And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Genesis 1:31b NASB The – Other than the fact that Robert Alter’s translation of this verse changes “there was” to “it was,” is there anything really significantly different? To answer that question, we need to read “Introduction to the Five Books” in his translation…
Happy who seizes and smashes your infants against the rock. Psalm 137:9 Alter Happy – It’s difficult to believe God in the midst of great trauma. If God is good, if He cares about us, then why do we suffer so much? It doesn’t feel like a test. It feels like abandonment, or divine failure. …
So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Romans 7:12 NASB Law – Why is the Law holy? Before you answer, consider the radical difference between the Greco-Roman view of Law and the Semitic biblical view of Law. Christine Hays offers some insight: “Divine law can be minimally…
“For My devisings are not your devisings, and your ways are not My ways,” says the Lord. For as the heavens are high over the earth, so My ways are high over your ways and My devisings over your devisings.” Isaiah 55:8-9 Robert Alter Devisings – You’re probably more familiar with this verse translated in the popular religious vernacular: “For My…
Why are you in despair, my soul? And why are you restless within me? Wait for God, for I will again praise Him for the help of His presence, my God. Psalm 42:11 NASB In despair – What a great verse! The perfect response to Psalm 88, that dark and deary account of life when God…
You have removed lover and friend far from me; my acquaintances are in a hiding place. Psalm 88:18 NASB You have removed – A short excursus into enemy territory followed by an immediate return to the major theme: God is sovereign. This poem describes whatever happens as under God’s control and direction. Therefore, even if…
They have surrounded me like water all day long; they have encircled me altogether. Psalm 88:17 NASB They – Suddenly, a change. Through seventeen verses the psalmist has decried God’s absence. His lament holds God responsible for the sorry state of his life, for the nearly impossible burden he must carry, for the approach of death. But now,…
Your burning anger has passed over me; Your terrors have destroyed me. Psalm 88:16 NASB Destroyed – Not just any trauma. No, this is trauma of a special kind: bi·ʿûṯ. “events that cause fear and destruction or death, with some focus on the wrath of the punisher.”[1] What is the result? ṣāmat The word ṣāmat occurs…
I was miserable and about to die from my youth on; I suffer Your terrors; I grow weary. Psalm 88:15 NASB From my youth – Some things stick. Some experiences you had early on just remain, buried away in the subconscious of your worldview, coloring how you look at life. Modern psychological theory, removed from the divine,…
Lord, why do You reject my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me? Psalm 88:14 NASB Reject – The Hebrew zānaḥ has two root meanings. The first is as it is translated here: to reject, spurn, cast off. But the second adds a bit to our emotional understanding of this word. zānaḥ II means, “to…
