Psalm Meditation 1014
Reign of Christ
November 24, 2019

Psalm 106 (selected verses)
1 Praise the Lord! O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever.
2 Who can utter the mighty doings of the Lord, or declare all his praise?
3 Happy are those who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times.
4 Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people; help me when you deliver them;
5 that I may see the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation, that I may glory in your heritage.
6 Both we and our ancestors have sinned; we have committed iniquity, have done wickedly.
7 Our ancestors, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wonderful works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled against the Most High at the Red Sea.
13 But they soon forgot his works; they did not wait for his counsel.
14 But they had a wanton craving in the wilderness, and put God to the test in the desert;
15 he gave them what they asked, but sent a wasting disease among them.
16 They were jealous of Moses in the camp, and of Aaron, the holy one of the Lord.
19 They made a calf at Horeb and worshiped a cast image.
24 Then they despised the pleasant land, having no faith in his promise.
28 Then they attached themselves to the Baal of Peor, and ate sacrifices offered to the dead;
29 they provoked the Lord to anger with their deeds, and a plague broke out among them.
32 They angered the Lord at the waters of Meribah, and it went ill with Moses on their account;
33 for they made his spirit bitter, and he spoke words that were rash.
34 They did not destroy the peoples, as the Lord commanded them,
35 but they mingled with the nations and learned to do as they did.
42 Their enemies oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their power.
43 Many times he delivered them, but they were rebellious in their purposes, and were brought low through their iniquity.
47 Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise.
48 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. And let all the people say, “Amen.” Praise the Lord!
(NRSV)

In these days of short attention spans, there is a summary style called, Tl;dr. It is shorthand for Too long; didn’t read. If something goes more than a couple of paragraphs there is a Tl;dr at the beginning or end of the story to give people a one or two sentence summary of the whole story. If that piques your interest you can read the whole thing, if the short description is all you want the Tl;dr will suffice.

These summaries are not new. Book length academic papers and stock offerings begin with an ‘abstract’ that gives the outline, the basics, of the full proposal. This psalm is a Tl;dr of the Book of Exodus from a particular point of view. If you don’t want to read the whole book, here is a summary. If you don’t want to read the whole Psalm, I have cut out several verses to hit the important points. This Psalm reminds people that sins of the people are not anything new, our ancestors gave allegiance to God a number of times and then forgot their pledge, as well as God, when things evened out again.

We can summarize anything to carry our own point of view. We pick and choose words, phrases, concepts that support our thinking and edit the Tl;dr to get our own point across. Was the exodus forty years of rescue by God, pledges of allegiance from the people, forgetting those pledges, and starting the process all over again? Yes, it was. Is there more to it than that? Yes, there is. This is where a group of families and clans became a people. This is where a people came to know and love YHWH as their God. This is the fits and starts of a people who drew us in to life in God, who helped us become who we are. We communicate our biases and preconceived notions all the time; it is important to know ours as well as those of who we follow.

November 18, 2019
LCM