Sing the Psalms, Part Deux
Yesterday I was at The Office reading a new book called "Interpreting the Psalms". It was tremendously affirming to me that my obsessive studies in the psalms over the last decade have not been off track.
One insight that made me shout aloud was in an article by Michael Lefebvre on Psalm 1. He points out that the word for "meditate" (hagah) always involves vocal activity. It can't mean silent contemplation. It must mean something like reciting from memory, or reading aloud, or praying aloud to God, or at least talking to yourself about the psalm.
This wasn't the part that was new to me. I've preached this before and my favorite cross-reference to cite has been Isaiah 31:4 "As a lion growls[hagah], a great lion over his prey..." So when you go to read the Bible, growl over the text looking for food.
But what was new is that when the psalmist calls us to meditation he may be commending the practice of singing the Word of God.
Psalm 63:6-7 when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
Psalm 71:23-24 My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed. And my tongue will talk[hagah] of your righteous help all the day long.
Consider also that when Moses gave the torah to Joshua and the priests in Deuteronomy 31, he also wrote a song for the people. It was as though singing that song was the way the common folk meditated on the torah.
So over the years as I've learned all this psalm-chanting and inflicted it upon my loved ones, I may not have been so wack after all. There's a good argument made by more people than just me that says this is the way the author of psalm 1 tells us to make use of the book if we are to know the blessing of flourishing like a tree planted beside streams of water.
One insight that made me shout aloud was in an article by Michael Lefebvre on Psalm 1. He points out that the word for "meditate" (hagah) always involves vocal activity. It can't mean silent contemplation. It must mean something like reciting from memory, or reading aloud, or praying aloud to God, or at least talking to yourself about the psalm.
This wasn't the part that was new to me. I've preached this before and my favorite cross-reference to cite has been Isaiah 31:4 "As a lion growls[hagah], a great lion over his prey..." So when you go to read the Bible, growl over the text looking for food.
But what was new is that when the psalmist calls us to meditation he may be commending the practice of singing the Word of God.
Psalm 63:6-7 when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
Psalm 71:23-24 My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed. And my tongue will talk[hagah] of your righteous help all the day long.
Consider also that when Moses gave the torah to Joshua and the priests in Deuteronomy 31, he also wrote a song for the people. It was as though singing that song was the way the common folk meditated on the torah.
So over the years as I've learned all this psalm-chanting and inflicted it upon my loved ones, I may not have been so wack after all. There's a good argument made by more people than just me that says this is the way the author of psalm 1 tells us to make use of the book if we are to know the blessing of flourishing like a tree planted beside streams of water.
posted by isaiah543 at 11:35 PM
2 Comments:
Try to think of these psalm chanting moments in church not as substitutes for praise songs, but as improvements upon responsive readings. The reason we sing them is that they are the very word of God and singing helps us memorize them. You don't really enjoy them until you do it many many times. Then it's memorized. My kids can recite four or five psalms from memory now and it's just from singing. Surely that's worth something even if you find the melodies anachronistic or unappealing.
Well Mathauer,
My class starts Monday at noon at the TCBC CE bldg. if you want more exposure. :-)
If you can't make that you can find "An Introduction to Gregorian
Psalmody and Psalm Tones" at this website
http://www.llpb.us/psalmody.htm
This is where I got the handouts for my Sunday school class.
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