Wednesday Bible Study: Ye Gods!

Now we get some (mercifully short) songs of praise. The fun thing about these is that they cast Yahweh as the greatest among a pantheon of gods. That ' s how people thought about gods in the time most of the Tanakh was written. You ' ve got your god, we ' ve got ours, but ours is the baddest baddass of all the gods. This is somewhat different from polytheistic religions. All the Roman or Norse gods were gods of the Romans or Norsemen, although Jupiter and Odin were the head honchos. So the basic structure of the Deuteronomistic history is that when the Israelites please God, he gives them victory over their neighbors, whose gods can ' t stand up to him; but when they displease him, he lets them down. So the fall of Jerusalem and the Babylonian captivity aren ' t any reflection on Yahweh ' s powers, it ' s just that the Judeans somehow pissed him off. These songs were undoubtedly written before then, however. Psalm 95 refers to the (fictional) exile in the wilderness. Note verse 3. In Psalm 96, note verses 4 and 5. In Psalm 97, note verses 7 through 9.95 O come, let us sing to theLord;let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;    let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!3 For theLord is a great God,    and a great King above all gods.4 In his hand are the depths of the earth;    the heights of the mountains are his a...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs