Psalm Meditation 893
Proper 12
July 30, 2017

Psalm 129
1 “Often have they attacked me from my youth”—let Israel now say—
2 “often have they attacked me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me.
3 The plowers plowed on my back; they made their furrows long.”
4 The LORD is righteous; he has cut the cords of the wicked.
5 May all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned backward.
6 Let them be like the grass on the housetops that withers before it grows up,
7 with which reapers do not fill their hands or binders of sheaves their arms,
8 while those who pass by do not say, “The blessing of the LORD be upon you! We bless you in the name of the LORD!”
(NRSV)

Enemies are a painful thing. Most of us like to be liked, so knowing that there is at least one person who does not like us hurts us. When that enemy does things that hurt us physically, that is an added weight on body and soul. The psalmist begins by saying that this particular enemy has been on the attack for a long time, beginning at an age in which those of our era at least are particularly vulnerable. When the attacks against us begin before we have time to accumulate the defenses of age and experience, we find ourselves most vulnerable to enemy attacks.

The psalmist rejoices in the saving activity of God. In my imagination the long furrows on the psalmist’s back are the marks and scars of a whip. That God has cut the cords would mean that the cords of the whip and the cords of bondage have both been taken away and the psalmist is freed from a life of punishment and slavery. Because there is mention of the nation this may be rejoicing at the end of a period of enslavement for the nation at the hands of another nation.

Slavery continues. Enemies continue to take advantage of the vulnerable. God continues to be righteous and continues to be present in every time and place. God continues to deliver people from a variety of circumstances in a variety of ways.

July 24, 2017
LCM