Monday, November 14, 2011

Psalm 90

Some notes. Before I start : please remember that I am a scholar, as well as a pastor. When I have the time, I try to read the text in their original languages. Greek for the New Testament and Hebrew for the Old Testament, and occasionally (frankly, very frequently) this opens the text in new ways.

Also know, that scholars routinely disregard the superscriptions to the psalms as secondary, that is, as later additions which in some way comment upon the text, and when this is done, the opening lines of Psalm 90 proper (in the King James Version, which is my favourite translation to English) are :

"Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations"

The first note I have is the word 'Lord'. Usually, when we read 'Lord' or 'The Lord' in English-language bibles, what is behind the term is the name Yahweh (I am a scholar, I use the name, if it offends you I am sorry, but I am not going to stop doing so) . Not so in this psalm. Here we have the Hebrew word 'dny which means 'my lord' and can be used both of God and of a normal master / lord. SO, strictly speaking, at this point of proceedings our only pointer as to the identity of the Lord in question is the fact, that we are dealing with a text which is placed among other texts, which all deal with God and with the relationship between God and humans.
Not until the end of the following verse do we find a proper designation of who is adressed : "From (out of) Eternity and until Eternity, you (are) God"

The next note is on the word which, in the KJV, is translated 'dwelling place'
The Hebrew word is m'wn or ma'on and really ... translating that with 'dwelling place' is selling the word short. There are two different words that are spelled spelled exactly the same way, one is the 'dwelling' of the KJV, the other means 'help' or 'assistance'. The basic root has a number of meanings as well : to dwell, to cover, to call for help.

Now, this word can be qualified with words like 'sacred' or 'holy', and quite frequently is, in which case the scared or holy ma'on is synonymous with the Temple, which - in Old Testament speak - is also synonymous with the palace of God, God's heavenly abode. In the Old Testament, they are all the same, they are where God lives.

But ma'on isn't qualified here.
What is more, it is not referring to a place, but to a person. To God.
So, not 'your dwelling' but "you are, to us, a ma'on" A place of peace, where we can be at home, can find help or assistance, can be safe. A home.
Now, isn't that a wonderful opening :-)

Lord, you (!) are our home.
And have been so for generation after generation.

It is not an invitation to make my home with God, or to find a home in some 'house of God' or other. The entire sentence (in Hebrew) is constructed in a way that says this is; it isn't something which is in a remote future or past, or even in a different dimension or reality. Here and now, right now, God is my home. And for generation after generation, in every possible 'now', God is my home.
All I need do is move in.

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