Great is the Beloved and greatly to be praised in the abode of the Most High!
The holy mountain, beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth;
Clear as a crystal within its pearly gates,
Within the stronghold of open hearts, the Beloved’s voice can be heard.
For lo, the inner fears assembled, they came forth together.
As soon as they saw the Beloved, they were in panic, they took to flight;
Trembling before the eyes of Love, they labored for a stronghold.
Through the Heart’s ear, the Word can be heard,
The refining Fire of Divine Mercy
melted hearts held in bondage by fear and illusion,
In the abode of the Most High, where the Beloved lives forever.
We have pondered your steadfast love, O Beloved, in the midst of our hearts, your Holy Temple.
We call on your Name, O Holy One, and praise You to the ends of the earth.
Your Word is our armor of strength let us rejoice and be glad!
Let all peoples rejoice because of your forgiving love!
See with your heart’s eye the crystal mountain, note the clarity and purity within;
Consider well the essence of love, the echoes of mercy and justice,
That you may tell the generations to come that this is the Beloved,
our hope for ever and ever.
Yes, the Blessed One will be with us for ever!
Nan C. Merrill Psalms for Praying
Reflection:
Psalm 48 is using feminine pronouns for the city that we don’t see in english translations. Which gives us something to ponder about how language affects ideas and behavior.
When cities are personified as “mother” and outlying towns “daughters” their destruction is referred to as rape. Describing a city (woman) as being defenseless, weak, and falling into destruction reinforces the role of female victim.
Describing kings as having birth pangs is a way of signifying the defeat of Israel’s enemies by God is inevitable or unstoppable. But this is a really negative view of the female action in labor and birth.
Even when there is rejoicing at the end of the psalm, we are invited to find joy in the city’s towers, citadels, and ramparts. There isn’t a direct metaphor here, but certainly, it sounds like we are gawking at her assets.
Devaluing of feminine is harmful, to every body. And sometimes these metaphors in scripture are used to affirm the power structures that exist that keep women (and all of those experiencing oppression) in a vulnerable place.
But the psalmist didn’t intend for these metaphors to be distorted to cause harm. Israel was not an empire but more likely the victim of oppression. Israel’s vulnerability highlights that God is the one who brings deliverance from oppression. God is love; God is mercy and justice; God is our hope for ever and ever. God is with us.
Psalm reflections can be listened to on the Period Pastor Podcast series, Like One who Watches for the Morning. In the podcast I read both the NRSVUE and Nan C. Merrill’s Psalms for Praying in addition to the reflection you see here.
I began writing Psalm reflections during Lent of 2020 shortly after we decided to close the church building, work from home, and worship via zoom. It is a practice I have continued since. Many churches use the Revised Common Lectionary (RLC) that rotates scripture on a three-year cycle (A, B, and C). Starting in Advent 2019, Third Church decided to worship with the texts from Year D, which is still not circulated as are years A, B, and C. Year D was created with the goal of including scriptures that were left out or not used as frequently as others. While we were using Psalms in year D, most other lectionary followers were using Year A. In Advent of 2020 we rejoined those who use the lectionary in year B. Advent of 2021 year C. Advent of 2022 year A. Advent of 2023 year B.
I use the Vanderbilt Divinity Library’s resource for lectionary readings to make text selections.
Year B Psalms
Advent – Transfiguration: 1st Sunday in Advent Psalm 80, 2nd Sunday in Advent Psalm 85, 3rd Sunday in Advent Psalm 126, 4th Sunday in Advent Psalm 89, Christmas Eve or Christmas Day Psalm 96, Psalm 97, Psalm 98, 1st Sunday after Christmas, Psalm 148, New Year’s Day Psalm 8, Epiphany Psalm 72, 1st Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 29, 2nd Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 139, 3rd Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 62, 4th Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 111, 5th Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 147, Transfiguration Sunday (Sunday before Lent) Psalm 50
Lent: Ash Wednesday Psalm 51, 1st Sunday in Lent Psalm 25, 2nd Sunday in Lent Psalm 22, 3rd Sunday in Lent Psalm 19, 4th Sunday in Lent Psalm 107, 5th Sunday in Lent Psalm 51 or Psalm 119:9-16, 6th Sunday in Lent (Palm or Passion Sunday) Psalm 118 or 31
Holy Week: Monday Psalm 36, Tuesday Psalm 71, Wednesday Psalm 70, Maundy Thursday Psalm 116, Good Friday Psalm 22, Holy Saturday Psalm 31
Easter: Easter Psalm 118 or 114, 2nd Sunday of Easter Psalm 133, 3rd Sunday of Easter Psalm 4, 4th Sunday of Easter Psalm 23, 5th Sunday of Easter Psalm 22, 6th Sunday of Easter Psalm 98, Ascension Psalm 47 or Psalm 93, 7th Sunday of Easter Psalm 1, Day of Pentecost Psalm 104
Season After Pentecost (Ordinary Time): 1st Sunday after Pentecost (Trinity Sunday) Psalm 29, 2nd Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 139 or Psalm 81, 3rd Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 138 or Psalm 130, 4th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 20 or Psalm 92, 5th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 9 or Psalm 133 or Psalm 107, 6th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 130 or Psalm 30, 7th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 48 or Psalm 123, 8th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 24 or Psalm 85, 9th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 89 or Psalm 23, 10th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 14 or Psalm 145, 11th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 51 or Psalm 78, 12th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 130 or Psalm 34, 13th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 111 or Psalm 34, 14th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 84 or Psalm 34, 15th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 45 or Psalm 15, 16th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 125 or Psalm 146, 17th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 19 or Psalm 116, 18th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 1 or Psalm 54, 19th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 124 or Psalm 19, 20th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 26 or Psalm 8, 21st Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 22 or Psalm 90, 22nd Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 104 or Psalm 91, 23rd Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 34 or Psalm 126, 24th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 146 or 119, 25th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 127 or Psalm 146, 26th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 16, 27th Sunday after Pentecost (Christ the King) Psalm 132 or Psalm 93.
