Unitarian Universalist Meeting of
“Lost in Translation: Hebrew Writings”
Rev. Kathy Duhon
One of the greatest Unitarian Universalist ministers of the twentieth century, John Haynes Holmes, wrote, “…when I say ‘God’, it is poetry and not theology. Nothing that any theologian ever wrote about God has helped me much, but everything that the poets have written about flowers, and birds, and skies, and seas, and the saviors of the race, and God – whoever he may be – has at one time or another reached my soul! More and more, as I grow older, I live in the lovely thought of these seers and prophets. The theologians gather dust upon the shelves of my library, but the poets are stained with my fingers and blotted with my tears. I never seem so near truth as when I care not what I think or believe, but only that those matters of inner vision would live forever.”
Today I want to introduce to you some of the greatest poets of all time, the psalm writers, the psalmists of the Hebrew Writings. The psalms are not just poetry, they are songs – they were a hymnal, but we’ve lost the music, although many have been put to new music in our modern hymns, including a couple we’re singing today. Poetry often loses something in translation, but not the psalms so much – they did not rhyme, and only vaguely had some rhythm, but mostly, they were poetry because of their stunning images, strong phrases evocative of deepest emotion, parallelisms that pull the verses together into a whole, and soul-filled meaning.
As I take you on a journey through the words of these poets, the psalmists, that have brought tears and joy, hope and faith to many, I will warn you that there are some problems of translation. But do not fear, I am not going to labor over these poem-songs, translating word by word, but give you the flavor of the psalms.
However, there is one way that the psalms are in general “lost in translation” for some of us, and that is in their use of “God” and “the Lord” – (The Lord is how they wrote Yahweh, the name for God that Moses received, the name that means “I Am What I Am” in Hebrew.). ‘God’, ‘the Lord’, are words that are rejected by some, and understood in many different ways by others. If these words are stumbling blocks for you, then think of them as place-savers, remembering what John Haynes Holmes said, that the word God itself is poetry – it is about reaching the soul and truth and inner vision. May the psalms open our hearts to the Holy, and enlarge our spirits.
I believe that when we read the words for and about the divine by people who are removed in time from us by millennia, we assume that they had a static, simplistic, even childish understanding of God, whereas we modern folks are so beyond that – so much more wise and educated and questioning. And maybe there’s some truth to that, but I’ve always believed that the ancients also struggled to understand the sacred, and at least some of them used words like God in a more metaphoric, mythic, and poetic way than we give them credit.
What is amazing about the psalms is that they are filled with multiple understandings about God and about our relationship with the divine, including doubt and anger and distrust, as well as praise, thanksgiving and love. The psalmists are trying to figure out how to live faithfully, in spite of all the pain and suffering and awful stuff we have to go through. And not just faithfully – how to live gratefully, joyfully. The psalms are wonderful poetry for accompaniment on life’s journeys. So let’s explore this poetry, these sacred songs for life.
First, where are the psalms? Right in the center of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament, the middle, ‘the heart’. They are part of several books collected loosely as the Hebrew writings, all of which are poetry, wisdom writings, and together make up about 1/3 of the Hebrew Scriptures. (Over one-third of the Bible is poetry – imagine that!) You might have heard that the psalms were written by King David, but actually they were written by many authors over hundreds of years, in different places, and David wrote some of them, and we don’t know who wrote many of them. Traditionally, there are 150 psalms, although a 151st was in Greek translations all along and found recently in Hebrew in the Dead Sea Scrolls. This is the longest book in the Bible, and the one most quoted in the Christian Scriptures.
The language is
very real, without pretense. The voice
changes at times – sometimes the psalm is in the voice of God, then is fussing
at God, then is back to God’s voice, or talks about
God in the third person. Sometimes the
speaker is the King. Sometimes the psalm
is speaking to
The Psalms have been beloved through the centuries. And, some have been censored because they get rough. They take you where you are at, whether feeling abandoned, misused, betrayed, beset with problems, ashamed, or grateful, joyful, righteous, hopeful, and they accompany you. To enter into the psalms is to no longer be alone, and to no longer be in the same situation – they alter your reality. You interact with the Holy, with God, through the voice of the psalmist, and that changes the circumstances of your life. This is not unlike listening to the blues when you’re sad, and being restored – reading a psalm of lament brings you out of the darkness, and into the light.
