{"id":906,"date":"2011-11-15T08:28:44","date_gmt":"2011-11-15T14:28:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/?p=906"},"modified":"2011-11-15T08:28:44","modified_gmt":"2011-11-15T14:28:44","slug":"how-religious-is-god-not-very-the-psalms-in-our-worship-41","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/how-religious-is-god-not-very-the-psalms-in-our-worship-41\/","title":{"rendered":"How Religious is God? Not Very! The Psalms in Our Worship 41"},"content":{"rendered":"

With this post, we reach a point 1\/3 of the way through the Psalter.\u00a0 And a lovely point it is.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Psalm 50 raises a question previously unasked in the Psalter, at least in precisely this way: what does God want from human beings?\u00a0 If we remember that ancient people saw gift-giving as a way of building a relationship, with the giving of lavish gifts creating a sort of dependency or relational asymmetry, then we recognize that the question is not an idle one.\u00a0 To give a gift to God is to have a relationship with God, at least as the Bible understands it.\u00a0 So what sort of gift is appropriate?<\/p>\n

The psalm considers the question from several angles.\u00a0 Verses 1-6 open with a description of “El Elohim Yahweh” descending from heaven to earth in splendor.\u00a0 The very heavens declare the deity’s majestic righteousness and surpassing qualities as the judge of all the earth (v. 6).\u00a0\u00a0 Thus the God with whom the psalmist seeks a relationship is the same God who brings justice to the world, surely a magnificent gift.<\/p>\n

Next, verses 7-15 offer a divine oracle in which this God declines sacrifice as an appropriate gift because He owns all the creatures in the world (you can’t give something to the one who already owns it!) and because a deity does not need to eat flesh and drink blood in any case.\u00a0 (Thus the psalm rejects a simplistic view of sacrifice that sees it as an act of feeding the deity.)\u00a0 This section puts the relationship on a different footing than one of strict reciprocity: “Thanksgiving is a sacrifice to Elohim, and keeping your promises is a peace offering to the Most High.\u00a0 ‘Call on me in a day of trouble; I will rescue you and you will honor me’.”\u00a0 Weaving together oracle (v. 15) and comment on divine oracle (v. 14), the psalmist recasts the whole question.\u00a0 God’s job is to save the contrite in heart, and our job is to be grateful.\u00a0 Barbecue is secondary.\u00a0 Let me come back to this point in a moment.<\/p>\n

The psalm next moves to a criticism of the evildoer, i.e., the one who does not have a relationship with God.\u00a0 Verses 16-21 describe people who say the right things — they look pious and obedient — but do not say the main thing.\u00a0 They are people who do not truly practice the disciplines of wisdom (verse 17’s word musar<\/em>, a favorite word in Proverbs to describe the life lived wisely).\u00a0 Their greatest mistake lies in assuming that God is like them, just a wearer of masks and not a person of integrity.\u00a0 They were mistaken, and fatally so.<\/p>\n

The psalm ends with a summary of its position: live a grateful life.\u00a0 “The one sacrificing thanksgiving honors me; he will make the way where I will show him God’s salvation.”\u00a0 (The Hebrew text is actually a bit defective, but this seems to be the sense of it.)\u00a0 The gift that will create a meaningful, positive, beneficial relationship with God is one rooted in human gratitude, and thus in human awareness of the truth of our dependency on God.<\/p>\n

