Seder 25: Psalm 37---Staying Faithful in Hard Times

 Psalm 37 is a wisdom psalm that urges followers of God not to worry when they are going through hard times and enemies of God seem to be flourishing.  

The psalm says that the wicked "will soon fade like the grass" (v 2).  In the spring the grass is green and lush, but it soon withers under the hot summer sun.  

Rabbinic midrash on this psalm identifies another image used in wisdom literature---that of a lamp.  Prov 24:19-20 says, "Do not fret because of evildoers.  Do not envy the wicked; for the evil have no future; the lamp of the wicked will go out."  On the other hand, Prov 6:23 states, "For the commandment is a lamp, and the teaching a light."  Putting these verses together, sages advised against envying the temporary lamp of the wicked.  Instead one should desire the lasting light of God's commandments.

Another rabbinic saying connected with Psalm 37 comes from Rabbi Eleazar:  "From the prosperity of the wicked in this world you can tell the reward of the righteous in the world to come  If so much for the wicked, how much more and more for the righteous."  

This saying reminds us of Jesus' teaching about how God takes care of both the righteous and the unrighteous (Matt 5:45).  Such an understanding of God's character lies behind Jesus' directive that we emulate God by loving our enemies (vv 43-48).  

Psalm 37 emphasizes that the reward of righteous Israelites will be long life for them and their descendants in the Promised Land.   By Jesus' time, understanding of the psalm had expanded to include a reward of eternal life for the righteous in the world to come, based on the reasoning that since the righteous are not always rewarded in this life, there must be a future life in which everything is made right.  

Such an understanding is reflected in Rabbi Eleazar's saying, and in Jesus' saying, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" (Matt 5:5).  This beatitude seems to be based on Psalm 37:11.  

Psalm 37 gives encouragement to persecuted followers of God.  Consider, for example, verses 32-33:  "The wicked watch for the righteous, and seek to kill them.  The Lord will not abandon them to their power, or let them be condemned when they are brought to trial."

These verses remind me of the plight of Pakistani Christians who are in constant danger of being arrested for supposedly blaspheming Mohammed or the Koran.  In one well-known case, Asia Bibi spent 8 years in prison but was finally being acquitted of a false blasphemy charge in 2018.