Our Soul Has Had More Than Its Fill

Christians have an odd relationship with the Hebrew Bible. We call it the “Old Testament” (which is vaguely condescending), and we embrace the sacred texts of the Jewish people as our own. We transpose words originally written by and for a specific people into more a more personal key. We call their Psalms the “prayerbook of the church” and we use them as such. We claim so many of their words as our own because we are convinced that Jesus is the fulfillment of their promise. This is an audacious claim and we should never forget this.

Every morning, the prayer book I use has a generous collection of Psalms and canticles taken from the Hebrew Bible sprinkled throughout the liturgy. In light of the unspeakable things that have happened in Israel and Gaza over the last few days, and in light of the unspeakable things that will happen in the days to come, I am trying to hear and to pray the words I read today less as a Christian and more as a Jew.

These were among the Psalms I prayed this morning. Psalm 123:3-4:

Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,
for we have had more than enough of contempt.
Our soul has had more than its fill
of the scorn of those who are at ease,
of the contempt of the proud.

Psalm 124:1-4:

If it had not been the Lord who was on our side
—let Israel now say—
if it had not been the Lord who was on our side,
when our enemies attacked us,
then they would have swallowed us up alive,
when their anger was kindled against us;
then the flood would have swept us away,
the torrent would have gone over us;
then over us would have gone
the raging waters.

Psalm 28:4-5 (that first line sends chills down my spine in light of some of the ghastly videos and images we have seen):

Do not drag me away with the wicked,
with those who are workers of evil,
who speak peace with their neighbours,
while mischief is in their hearts.
Repay them according to their work,
and according to the evil of their deeds;
repay them according to the work of their hands;
render them their due reward.

Psalm 62:3:

How long will you assault me?
Would all of you throw me down—
this leaning wall, this tottering fence?

Psalm 40:14-15:

May all who want to take my life
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who desire my ruin
be turned back in disgrace.
May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”
be appalled at their own shame.

And then, the Old Testament Canticle for the day. It sounds impossibly optimistic right about now, but to pray honestly is surely to pray for impossible things:

For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more (Isaiah 2:3-4).

——

I took the photo above in Jerusalem at the “Wailing Wall” in 2018. Wailing seems an appropriate word.