Liturgy of Palms Cycles ABC Easter Sunday (Principal Service) Cycle ABC Second Sunday in Easter Cycle A

Transcription

1 Liturgy of Palms Cycles ABC Easter Sunday (Principal Service) Cycle ABC Second Sunday in Easter Cycle A Fourth Sunday in Easter Cycle B Second Sunday in Easter Cycle C Psalm 118:14 29 Translation 14. Yah is my strength and song, and he has been salvation for me. 15. The sound of a [victory] cry and salvation in the tents of the righteous. The LORD s right hand is doing something great. 16. The right hand of the LORD has risen high. The LORD s right hand is doing something great. 17. I am not dead but alive, and I am recounting the deeds of Yah. 18. He has chastised me severely, but he has not given me over to death. 19. Open for me the Gates of Righteousness! I will go into them. I will thank Yah. 20. This is the gate for the LORD. Righteous ones will go into it. 21. I will thank you because you have answered me. And you have been salvation for me. 22. The stone the builders disdained has become the head of the corner. 23. This was from the LORD, and it was wonderful to us. 24. This is the day the LORD acted. Let us celebrate and be happy in it. 25. O LORD, please save! O LORD, please deliver! 26. Blessed is the one who comes in the LORD s name. We have blessed you from the House of the LORD. 27. The LORD is God, and he has enlightened us! Bind the festal dance with ropes right up to the horns of the altar. 28. You are my God, and I will praise you. My God, I will exalt you! 29. Praise the LORD for he his good, for his faithfulness is forever. 1

2 Text :d«rewi«l ià lîi d i«e Œ D ï z x n f e i G r 14 :l i«g düÿŕ dëÿd Œ i oi n i mi wi C v i l d ` A dà rewi«e dä P x lf³w 15 :l i«g düÿŕ dëÿd Œ i oi n i d n nfx dëÿd i oi n i 16 :D«ï i U r n xà R q `«Œ e d i g«`îi M ze n ` `«Ÿl 17 :i p«p z p ` Ÿl z eàö l e ŒD Ï i P x Q i xÿ Q i 18 :D«ï d cf»` m Œ aî`ÿa«` w c vîi x r«w i lîeg z R 19 :F«a E`Ÿ a»ï mi À wi C v Œd ëÿdi l x r X dîd«f 20 :d«rewi«l ià lîi d Y e Œ i p zi p r i M L cf ` 21 :d«p R W`Ÿ x l dà z i d Œmi pfa d E q `«n o a ` 22 :Epi«pi r A z` l t p `i d z`ÿ G d z i d dëÿd i z ` n 23 :F«a d g n U p e d li b p d ëÿd i d Ü r mfi dîd f 24 :`«P d gi» l v d dàëÿd Œ i ` P«` ` P d ri WFd dëÿd i ` P ` 25 :d«ëÿd i zi A n mà kep k x«œ A d ëÿd i m W A `Ä d KE xä 26 : g«a f O d zfṕ x w Œc r mi zÿa r«a b gîex q ` Ep Å l x ` Ï e»dëÿd i l³ ` 27 : J«n nfx ` i À dÿl Œ ` J cf` e d Ÿ ` í l ` 28 :F«C q g m lfr l i M af hîi M d ëÿdi l EćFd 29 Overview Psalm 118 in Jewish tradition is one of the Hallel (praise) psalms sung before and after the Passover meal. It is an individual psalm of thanksgiving. Although the hymn of victory, as Gerstenberger calls vss 14 18, 1 uses military imagery, the focus is on the individual and the individual s troubles. The opening of the temple gates to the psalmist (118:19 20) suggests that the deliverance is not only from mortal illness but also from an illness such as leprosy that might have left the psalmist maimed or unclean and hence unqualified to enter the temple precincts. Notes on the Text 14. z x n f (BDB 274a, HAL 274a).This same expression, D ï z x n f e i G r, occurs also in Exodus 15:2 and Isaiah 12:2. Although the versions and one Hebrew ms read the text as i z x n f, the lack of the ending i is common to all three. 14. Yah is my strength and song, 1. Gerstenberger, Psalms, Part 2,

