Really? Is That In There?
Psalm 97
Job, the Psalms, the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon (Song of Songs, Canticles) are called thr poetry section of the Bible. Some is poetical by imagery, others by metre, etc. In English none of them rhyme. I'm not sure in the original Hebrew, but the Hebrew words are often more expressive and far reaching than the limited English language. Now I've written a few dozen poems in my life, mostly rhyming and of a fairly reasonable metre, but none rival the great bards who wrote the more beloved poems in the English language. The Haiku of Japan and that of Du Pu and Li Po in China all have their own variations of the mechanics of poetry. Certainly every language has a poetical system of their own.
Even so most poetry no matter the language has it's form and nature of imagery. In the Proverbs there is often the personification of wisdom. But often through the Psalms to often I think we pass up many actual truths about God byseeing it purely as imagery. We should take time to stop and consider what actual events are represented by the writer.
The Lord reigneth: let the earth rejoice: let the multitude of the isles be glad.
Psalms 97:1 GNV
Obviously the setting of proclaiming that it is the Lord, and that he reigns as king.
Clouds and darkeness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the foundation of his throne.
Psalms 97:2 GNV
Read Exodus 19:16-20; 20:1-21 At Mount Sinai the mountain was surrounded by dark clouds and the law was given.
There shall go a fire before him, and burn up his enemies round about.
Psalms 97:3 GNV
Read Leviticus 10:1, 2 where Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire, burned incense that wasn't commanded by the Lord, and fire from the Lord consumed them.
His lightnings gave light unto the world: the earth saw it and was afraid.
Psalms 97:4 GNV
Again, from Exodus 19 from the dark clouds surrounding Mount Sinai came lightning, and lightning made all who saw it afraid. They thought they were all going to die, more than a million people.
The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
Psalms 97:5 GNV
Even though it was as again so at Mount Sinai it was also a reality Micah spoke of in Israel before telling of where Messiah would be born.
For behold, the Lord cometh out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains shall melt under him (so shall the valleys cleave) as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured downward.
Micah 1:3-4 GNV
The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory.
Psalms 97:6 GNV
Noah and his sons had nothing to see for a year but water and the heavens. It would remind them that God's promises were true, the righteousness by which they remained safe.
Abram, then Abraham was told to count the stars in the heavens to illustrate God's promise. Even sacrificing Isaac in his heart God reiterated for Abraham, God's righteousness in the promise as the stars of the heavens.
Jacob, well granted it was a dream, but it was to the opening of heaven in a way he could understand it. The holiness of God has the righteousness of God embodied in it and Jacob saw the opening of heaven. Genesis 31:13 God reminds Jacob of the time whenhe saw the door of heaven.
Joseph's dream involved the sun, moon, and stars, and later the promise of the dream coming true reflecting God's righteousness. And God's righteousness declared from the heavens is seen in a couple of the plagues to Egypt,.the lightning and the darkness.
In so many ways the heavens declare God's righteousness. What is righteousness? The word for righteousness refers to naturally right, or morally right, legally right, also right in equity and right in prosperity. However, when you consider the heavens declaring Gods righteousness in any and every one of these different defined ways you only hope to understand righteousness. When Joshua said "sun, stand thou still" God's righteousness was being declared. And even in another song being sung Deborah and Barak reflect on God's discomfiting Sisera (Judges 4:15) as fight from the heavens (Judges 5:4, 19, 20).
Confounded be all they that serve graven images, and that glory in idols: worship him all ye gods.
Psalms 97:7 GNV
From Rachel stealing her father Laban's idols, his images, his gods, to all the nations that were in the land that was promised to Abraham when Joshua led the children of Israel into that land and then all the hundreds of years of the judges, the people of Israel turning to idols, graven images there is no question about thoughts about these gods. Jacob had amassed a great amount of possessions, but it was the graven images that Rachel took that was offensive to the Lord.
Having reread the rest of this psalm where all these thoughts are directly related to real life, not just exaggerated prose it caused me to stop and think. Once again as you read these are Richard's meditations, not doctrine, not theology except to the extent of once again asking myself, What do I believe? I have asked myself that question many times every year for at least the last sixty years. Not "is this history real" or "does this history actually line up with these thoughts in various Psalms?" But do these thoughts and events, these things that are actually there reflect in my life that I will praise God, do praise God from my heart, from my being? If my life doesn't reflect that praise that He alone is due, then why doesn't it? So the true question isn't about Scripture, it's about me. Really? Is that in there?