Oh Captain, my Captain.

Firstly, I'd like to post this very tentatively, as I have an extremely rudimentary knowledge of Hebrew, and have not done a word study on this word. I'd like to talk with Pastor Hanaoka at Branch of Hope OPC before I'd be willing (or maybe comfortable is a better word) to preach this.

One of my favorite descriptions of soldiers in the Bible is the phrase used by the New American Standard / New King James and the KJV before them--"mighty men of valor." (My best British friend would approve that the King James renders it "valour," but that's beside the point.)

I don't often think of the Israelite men as being "mighty." Usually I see them how the men of 1950s America saw them-- as the weakling Monkey-in-the-Middle for the past few thousand years. This, however, is far from the truth. The media actually catches a glimpse of the truth when it portrays Israel as being a formidable country in the Near East. It wasn't by the strength of men or of horses that won Ancient Israel her battles, but by the guiding hand of the LORD who chooses to use means like epidemics, walls of water, walls that fall outward, curtains that tear downward, fires that burn (but do not consume!) flesh or branches, and stones that knock down giants.

Whose hand killed Goliath?

Nevertheless, the Christian is called to advance the kingdom through a different sort of bloodshed, following a different Joshua. The true Joshua. This Captain is the Author and Perfector of salvation. (Something interesting about the word author is that it is the root of authority. In order to have authority over something, you need to be its author... or at least have borrowed authority as the Author's steward. Like a teacher. Or a parent. Or a doctor or lawyer or pastor.)

This Joshua confronts Joshua, son of Nun, at his surveyance of Jericho, with His sword drawn and ready in His hand--clearly not a sign of timidity. Joshua, son of Nun, asks what any commander would: "Who goes there? Are you for us or against us?" The Lord's reply answers Joshua's question much in the same way that the Apostle Paul reasons in Romans 8:31-39.

If God be for us, who can be against us? ... Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us (v.31,37).

The Lord answers Joshua, son of Nun, with these words: "Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come" (Joshua 5:14a). This Captain now leads us in His victory lap of history.

Yet the story isn't complete without a recollection of the past passion, the battles and casualties being honored. The greatest travesty of history was the holocaust of the Son of Man, yet Christians are called even today to lay down swords and cry with the martyrs at Jerusalem: "How long, O Lord?" The Revelation to the Apostle John records this bloodshed vividly:

I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, do You not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" (6:9b-10).

The author of Hebrews carries this point further, and exhorts the saints by reminding them that their leader, their captain, their Christ suffered much to be like them. As He was likewise tempted like us, so did He suffer like His disciples and brothers would suffer.

For it became Him, for Whom are all things, and by Whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying "I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee." And again, "I will put my trust in Him." And again, "Behold I and the children God hath given me" (Hebrews 2:10-13).

Who in the days of His [Jesus's] flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared; though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; and being made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him (Hebrews 5:7-9).

This is how the Apostle John heard the word concerning the martyred saints of Jerusalem, fallen under Rome's spear. These Christians were powerful and brave men, spurred by the Spirit of God (Acts 4) in order to.... die. It's a new way to be human.

They overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death ( Rev.12:11).

This brings me to the next point in a study of the "mighty men of valor" : men of war shed blood. This is the singular feature which God singles out of David which excludes him from building Him a temple that the face of God might be physically manifest among the children of Israel. The Israelites, following Joshua, son of Nun, were commanded to eradicate the 7 tribes of Canaan, whose sinnings had reached their brims. How do Christians today shed blood in the name of their King?

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin (Hebrews 12:1-4).

Part of the vows a Christian makes when he joins my church is the acknowledgement of his own sin and of the desire to "mortify the flesh." This is a fancy word for "put to death, kill, execute." The Christian does warfare not only against his own lingering sin nature, but also in the world, though not with swords. He springs into action at the Great Commission, and he longs to bring the world into full submission to the lordship of Christ. He follows the path of his Shepherd, who truly did resist unto "bloodshed, striving against sin." His mantra is "it is better to suffer than to sin."

