作者：Dagdag, Teresa 年份：1979
(Righteousness in the Psalms)
I. INTRODUCTION
The 60s and 70s have been a period of great reawakening to the immensity of the problems of injustice that we face today. As technology develops, industry flourishes, and man's perception becomes sharper, man realizes the significance of his participation in creating and tran-forming the world. Not only do we read about the many positive aspects of human growth and scientific advancement; we also become aware of the groaning of man: torture, violations of man's right to a decent wage and livelihood, to the free expression of thought and ideas, violation of respect for human life - in short, the curtailing of human rights and of human growth, of LIFE.
Christianity as a whole has had to meet the demands of our relationship to this modern world of intricate structures. Sin has become better understood in its social context and its social implications have been found to be staggering. Many economic, social, and political structures have come to be considered sinful.
Christians, as a consequence of their reflection on sinful structures in the national and international spheres, have discovered their role, not only in preaching liberation from personal sins of selfishness, pride, and falsehood, but also and more extensively, in helping man to realize the effects of this personal sin in the multitude of networks which can prevent them from becoming fully human. The Christian community continues to seek and search for fresh in-sights and new interpretations of salvation which God could be revealing to us as a response to the human predicament.
The Synod of Bishops produced "Justice in the World" in 1971. In it, the Bishops urged "action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world" (1) and considered it as a "constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel... of the Church's mission for the redemption of the human race and its liberation from every oppressive situation." The Pontifical Commission for Justice and Peace was set up, committing itself to the struggle for the promotion and defense of human rights.
The Asian Scene
In Asia, particularly in the Third World nations (and most of Asia is "Third World"), conditions have not measured up to the standard set by the United Nations' "Declaration on Human rights", Vatican 's "Gaudium et Spes", and John XXIII 's "Pacern in Terris". The Asian Bishops singled out injustice as the basic social problem in Asia in 1971. (2) Since this conclusion was reached, a series of reflections on the part of the Asian Bishops has been an on-going phenomenon. The BISA or Bishops' Institute for Social Action articulated the following in their 1974 meeting in Novaliches :
...our people are poor in this sense: the overwhelming majority of them are deprived of the access to the material goods they need for a truly human life, and even of access to the resources they need to produce these goods for themselves.
Our people are deprived of the goods and opportunities to which they have a right because they are oppressed. They live under economic, social, and political structures which have injustice built into them.
Biblical Sources:
It is in the light of the present overwhelming unjust conditions in the world today on the one hand, and of the on-going reflection of the Church on these innumerable situations of injustice on the other, that going back to the Biblical sources becomes imperative for us Christians. The Church as a whole, different Bishops' Conferences in Latin America (Medellin 1968) and in Asia (Manila 1970 and Taipei 1974), and the preparatory materials for the Puebla Conference, have expressed concern for the poverty and oppression of the majority of the people in these continents. The contemporary situation of injustice urges us to understand more deeply the historical and traditional sources of our Christian faith. This process will help us greatly to discover the meaning of justice and to interpret the locus of God's righteousness today. The result of this study and reflection will help us strengthen our motivation and constancy in the cause of justice.
The interplay between God and man and between man and man is very vividly expressed in terms of righteousness or un-righteousness in the OT. An interesting observation regarding man is that whatever he expresses as part of his suffering also becomes the articulation of his aspirations and hopes. It is in looking at what causes man pain and hurt that we can discover what can constitute his joys. It is in examining what makes man less human and dehumanized that we find out what will help man become fully human. It is in experiencing and reflecting on what is un-righteous that man becomes aware of, and able to sort out and determine, what is righteous. To examine the biblical sources on righteousness enables us to make comparisons with contemporary situations of injustice and discover what God may be saying to us today.
The Psalms :
Although the theme of righteousness is centrally significant in the whole OT, this study will attempt to focus only on the Psalms as a contribution to an understanding of righteousness in the OT in general.
Man's hopes and aspirations are usually embodied in his prayers, because in them he makes possible an intimate communication of his inner conflicts and ideals with His Creator and Saviour. The Psalms are a case in point. Though there are various kinds of Psalms, the lamentation, whether individual or communitarian is the most common form. The Psalmists either appeal to God's righteousness or praise it. (3) The Psalms were generally composed between 1000 - 200 B.C., and hence they articulate a rather significant part of Israelitic history. The historical setting may vary, but it is evident that the theme of righteousness is centrally significant as a concept in the OT, and therefore pervades the whole Psalter.
