A Dose of Plain-and-Simple

Psalm 72

3That the mountains may bring prosperity to the people, *

 and the little hills bring righteousness.

How is it that mountains bring prosperity, or little hills bring righteousness? What? Such a strange couple of phrases. After looking at a few commentaries, I’m not very satisfied. The common understanding seems to be that the hills and mountains were not cultivated like the plains, and were also places where wild beasts, robbers and bad guys hung out. In other words, dangerous and inimical places. My trouble with the commentaries is that none of them looked at the verb “bring.” All of them elided it in favor of something more like “become.”  ‘The mountains and hills will become prosperous and righteous and bring forth fruit…..’  So, I went back to the verb “bring,” and considered how mountains with their wild beasts, and hills with their robber’s hideouts could (without becoming any different in their nature) bring prosperity, peace, and righteousness to God’s people. So how could a robber living in the hills have anything to do with righteousness? Or the mountains with their dangerous beasts and harsh weather bring prosperity? Well, if you go back to the psalmist’s prayer, it’s that God will grant that the king rule with justice and kindness to the poor, and if he does rule that way then the mountains will bring prosperity and the little hills bring righteousness. The commentaries all agreed that this was Messianic language.

So, if I take it with a dose of plain-and-simple, I get this: When the realm (God’s realm) is governed with justice and righteousness by Christ (and since we are the body of Christ and the children and heirs of God, and thus responsible for administering the Realm, then when we all live out the principles of generosity and kindness along with a devotion to fairness, even-handedness, and equality) then there will be no need for the robbers to hide in the hills, or the wild beasts to  take cover in the cold and barren mountains.  

If I go all Jungian, and look at the elements metaphorically as aspects of my inner landscape, then the meaning shifts again to mean integration and self-awareness, which “brings” all my inner barren, abandoned, and wild places into relationship with justice, fairness, kindness, generosity and abundance. I sort of like that notion.

 

Deuteronomy 31:30-32:14

11As an eagle stirs up its nest, and hovers over its young; as it spreads its wings, takes them up, and bears them aloft on its pinions, 12the LORD alone guided him; no foreign god was with him. 13He set him atop the heights of the land, and fed him with produce of the field; he nursed him with honey from the crags, with oil from flinty rock;

This may be petty, but I kept reading this with a cranky sort of resistance to this translation, which has no problem with masculine language, but cowers away from using feminine language to refer to the mother eagle, choosing “it” in preference to “her.” Hmm. I am not drawn to feminist activism, but still I can’t help seeing (and hearing, and reading, every day) how common it is for folks to turn a blind eye; to resist and obstruct; to contort the obvious into the obscure; to use vague and ambiguous language in the service of falsehood. In the case of this translation, it seems to me that it displays an unconscious and habitual bias, a comfortable habit that should not (in my opinion) go unexamined. Anyway.

On to the “crags” and the “flinty rocks.” This imagery carries over from the previous reading about the barren and scary mountains “bringing” safety and prosperity. This is even more direct. She feeds Jacob with produce from the field (that’s normal) but also “nurses” him with honey from the crags and oil from flinty rocks. Here it is again, God is the one that brings abundance out of famine; integrity out of duplicity; affinity out of hatred.

2 Corinthians 1:21b-33

16 I repeat, let no one think that I am a fool; but if you do, then accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. 17What I am saying in regard to this boastful confidence, I am saying not with the Lord's authority, but as a fool; 18since many boast according to human standards, I will also boast. 19For you gladly put up with fools, being wise yourselves! 20For you put up with it when someone makes slaves of you, or preys upon you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or gives you a slap in the face. 21To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that! But whatever anyone dares to boast of-I am speaking as a fool-I also dare to boast of that. 22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. 23Are they ministers of Christ? I am talking like a madman-I am a better one: with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death. 24Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; 27in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked. 28And, besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches. 29Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not indignant? 30If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

I love it when Paul goes on a rant! I kept on circling back to “then accept me as a fool.” I hear Paul saying, “You can’t keep your cake and eat it too. Make up your mind! If you only put up with being treated badly so that you can boast about it afterwards, then you are an idiot! But don’t listen to me as if I know anything about what the Lord taught us, because I am just a chump! Well, if you’re going to boast than so am I, but remember, I’m talking nonsense, because I’m just a fool! Luckily, you have to put up with me since you gladly put up with fools because of how very wise you are! Well I’m not that wise! Nevertheless, if you dare to brag about something, well then, I do too, because I’m a nitwit! I’m ashamed because I was too weak to put up with all that abuse that you endured so patiently. Never mind that I have all the same qualifications they have (I’m talking like a crazy person!) and when it comes down to brass tacks, I’m better than they are! I’ve suffered worse than they have! I’ve been beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, and constantly in danger!! But no, that doesn’t count, because I’m such a nincompoop! Well, be that way! If I have to boast in order to belong to your little league of the righteous, then I’m going to boast about my failings, not my piety and righteousness, and how good a disciple of Christ I am! So there! (Stomps off muttering and grumbling and slams the door on the way out.)