Chapter One
Torah
We are cradled as human creatures in God's fantastic and ordered world.
Torah is the rich biblical term noted Jewish theologian Martin Buber translates Weisung, meaning the guidance and leading of the covenantal Lord God.
So torah refers to the marvelous creational ordinances of God which structure and set limits to the nature of creatural glory (Psalm 104; Psalm 148:5-6), like the amazing planetary orbits, the environmental metabolism of plants, the genetic code of animals, the normalcy of social structures like human tribes, families, and neighborhoods, and the various possible institutional forms for schooling, governing, and business. Torah refers also to the injunctions God gave in writing to Moses, like the ten "words" of instruction from Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:1-21; Deuteronomy 5:1-6:25) and the call to be pure and holy (Leviticus 19; Psalm 19:11-14). Torah includes the Lord's way of leading God's people historically out of their frequent punishing captivities (Psalms 78; 105; Romans 9-11).
Torah does not mean "laws" as a rigid set of prohibitions you are forbidden to transgress, a kind of club to knock you back into line (I John 5:3). The apostle Paul spent much time trying to disabuse legalistic Jewish and Christian believers of this one-sided negative conception of torah (Galatians 3-4; Romans 3:21-5:21). Even Jesus tried to free up the conservatist and liberalist leaders of God's people in his day from their small-minded restriction of God's will to statutes of cultic propriety and confessional piety by appealing to the cosmic ordinances God posited for the weather (Matthew 16:1-4; Luke 12:54-56)!
Simply put, torah refers to the underlying provident will of the trustworthy God of the universe and to God's Spirit-leading in the direction of shalom. Torah reveals creational laws like gravity to be God's hug for all creatures - not an impediment, but an upholding embrace. God's will reiterated at Sinai is a hedge to protect us from wasting our lifetime by stumbling off the Way of blessing. The Lord's torah reposited by Jesus Christ for us humans to follow (Matthew 5-7; Galatians 5:16-6:2) has the liberating effect of asking us to mature in thankfulness for the Lord God's loving hold on our daily lives and to bear each other's burdens. Torah is why Jesus taught us to pray, "Your will be done, O God, on earth as it is in heaven."
Psalm 1
Psalm 1 is a love letter from God, a beatitude. Blessed are the transplanted people: the women, men, and children who leave godless shenanigans behind and become rooted in the Ways of the Lord.
1 That man or woman is a happy one who does not practice the clever thought habits of godless people, who does not go stand around the way sinners do, or sit down with mocking, scoffing company. 2 That man or woman is a happy one whose pastime rather is the torah of the Lord, who ruminates on the torah of the Lord day and night. 3 That person is like a tree transplanted near running waters, a tree which bears its fruit on time and whose leaf does not wither - all that man or woman does is prospered!
4 It is not so with godless people. They are like chaff which the wind blows to bits. 5 That is why godless people - the sinners within the covenantal congregation too - that is why they cannot and shall not withstand Judgment: they are like chaff which the wind blows to bits.
6 The Lord God keeps close watch on the way of life the tried-and-true faithful lead: the way the wicked walk, however, shall end in permanent destruction.
Psalm 8
Psalm 8 celebrates the amazing Lord God whose creatures, like the stars and prowling animals, are astonishing wonders. And God makes us small humans to be lords over all these creatures. This psalm can be read antiphonally with voice chorus.
A melody by David for the attention of the music director, using gittith stringed instruments
[Chorus begins]
1 Lord, our Lord! How wonderful is your name in all the earth! Lord, our Lord! How wonderful is your name in all the earth! 2 You who have set your glory in the heavens so that your adversaries, obstinate and vindictive enemies, may be stilled, you may now find that glory praised in the mouths of us babes and sucklings.
[Solo voice addresses God]
3 When I look at the night sky, the work of your finger, When I look at the moon and the stars, held there by your hand, 4 What are we mortal humans that you remember a man or a woman and pay them attention?