Yet what do we do with the testosterone flowing through our veins, men? I believe the Apostle Paul has an answer for us, which he skillfully draws from the lips of a Philistine. In 1 Samuel 4, the Israelites decide to take the ark of the covenant into battle. Intimidation tactics, eh? Well, it worked... for about two verses. (1 verse ~ 30 minutes. True story.) The Philistines cried:

 God is come into the camp...Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore. Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the and of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. 

Be strong and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been unto you: quit yourselves like men, and fight. (1 Samuel 4:7-9)

The Apostle Paul uses these same words to encourage the Corinthians:

Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit ye like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity. (1 Corinthians 16:13-14)

According to Mark Hamby of Lamplighter Publishing, the word changes in the New Testament to imply "the gathering of moral conviction with the exercise of manly valor" (http://lamplighterbooks.com/?p=473). He quotes from John Eldredge's Wild at Heart that "a man must have a battle to fight, a great mission to his life that involves and yet transcends even home and family. He must have a cause to which he is devoted even unto death, for this is written into the fabric of his being. That is why God created you--to be His intimate ally, to join Him in the Great Battle."

So I leave you with this poem, men, to spur you onwards in your battle march of life. Walt Whitman wrote it in commemoration of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, but O how much better does the Christian bear the sorrow of His Lord, who knows that He is living? Join the King of kings!

O Captain, My Captain. http://www.bartleby.com/142/193.html
Walt Whitman (1819-1892). Leaves of Grass. 1900.

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring,
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up--for you the flag is flung--for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths--for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
this arm beneath your head;
It is some dream that on the deck,
You've fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead. 

Irrelevant and totally not-metaphorical resolutions:
Resolved: to take the stairs always, unless another party requests otherwise.
Resolved: to take the stairs two or more at a time going upwards.
Resolved: to take the stairs strictly one at a time going downwards.

BOR_Chapter 9: Annoyances

Write about those things that most annoy you. They can be trite (people who eat loudly, BO, gum smacking) or they can be significant (lies, hypocrisy, failure). What exactly is it about each that bothers you? What good stories can you tell about being annoyed?

I am a very easily annoyed person, and that is one of my major flaws. I'll admit it, but I think that it may have stemmed from having a spastic little brother to entertain. [FSAE: He's still spazzy, but I'm not annoyed because of him. He, among others, may aggravate, trigger, exacerbate, or stoke my annoyance, but the problem is me. Ain't it always?] Most of the things that annoy me I see in myself which only serve to further pique my soul. [FSAE: I'm definitely an introvert when it comes to being annoyed!]

I'm most annoyed by hypocrisy, because whenever I try to advise my younger brother as he's going through an aggressively rebellious puberty, he reminds me ever-so-clearly the very same flaws I reveal laid root in my own life.

I am a very methodical person. I call myself semi-perfectionistic (because I'm only half-Korean), and disorganization really gets to me. My brother, father, Mr. Becksvoort, and Trevor Van Dyke are good examples who test my patience with that little pet peeve. It drives me just a little bit crazy when I see clutters, especially when they are "erratically arranged" or "organized with a method to my madness" as Trevor says. [FSAE: *Gulp.* I'm guilty of this now. At least it doesn't bother me as much. And Trevor definitely has a madness to his methods.]

Courtesy, manners, and chivalry were bred into me by an older generation when my grandparents babysat me in the first few years of my life. They taught me to treat others better than I would like to be treated, and when I realized that this was impossible because my own mind wants the best out of life for myself, I realized that they were simply echoing Jesus' words to love our neighbor as ourselves and to do unto others as we would have done unto us. This really gets under my skin when I see other people ignore or be unaware of the basic laws of courtesy. Were they never taught? Do they respect unspoken rules? And why do I not follow the rules of selflessness as my Savior did?

Cursing really gets to me, because it really reveals a problem with the heart. I don't mean that cursing is a cardiac disorder, but rather a symptom of an ungrateful or unregenerate "nephesh," or the center of human thought and emotion. Our Lord Jesus said, "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart his mouth speaks" (Biblegateway.com, Luke 6:45). Too often, however, I find myself screaming obscenities in my mind at discourteous drivers, school bullies, and myself when I catch myself doing wrong.

