Read Better, Preach Better

Last week I taught a Summer Class at RTS Atlanta (where I work) – “Advanced Biblical Exegesis”. As part of it we looked at Psalm 13. My own preparation and (more significantly) the students’ great insights were worth posting I thought (RSV):

Notice the strong repetition throughout, wherein the ideas in each line in the left column are restated in a slightly different way in the right column – sometimes intensified, sometimes reduced in force. At two points this pattern is broken as part of shaping the larger movement – note the “one liners” in white. In addition “How long” holds the first part together, even as “lest” gives shape to the second. The psalm gains momentum, by the former being longer than the second. The two form a kind of mirror image (Chiasm), with the cry to God at the start of verse 3 standing between them as a focal point,  just as verses 5-6 lie outside them as Conclusion. A neat tid-bit which came out of class was the echoes in verse 1. In the first line one thinks of the constant OT promise that the LORD will remember his people, and the Aaronic blessing – ‘The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face shine upon you‘ (Num 6). In this case the Psalmist wonders that the Lord has forgotten and hid his face, leading him to ask in v3a that the lord might “consider” and “lighten his eyes”. Maybe there is something in this second part of the center – the LORD’s face is still shining, what is needed is enlightened eyes to see this.

Something else which came out was the shifting focus in both vv1-2 and in vv3-4 of God / author / problem. Only after mentioning God and his own inner struggles is the substance of the problem (“enemies”) revealed. There is suspense here, in that you are left to wonder what the issue is. Only after he addresses his issues with God and himself does he mention the concrete problem behind it all. There is something to this I think, which resonates with the enlightened eyes part, which may lead us to come up with something like: WHATEVER YOUR PROBLEM, THE REAL ISSUE COMES DOWN  TO HAVING YOUR OWN EYES OPENED TO THE LORD. This resonates with the conclusion too. We have no sense that the problem has gone away. What changes is the author’s confidence in the Lord. When we have a problem, where does the real issue lie?

How would you preach this? Any thoughts are welcome, but next post I will consider this question further…

Posted by Bruce Lowe