[Chorus thunders in answer]
5 You have made us humans almost like gods, crowning humanity with glory, a lordliness, 6 making us rule over the work of your hands, with everything put under our feet: 7 sheep and cows, wild animals of the fields, 8 birds of the heavens, fish in the waters and whatever other creatures prowl the deep paths of the sea - 9 O Lord, our Lord! How wonderful is your name in all the earth! Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is your name in all the earth!
Psalm 8 (Versification)
Lord God, how great your wonderful creation! Your Name resounds through earth each generation. Weak baby cries still celebrate your laws. Your stunning deeds make even scoffers pause.
Amazed at night I scan the sky and linger to see the moon and stars made by your finger. What good are mortal humans on the earth? Why do you gently care for us from birth?
Lord, you have made us humans truly lordly, crowned us with cultivating might and glory. Marvelous creatures - bird and fish and beast - you have subjected underneath our feet.
Lord God, how great your wonderful creation! Your Name is heard at large by every nation. Grant us the grace and wise humility to claim and serve your ruling majesty. Tune: genevan 8 (Genevan Psalter, 1551 edition)
Psalm 19
Psalm 19 declares the stunning torah of the Lord: creational order reveals God's merciful will for our lives. The glorious creatures at large are so many burning bushes of God's presence. For us to hear God speak in the tongues (glossolalia) of creation, we need a clean heart, waiting in awe for the Lord's voice.
A melody by David prepared for the music director
1 The heavens are telling the glory of God. The very shape of starry space makes news of God's handiwork. 2 One day is brimming over with talk ['omer] for the next day, and each night passes on intimate knowledge to the next night 3 - there is no speaking, no words at all, you can't hear their voice, but -
4 their glossolalia travels throughout the whole earth! their uttered noises carry to the end of inhabited land!
God set up a tent for the sun at the ends of the earth - 5 have you seen the sun?! beaming forth like a bridegroom from his marriage-bed! The sun laughs joyfully like a strong man glad to run a race ['orach]: 6 it always rises from the edge of the heavens, and it circles over and around to the other ends of the sky - nothing is able to hide from its burning heat.
7 The leading [tôrah] of the Lord God is utterly reliable, bringing people back to life again! The magnificent testimonies ['êdût] of Lord God prove themselves to be everlastingly true, making inexperienced young people wise. 8 The commanding words [piqqûd] of the Lord God are truly straightening, causing one's heart to laugh and be glad! A task [miswah] imposed by Yahweh is bound to be integrally whole, making one's eyes shine with insight. 9 Fear of the Lord God [yir'at yhwh] is cleansing: it stands up forever and ever. The ordering judgments [mishpâtim] of Yahweh are firmly true - Amen! The Lord's fiats all together are thoroughly just 10 - more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold, sweeter than honey, yes, than natural honey of the honeycomb.
11 Let me, your servant, also be warned by these ordinances, Lord, for in keeping them much good results - 12 who can discern all one's errant missteps?! O Lord! set me free from the spoilsome sins kept hidden from my notice! 13 And please hold me back from every overweening presumption - I am your servant, Lord! - Do not ever let self-confidence push me around: then I will finally be able to be unpretentiously blameless, rid of all the guilt-making rebelliousness....
14 Let the sayings of my mouth and the inarticulate groanings of my heart be something acceptable in front of your face, O Lord God, my rock! the One who always comes through to set me free from my bondage!
Matthew 5
Matthew 5 offers God's benediction upon all those who listen to the Lord talk to them in their troubled daily life. God's good news frees men, women, and children from the curse of needing to master their destiny. The upside-down Rule of God in the world, following Jesus Christ, is simply to be merciful: then you are the salt of the earth!
1-2 When he saw the crowd of people, Jesus walked up the mountain a little way. After he sat down, his disciples came in closer. Then Jesus opened his mouth, as it were, and began teaching them these things:
3 The at-heart contrite ones are happy people, because the Rule of heaven is theirs for the asking. 4 Men and women who are aggrieving are fortunate! because they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed indeed are the gentle meek, for they are the ones who get the earth as their possession! 6 Yes, those who are hungrily busy and thirstily waiting for the righteousness of God to take hold shall finally be completely satisfied!