Giving in to temptation is another one of my pet peeves. That may sound pretty deep and intellectual [FSAE: Nope. It doesn't.], but I see it in myself and my actions every day: should I watch one more episode of the "That 70s Show" marathon? Should I be watching it in the first place? Should I do more work first, before I play? Should I be more cautious of hat I do for entertainment? That "R" rating can't really be that bad, and so on and so forth.

Above all else, what gets to me the most is when I see these short-comings in my own self, because I am so prone to just pass the dying man on the road from Jericho to Jerusalem, and I can count on my fingers the times that the Holy Spirit has stirred in my life the ability and desire to be a good "Samaritan," if you will, and do what is loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, and self-controlled. 

Personal #7: The job, and other loose ends.

1. I have a tendency (as I've heard seems to be part of the curse of the Fall upon masculinity) towards laziness. Vicki encouraged me with this Bible verse quite a while back, even before she was married.

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
Galatians 6:9


2. God is good. How do we know this? The contrary is impossible. Christians have a distinct advantage because, as Paul comments to the Jews, "unto them were committed the oracles of God" (Romans 3:2b). You don't have to look much further than Scripture to draw the conclusion that God is good. This knowledge is unconsciously expressed in our languages-- "good morning!" draws its indicative/subjunctive wish from the phrase "God's morning!" (indicative--"the morning is good;" subjunctive--"would that the morning be good."). However, even non-Christians operate for the most part on the assumption that God is good, or at least that nature and evolution and chance have a benevolent and purposeful feel for this planet. All those ideologies rest upon the principle that power and wisdom originate from below and continue to rise with time, as if the master of the universe were baking bread. Evolution requires progress to be beneficial; "natural selection" is just code for "turns out this worked," which presumes that producing offspring is the primary drive for life. Life-drive, yes. Primary, no.

3. Pet peeves are like phobias: they are both rational annoyances / fears taken to ungodly extremes. This has been part of the working definition my Abnormal Psychology class has been using: mental disorders can oftentimes be described as being an overactive or prolonged or excessive natural human emotion. Phobias are sometimes natural fears taken to extremes (spiders, snakes, heights, tight spaces, puncturing objects). Then again, sometimes they aren't (agoraphobia--open spaces). Freud says... unconscious problems. The Bible says "you are a sinner: repent and look to the Christ." But sometimes these problems are merely chemical imbalances within the brain. The brain =/= the mind.
-This is partly why I remain at UCI studying psychology. I want to be able to identify physical problems while always keeping an eye on more fundamental problems of the psyche.

4. Corporate Designated prayer is like 4-part hymn harmony is like a well-structured essay. They all hold to a thesis (The Lord's Prayer, the key + Bible verse, the thesis), and build off each other, and point to the same goal. Are they more beautiful? Subjectively, certainly. Objectively, not necessarily.

5. Mark: "So this one time I made a cookie. It was THIS big (gestures arms to 1' x 1' dimensions). Then some guy bought it for a diamond."
Thomas: "Was it real?"
Mark: "Of course not! I traded him a fake cookie!"
Me: "...a fake cookie for a real diamond. Seems fair."
Mark: "Yeah, and then I tried to sell the diamond. The diamond wasn't real. So I traded the diamond back for the cookie. Then I made the cookie into a car."
Me: "Does your cookie-car run on milk?"
Mark: "Yeah, you just pour milk into the engine!"
Me: "To roll down your window, all you have to do is take a bite out of your car!"
Thomas: "You can't do that..."
Mark: "You can if it's a cookie-car."

6. We recently recited the following question from the Westminster Larger Catechism as a part of Westminster OPC's congregational reading, which reminded me that teaching is a really heavy job, reader. Reader, I covet your prayers both now and in the future.

Q 130. What are my sins as a superior? (application of the 5th commandment)
A. My sins as a superior are, besides the neglect of the duties required of me, an inordinate seeking of myself, my own glory, ease, profit, or pleasure, commanding things unlawful, or not in the power of inferiors to perform; my counseling, encouraging, or favoring them in that which is evil; my dissuading, discouraging, or discountenancing them in that which is good; my correcting them unduly; my careless exposing, or leaving them to wrong, temptation, and danger; my provoking them to wrath; or any way dishonoring myself, or lessening my authority, by an unjust, indiscreet, rigorous, or remiss behavior.

