Politically Incorrect

I have just finished my very last assignment for seminary…and it feels really good knowing that I will have some time to relax, before taking more classes and exams for licensure. This last class was called Inductive Bible Study (IBS) of Psalms. I learned a lot from studying the psalms and the thing that struck me most was the honesty and raw emotion with which they were written.

I guess before this class all I ever knew about this book was that it is beautiful, poetic, and filled with praise. Don’t get me wrong, I have read the whole thing before and nothing unusual really stood out to me. However, when you apply the IBS method, you somehow go far beyond the surface and all kinds of confusing statements start jumping off the page.

Take psalm 137 for example. Verses 1-7 are okay. They basically reflect an attitude of devastation over being in captivity and a desire to remember the homeland. The last two verses are so offensive though that they are often taken out for the purposes of creating politically correct liturgy.

These verses openly express a desire for vengeance and not just any ol’ vengeance. The psalmist wants the Babylonians to be obliterated by way of killing off…the babies!!! He says:

“Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!”

The commentaries tried to cover up for the psalmist by saying that he really didn’t mean to be so cruel, what he meant was really something totally unrelated to killing off little babies. And I understand the context and the fact that he is appealing to God and not taking the matter into his own hands, but still…

Well, I do think that he meant what he said, but it does not make it any more palatable. It is violent. It is obscene. It is heinous, outrageous, and evil. It is the Bible. A few weeks later, I am still trying to make sense of it. I think I am relieved in part that the authors of the psalms were real people with real emotions that got really pissed off and said so. It helps me know that God can handle me at my worst. But it also scares me. Seeing these awful words tucked away somewhere in the middle of my Bible is troubling.