psalm 33 and psalm 34 and acrostic psalms and anti acrostic

This essay isn't really a current event nor is it a "review" in the conventional sense of the word. It is a reflection, however, on something recent, and perhaps that justifies its inclusion here. The Psalter in the Common Lectionary for last Sunday (if you don't know what those terms mean, then, as Casey Stengal used to say, you can "look 'em up") was Psalm 33, and I went to a pre-worship class to discuss the Psalm with the Rector and about 20 other people. Your first reaction might be that by writing on the Psalm two days after we studied it, I am doing something akin to ordering smoke detectors after the fire. But I think that it is useful to say what I learned even after the fact.

First Impressions of Psalm 33

Psalm 33 is seemingly a standard or unremarkable hymn of praise to God. I call it seemingly unremarkable because no one memorizes it and few, if any, have a "favorite verse" in Psalm 33. The "problem" with Psalm 33 is that it urges us to sing "new song" to God (v. 3), yet it seems to sing a very "old" song to God. Most of the verses of the Psalm are repeated in other Psalms or other books of the Bible. For example, large sections of it are reflections of the creation story of Genesis 1 or sections of the Book of Job. Thus, it plows little if any new theological ground. In contrast to most of the other Psalms, it dispenses with or ignores the real flesh and blood drama of living. There is nothing here about the history of the people of God, nothing about the enemies who are threatening, the distresses that are overcoming the people, the hopes they have, the losses they feel. Psalm 33 reads like a simple catalogue of divine characteristics which, though arguably important to confess, do not manifest themselves in any gripping way here. It is as if we have a sort of doctrinal Psalm or poetry that sings its beliefs rather than singing the core experiences of the human heart. How, then, can there be an exhortation to sing a new song in a Psalm which seems quintessentially an expression of an "old" song? What good is it to urge us to sing the new song (i.e., look at God and faith in a fresh way) when it appears that the very vehicle urging us to do so reflects another way of doing things? Isn't it a bit like the parent who tells a student to study while himself watching TV, or tells the child not to smoke while puffing on a Marlboro? Ok. Those may be a little strong. But, to get right to the point. How can a "boring" Psalm urge us to do something fresh and new?

And so, I was troubled by this question for several minutes...until we looked at the structure of the Hebrew text of the Psalm. Then, my heart skipped. Here is why.

The "Solution" to the "Problem" of Psalm 33

We mulled over this issue for some time until we looked at the underlying structure of the Psalm. Though many points can be made about the various "7's" that are in the Psalm (7 words urging praise in vv. 1-3; 7 words expressing confidence in vv. 20-22; possibly 7 deeds that God has done in vv. 4-19), the more important point arose because of the 22 verse structure of Psalm 33. Anytime you see a Psalm of about 22 verses (or a multiple of 22), you wonder whether it is an acrostic Psalm. Each verse of n acrostic Psalm begins with a successive letter of the (22 letter) Hebrew alphabet. The "meaning" of an acrostic Psalm, apart from the words it uses, is that it covers the universe from "A to Z," as we would say. For example, Psalm 34, the next-door-neighbor to our Psalm is an acrostic. Ps. 34:1, "I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth," is, in Hebrew "abarakah et adonai becol eth/ tamid tehilato bepiy." It begins with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet--aleph. Ps. 34:2 says: "My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad." In Hebrew it is, "bayahweh tithalel napeshi/ yishmeau anavim veyismahu" (don't try this at home; you might injure yourself). The second verse begins with "beth", the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet. By having a Psalm cover "A to Z," so to speak, the author is trying to say that God is all in all.

Psalm 34, then, is a traditional acrostic. Perhaps the most famous acrostic Psalm is Ps. 119, which is an "8-fold acrostic." That is, it is made up of 22 stanzas of 8 lines each, and each of the 8 lines begins with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet. That Psalm celebrates the law of God, and the eightfold repetition of each letter suggests that the law of God is not only perfect (7X something), but is something that exceeds perfection. That, really, is all you need to know right now about Psalm 119.

So, Psalm 34 is an "old song" in that it uses the traditional device of the acrostic. Even so, it is an "exciting" old song, in my judgment, because it explores such rich and powerful themes with such insight. Many people have memorized more than one verse of Psalm 34; I have even sung songs to it.

Then we turn to Psalm 33, which also has 22 verses. Because of the acrostic in Psalm 34, we know that the author/compiler of this part or "book" of the Psalms (Ps. 1-41) knows the device. But, strikingly, Psalm 33 is not an acrostic. It does not give us the "A to Z" on praising God. And, it would have been so easy to do so. A skillful author could have assembled all the ideas of Ps. 33 into a simple acrostic pattern if he had wanted to do so. What is going on? Well, the author is "singing a new song" by not giving us an acrostic. The new song that we are urged to sing is a sort of scrambled song, one which has verses beginning with "d's" or "s's" or "c's" or whatever letter, but just not in the order of the alphabet.

Conclusion

The "lesson" of this is significant. Even in the "dull" husk of hackneyed theological affirmations is a potent literary device--the "anti-acrostic." We are not just told to sing a new song; we are shown how to do it. But, it is easy to miss the point. Not everyone who reads Hebrew would have caught the point. And virtually no one who doesn't read Hebrew would catch it. But there it is. So, don't think that you will be "blessed" by Psalm 33 because of the concepts described, though you may think you will be. You will, in fact, be heartened by learning its "anti-acrostic" nature.

There is much more to be said about Psalm 33, but this is the important point. Happy reading.

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