7. Last month, one of the memory verses I required of the children was Revelation 4:11. It goes like this:

"You are worthy, O Lord, 
To receive glory and honor and power;
For You created all things, 
And by Your will they exist and were created."

The grammar lessons and theology lessons seem to go over their young heads, but maybe it won't pass over you. Semicolons perform the function of connecting two sentences a little more intimately than a period. Thus, the first part of the sentence must be understood by the second's context. Why do we render unto God glory, honor, and power as we ought? He created all things, and by His will they exist and were created. It's important to note the present tense in the word "exist." Our God didn't step away from the oven for a second; rather "in Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28a). No, our Savior breathes us into existence just as He ordains worms to eat trees and ordains winds to scorch trees and ordains fish to swallow men and ordains men to tear their clothes in contrition and ordains animals to fast and cry out for redemption.

8. Calvin says I have power over him, but not authority. Regardless of this statement and my involvement, he's onto something important about sovereignty. A nation-state must have both of these things in order to be declared "sovereign" over its own declared peoples and territory. Interesting.

9. #105 You Felons on Trial in Courts.
by Walt Whitman. 1900. Leaves of Grass.

You felons on trial in courts;
You convicts in prison-cells--you sentenced assassins, chain'd and hand-cuff'd with iron;
Who am I, that I am not on trial, or in prison?
Me, ruthless and devilish as any, that my wrists are not chain'd with iron, or my ankles with iron?

You prostitutes flaunting over the trottoirs, or obscene in your rooms,
Who am I, that I should call you more obscene than myself?

O culpable! O traitor!
I acknowledge--I expose!
(O admirers! praise not me! compliment not me! you make me wince,
I see what you do not--I know what you do not.)

Inside these breast-bones I lie smutch'd and choked;
Beneath this face that appears so impassive, hell's tides continually run;
Lusts and wickedness are acceptable to me;
I walk with delinquents with passionate love;
I feel I am of them--Ibelong to those convicts and prostitutes myself,
And henceforth I will not deny them--for how can I deny myself?

Yet, Mr. Whitman, the Christian can say "Jesus's blood washes even my conscience, and His Spirit makes me ready and willing to follow His passions instead of mine."

10. For my Health Psych. class, my group studied and researched Uganda. I wish I'd have gotten in touch with Erika Bulthuis (http://myheartisfilled.blogspot.com) sooner-- she's being super cool and missionary-ing in Uganda with the OPC missionaries. Anyways, the gist of the project was the figure out what plagued the country and what sort of care was available and stuff. Turns out dysentery likes to catch after HIV turns to AIDS. If Calvin hadn't had similar stomach-flu symptoms, I would have felt extraordinarily sympathetic in the past 48 hours.

11. Be Thou my consolation, my shield when I must die;
Remind me of Thy passion when my last hour draws nigh.
Mine eyes shall then behold Thee, upon Thy cross shall dwell,
My heart by faith enfolds Thee; who dieth thus dies well. 
("O Sacred Head Now Wounded"'s hidden last verse!)

The Runner,

by Walt Whitman.  (1819-1892). Leaves of Grass. 1900.

On a flat road runs the well-train'd runner;
His is lean and sinewy, with muscular legs;
He is thinly clothed--he leans forward as he runs,
With lightly closed fists, and arms partially rais'd. 

Jesus is better than humanistic transcendental ontology.

But first! My dream:

I dreamed that Will and I were in one of the large, rather steep lecture halls at UCI. He was hosting the show "Bachelor," of which I was. Three girls walked out and sat on stools very similarly to the sketch performed by the cast comedians of "Whose Line Is It Anyways?" I don't remember them at all.

Suddenly my dream shifted and Will was the teacher or TA proctoring an SAT exam in the same lecture hall. I was taking it, when suddenly a laptop was on my desk. Totally legit. Then I was looking up the dates for Team Praha, a ministry of the OPC to the Czech Republic, when I noticed a new thing on the website: an opportunity in Ireland. Team Dublin, it was called. Then I woke up. 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
#42. "The Base of all Metaphysics"
Walt Whitman (1819-1892). Leaves of Grass. 1900.

