Sunday Sermonette: Obscurantism

Psalm 67 is a mercifully brief, simple song of praise. Psalm 68, however, is both exceedingly long and has been called the" most difficult and obscure of the psalms. "The RSV actually covers up some of the difficulty, for example by translating verse 4 as " His name is the Lord, " whereas the Hebrew actually says " His name is Yah. " That is a specific short form of Yahweh. The KJV spells if Jah, as do Rastafarians who prefer it as the name of god, but the Hebrew pronunciation is closer to English Y than J. The form Yah appears 43 times in the Psalms, but otherwise only once in Exodus and several times in Isaiah. It is part of the name Elijah and Hezekiah, as well as the word hallelujah, which means " praise God. " What name to call god by is obviously important to the writer, so it ' s more than a little odd that the translators of the RSV decided to hide this. " Bashan, " which is referenced frequently, is today southernmost Syria, i.e. the Golan Heights, which I suppose is why radical Zionists are determined to keep that territory, as it is represented here as a dwelling place of Yahweh, although that does seem to contradict the basic idea of Zionism. Other references are obscure, e.g. verses 12 - 14. What is the dove with silver wings and green gold feathers? What is the snow that fell on Zalmon? (The name of one of David ' s warriors.) What are the 20,000 chariots in verse 17? What is the incident in which the Lord comes from Sinai and ascends what is apparently som...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs