Psalms 103:1: “A Psalm of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, [bless] his holy name.”
This psalms starts right off attributing to it David. Since it clearly says it was a Psalm of David, few would dispute the authorship. However, you do have some in the academic community who would question this but I tend to think they question the authorship just so they can write a scholarly paper and get published. If this Psalm attributes itself to David, I for one will not dispute the authorship. It does reflect the heart of David. But you know all Scripture is given by inspiration of God so really it is God who the author and if you want to dispute that then you are dealing in an area I have no time or desire to debate. I will just let those skilled in textual criticism debate that issue, for me the Bible is the inspired Word of God and I don’t care who held the pen (or stylus). However, I say David wrote it and I will refer to him as the writer throughout this study of Psalms 103.
I used to teach a class on the Psalms in Bible College and I would ask my students the question, “Who is David speaking to in this Psalm?” I would never cease to be amazed at how quickly and confidently they would answer. Some would say immediately, “He is speaking to God.” Some would say: “He is speaking to the people of Israel.” This is so typical of many Christians who read the Word of God but never really study it or meditate on it. For many Christians their knowledge of the Word of God s stems from not their own study but from the CD’s podcast and sermons of preachers. After I let a few students answer I would then ask them to read that first verse and see if they would like to change their answer. It would be like a light going on when they read that first verse. It is a verse they have heard all their lives, probably sang a song with that verse in it and yet they never really thought or meditated on it.
Try it next time in a Bible study or Sunday school class. Ask the class how many of each animal did Moses take on the ark. Unless they heard the joke before, odds are they will say “two.” We Christians can be so smug and arrogant in our supposed knowledge of the Bible when really most Christians in this country are Biblical illiterates.
So I best get off my soap box and back to this Psalm. David is speaking to his soul. That is the word nephesh in Hebrew. That is the part of you that does all the rational thinking. That is the part that gets in the way every time you try to worship and praise God. You stand there just loving God with all your heart when all of sudden the soul steps in with: “Remember that project due tomorrow? Remember you are getting a medical report from the doctor tomorrow, might be bad news? Look at old Charlie dancing around, doesn’t that just annoy you to death, he thinks he is so spiritual.” That was David, every time he tried to praise God his soul would step in and interrupt.
It is interesting that the word blessed is baraki which means to make happy, bring pleasure but here it is found in a Piel (intensive) imperative (command) form. David is not being too nice to his soul here. Remember this is poetry and to really understand poetry you must put it in its proper emotional context. I recently heard a song sung by Nora Jones where she sings: “My heart is drenched in wine.” Now she could have said: “My heart is drenched in fermented grape juice.” It means the same thing, right? Wine is fermented grape juice. In a technical unemotional sense it means the same thing. But emotionally it is something very different. The word wine used in this context creates all sorts of impressions. We hear the word wine we think of a quiet restaurant, a table for two with candles and soft music and a basket with a bottle of wine – wine not fermented grape juice. When Nora Jones sings: “My heart is drenched in wine” you automatically think of something romantic. I do not have to tell you the rest of the song you can figure it out from there. If she said my heart is drenched in fermented grape juice you might think of a song sung by grape pickers organizing a union.
My point is, we must consider the emotional context in translation. The context tells us David is talking to his soul. Why would someone talk to his soul? Not only that he speaks using a Piel (intensive) imperative (command) form. He is literally picking his soul up by the scuff of the collar, slamming it against the wall and screaming at it no uncertain terms: “Soul, that’s it, I am sick and tired of you trying to interfere every time I am praising God. Now you get with the program and start praising God with me and don’t even think about mentioning that Assyrian Empire and their mighty chariots while we are praising God – Got it!”
We read this passage of Scripture in church or at home and recite in a monotone: “Bless the Lord O my soul.” It sounds pretty, it sounds sweet, makes for a nice polite Scripture reading. Yet, you put this into its emotional context and it is anything but pretty, sweet or polite. It is filled with righteous indignation, with a forceful command of taking your soul like the spoiled little child it is and threatening to send it to bed without its supper if it just does not change and get with the program.
I remember a grammar school music class where our teacher was always lecturing us about our bad attitudes. Then she turned around, sat at the piano and, I swear, had us sing; “Jimmy Crack Corn and I Don’t Care.” Well, I just raised my hand and asked: “What kind of attitude is that?” We received a further lecture on attitudes.
Well, there are times we need to take our soul in hand and give it a firm lecture on attitudes. Our souls can carry some pretty lousy attitudes into our time with God and as we will find tomorrow with the rest of this verse, the old soul is not the only thing in us that is not getting with the program. But apparently it is our soul that is the ring leader and sometimes we just need to do what David did and pick it up by the scuff of the collar and slam it against the wall demand that it get an attitude change and get one quickly before you lose the chance to have a really nice time with God.
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