And now, gentlemen,
A word I give to remain in your memories and minds,
As base, and finale too, for all metaphysics.

(So, to the students, the old professor,
At the close of his crowded course.)

Having studied the new and antique, the Greek and Germanic systems,
Kant having studied and stated--Fichte and Schelling and Hegel,
Stated the lore of Plato--and Socrates, greater than Plato,
And greater than Socrates sought and stated--Christ divine having studied long,
I see reminiscent to-day those Greek and Germanic systems,
See the philosophies all--Christian churches and tenets see,
Yet underneath Socrates see--and underneath Christ the divine I see,
The dear love of man for his comrade--the attraction of friend to friend,
Of the well-married husband and wife--of children and parents,
Of city for city, and land for land. 

Walt Whitman was kind of silly sometimes.

The base of all metaphysics must originate with God, since He was in the beginning. Whitman unfortunately misunderstands the message of the Christ, and, being influenced by the reigning philosophies of the time, errs grievously. It is not for a brotherly, affectionate sort of love that Christ would die on a cross while we were yet sinners. There is an aspect of this sort of love. Christ calls us brothers. We can cry "Abba, Father," for we have been given the spirit of adoption. This is necessary but insufficient for the label of "base and finale."

Rather, it is the love which exceeds expectation, which exceeds comprehension which was in the beginning. God is agape, not phileos. 

Plenteous in compassion Thou; [1 of 6]

blot out my transgressions now.

My pastor is going through Psalm 51 every first Sunday of the month, when our church partakes in the Lord's Supper. One of my favorite hymns is also based on this beautiful penitential psalm ("God, Be Merciful To Me," #486 in the red), thus this series of posts began to ruminate in my mind.

The music:
Firstly, a word on the song's musical and lyrical quality before delving into the text. The music is the tune "Redhead," in the key of E♭ Major, has four notes in a measure to the beat of the quarter note, and begins & ends in the standard song fashion of a full key chord triad for the lower three vocal parts (E♭, G, B♭) and the root as the soprano's (E♭). It's only a three (or six) line song in the red, as opposed to a four (or 8) line song, but it still follows roughly the same pattern of a hymn. A four line song usually follows musical pattern AABA (lyrical rhyming notwithstanding); a three line song usually follows musical pattern ABA. 

I'm going to focus on the middle ("B") section of this song, and take the Psalm 51 verse each verse this song references and point to both the beauty of the forgiveness of God as well as the significance the songwriter places the Psalmist's words at that junction. 

But first! My attempt of writing the coolness that is "B." 

The "B" section of this song does something unusual in the first half of the second line (the 3rd of 6 rhyming couplets).  The first measure works out great: E♭, C♮, B♭, E♭. The second measure is the super coolness. The notes jump from A♭ + C♮ to this really cool chord: A♭ bass + D♮ + F♮ + C♮. My sparse music theory knowledge is drawing me a blank to identify this chord or the big words that explain why it sounds funny. Thanks, Vicki Johnson! Vicki says that the weird chord is a D half diminished, which is the 7 chord of the key of E♭ Major. Turns out it's not so out-of-place in function, just in sound. (If you know what it's called, leave it as a comment below. Muchas gracias.) In any case, it sounds weirdly out of place. In typical hymn form, it doesn't match the progression of the ending measures of lines 1 or 5. It's my theory that the musician wrote this out-of-place chord in between the bland A♭ and the following E♭ to drive home a point. The singers, if they sung slowly and softly enough, would be well aware of the dissonance in the middle of those three syllables, and would experience a brief catharsis in the middle of the song after finishing that measure. This makes me scrutinize and love the portion of Psalm 51 all the more that lands in this spot. 

God, be mer-ci-ful to me; on Thy grace I rest my plea:

plent-eous in com-pas-sion Thou! Blot out my trans-gres-sions now,

wash me: make me pure with-in, cleanse: O cleanse me from my sin. 

