's thoughts on more than one biblical interpretation. where did you read about that? i'll check out bailey's work too. sounds interesting.
sorry, my words were confusing... what I meant to say was that his thoughts on other passages are thought provoking as well. We talked about some of his ideas in OT class. For example, He argues that when reading OT narrative, the first thing a character says is meant to foreshadow that person's character throughout the rest of the narrative (kind of like a movie or play). For example, in 1 Sam 17, verse 26, David speaks for the first time saying, ""What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel?" In essence, "What is in it for me?", a very selfish statement. He then goes on to do a number of very selfish things throughout the rest of his life. Anyway.... I didn't mean that Alter had different biblical interpretations, I meant that he has insights on a number of passages that fascinate me.
ReplyDeleteI am at a church in Corte Madera California, just outside SF called Hillside Church of Marin. We have about 200-300 people. Smaller than Bridgeway, but fairly large for out here.
Enjoy the Bailey stuff... that guy is brilliant and will change the way you read the Gospels (specifically parables)
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