Seder 146: Deuteronomy 14-16---Sabbath Principles

 Deuteronomy 14:22-16:17 deals with topics related to the Sabbath commandment, things like worship at the annual festivals and observance of sabbatical years.  In discussing these topics, Moses speaks not in terms of making regulations, but in terms of opportunities for the whole community together to rejoice before God, with no one left out.  He places quite a bit of emphasis on helping poor members of the community.  

In Deuteronomy 14:22-27, Moses describes an annual festival tithe that would enable the people to experience regular events analogous to the covenant meal at Horeb 40 years before (Exodus 24:9-11).  Another tithe collected in years 3 and 6 of every 7-year cycle would be used to help the poor (vv 28-29).

Year seven was the sabbatical year, a time of release of debts.  In the seventh year, "every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor" (15:2).  Daniel Block proposes that this may have meant releasing what the debtor had given the lender as collateral rather than cancelling a loan altogether.  That way creditors would be willing to make loans, and debtors would be able to gain economic benefit from the collateral and get on a better financial footing.  

Deuteronomy 15:3 says that this debt release did not apply to loans to foreigners.  It's assumed that such loans would be business loans to people who were not permanent residents, not personal loans for someone who has fallen into debt.  This was not a matter of prejudice against foreigners, which is spoken against elsewhere in the Torah (e.g., Lev 19:33-34).  

Moses holds up an ideal in which the Israelites are obedient to God and poverty is eliminated (vv 4-6).  In the meantime, though, there would be poverty, and people should come to the aid of those who needed it (vv 7-11).  (Certainly Jesus' reference to Deuteronomy 15:11 in Matthew 26:11 was not intended to imply that the poor should be neglected.)

Hebrew slaves should be released with generous gifts, Moses adds (vv 12-15).  It has been observed that this is a principle which God made sure the Egyptians carried out when the Israelites departed from them (Ex 12:36).   

In Deuteronomy 16 Moses describes the three annual pilgrimage festivals---Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles---that Israelites would have the opportunity to celebrate.  Daniel Block identifies some key principles in the theology of worship expressed in Deuteronomy 16:1-17:

1. True worship involves an engagement with God and is focused on him. 
2. True worship occurs at God's initiative and must be conducted on his terms.
3. True worship is communal.
4. True worship is driven by gratitude to God for his redemption and daily provision.
5. True worship involves the offering of our resources and ourselves.

Seder 146: Psalm 140---Confidence in God's Protection and Vindication

 Psalm 140 is an individual lament, where the prayer alternates between petitions and expressions of faith and confidence.  

The psalmist faces enemies with evil, violent intentions.  These enemies are continually plotting ways to trap him and bring about his downfall, and they launch deadly verbal attacks (vv 2-5).  

He prays for protection (v 4) and vindication (vv 9-11).  He is confident that his prayer will be answered, God, the divine warrior, will fight his battles and ultimately not allow the wicked to succeed.  

The psalmist, in a series of imprecations, asks God to carry out justice and give the enemies what they have earned.  He knows that God helps the cause of the the poor and needy, and he anticipates praising God and dwelling in safety in his presence.

The midrash on Psalm 140 focuses on the petition in verse 1:  "preserve me from violent men."  The word for "preserve" appears elsewhere in Proverbs 4:6, which says about wisdom:  "Do not forsake her, and she will guard you."   The word appears again in Proverbs 6:20:  "My son, keep your father's commandment, and forsake not your mother's teaching."  Proverbs 6 goes on to say that when one guards or preserves this teaching, it will preserve or guard that person.  The midrash imagines God instructing David, the psalmist, "Is it your desire that I preserve you?  Then preserve the Torah."

Seder 146: Psalm 109---Curses for a Cursing Curser

 Psalm 109 is an individual lament and an imprecatory psalm.  It begins and ends with praise to God and an expression of confidence in God (vv 1, 30-31).  

The psalmist is being troubled by enemies who, motivated by hatred, attack him with lying, deceitful words (vv 2-3).   Like Satan, they are accusers (v 4).  

One of these accusers, in partcular, "did not remember to show kindness, but pursued the poor and needy and the brokenhearted, to put them to death" (v 16).  He is someone who "loved to curse" (v 17).  

The psalmist prays that God will grant justice in measure-for-measure fashion, bringing an accuser against the accuser (v 6) and bringing curses against this man who loves to curse (v 17).  He levies a string of curses against the one who has been cursing him.  His prayer is a "thy kingdom come" kind of prayer, crying out for the time when there will be no more evil in the world.  

The accuser in this psalm has been associated with Judas.  Verse 8 is familiar:   "May his days be few, may another take his office!"  Peter quoted this verse in Acts 1:20 to argue that the 11 apostles should appoint a replacement for Judas.    

This is one of the hardest of the imprecatory psalms for us to read today.  The psalms show the honest feelings of those who prayed them; they are not necessarily illustrating how we are "supposed to feel."  In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on June 3, 2023, Kyle Kettering reminded us of the pinnacle of the teachings of Jesus, the directive to love our enemies (Mt 5:38-48; Luke 6:27-36).