The psalm:

Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness;

According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. 

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 
---Psalm 51:1-2

David pours his soul out before God in a plea for mercy, like a man before a king who is ready to sign a decree of judgment. Pastor Gorrell said that the Hebrew teaches us a nugget of wisdom in the urgency of David's begging heart: the very first word is the word for "mercy" (חנני chonneni), such that David wastes no time on the footstool of the king. "Mercy!" is the first word from his mouth. David, being king of all Israel and sitting enthroned in Jerusalem, doubtless saw this very drama play out before his very eyes when he was called upon to deliver judgment against other sinners.

Beyond King David's own ability to empathize with other men in this situation, Spurgeon sheds some insight on David's first words in this prayer for pardon, or rather the lack of certain words: nowhere, Spurgeon says, is the name of David mentioned.

"He does not say 'Lord remember David:' he is ashamed of his name. And he does not seem to want God to remember that, but to remember mercy: and to have pity on this nameless sinner. He does not say 'Save the son of thine handmaid,' or 'Deliver thy servant,' as he was wont to do; he just appeals to mercy, and that is all" (2).

David here is like the prodigal son, returning in shame and disgrace, who cries "I am no longer worthy to be called your son." (Interestingly enough, that parable Jesus taught does not usually end with the father's forgiveness. It usually ends up with the father killing his son. This result David knows to be just.)

The words he begs of God increase in their feverish intensity-- "mercy" (חנני chonneni), loving-kindness (חסדך chasdecha), tender mercies (רחמיך rachameycha). These words are referring to divine compassion, according to Adam Clarke. The first word for mercy means natural mercy. The sort of mercy even the ungodly have over their children, or the more base creations show for their young. Jesus alludes to this in Matthew 7:9-11 and Luke 11:11-13 when he makes the rhetorical juxtaposition that if sinful men can be merciful in their giving gifts to their children, how much more God, being good, can give good gifts [the Holy Spirit] to His children? Clarke says this word invokes the idea of moaning over that object of love/pity-- the multitude of sounds and cooing we make over young children. The second word, called "loving-kindness" in the NKJV, "denotes a strong proneness, a ready, large, and liberal disposition to goodness and compassion, powerfully prompting to all instances of kindness and bounty; flowing as freely as waters from a perpetual fountain" (1).

The third and last word David uses in this introduction is translated "tender mercies." It merits its own paragraph, for reason of its content and a story. A pastor, while preaching at my campus Bible study, once said that if/when a Christian guy asks one of his sisters in the Lord out on a date, then he should remember to pray aloud for the cultivating of God's tender mercies in his life before dinner. Apparently Christian girls worth their salt would recognize how profound such a prayer is, and would definitely go on a second date with said guy! :)

Hah. Anyways, the third word, according to Clarke, "denotes what the Greeks called σπλαγχνίζομαι, that most tender pity which we signify by the moving of the heart and bowels, which argues the highest degree of compassion of which nature is susceptible" (1). We use this same phrase when we refer to something "pulling our heartstrings," or that we are "deeply moved." Not to be confused with bowel movements, this phrase is also used in the King James quite commonly, which later is translated into "heart."

And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there. (Gen. 43:30)

I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. (Psalm 22:14)

My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. (Jer. 4:19)

Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD. (Jer. 31:20)

If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies... (Phil. 2:1)

For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother [Philemon]. (Philemon 1:7)

Whom [Onesimus] I [Paul] have sent again: thou [Philemon] therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels: (Philemon 1:12)

But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? (I John 3:17)

So then. Assuming that Jeremiah wasn't suffering indigestion, Paul wasn't naming his colon "useful" and performing a first-century medical organ transport, and God is spirit, we can understand the depth of the meaning of this word for "tender mercies." David knows this too. In summary of the meaning of these words, David purposefully crescendos his cry: Mercy on me, Lord! As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those that fear Him. The Lord is a stream of living water, proceeding from the face of God in His holy dwelling, rushing forth into the desert to cleanse and purge the Dead Sea, this filthy sinner's leprous heart. God, nothing less will do than the power of YOUR tender mercies. 