The Psalms express the deep relationship between man and God. Man, in the person of the psalmist, uses various forms of worship to communicate with his Creator and Saviour. The Psalmist rejoices in Ps. 33 because God "loves righteousness and justice" (v.5), and trusts that Yahweh will lead him in the "paths of righteousness for his name's sake" (23: 3). He knows that Yahweh is "my rock and there is no un-righteousness in him" (92: 16). The Psalmist believes that "righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne" (89: 15). In the royal psalms, he proclaims that "Your divine throne endures forever and ever, your royal sceptre is a sceptre of equity, you love righteousness and hate wickedness" (45: 7-8) and asks Yahweh to "give the king your justice, O God and your righteousness to the royal son" (72: 1).
In the Psalms of lament the psalmist suffers and feels afflicted because justice and right- eousness are lacking. The presence of the "un-righteous" in his life urges him to appeal to Yahweh for deliverance (71: 2), for his stead- fast love (44: 27), and his righteousness (36: 6). These are the cries of the afflicted awaiting Yahweh to rescue and help them (120: 2). They trust Yahweh because they know that he favours the poor, the needy, and the godly, the little ones and the righteous (140: 13). God himself is judge (50: 6), but a judge who saves and delivers his people from oppression (81: 7).
Ps. 12 gives us an example of lamentation. The lament is usually expressed in the following structure although not necessarily in the same order:
The Lord is asked to intervene :
"Help, Lord; for there is no longer any that is godly; for the faithful have vanished from among the sons of men. Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; With flattering lips and a double heart they speak."
The psalmist wishes :
"May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts, those who say, "with our tongue we will prevail, our lips are our own; who is our master?"
The divine oracle:
"Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan, I will now arise," says the Lord; I will place him in the safety for which he longs."
The confident response from the community:
"The promises of the Lord are promises that are pure, silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.
The community is confident that the prayer is heard :
"Do thou, 0 Lord, protect us, guard us ever from this generation. On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the sons of men."
The psalmist lists the evildoers as the source of his afflictions. He believes in the fighteous (7: 10) and in the righteous God (9: 9). The wicked are boastful and may not stand before Yahweh's eyes (5: 6). The fool in the Psalm does not fear Yahweh; he says instead, "there is no God" (14: 1).
For the psalmist, the difference between the evildoers and the righteous is that the latter has fear of God and fidelity to the covenant relationship, whereas the former does not have either or disregards them. This fidelity is expressed through the observance of the Law. Those who came to worship were asked at the gates to declare their loyalty to Yahweh's will for justice. A selection of Yahweh's commandments were put to those who entered the gate. Von Rad states that every proclamation of the commandments - not just that in the ceremonial of the liturgy of the gate - was always at the same time a question about Israel's righteousness, her "tsedaqah", her readiness to say "yes" to the relationship of community offered to her by Yahweh. (4)
Only the righteous were acceptable to Yahweh and this was expressed through a ceremony which took place at the entry of the pre-exilic Temple. Pss. 15 and 24 are liturgy psalms pronounced on the occasion of 'pilgrims' entering the Temple. The people seeking admission start by asking:
"Who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?" (15: 1). (5) The answer to this question was the entrance Torah given by the cultic officials:
"The man who walks blamelessly and does what is right (tsedeq) and speaks truth from his heart" (v.2).
The gates of justice, (6) the gates of the Temple, are also mentioned in Ps. 118, to express what is expected of anyone who is to enter through them. The tent is a holy place where many may meet God, and the gate leads to it:
"Open to me the gates of righteousness (tsedeq) that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous (tsaddiqim) shall enter through it" (118: 19-20).
In the new Testament, the gate is the door through which we shall be saved. Jesus says; "I am the door, if any one enters by me, he will be saved" (John 10: 9)
(1) "Justice in the World", Synod of Bishops, (St. Paul Publications, Pasay City, Philip- pines), Introduction.
(2) "Four Faces of Asia", a summary report on the Asian Bishops Meeting, Manila, 1971, by Vitaliano Gorospe, SJ ed. (Ateneo de Manila U Press), p. l
(3)Quoted in Leopold Sabourin, The Psalms : Their Origin and Meaning, (New York : Alba House, 1970), p. 88.
All references to OT in this paper follow the MT, as in New American Bible.
(4) Gerhard von Rad, The OT Theology, Vol I, (New York : Harper & Row, 1962), p. 378.
(5) "Tent" is a term for the Temple ; Cf. Roland E. Murphy, Psalms, in R.E. Brown, et al. edd., The Jerome Biblical Commentary (JBC), 35 : 32Tcf. also 35 : 134.
(6)A similar role was played by the gates of the city : The city-gate had a similar function : cf. Gn. 23 : 10 ; Dt 21 : 19 ; Ps. 69 : 13 ; Amos 5 : 10, etc.