utterly

March 3, 2017

The restoration (Lam 5:21-5:22)

“Restore us

To yourself!

O Yahweh!

Thus we may be

Restored!

Renew our days

As of old!

Unless you have

Utterly rejected us?

Are you angry

With us

Beyond measure?”

While this author pleads for restoration, there is an element of doubt at the end. They wanted to be restored to Yahweh like in the good old days. But then the element of doubt crept in. They were asking for mercy, but has Yahweh utterly rejected them? Is God so angry that it cannot be measured? Have the Judeans gone too far against Yahweh? Thus this lamentation does not have a happy ending, but a more existential angst that maybe there will be no restoration at all.

September 20, 2015

David is in a terrible state (Ps 38:5-38:8)

“My wounds grow foul.

My wounds fester.

Because of my foolishness,

I am utterly bowed down.

I am utterly prostrate.

All day long I go around mourning.

My loins are filled with burning.

There is no soundness in my flesh.

I am utterly spent.

I am utterly crushed.

I groan

Because of the tumult of my heart.”

David or the psalmist was in bad shape. His wounds were growing more rank. They festered in his body because he had been foolish. He was knocked down and prostrate. Every day, all day long, he was in mourning. He had burning loins. As stated above, his body was not sound. In fact, he was utterly spent and crushed because of his sorrowful heart.