“ ‘If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,’ let Israel say—‘If it had not been the Lord who was on our side when men rose up against us, Then they would have swallowed us alive. When their wrath was kindled against us, Then the waters would have overwhelmed us, The stream would have gone over our soul; Then the swollen waters would have gone over our soul.’ Blessed be the Lord who has not given us as prey to their teeth. Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; The snare is broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord. who made heaven and earth.” [Psalm 8: 1-8. NKJV]This psalm is attributed to David and is also a song of ascents, chanted or sung as the people ascended the hill of Jerusalem to enter the Temple for worship. Its reference to the Lord’s defense in battle may have been for a specific battle (not named) or for His defense in general as Israel faced formidable enemies. It is a thanksgiving for national deliverance. Had it not been for divine intervention, the people would have been “swallowed alive.” This shows the desperation of their plight. Only the Lord’s power could (and did) deliver them. The poet proceeds to give other descriptions of destruction: being drowned by powerful waters and as prey, those being hunted and destroyed. Notice how David emphasizes that they were saved not only from physical destruction, but their “soul” was also saved. In war, if the soldiers lose heart, lose their spirit to continue fighting, then they have lost the “soul,” the “spirit” of their desire to persist and win. A beautiful poetic description recounts their victory: “Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers” (v. 7).
David and the people of Israel could confidently sing that the Lord was on their side and He had defended and delivered them from the hands of their enemies bent on destruction. There is seldom anything beautiful about war. Aggression and warfare bring death to the military participating as well as to innocent citizens in whose lands the conflicts take place. Devastation and destruction are products of war. But sometimes war seems necessary. Right and wrong exist in our world, and wrong is normally the aggressor. Although each side holds to the rightness of their position, still warfare has to be weighed in the light of God’s justice. Until “swords are beaten into plowshares and spears into pruninghooks” (Isaiah 2:4), wars will continue to rage in various parts of the world. Instead of the peace Isaiah prophesied, the conditions in the world are more likely to be as Joel foresaw: “Beat your plowshares into swards and your pruning hooks into spears” (Joel 3:10). The bombing of the Trade Center Towers in New York City on September 11, 2001 plunged America into war in which we are still engaged. This is like no war in our prior history. Our safety and defenses—even our spirit—have been severely taxed since. Fear and insecurity are on every hand.
Like John the Baptist crying in the wilderness, there are in America today those sincere and devout prophets who plead a return to the Lord and seeking His face. He alone has the answer, even in the midst of the fear and mistrust that abound. We return one by one, individually. As David stated at the end of this psalm thanking God for his defense of Israel, the way is still to believe in and rely upon the Lord: “Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 124:8). May we return to the Lord. Our hope and defense rest in Him alone.
c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Saturday, November 27, 2010
No comments:
Post a Comment