Now, to return to an earlier point, what does the psalmist think about sacrifice?\u00a0 There is no reason to believe that he or she objected to sacrifice as such.\u00a0 That position would have to wait for later generations.\u00a0 But the psalm does lay the groundwork for the later Jewish realization that sacrifice was only a form of prayer (a very pleasant smelling one!), and that prayer itself was not a way of bribing God or creating obligation, but rather a way of cementing a relationship.\u00a0 So the barbecue is not, strictly speaking, necessary.\u00a0 A life — actions — based on a thankful heart is the key.\u00a0 And it still is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With this post, we reach a point 1\/3 of the way through the Psalter.\u00a0 And a lovely point it is. Psalm 50 raises a question previously unasked in the Psalter, at least in precisely this way: what does God want from human beings?\u00a0 If we remember that ancient people saw gift-giving as a way of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3538,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Religious is God? Not Very! The Psalms in Our Worship 41 - ACU Graduate School of Theology<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/how-religious-is-god-not-very-the-psalms-in-our-worship-41\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Religious is God? Not Very! The Psalms in Our Worship 41 - ACU Graduate School of Theology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With this post, we reach a point 1\/3 of the way through the Psalter.\u00a0 And a lovely point it is. Psalm 50 raises a question previously unasked in the Psalter, at least in precisely this way: what does God want from human beings?\u00a0 If we remember that ancient people saw gift-giving as a way of […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/how-religious-is-god-not-very-the-psalms-in-our-worship-41\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ACU Graduate School of Theology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-11-15T14:28:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Hamilton\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Hamilton\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/how-religious-is-god-not-very-the-psalms-in-our-worship-41\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/how-religious-is-god-not-very-the-psalms-in-our-worship-41\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mark Hamilton\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/#\/schema\/person\/d2dc7d7077423050634fd2d6052bdb6b\"},\"headline\":\"How Religious is God? Not Very! The Psalms in Our Worship 41\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-11-15T14:28:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/how-religious-is-god-not-very-the-psalms-in-our-worship-41\/\"},\"wordCount\":646,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/how-religious-is-god-not-very-the-psalms-in-our-worship-41\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/how-religious-is-god-not-very-the-psalms-in-our-worship-41\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/how-religious-is-god-not-very-the-psalms-in-our-worship-41\/\",\"name\":\"How Religious is God? Not Very! The Psalms in Our Worship 41 - ACU Graduate School of Theology\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-11-15T14:28:44+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/how-religious-is-god-not-very-the-psalms-in-our-worship-41\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/how-religious-is-god-not-very-the-psalms-in-our-worship-41\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/how-religious-is-god-not-very-the-psalms-in-our-worship-41\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How Religious is God? Not Very! The Psalms in Our Worship 41\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/\",\"name\":\"ACU Graduate School of Theology\",\"description\":\"Join us as we grow in knowledge and understanding, in greater service of the church.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/#organization\",\"name\":\"ACU Graduate School of Theology\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/files\/2017\/12\/GST-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/files\/2017\/12\/GST-Logo.png\",\"width\":1422,\"height\":703,\"caption\":\"ACU Graduate School of Theology\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/#\/schema\/person\/d2dc7d7077423050634fd2d6052bdb6b\",\"name\":\"Mark Hamilton\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fec853793053602bdf74f0b33d23997825add7742a7f1a8c3dd3a316a5d1d76c?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fec853793053602bdf74f0b33d23997825add7742a7f1a8c3dd3a316a5d1d76c?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark Hamilton\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/author\/mwh00c\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How Religious is God? Not Very! The Psalms in Our Worship 41 - ACU Graduate School of Theology","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/how-religious-is-god-not-very-the-psalms-in-our-worship-41\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How Religious is God? Not Very! The Psalms in Our Worship 41 - ACU Graduate School of Theology","og_description":"With this post, we reach a point 1\/3 of the way through the Psalter.\u00a0 And a lovely point it is. Psalm 50 raises a question previously unasked in the Psalter, at least in precisely this way: what does God want from human beings?\u00a0 If we remember that ancient people saw gift-giving as a way of […]","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/how-religious-is-god-not-very-the-psalms-in-our-worship-41\/","og_site_name":"ACU Graduate School of Theology","article_published_time":"2011-11-15T14:28:44+00:00","author":"Mark Hamilton","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark Hamilton","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/how-religious-is-god-not-very-the-psalms-in-our-worship-41\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/how-religious-is-god-not-very-the-psalms-in-our-worship-41\/"},"author":{"name":"Mark Hamilton","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/#\/schema\/person\/d2dc7d7077423050634fd2d6052bdb6b"},"headline":"How Religious is God? Not Very! The Psalms in Our Worship 41","datePublished":"2011-11-15T14:28:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/how-religious-is-god-not-very-the-psalms-in-our-worship-41\/"},"wordCount":646,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/how-religious-is-god-not-very-the-psalms-in-our-worship-41\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/how-religious-is-god-not-very-the-psalms-in-our-worship-41\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/how-religious-is-god-not-very-the-psalms-in-our-worship-41\/","name":"How Religious is God? Not Very! The Psalms in Our Worship 41 - ACU Graduate School of Theology","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-11-15T14:28:44+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/how-religious-is-god-not-very-the-psalms-in-our-worship-41\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/how-religious-is-god-not-very-the-psalms-in-our-worship-41\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/how-religious-is-god-not-very-the-psalms-in-our-worship-41\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How Religious is God? Not Very! The Psalms in Our Worship 41"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/","name":"ACU Graduate School of Theology","description":"Join us as we grow in knowledge and understanding, in greater service of the church.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/#organization","name":"ACU Graduate School of Theology","url":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/files\/2017\/12\/GST-Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/files\/2017\/12\/GST-Logo.png","width":1422,"height":703,"caption":"ACU Graduate School of Theology"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/#\/schema\/person\/d2dc7d7077423050634fd2d6052bdb6b","name":"Mark Hamilton","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fec853793053602bdf74f0b33d23997825add7742a7f1a8c3dd3a316a5d1d76c?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fec853793053602bdf74f0b33d23997825add7742a7f1a8c3dd3a316a5d1d76c?s=96&r=g","caption":"Mark Hamilton"},"url":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/author\/mwh00c\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3538"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=906"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1026,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906\/revisions\/1026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}