Blot out my transgressions
I do this all the time as a teacher of memory verses and names of God and other cool things on Thursdays. I use a white board; David and the king's men 3000 years ago used ... papyrus? stone slates? pottery shards? It doesn't matter. The ink they used lacked the acidic binding properties we add to our inks today, such that ink could merely be wiped away as easily as dry erase marker can be wiped away with a hand or rag. Blotting out, according to Spurgeon, is like cleaning a plate: "wipe it out, turn it upside down, and turn out all that is in it, sweep it away" (2). However, I like the analogy probably more suited for this penitent psalm: that of a courtroom. The analogy is the same Paul uses in Colossians 2: 13-15----

And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him [Christ], having forgiven you all trespasses; blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. 

David prays once again using language with which he doubtless was familiar-- he begs that the court writing be defaced, "that no record of it may ever appear against him: and this only the mercy, loving-kindness, and tender compassions of the Lord can do" (1). Calvin says something profound about the nature of David's request:

"Had he [David] prayed God to be favorable, simply according to His clemency or goodness, even that would have amounted to a confession that his case was a bad one; but when he speaks of his sin as remissable, only through the countless multitude of the compassions of God, he represents it as peculiarly atrocious. There is an implied antithesis between the greatness of the mercies sought for, and the greatness of the transgression which required them" (3).

David knows he is guilty. I like what Relient K says in Be My Escape (acoustic)

This life sentence that I'm serving
I admit that I'm every bit deserving
but the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair.

Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
Spurgeon tells the reader to note: "Nothing about the punishment observe-- he [David] does not mention that. The true penitent, though he dreads punishment, much more dreads sin. It is sinfulness--sin that he would be delivered from" (2). John Calvin translated this verse in the literal Hebrew phrase: "multiply to wash me." He declares this to be an emphatic expression which carries the same meaning in English-- wash me thoroughly, over and over again (3). Like a person afflicted with OCD, David cries with Lady MacBeth "Out, damned spot!" He feels the weight and guilt and presence of his sin so deeply he calls for multiple washings to remove his stains (1). Ever write a note on your hand with a Sharpie?  Same idea.

However, this is not to downplay the power of God. Calvin warns against this, and provides a reasonable explanation the psalmist would write this: "Not as if God could experience any difficulty in cleansing the worst sinner, but the more aggravated a man's sin is, the more earnest naturally are his desires to be delivered from the terrors of conscience" (3).

Sin is filth and uncleanness. This picture needs no explanation given the extensiveness of God's commands in the Old Testament regarding uncleanness, but reminders haven't hurt for a while. The word for "hell" in Hebrew was a physical place in this life-- the valley at the base of the hill of Jerusalem. This place, the Hinnom Valley was where the scum and the garbage and the unclean people went to burn and rot and die. Furthermore, this meant that these people were banned from contact with the people of God or with the very presence of God.

Let us be estranged from sin lest our uncleanness estrange us from the presence of the Holy Spirit, which proceeds from the presence of God!

"This is a truth which should both commend the grace of God to us, and fill us with detestation of sin. Insensible, indeed, must that heart be which is not affected by it!" (3)

Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.


1. Clarke, Adam. Commentary on the Bible. 1831. Sacred-texts.com.
http://sacred-texts.com/bib/cmt/clarke/psa051.htm
2. Spurgeon, C. H. An Exposition: Psalm 51. 1999. The Reformed Reader. http://www.reformedreader.org/spurgeon/ex05.htm
3. Calvin, John. Commentary on Psalms, Vol. 2. 1999. Christian Classics Ethereal Library. http://www.biblestudyguide.org/ebooks/comment/calcom09.pdf

Sniff, sniff.

I just wrote for about 2 hours and hit Publish. Blogger is being lame. I'll just refresh the page-- it saves stuff automatically, right? I totally don't need to copy this to a Word document. Nah. That's just being paranoid.

WRONG.

But the content is most excellent. I guess I'll be re-writing much of it over the next few weeks. :(

Bleh.

It's about Psalm 51 and the song "God, Be Merciful To Me" (#486 in the red trinity hymnal). I'm excited enough to not give up on it. :)