Seder 102: Psalm 29---Praising God and His 7 Thunders 18 Times

 Psalm 29 is a song of praise.  Commentators mention that it is written in the style of the Ugaritic Baal Cycle and propose that it was written to emphasize that the God of Israel is the real "storm god", not the Canaanite deity Baal.

With its mention of the voice of God shaking the wilderness in verse 8, this psalm has been associated with God's Sinai revelation and with the festival of Shavuot/Pentecost.  At Sinai God was said to have been accompanied by his heavenly host, which is encouraged in verse 1 to praise him.  Rashi's interpretation of Psalm 29 reflects an association with Sinai and Pentecost.

On the other hand, the superscription for this psalm in the Septuagint reads, "A psalm of David commemorating the feast of Exodus, of the temple" (Lexham English Septuagint).  The "feast of Exodus" here is the Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast associated with Israel's wilderness sojourn.  At the Temple the recitation of this Psalm accompanied sacrifices on Yom Teruah and at the Feast of Tabernacles, according to the Talmud (b. Rosh HaShanah 30b; Sukkah 55a).  One can see how the references to rain and storms in the psalm would go with the prayers for rain that were part of Sukkot celebration during the Second Temple period.  Scholar Bert Polman points out that the sevenfold reference to the voice of God in the psalm could go well with the seven trips around the altar taken by the water libation procession on the seventh day of the Feast.   

There is an interesting midrash on Psalm 29 which builds on the fact that the name of the God of Israel is mentioned 18 times in the psalm, the same as the number of sections in the Jewish Amidah prayer.  The midrash says that David wrote the psalm as a sort of "call and response" song, basing this interpretation on Deuteronomy 32:3:  "For I will proclaim the name of the LORD; ascribe greatness to our God!"  Every time the psalm praises the name of God, the congregation is to respond with its own praise in the form of the corresponding section of the Amidah.

Esther Menn and David Sandmel give a good explanation of the midrash in an article from a book giving a variety of perspectives on Psalm 29.  

This book describes a number of interpretations and traditions related to the psalm.  A chapter on patristic exegesis explains that early church fathers saw in verse 3 a reference to the voice that came from heaven when Jesus was baptized as the power of the Holy Spirit descended on him (Mt 3:16-17 and parallels).  

Some traditions are associated with the seven times that the "voice of the Lord" sounds in the psalm:  For example:

• The seven thunders of Revelation 10:2-4 often have been seen as a reference to them.
• Roman Catholics have related them to the seven sacraments.
• Protestants have associated them with gifts of the Spirit.

Seder 102: Numbers 1---Everybody Counts

 The book of Numbers begins early in the second year of the Exodus.  The Israelites have been camped at Sinai for around 11 months, and in a few weeks they will break camp and travel toward the Promised Land.  

On their journey they will be organized as a military camp.  God authorizes a military census of males 20 years old and up----the soldiers---and selects a man from each tribe to supervise the count.  What an honor it would have been to have been named by God for this role!  There are a few familiar names among the list in Num 1:5-15.  For example, Judah's representative, Nahshon, is an ancestor of Jesus (Ruth 4:20).   Elishama, Ephraim's representative, is Joshua's grandfather (I Ch 7:26-27).  Many of the names are theophoric---i.e., they contain a name of God, like El, Shaddai, or Zur.  

The Israelites carried out the census "as the Lord commanded Moses" (v 19).  This refrain, which we have seen through the final chapters of Exodus, continues through the first ten chapters of Numbers.  (Commentator Dale Brueggemann counts 19 times that the phrase occurs in Num 1-10.)  

The numbers reported from the census in our English translattions raise questions for us.  We will first begin to question our translations in Num 3, when the number of firstborn males reported is an order of magnitude too low to be in sync with the large numbers in Num 1.  I have written about these issues in a previous post.

From a theological standpoint, these details are not so important.  The big message is that God has blessed Israel greatly, carrying out his promises to the patriarchs by greatly multiplying their descendants.  Moreover, God knows the name of each Israelite, and each Israelite matters.

The tribe of Levi is not involved in the military census but will have its own count.  Levites have their own important responsibility to care for and guard the tabernacle (v 53).  

In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on May 14, 2022, Kyle Kettering looked at all the important biblical events that occur in wilderness settings.  The wilderness is a place where people can tune out extraneous noise and hear the voice of God.