We begin with the simple moral compass of Psalm 1: “Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, [sometimes you know you need to hear that] … but their delight is in the law of the Lord…They are like trees planted by streams of water…” Plant yourself with an ethical center and this psalm says you will be happy and prosper, whereas, it says about the wicked that they “are like chaff that the wind drives away.”
Most of us think we are doing a fairly good job of being good, but other people aren’t. They annoy us, they insult us, and sometimes they are enemies. The psalms describe the enemies: “there is no truth in their mouths; their hearts are destruction; their throats are open graves.” (Ps 5:9) Even friends betray us: “It is not enemies who taunt me – I could bear that; it is not adversaries who deal insolently with me- I could hide from them. But it is you, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend.” (Ps 55: 12-13) In fact, as Psalm 53 complains, “there is no one who does good, no not one.” (vs. 3)
The psalms are merciless when it comes to enemies – they say what folks sometimes feel, but would never voice in polite company. From Psalm 28, “Repay them according to their work, and according to the evil of their deeds;” (v. 4) and in Psalm 35, “Let ruin come on them unawares. And let the net that they hid ensnare them; let them fall in it – to their ruin.” (v.8) Most of the words about enemies are asking for justice, but sometimes the psalmist is terribly revengeful. There is one psalm that goes way beyond acceptable and it is mostly censored – Psalm 137 asks for God to act despicably toward the Babylonians.
The psalms allow us to wallow a bit in the taste of bitter revenge, but they turn from this – never letting you stay in the mud. Often they acknowledge the enemies and simply ask for deliverance, or demand deliverance. “You have seen, O Lord; do not be silent! O Lord, do not be far from me! Wake up! Bestir yourself for my defense, for my cause, my God and my Lord!” (Ps 35: 22-23)
Most of the passages about enemies remind God of what’s expected, and of how God is being a disappointment: “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?”
(Ps 13: 1-2) And “Why, O Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” (Ps 10: 1) So, it’s not just the enemy who is in trouble, or the psalmist, but God, Justice Personified, who has to be chastised and woken up.
Before the end of the psalm, no matter how much desolation, anger and lament has been expressed, there is a change. The psalmist almost always rests assured again that God is going to be God and “Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love.” (Ps 44: 26) “For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.” (Ps 33: 4-5) The universe is ultimately good and just and loving. And therefore, “I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.”
(Ps 22: 22) “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge” – words of comfort and assurance abound. (Ps 18: 2) Therefore, “O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;” (Ps 95: 1-2a). Often, the psalms begins with enemies, injustice and anger, and end in joy.
Sometimes the enemy is not only out there – it is also within. We feel despair, shame, betrayal, abandonment, and the psalms cry this forth. “I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping.” (Ps 6: 6) The psalm that Jesus is said to have quoted on the cross on Good Friday begins, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Ps 22: 1) and then later cries out, “But I am a worm and not human; scorned by others, and despised by the people.” (Ps 22: 6) Another psalm declares, “My wounds grow foul and fester because of my foolishness;” (Ps 38:5). The movement is from despair and self-loathing to reconciliation and forgiveness, as in Psalm 51: “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.” (vss. 2-3) and later “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.”
(vs. 10) Often the psalms begin with despair and abandonment and end in the spirit of Beloved Belonging.
Woven throughout the psalms is also the great sense of the wonder and sacredness of humanity: “you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.” (Ps 8: 5) “My mouth shall speak wisdom; the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.” (Ps 49: 3) “Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other.” (Ps 85: 10) “Awake, my soul! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn!” (Ps 57: 8) The psalms are clear that we are awesome, and so is creation.
And God is described as awesome in some of the psalms. (66: 5 and 76: 7) (“Awesome” is not just a trendy word – it’s in the Bible.) God is my light and “so whom shall I fear?” Psalm 27 asks. (vs. 1) God heals and restores in Psalm 30. (vss. 2,3) In Psalm 139, the one that reminds me of the children’s book, The Runaway Bunny, God is seen as caring and present, always coming to the person wherever you flee, even, it says, “if I make my bed in Hell, you are there.” (Ps 139: 8) So, “joy comes with the morning” (Ps 30: 5) and God, “You have turned my mourning into dancing.” (Ps 30: 11)
Psalm 122 asks the listener to “pray for peace” (vs. 6) and says, “Peace be within you.” (vs. 8) Psalm 106 finishes, “And let all the people say, ‘Amen.’”