Psalm 16: Making Faith Visible (II)

This Psalm helps us along the road of making faith "visible" or "practical." We are, in general, not abstract thinkers. We need to have conceptions of faith that are tied to things that we see and can readily understand if faith is to be a powerful concept for us. I think the Psalmist in Ps. 16 does this magnificently through the use of at least four ideas: (1) the notion of refuge--v.1; (2) God as "portion" in v. 5; (3) the "boundary line" in v. 6; and (4) keeping God always "near me" in v. 8. This essay will explore how the Psalmist takes visual concepts from his tradition and applies them to faith in God.

A Word on the Psalm's Structure

There are some textual problems in vv. 3-4 which make it difficult for it to "get off the ground" for one who is sensitive to the flow of the Hebrew. Even if you aren't, you should know the following. Verses 1-2 act as a sort of superscription or affirmation of faith. Verses 3-4 are difficult to read. The central difficulty relates to who "leqadeshim" are in v. 3. The translation is, literally, "the holy ones," but this can refer, as commentators tell us, to anyone from the God of Israel, to the people of Israel, to the priests, to foreign "gods." Our translation is affected by how we also read a later word of the verse, which is translated "noble" in the NRSV but literally is, "and the majestic ones all delighting in them." Some scholars see these two verses as indications of the evil ways of other gods (v. 3) and those who chose these gods (v. 4), while most modern translations contrast vv. 3 and 4. So, I will "punt" on this one, believing that an answer isn't crucial to understanding the Psalm--but as a hint to readers that making sense of the Psalms is more difficult than normally imagined. Then, vv. 5-8 speak of the Psalmist's trust and confidence in the Lord, while vv. 9-11 stress the blessings of God's presence. Let's now move to the "visual" speech of the author of Psalm 16.

God as Refuge (v. 1)

Christian hymnody abounds with tunes that celebrate God as the believer's refuge. One familiar one is Ps. 46 put to music:

"God is our refuge and our strength,
in straits a present aid;
Therefore, although the earth remove,
we will not be afraid:"

But for the Psamist the notion of "refuge" had a visual connotation. In the Pentateuch God instructs the people about to come into the Promised Land to set up six "cities of refuge" in the land. These cities are places where the person committing involuntary manslaughter may flee until the community has an opportunity to pass judgment on his case (whether, in fact, the homicide was deliberate, negligent or "heat of passion"). For example, Numbers 35:9-29 is one text which speaks about these ciites. They were set up "so that anyone who kills a person without intent may flee there" (35:15). This text provides the occasion for the author to distinguish between murders "with an iron object" or a "weapon" and those who "push another suddenly without enmity, or hurls any object without lying in wait" (35:22). The city of refuge "protected" the person committing the homicide until the nature of his punishment could be decided by the community. What a powerful picture this presents. The entire society had to keep its hands off someone who fled to such a city, even if passions ran high, until guilt was determined. God, then, is this sort of "refuge" for us. God is absolutely secure and easily available--just like the city of refuge.

Well, you get my point. The Psalmist used a concept which would have deep visual meaning for the people and then said that God was such a refuge. That is the type of theological imagination that we need today.

II. God as the "Portion" (v. 5)

The image of God as "portion" comes from the parceling out of the land after the people of Israel entered it. The traditions of land allotment are found especially in Joshua 13 and 18. Reading those passages today is more sleep-inducing than inspiring, but when we realize that each of the names, from Mearah to Aphek to Baal-gad to Lebo-hamath, for example (see Josh. 13:4), meant something of immense importance to people at one time, we are prepared to understand the notion of God as the Psalmist's "portion" in Ps. 16. But what is also interesting from Israel's past is that one tribe, the Levites, received no "portion" of land because, as the text says: "the offerings by fire to the Lord God of Israel are their inheritance" (Josh. 13:14). Or, in another place it is stated even more clearly: "You (Aaron--the priest) shall have no allotment in their land, nor shall you have any share among them; I am your share and your possession among the Israelites" (Num 18:20). Already in the ancient experience of Israel the notion of "portion" or "inheritance" had both a very practical, visual, signification as well as a "spiritualized" meaning. God had, as it were, been weaning them from practicallity through the experience of the Levites, who were to receive God as their "portion." Thus, when the Psalmist speaks of God as his portion (16:5), he can expect his readers to "fill in" his meaning from the vitality of their religious conceptions. We could also do something with the other words in v. 5 ("cup" and "lot"), and we would discover the same thing.

III. The Boundary Line (v. 6) and "Lord with me" (v. 8)

The final two points can be made more quickly. As Anderson says in his commentary on the Psalms, the "measuring line" (as he translates it) has "become the designation of the plot or territory thus marked" (by apportioning the land). God is our portion, and the boundary lines of life, that is the borders to our property (which every landowner would know by heart) have fallen "in pleasant places." The whole cluster of terms such as lot and portion and inheritance and boundary lines is explored in Joshua 17, which is a very practical or visual text of the allotment to the tribes of Manasseh and Joseph. When the author speaks of boundary lines, every family within his hearing knows exactly what he means. Even though the boundary lines of their property might have gone through swamps or deserts or rocky terrain, in faith they can say that the "boundary lines" of their lives have gone through the most pleasant places.

Then, finally, there is the concept of God's presence in v.8. I think this is one of the most abstract of all concepts, for how do we imagine the boundless and invisible God "with us" when we are limited and sense-dependent? Nevertheless, the Psalmist gives us some hints at making this difficult concept visible. He says: "I keep the Lord always before me." How does he do that? I think Psalm 119 is the way he does that. He recognizes that "the unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple" (v. 130). By keeping the will of God, the Word of God, the Torah of God always in view, he keeps the Lord always before him. I suppose that one of the ways to do this today is through agreeing to participate in regular studies of Scripture.

Conclusion

These four examples do not exhaust the riches of Ps. 16. But they give us four visible, practical ways to understand the nature of faith. For us, who will face declining church attendance and diminished interest in faith through the institutional church in the future, we have the way here to try to make faith more visible. It couldn't come at a better time.

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