Sources and notes:
“The pains of labor are about courage more than fear, fierceness more than flight, determination more than panic. Birth-giving women are Vessels of the alchemy of creation; Containers of holy fire, forging treasures; Midwives of the Divine.” Beth A. Richardson’s reflection on Psalm 48 in Spong.
“Zion/Jerusalem is often referenced as female in Tanakh (cp. the “new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” in rev. 21:2; see also Gal 4:26; Phil 3:20) and throughout the ancient Near East. The context for this personification in Tanakh is often that of military disaster; the conquered female city is portrayed as a victim of rape. Zion is characterized as female in Psalm 48. Verse 11 declares: “let Mount Zion be glad, let the towns of Judah rejoice.” the Hebrew word here translated “towns” is, in fact, “daughters”. In urban contexts, as Robert Alter notes, “daughters” refers to outlying hamlets, and the city is understood as “mother”. In addition, though the NRSV translates pronouns and possessive adjectives for the city in vv. 12-13 as neuter “it” or “its,” the Hebrew is in the third-person feminine singular form and literally reads “her”: “go all around her,” “consider well her ramparts”.” W pp. 52-53
“Given this personification of Zion, Lamentations 2:15 can serve as helpful intertext for evaluating female Zion in Psalm 48:12-13. Zion/Jerusalem is personified as “Daughter Zion” or “Daughter Jerusalem” (Lam 1-2) as she voices a funeral dirge over her military defeat, describes as rape (see Her 13:26; Isa 47:1-3). Lamentations 2:15 quotes Psalm 48:2 to contrast Zion’s former beauty and joy with her current humiliated state. Passersby “hiss and wag their heads” at her now. Despite the exaltation of Zion in Psalm 48, subordination and abuse lurk behind her personification. “The intrinsic violence of city-as-woman metaphor is grounded in men’s violent control of women in ancient Near eastern societies…. the city as an object of violence is always a feminine Other, reinforcing the status of the feminine as secondary, and facilitating a pornographic objectification of women by setting the female as the model victim.” Mark Body expands this argument in his study of the summons to joy directed to the female Zion in the prophets, which he argues is always related to military victory, as in Psalm 48:11. In Lamentations 2, Daughter Zion must voice her lament uninvited and she expresses no joy. Boda charges that the male elite have “leveraged” the female image of the city in Lamentations 1-2 “to mourn the loss of their own privilege and hegemony over the vulnerable within the society.” Daughter Zion is left “ever the victim in this new context.”” W p. 53
“Another reference to females in Psalm 48:6 also raises questions. The hostile kings become undone when they view Zion: “trembling took hold of them there, pains as of a woman in labor.” The Hebrew means “labor pains.” Carol Meyers argues that since contractions are not under one’s control, the word is used figuratively to depict other situations of helplessness “in the face of an inevitable outcome.” In Psalm 48 this means the inevitable universality of God’s sovereignty. Normally, however, the expected outcome of labor pains is birth and new life, a positive experience. At the hands of the male elite and their Zion theology this metaphor has been turned upside down to signal defeat and death for the kings attacking Zion. Jeremiah uses the same metaphor in 4:31: daughter Zion is in labor, “waiting before killers” (the invading army) as a sign of Israel’s punishment. In light of the Zion theology embedded particularly in Psalm 48:4-7 we are left, along with the worshipers in the temple, to “ponder” God’s steadfast love (v.9). The Hebrew verb translated “ponder” is, which means “form an image in one’s mind,” “reflect”. Psalm 48 reminds us, as feminist readers, to “ponder” how God’s intentions may be distorted for our harm.” W pp. 53-54
This except from Yolonda Marie Norton found in the Wisdom Commentary: “Birth Pangs and Black Liberation” As Walter Brueggemann suggests, too often the psalms are read within a context of affirming normative structures and power. White American males read a text about a God who defends them and use it as license to proliferate military and police power against all who oppose their agenda. However, it is crucial to remember that, despite its articulations otherwise throughout the canon, Israel was not an empire. Instead, we know that Israel most often lived in fear of and/or fell victim to empire. When we read this psalm with the understanding that it is a statement against norms and power structures, it becomes a liberative tool for the marginalized. In this instance Israel is not on the attack but rather on the defensive; it is God who steps in and saves it from the aggressor. In this moment we should see the beginning work of the “God of the oppressed.” This psalm recalls a God who speaks in and through history. When it is read in a contemporary marginalized context, readers draw comfort from the notion that God protects those who are ill prepared for battle with their enemies. In this instance the allusion to labor pains should not be seen as a reference to weakness. Instead, the writer paints a picture that highlights the intensity of the labor pains. Further, we can understand that these pains, while abortive for the oppressor, birth life and deliverance for the people of Israel in the text. When they read psalm 48 in a contemporary context, black diasporatic Christians can understand themselves as those delivered through these birth pangs.” W p. 54
Alter Alter, Robert. 2007. The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary New York: W. W. Norton & Company
WBC Allen, Leslie C. 1983. Word Biblical Commentary: Psalms 101-150. Vol. 21. Waco, TX: Word Books, Publisher.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. 1974. Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible. 8th ed. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Press.
