Thursday, August 17, 2023

Seder 157: Psalm 64---Confidence in God's Measure-for-Measure Justice

 The psalmist in Psalm 64, presumably David, prays for God's protection from dangerous enemies (vv 1-2).  He then goes on to describe the enemies, who hatch plots against the blameless and wait to ambush them (vv 3-4).  They imagine that their plans are foolproof and there is no one to hold them accountable (vv 5-6).  

God, however, has other ideas.  He causes their plot to backfire, so that they suffer the fate that they had planned for their victims (vv 7-8).  As a result, fear of God increases and the righteous rejoice at God's great works (vv 9-10).  

In the midrash on Psalm 64, the sages suggest that God had revealed in advance to David what would happen to the prophet Daniel in the future.  Like the wicked described in Psalm 64, the officials of King Darius ambush Daniel with an ingenious plot, so that Daniel is thrown into a den of lions.  The lions, however, do not touch Daniel; instread, they devour the evil officials and their families (Daniel 6).  Daniel 6 does indeed provide a nice example of the scenario laid out in the Psalm.  

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