3 and he has been salvation for me. 15. dä P x (BDB 943b, HAL 1247ab). Cry. It can connote victory but is also used for other kinds of cries. mi wi C v i l d ` A Tents of the righteous is not difficult to translate, of course, but the question is what it means. Weiser takes it to refer to the temporary dwellings of pilgrims to Jerusalem. 2 Dahood likes the interpretation of Ehrlich to translate victors for miwicv here, given the military nuances. 3 Although Gerstenberger calls these vss a victory hymn, he does not see this particular expression as necessarily military in connotation. 4 l i«g (BDB 298b, HAL 311b). This isn t a new word, but the meaning here is slightly unusual. Here it means something like great deed. 5 We have what is probably an idiom meaning do great things or, perhaps, have courage, as suggested by HAL. Gerstenberger holds that the word is as close to a military term as this section contains but points out that the word can refer in many cases to non military acts of power The sound of a [victory] cry and salvation in the tents of the righteous. The LORD s right hand is doing something great 16. d n nfx (BDB 927a, HAL 1203b). This would be a good opportunity for students to review the hollow verbs and especially the polal. 16. The right hand of the LORD has risen high. The LORD s right hand is doing something great. 17. i M (BDB 474b 475b, HAL 421ab). The ordinary for or because will produce an English translation, but Dahood is right to see that ik here has the force of but, 7 much like m` ik. 17. I am not dead but alive, and I am recounting the deeds of Yah. 18. i P x Q i xÿ Q i (BDB 416a, HAL 419a ). Students might want to review what happens when 2. Weiser, The Psalms, Dahood, Psalms 3: Gerstenberger, The Psalms, Part 2, 304. He gives evidence for the preponderant usage of ld` in the plural as dwellings. 5. Kraus, Psalmen 2:976: Die Rechte Jahwes wirkt Machttat. 6. Gerstenberger, The Psalms, Part 2, Dahood, Psalms 3:158. His rendering of the imperfects, however, is difficult to support. 3

4 the infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb He has chastised me severely, but he has not given me over to death. 19. w c vîi x r«w Dahood raises the question as to whether the gates in question are gates of the temple or the gates of the city. In keeping with his translation of miwicv in vs 15 as victors, he elects to view this as a reference to the king s triumphal procession into the city. 9 This is not a view that has become popular. Terrien, who prefers the military model of this section, still favors a temple gate through which the king will lead his army. 10 Gerstenberger thinks of this as an imaginative or symbolic procession. 11 Here I am treating the phrase as a proper name, a known place. d cf»` (BDB 392b, HAL 389a). Verbs originally e"t are enough of a challenge. Add the d"l feature, and they are a real challenge. The meaning give thanks has almost disappeared from the HAL. Kraus, however, translates Ich will einziehen und Gott danken. 12 Dahood likewise maintains the meaning thank , Open for me the Gates of Righteousness! I will go into them. I will thank Yah. 20. The reference is to the wcv ixry This is the gate for the LORD. Righteous ones will go into it. 21. Dahood wants to derive consonantal ipzipr from the root.e.p.r conquer and points out that this verb occurs six other times with this meaning in the Psalter, always in royal psalms I will thank you because you have answered me. And you have been salvation for me. 22. E q `«n (BDB 549b, HAL 540b). The additional meaning despise gives a slightly different nuance to the verse over the usual reject. The builders not only rejected the stone, they also disliked it, disdained it. Kraus discusses whether the passage refers to a stone for the edge of a 8. Weingreen, 79. Emphasis when the infinitive absolute precedes the verb and duration when it follows. 9. Dahood, Psalms 3: Terrien, The Psalms, Gerstenberger, The Psalms, Part 2, Kraus, Psalmen 2: Dahood, Psalms 3: Despite the singular number here. There is no particular warrent for multiplying gates. Dahood, Psalms 3:159, however, believes that the reference is to a single gate of the Temple, while wcv ixry refers to gates of the city. 15.Dahood, Psalms 3:159. 4

5 row or, perhaps even the final stone. 16 Dahood points out that we find the expression dpt oa` in Jeremiah 51:6 and Job 38:6 and finds significance in the division of the expression here. 17 Terrien s remarks on the dpt oa` are very interesting. He takes the word dpt to refer to the shape of the stone, not its place at the beginning of a row. The stone has been shaped to be a capstone or keystone The stone the builders disdained has become the head of the corner. 23. z` l t p (BDB 810b, HAL 927ab). This is the 3fsg. GKC explain that this form is for `"l verbs with sere in the second syllable like ` l n. 19 This is as close as classical Hebrew comes to referring to miracles, and Terrien here even translates And this is now a miracle for our eyes. 20 God s answer and deliverance of the psalmist is miraculous not only to him but, one supposes, should be also to those who know about it. Epi«pi r A This is an evaluative expression, not a statement of physical perception. 23. This was from the LORD, and it was wonderful to us. 24. Dahood contends that we should read d ëÿd i d Ü r mfi dîd f This is the day the LORD has acted and compares Malachi 3:21: dyr ip` xy` meia. 21 This is an intriguing suggestion which he also applies to the enigmatic uses of dyr in Psalms 22:32, 37:5, and 39:10. Although its usage in Psalm 22:32 is difficult to assess, the other two examples work well with this meaning. d li b p (BDB 162a, HAL 189b). By now the student is probably used to the cohortative. 22 The reference here is to cultic song, as HAL correctly surmises. If we accept Dahood s suggestion above about the translation of dyr the poem continues to be about the day of victory and celebration of that victory, not a general statement about God s creation. 16.Kraus, Psalmen, 2: He takes the verse to be a lyn, a popular proverb. 17.Dahood, Psalms 3: Terrien, The Psalms, 785. He believes that the LXXei j kefalh\n gwniøaj supports this understanding, but it is difficult to see anything here more than a word for word rendering of the Hebrew dpt y`xl. 19.GKC Par 74g. 20.Terrien, The Psalms, 786. Terrien s discussion of the LORD s presence apart from cultic space and annual festivals is an application of a theme he develops fully in his work on biblical theology, The Elusive Presence, Dahood, Psalms 3: Weingreen, 88. 5

