Psalms Meditations on God and Humanity - 1 Introduction(s) Psalms 1 & 2

Psalms 1 and 2 are an introduction (or two introductions) to the Book of Psalms. What values do they present? What context do they provide for the book of Psalms as a whole? How do they guide the reader into the book? What do they say about God and humanity?

This class follows my "Psalms in Liturgy" series, https://www.sefaria.org/collections/5Cs41TZs.

1 A glorious chorus at the beginning

from Handel's Messiah, "Let us break their bonds asunder..." (Psalm 2:3)

40. Air (or « Air and Recitative »)

Bass

41. Chorus

42. Recitative

Tenor

Source: http://opera.stanford.edu/iu/libretti/messiah.htm

2 Our Text(s)

Psalms 1 & 2 or Psalm 1-2

3. One Passage or Two?

4. Psalm 1: The Wisdom Tradition in Tanach

"The Wisdom Tradition," in 'The Religion of the Bible,' Stephen A. Geller, in The Jewish Study Bible (pp. 1994b-1996a)

The wisdom tradition is found in many places in the Bible, but it especially dominates the Writings, not only the "proper" wisdom books like Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes, but also some psalms (1, 19, 37, 119, etc.) and other texts. Widsom (hokhmah) is the term used to describe the intellectual and educational tradition of the ancient Near East, the province of scribal schools, teachers and students, but also elders, wise fathers and mothers. Wisdom was a determinedly international and humanistic tradition. The wise of all nations communicated with each other; genres, themes, and even language crossed boundaries freely. ... (pp. 1994-5)

Wisdom was also a tradition interested in creation, in the workings of nature. Natural imagery abounds in wisdom texts, like proverbs and fables... (p. 1995)

Eventually wisdom's focus on nature gave way entirely to a focus on covenant, with results we see in the "Torah psalms"... (p. 1996)

Ben Sira chapter 24

Ben Sira, also known as Ecclesiasticus, is an apocryphal poetic book of guidance for living a wise, ethical, and God-fearing life, composed in the 2nd century BCE by a scribe in Jerusalem named Shimon ben Yeshua ben Elazar ben Sira (from Sefaria)

1 Wisdom will praise herself, and will glory in the midst of her people.

2 In the assembly of the Most High she will open her mouth, and in the presence of his host she will glory:

3 "I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, and covered the earth like a mist.

6 In the waves of the sea, in the whole earth, and in every people and nation I have gotten a possession.

7 Among all these I sought a resting place; I sought in whose territory I might lodge.

8 "Then the Creator of all things gave me a commandment, and the one who created me assigned a place for my tent. And he said, `Make your dwelling in Jacob, and in Israel receive your inheritance.'

See https://www.biblestudytools.com/rsva/ben-sira/24.html

Robert Alter on 1:1

1:1 “Happy the man who has not walked in the wicked’s counsel, nor in the way of offenders has stood, nor in the session of scoffers has sat.”

It is easy to understand why the ancient editors set this brief, eloquent psalm at the head of the collection. In content, it is a Wisdom psalm, affirming the traditional moral calculus (to which Job will powerfully object) that it pays to be good, whereas the wicked will be paid back for their evil. (Wisdom literature is an international genre in the ancient Near East. It reflects, in an approximately philosophical manner, on the use of human life, and one of its major thrusts is the didactic inculcation of the principles of proper living. It tends to be universal rather than national in its perspective.) In style, this psalm is a lovely instance of the force of familiar imagery favored by the psalmists. Walking on a way is a traditional metaphor for pursuing a set of moral choices in life. In this verse, that idea is turned into an elegant narrative sequence in the triadic line--first walking, then standing, then sitting, with the attachment to the company of evildoers becoming increasingly more habitual from one verse to the next. Nahum Sarna raises the interesting possibility that the first word of the psalm, ‘ashrei, “happy,” may pun on ‘ashurim, “steps,” and hence reinforce the walking metaphor.

From: Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible, vol. 3: Writings, W. W. Norton & Co., 2019, ad loc. By permission of the author.

Robert Alter is the Class of 1937 Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California at Berkeley, and author of the three-volume translation of the entire Hebrew Bible - The Hebrew Bible, W. W. Norton & Co., 2019.

Seen at https://www.929.org.il/lang/en/page/568/post/79889

5. Psalm 1: In Praise of Torah Study

Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler, Commentary to Psalms, Jewish Study Bible. Comment to 1:2

This psalm is unusual in its stress on Torah study rather than on observance based on Torah study (see Joshua 1:7-8); it thus approaches the rabbinic ideal of 'torah lishmah,' Torah study for its own sake, though the psalm strongly suuggests that Torah study keeps people away from the wicked and sinners.

6. Psalm 2: A Historical Context?

7. Psalm 2: "My son, I have fathered you"

8a. For further exploration: Psalm 119

Praise of Torah study and observance

8b. For further exploration:

a Meditation on Psalm 1

Gaya Aranoff Bernstein, Psalmsongs

to not get lost
to not get sidetracked
by the expected
by fad or fashion
of the time
to not keep up
with fools, sinners
others

to stay focused
on truth
your truth
God’s truth
to yearn for it
day and night

to seek it
night and day
is to Mind
joy
truelife

like a sapling
near a stream
water for the taking
fruits in season
glistening leaves
growing
rooted

not blown away
a withered leaf
in autumn
an old newspaper
telling
ancient lies

Excerpted from: Gaya Aranoff Bernstein, Psalmsongs: A Gathering of Psalms, (An Arthur Kurzweil Book, New York/Jerusalem, 2013)

Gaya Aranoff Bernstein is the author of Psalmsongs: A Gathering of Psalms.

Source: https://www.929.org.il/lang/en/page/568/post/80033