Seder 150: Psalm 120---Deliverance from Deceitful Tongues

 In Psalm 120 the psalmist, who has previously experienced divine deliverance in times of distress (v 1), brings another situation to God.  He has been the victim of slanderous verbal attacks (v 2).  He tries to make peace, but his enemies will have none of it (vv 6-7).  

He prays that God will give his attacker the kind of punishment that the attacker has been directing at him (vv 3-4).  The images used in these verses remind us of the destructive damage that our words can do.  The deceitful tongue is like a bow shooting an arrow or like a sharp sword (see Ps 57:4; 64:3; Pr 25:18; Jer 9:3,8).  It can also be compared to a fire (James 3:6; Pr 16:27).   

"Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!" he laments in verse 5.  Meshach and Kedar are located far from Israel in completely different directions, Meshech near the Black Sea and Kedar in the Arabian desert.  Here the psalmist may be saying that he feels completely alienated in his home in Israel, as if he were staying in one of these faraway places.  Alternatively, he may be saying that he might as well be living in Meshech or Kedar, because his enemies are behaving like hostile barbarians.  Or perhaps he is saying that even when he is far from home, he is too close to these slanderers.  In any case, the verse expresses his alienation.  

Psalm 120 is the first of the psalms of ascents, songs associated with the journey to Jerusalem for one of the pilgrimage festivals.  It may be that in going to be in God's presence he finally feels at home in a way that he hasn't been experiencing in his own town (see Heb 11:13-16).  

Seder 23: Gen 25:1-19---Abraham's Increase

 After Sarah's death, Abraham lived for another 38 years.  Through an additional wife, Keturah, he fathered six more sons.  Genesis 25 records more information about how Abraham became a father of many nations (Gen 17:4-6).  

The name Keturah is related to Hebrew words for "smoke" and "incense".  Historically her children are associated with the spice trade (Isa 60:6, e.g.).  

Gen 25 also shows how God's promises to Ishmael were carried out.  Ishmael was the father of 12 princes, as promised in Gen 17:20---see Gen 25:12-18.  They were known to be nomadic herders and merchants--see for example the biblical references to the tents and flocks of Kedar (Ps 120:5; Song 1:5; Isa 60:7; Ezek 27:21).  They seem to have had lots of interaction with the tribes that came from the sons of Keturah (e.g., Gen 37:25-28, 36).

Abraham continued to follow a policy of promoting peace by spreading his extended family out over a wide region.  Isaac and Ishmael came together to bury Abraham (Gen 25:9).  Later the Midianites from Jethro's family were friends of Israel.  On the other hand, other Midianites would later oppose Israel (Num 25; Judges 6).  

Only one of family lines descending from Abraham would lead to the Messiah---the line through Isaac---but God's plan is to bless all nations, and he has all of them in mind.  

Although the Bible tells us little about Keturah, she was important to Abraham.  In his sermon at Church of the Messiah on Aug 22, Kyle Kettering set aside time for men in the congregation to praise their wives.