Snoopy on the Psalms

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paradox3 said:
Psalm 5 offers reassurance of God's help, shelter, joy and protection for the godly.

And the psalmist reminds God to condemn evil people, liars, the arrogant, the violent and the deceitful.

Psalm 5 gives us quite the dichotomy of good and evil. And it seeks God's fair judgement and justice.
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Personally I find this a poor understanding from David? about who God is...but rather who he wants God to be....
 
Waterfall said:
Personally I find this a poor understanding from David? about who God is...but rather who he wants God to be....
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It's poetry. Why should it not be an expression of the needs and desires of the poet? Poetry is best when it is an expression of what is in the heart, not a simple attempt to convey ideas. In fact, it is not a particularly good form for complex thought. It is better at feelings and sensations. Theology is better done in other literary forms.
 
Waterfall said:
Personally I find this a poor understanding from David? about who God is...but rather who he wants God to be....
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Yes it reflects a great desire to see the righteous prevail and enjoy God's blessings. And for the wicked to get their just desserts.

The psalmist wants so much for life to be fair.
 
Waterfall said:
I question that....to me poetry can be many things IMO.
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It can be, but my point is that maybe there is no misunderstanding by the poet, that he is expressing something in his heart rather than his head. It's not what he knows or believes is true, but a truth that he wants or needs to believe in this time of his life.
 
Psalm 5 gives us David still pleading to God to hear his prayer to keep his enemies at bay --and give him protection ----

David comes to God in faith asking Him to hear his prayer and asks Him to understand his sadness that he is feeling ---every morning he prays --so his prayer is consistent ----which is important ---and he waits for God to answer his prayer --which is important as we are to pray always and be patient and wait for the answer ----

In verses 4-6 he hives God the Glory for not putting up with evil people ---evil cannot stay in God's presents ---

People who Agape God and are in awe of Him can come to His temple and worship Him and God offers protection to them from their enemies and can they can rejoyce in Him ----and experience His Blessings ---
 
Mendalla said:
It can be, but my point is that maybe there is no misunderstanding by the poet, that he is expressing something in his heart rather than his head. It's not what he knows or believes is true, but a truth that he wants or needs to believe in this time of his life.
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I see the Psalms as heartfelt but also expressing a theological point of view. No different than present day hymnody if you really think about it.
 
Psalm 6 begins in lament. David is afraid of the Lord's anger and he asks for mercy.
He requests healing and rescue from his suffering. He is exhausted, moaning and weeping.

Is God's discipline responsible for this? Is it a physical illness? Have David's enemies done something to him? The text doesn't make it clear but David fears death. (Unless he is exaggerating!) :)

God hears the psalmist weeping (v. 8). David says that his enemies will turn back and be suddenly humiliated.
 
So who are these enemies, do you think? Are they the foes in a war?

Or are they something internal that represents struggle? Satan, perhaps? Or could it be the writer's own sinful nature?

If you were to pray this Psalm, which enemy would you have in mind?
 
Psalm 7.

According to the superscription (title) this Psalm concerns the Benjaminite, Cush. This character is mentioned in Chronicles but we don't know anything about him.

For an interesting bit of biblical trivia, 116 of the Psalms have superscriptions.

David continues to find himself among enemies and he takes shelter in God. He protests his own innocence and offers to die if he is guilty of unjust actions.

He asks God to execute judgement on his enemies.

God is just and examines inner thoughts and motives. There will be consequences for those who do not repent.

The psalmist observes that the wicked one often falls victim to his own destructive plans. "He digs a pit and then falls into the hole he has made." (v. 4)

The psalm ends in praise, thanking the Lord for his justice.
 
New words for me. Imprecation (noun). Imprecatory (adjective).

It means to call for God's judgement against one"s enemies or God's enemies. The meaning is close to "curse" but I don't think that is it exactly.

Psalms 69 and 109 are the major imprecatory Psalms. But there are others including 5 & 6.

Psalm 7 is not considered to be imprecatory which I find curious. After all, David says: "Stand up angrily, Lord. Rise up with raging fury against my enemies." (v. 6).

God is just and angry throughout the day and will wield his sword if a person does not repent. God also has flaming arrows available.

But there is a new message here about wickedness backfiring. The violence intended for others falls on the wicked one's own head.
 
Do we really want to believe that God has this "nature"? Throwing flaming arrows at someone's enemies? Or rising up with raging fury?
This is how we "love" our enemies?
Whether it's allegory or myth...it's destructive and it sounds mortal not godly to me.
With only hearing David's side it's biased thinking.
 
Was there any concept of "loving ones enemies" at the time the Psalms were written?

We know Jesus will talk about this much later. Some people think that Jesus's moral principles all come from the Hebrew Scriptures. So I dunno.
 
Waterfall said:
Do we really want to believe that God has this "nature"? Throwing flaming arrows at someone's enemies? Or rising up with raging fury?
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Welcome to a Bronze Age view of divinity. This is why I don't really buy the idea of using psalms too much for modern theology. They are very much products of their time and of the person who wrote them.
Waterfall said:
This is how we "love" our enemies?
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Agree with @paradox3. This really was not part of the theology in David's day. God was your strong arm and ally in smiting your foes, not teaching you to cuddle Hittites or whoever you were fighting at the time.
Waterfall said:
Whether it's allegory or myth...it's destructive and it sounds mortal not godly to me.
With only hearing David's side it's biased thinking.
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In the end, it's all mortal, not godly. Gods don't write books, people do. Religious scripture is our writing about God and is all biased by the values of the society and writer. So we need to read all scripture with that in mind. Which is kind of the point of threads like this. By discussing and thinking about the writing, maybe we can find what truth there is in that writer's biased work and how we can apply it in our rather different age.
 
What evil acts have these enemies been committing, I wonder? The text doesn't spell it out for us. Are they responsible for atrocities that would understandably make God angry?
 
Mendalla said:
Welcome to a Bronze Age view of divinity. This is why I don't really buy the idea of using psalms too much for modern theology. They are very much products of their time and of the person who wrote them.

Agree with @paradox3. This really was not part of the theology in David's day. God was your strong arm and ally in smiting your foes, not teaching you to cuddle Hittites or whoever you were fighting at the time.

In the end, it's all mortal, not godly. Gods don't write books, people do. Religious scripture is our writing about God and is all biased by the values of the society and writer. So we need to read all scripture with that in mind. Which is kind of the point of threads like this. By discussing and thinking about the writing, maybe we can find what truth there is in that writer's biased work and how we can apply it in our rather different age.
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I agree with most of what you say, except today some people read it like it's still today...without an explanation or a questioning, even from ministers.
And yes I realized it is a product of it's time...but are most really disagreeing or discerning with a God that even Jesus might not agree with?
 
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