7 Good for them to whom it is given to be merciful, because their judgment shall be mercy itself! 8 Those who are truly innocent in their heart are happy people, because they shall be able to look God in the eye.
9 And those who bring about genuine reconciliation among men and women - good for them! for they shall be given the special name, "Children of God"! 10 Yes, blessed are the ones who have been harassed and maltreated because of their clinging to what is right to God, because the Rule of heaven, I tell you, is theirs for the asking!
11-12 You are well off - I mean it! - when men reproach you, when women make it difficult for you, underhandedly gossip all kinds of misleading evil about you because you want what is right before me. When that happens, really be happy! laugh and be joyful! because God's compensation for you in heaven is truly great! (They did that, you know, relentlessly hunted down the prophets who were before you.)
13-16 So you are "the salt of the earth"!? Well, if salt freaks out flat, how will you ever get it salty again! It's not good for anything anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled on by people. You are "the light of the world" too, right? It's true, a city located on the top of a mountain cannot be put into hiding even for a minute; and you don't get a lamp lighted and set it under a little bushel basket, but you put it on a lampstand, and it shines for all those in the house. All right, let the light you have shine in front of people in such a way that they see the good work you do and come to praise your Father who is in heaven.
Galatians 5-6
Galatians 5-6 sums up how Jewish and Christian believers pervert God's torah by trusting solely in their self-reliant selves to win salvation by becoming law-abiding citizens. Until the Holy Spirit converts you into someone who actually is bearing your neighbors' burdens out of love for God, you have missed hearing and doing the will of the Lord updated in the torah of the Christ.
The apostle Paul writes:
5:16-18 What I am saying is this: carry out your daily walk led by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desire of Sin. For Sin longs for the opposite of what the Spirit wants, and the Spirit sets its heart on what Sin detests: these two are antithetical to one another, so that you do not do what you would really like to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not stuck under the law.
19-21 It is obvious what the deeds of Sin are: whatever works immorality, impurity, shameless lust, idolatry, getting high on drugs [pharmakeia], hateful hostility, wrangling, factional rivalry, outbursts of anger, ambitiousness, dissensions, sectarianism, envy, drunkenness, all-night carousing, and such stuff - I want to tell you plainly, as I warned you before, that those who are busy doing such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
22-24 But the fruit of the Spirit is intense love, joy, genuine peace, longsuffering, kindness, upright goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control - against such fruit there is no law! And those who belong to Jesus Christ have crucified the Sinful with its kind of passions and desires.
25-26 Since we live by the Spirit in our hearts, let us also actually walk by the Spirit. Do not let us become eager for empty glory, irritating one another, envying one another.
6:1-2 Brothers and sisters, if a man or woman is detected in some misdeed, you who are Spirit-filled, help bring such a person back to the right way in a spirit of gentleness, looking out for yourself that you not be tempted too. Keep on bearing each other's burdens, and in that concrete way you will be fulfilling the law of Christ.
Chapter Two
Melchizedek
Our daily life happens sadly amid a rough tumble of public historical struggles in front of God's face.
Melchizedek is not a familiar name today. There are not yet MELCHIZEDEK T-shirts for sale in Christian bookstores.
The original Melchizedek ("king of right-doing") is the mysterious figure who blessed Abram after Uncle Abram's armed men rescued nephew Lot from the kings who had pillaged Sodom and Gomorrah. Melchizedek gave Abram a high-priestly blessing in the name of the Most High God (Genesis 14) just before Yahweh covenanted with Abram, who was then renamed Abraham, to bless the whole world through his obedient descendants (Genesis 12:1-3; 22:15-18; Galatians 3:1-14).
Continues...
Excerpted from Voicing God's Psalms by CALVIN SEERVELD Copyright © 2005 by Calvin Seerveld. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
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