Author: Administrador

A dear relative once told me, “You know, people don’t have good sense until they get old.” Now, as then, I find a good deal of wisdom in his observation. In the present lectionary reading, we encounter a portion of a wisdom psalm spun by a sage who has grown old (verse 25). As younger, … Continue reading “Psalm 37:1-9 Commentary by Bobby Morris”

Written as an acrostic poem, approximately every other line in Psalm 37 begins with a successive letter of the twenty-two letter Hebrew alphabet. This can even be seen in the English translation of the NRSV since the editors chose to divide each “stanza” of the forty total verses by a blank space.[1] It is unclear … Continue reading “Psalm 37:1-9 Commentary by Walter C. Bouzard”

Psalm 37 addresses an enduring concern, the seemingly untroubled and prosperous lives of wrongdoers (v 1). It is an acrostic wisdom psalm that shares some language with Proverb 24. Verse one of the psalm is found in Proverb 24:19. Verses 1-2 and 19-20 of Proverb 24 echo the theme and content of Psalm 37. Whether … Continue reading “Psalm 37:1-9 Commentary by Wil Gafney”

One could go in a variety of directions in preaching on this psalm. The psalm is assigned to the Epiphany season and thus the “light” theme of verse 9 suggests itself, moving all the way to the “light of the world” metaphor in John 9. The lectionary also suggests using verse 8 of the psalm … Continue reading “Psalm 36:5-10 Commentary by James Limburg”

Psalm 36 draws a sharp and startling contrast between existences that either incorporate or lack a conscious knowledge of the God of Israel. In order to reap the revelatory rewards this contrast offers for the season of Epiphany, the preacher will need to go outside the bounds of the lectionary, which only includes the six … Continue reading “Psalm 36:5-10 Commentary by Bobby Morris”

The God of justice cares for refugees. This essential affirmation about God’s character emerges over the course of the entire psalm, only portions of which (vv. 5-10) appear in the lection for this Sunday. Since the context is critical, the comments here will include vv. 1-4 and 11-12.1 The structure of Psalm 36 The psalm … Continue reading “Psalm 36:5-10 Commentary by Joel LeMon”

With the concluding verses of Psalm 34, the author has returned to the subject matter with which he began, namely the suffering from which God delivered him (verse 4). Along the way, as we saw last Sunday, the psalmist explored the connection between worship and some of the wisdom principles for right relationships (verses 9-14). … Continue reading “Psalm 34:15-22 Commentary by James K. Mead”

1515The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and God’s ears are open to their cry. 16The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to erase the remembrance of them from the earth. 17The righteous cry, and the LORD hears them and delivers them from all their troubles. 18The LORD is … Continue reading “Psalm 34:15-22 Commentary by Henry Langknecht”

John Goldingay has claimed Psalm 34 possesses an ABC-type of spirituality. Structurally speaking, Psalm 34 is an alphabetic acrostic (though incomplete because of vv. 5 and 22) in which each verse, or poetic line, begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.1 It is an invitation to praise, it is a testimony of one … Continue reading “Psalm 34:15-22 Commentary by Eric Mathis”

Last Sunday’s Psalm lection (34:1-8) contained some of the typical features of individual Psalms of Thanksgiving, where a worshiper invites others to praise God (verses 1-3) for an act of personal deliverance (verses 4, 6). This Sunday’s reading continues that invitation to learn from the author’s experience, but with verse 9 the psalmist begins to … Continue reading “Psalm 34:9-14 Commentary by James K. Mead”