6 24. This is the day the LORD acted. Let us celebrate and be happy in it. 25. ` P ` (BDB 58a, HAL 70a). Also written d P ` in some places. The psalmist with this combination of particles `p... `p` and the cohortative in both stichs could not have made this cry more plaintive than it is. 23 Gerstenberger calls it a lone cry for help and deals with it as an interruption, perhaps even a scribal gloss. 24 J. J. Petuchowski on the basis of parallels in the Mishnah located the cry `p riyed in the cultus as a petition for rain and fecundity. 25 Kraus reminds us of the context in the New Testament where it has the character of a festival shout, 26 but it is difficult to apply such a late source from another language to the present passage with any certainty. We must be content with the observation that as in Psalms 12:2, 20:10, 28:9, 60:7, and 108:7, the expression is eine Bitte der Benadigung. 27 With Gerstenberger, we should probably regard this as a kind of intrustion. 25. O LORD, please save! O LORD, please deliver! 26. d ëÿd i m W A `Ä d KE xä The question here is who the mysterious 28 figure is who comes in the name of the LORD. The victorious king is an obvious choice, 29 but there is going to be some difficulty with the second person plural suffix on the verb in the next stich (mà kep k x«œ A) no matter whom we select. Weiser is on sound footing to suggest that the greeting comes to all who enter the House of the LORD as they enter Blessed is the one who comes in the LORD s name. We have blessed you from the House of the LORD. 27. x ` Ï e (BDB 21a, HAL 24a). There is some evidence for omitting the e here, but there is no compelling reason to do so either. 31 Dahood regards the e as vav emphatic, not vav consecutive, and he translates El Yahweh has truly shown upon us! 32 b gîex q ` (BDB 63b, 291a; HAL 75b,289b). Kraus thinks in terms of a cultic dance that 23.See e. g. Dahood, Psalms 3:159: We beg you, Yahweh, 24.Gerstenberger, The Psalms, Part 2, J. J. Petuchowski, Hoshi ah na in Psalm : A Prayer for Rain, VT 5 (1955): Kraus, Psalmen 2: Ibid. 28.Terrien, The Psalms, So, for example, Dahood, Psalms 3:160. This choice may be obvious mainly to Christians familiar with Matthew 21:9 (parallel in Luke 19:38) where the words of this verse are cited. Perhaps obvious to Christian too because it forms the last part of the Sanctus in the Eucharistic Liturgy. 30.Weiser, The Psalms, One Ms omits it as do the Syriac, LXX, and Old Latin. 32.Dahood, Psalms 3:155, 160. This understanding allows him to regard the divine name as the composite name El Yahweh as in Psalm 18:31, 69:34, 85:9, 109:14. 6

7 involves ropes fastened to the horns of the altar. 33 Terrien does not offer support for his translation For the processional, holding palm fronds. 34 We should follow Gerstenberger in his warnings about Christological interpretations of theses vss. 35 Dahood understands mizara bg here as mizar abg and translating the unattested abg on the basis of parallels with Syriac and Arabic as the shrine. 36 This inventive suggestion is, perhaps, just that. mi zÿa r«a (BDB 721b, HAL 783b). Gerstenberger prefers the image here of twigs woven in a celebratory decoration. 37 Although this is certainly not precluded, the meaning ropes is well attested in the literature. 27. The LORD is God, and he has enlightened us! Bind the festal dance with ropes right up to the horns of the altar. 28. J«n nfx ` Students by now can probably diagnose this hollow form without further help. 28. You are my God, and I will praise you. My God, I will exalt you! 29. This verse reproduces exactly the first verse of the psalm and, indeed, harkens back to the cqg sayings in vss Praise the LORD for he his good, for his faithfulness is forever. 33.Kraus, Psalmen 2: This is some improvement on Hugo Gressmann s idea about tightrope walking around the altar (ZAW 42 [1924]:160.)! 34.Terrien, The Psalms, Gerstenberger, The Psalms, Part 2, Dahood, Psalms 3: Ibid., Cf. Kraus, Psalmen 2:985. 7