Bourgeault, C. (2006). Chanting the psalms: A practical guide Audio Book. New Seeds.
Brueggemann, Walter. 2007. Praying the Psalms: Engaging Scripture and the Life of the Spirit. 2nd ed. Eugene, OR: Cascade.
Brueggemann Brueggemann, Walter. 2014. From Whom No Secrets Are Hid: Introducing the Psalms. Edited by Brent A. Strawn. 1st ed. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.
Brueggemann, Walter. Davis Hanskins, Editor. 2022. Our Hearts Wait: Worshiping Through Praise and Lament in the Psalms Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville KY.
Brueggemann, Walter. (2002). Spirituality of the psalms. Augsburg Pub. House.
Brueggemann, Walter. (1984). The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary. Minneapolis: Augsburg.
Chilson, Richard, ed. You Shall Not Want: A Spiritual Journey Based on the Psalms. Ave Maria Press, 2009.
Chittister Chittister, Joan. (2011). Songs of the heart: reflections on the psalms. John Garratt Publishing.
Cudjoe-Wilkes, G., Wilkes, A. J., & Moss, O. (2022). Psalms for black lives: Reflections for the work of Liberation. Upper Room Books.
WBC Craigie, Peter C. 1983. Psalms 1-50–Word Biblical Commentary. Vol. 19. Waco, TX: Word Books.
Creach Creach, Jerome Frederick Davis. 1998. Psalms: Interpretation Bible Studies. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.
DAFLER, J. (2021). PSOBRIETY: A journey of recovery through the psalms. Louisville, KY: WESTMINSTER JOHN KNOX.
W de Claisse-Walford, Nancy L. WISDOM COMMENTARY: Psalms Bks. 4-5. Edited by Barbara E. Reid. Vol. 22. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 2020.
Green, Barbara. 1997. Like a Tree Planted: An Exploration of Psalms and Parables Through Metaphor. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.
W Hopkins, Denise Dombkowski. WISDOM COMMENTARY: Psalms Bks. 2-3. Edited by Barbara E. Reid. Vol. 21. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 2016.
NIB Keck, Leander E. 2015. The New Interpreters Bible Commentary. Vol. 3. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.
Lewis, C. S. (2017). Reflections on the Psalms. Harper One, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers.
Mays Mays, James Luther. 1994. Psalms. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press.
McCann McCann, J. C. (1993). A theological introduction to the book of Psalms: The Psalms as Torah. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.
McCann, J. C., & Howell, J. C. 2001. Preaching the Psalms. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.
Merrill, N. C. (2020). Psalms for praying an invitation to wholeness (10th Anniversary Edition ed.). London, England: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Miller Miller, Patrick D. 1986. Interpreting the Psalms. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press.
Morgan, Michael. 2010. The Psalter for Christian Worship Revised Edition. Westminster John Knox Press.
Schlimm Schlimm, Matthew Richard. 2018. 70 Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know. Nashville, TN: Abington Press.
Spong Spong, M. (Ed.). (2020). The words of her mouth: Psalms for the struggle. Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press.
WBC Tate, Marvin E. 1990. Word Biblical Commentary: Psalms 51-100. Edited by David Allan. Hubbard and Glenn W. Barker. Vol. 20. Waco, TX: Word.
Weems, Ann. 1995. Psalm of Lament. Westminster John Knox Pres
OTL Weiser, Artur. 1998. Old Testament Library: Psalms. Translated by Herbert Hartwell. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Manchester University Press.
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