Category Archives: Psalms

On “the night life in Jerusalem” – from four years ago…

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I enjoyed many a Maccabee at “the Leonardo,” though it wasn’t  on my Google Map radar…  

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Can you say, “Ooooops!“

February 8, 2023 – I first wanted to post this over three years ago; just after Christmas, 2019. I wanted it as part of a “big and pleasant” year-end review of my earlier-in-2019 trip to Israel. (More precisely, a review of my pre-trip Google research on “where are the bars in Jerusalem?”) A year after the trip – in May 2020 – I got back to the project, but this time with a side look at the then-new COVID pandemic. Then the project again got side-tracked, for reasons I can’t remember. Then this last February 2, 2023, I started working on an eBook about the Jerusalem trip. I typed in “Jerusalem” in the search box above right, and that’s when I found this still-in-the-draft almost-post. So what follows is mostly what I wrote back in December 2019, but with some editing and updating.

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December 27, 2019 – This past May of 2019 I flew over to Israel with a group of 20 or so people from my local church. We were all taking part in a two-week course given by St. George’s College, Jerusalem, called the Palestine of Jesus. Just after I got back from Israel – on May 29, 2019 – I posted Back from Three weeks in Israel. It focused mostly on the last day of the trip, which was a “cluster” (half a word). That “cluster” involved the long Wednesday I flew back home; 11 hours on the plane, combined with six “fast forward” time zone changes. (Also after getting lost in Tel Aviv trying to get to Ben Gurion airport from my lodging.)

This post will review the pre-trip research I did before I left for Israel. And it will talk about how our expectations don’t always match up with reality. That’s another way of saying – as John Steinbeck said – “You don’t take a trip. A trip takes you.” But first some background.

Back home I like to end the day with two ice cold beers. That’s my reward for working on my writing, blogging and painting, along with other projects around the house, up until 10:15 p.m. or so. And I wanted to continue that “end-of-the-day reward” sense in Jerusalem, with a nice cold draft beer if possible. But if not, with some other form of “O-be-joyful.” (A code-word for ardent spirits.) Which in a way brings up the the photo atop the page.

Before leaving home I did some Google-mapping to find the closest bars to St. George’s College – and Pilgrim Guest House. (At the apex of Nablus Road and Sala-Ad-Din Street.) That research seemed to show the nearest bars to St. George’s were a mile or more away. But then – once I got to Jerusalem – I found a pleasant lounge at the Leonardo Moria Classic Hotel. Shown above, Google Maps says it’s a mere two-minute walk from St. George’s Guest House. (And I timed it myself.) Officially, the Leonardo is located at “9 St. George Street.” But as it also turned out, the College itself had a “Garden Bistro,” which served beer and wine.

That Garden Bistro included a “mini-bar” – a small bar within the complex itself – that served cocktails for those pilgrim’s at St. George’s who wanted a little something stronger to go along with their evening meal. The photo at left shows the courtyard where we usually had our evening meals.

I also noted it was “nice to know where to get a bit of wine nearby; i.e., wine which ‘gladdens the human heart.’ (Psalm 104:15.)” But like I said, that place closed fairly early, so if you wanted a night-cap later on in the evening, “the Leonardo” was the place to go.

The Leonardo not only stayed open later, it also featured Maccabee beer instead of Taybeh. Maccabee is the featured Israeli beer, while Taybeh is brewed by a Palestinian company. They’re both good, but Leonardo’s Maccabee “on tap” seemed colder. And some nights the Leonardo had a piano bar as well. One evening a yarmulke-topped pianist played the Chicken Dance. But I seemed to be the only one there who’d ever heard it before. (“Can you say, ‘incongruous?'”)

But all that came later on. On my first full day in Jerusalem – a Sunday – I first had to recuperate from the jet-lag, no-sleep red-eye flight that left Atlanta around 10:00 p.m. local time on Friday night. That Sunday morning – after arriving late Saturday night (local) – I took a long walk along Jaffa Street and found the BeerBazaar. (One of those “clustered” bars.)

That is, the BeerBazaar was one of those bars I’d seen in my pre-trip research.

But I had a hard time finding many of the other bars I was looking for. Which brings up another part of my pre-trip research. As part of that research, I mass e-mailed the 20 or so people in my local church group, to share my findings. The email began:  “For those of you interested in such things – like maybe having an after-dinner aperitif after a long hard day hiking through the wilds of Judea – I did a little research via internet and Google Maps.” I did note the “Garden Bistro” at St. George’s, “right on the Nablus Road complex itself.”  Which turned out to be true.

But as noted, the “Bistro” closed down fairly early, so in the “before I left email” I added, “for those interested in such things, it looks like the closest bars (etc.) are clustered about a mile or so southwest of the College.” Which also turned out to be true. There was a cluster of bars about a mile southwest of St. George’s, including the BeerBazaar.

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I have some more notes on some other places I found in my research. I’ve included them at the very bottom of this post, after a bunch of other notes. If you like, you can read them as if they came from Tom Wolfe‘s whiz-bang style of writing in The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby. Or maybe from Hunter S. Thompson‘s note-heavy Gonzo journalism.

I’ve mostly included them “for further review at a later time.” However, there are references to things like a liquor store I found on Davidka Square, or a “Hataklit” bar with karaoke, which I never found, or a “Video Pub Gay Bar,” which I didn’t really look for. Or the Dublin Irish Pub…

So I’ve included them for later review, but there are references to things like a liquor store I found on Davidka Square, or a “Hataklit” bar with karaoke, which I never found, or a “Video Pub Gay Bar,” which I didn’t really look for. But lest we forget our feast days, last Thursday, February 2, 2023 was the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple. The idea of such a “presentation” – of Jesus, as a baby 40 days after Christmas – followed a thousand-year-old custom that began with Exodus 13:2, where God said, “Consecrate to me every firstborn male:”

Counting forward from December 25 as Day One [for Jesus], we find that Day Forty is February 2. A Jewish woman is in semi-seclusion for 40 days after giving birth to a son, and accordingly it is on February 2 that we celebrate the coming of Mary and Joseph with the infant Jesus to the Temple at Jerusalem.

And working backwards, I’ve written about this commemoration in The Presentation of Jesus – 2/2/22, The “Presentation of our Lord” – 2020, and in 2017, On the FIRST “Presentation of the Lord.” Check the links for more information, but the gist of the 2017 post is that Jesus was “presented” twice. We celebrate the first presentation every February 2d. The next one we celebrate on Good Friday each year, remembering how Jesus was about to be crucified…

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Ecce homo by Antonio Ciseri (1).jpg

What could be called the “Second Presentation” – Good Friday, Jesus about to be crucified…

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The upper image is courtesy of Leonardo Moria Jerusalem – Image Results. As for the distance from there to St. George’s, Google Maps actually says it’s a four minute walk, but it has you walking down St. George Street and over to “Sderot Hayim Barlev,” also known as Highway 60 (Israel–Palestine), then up to the other side of the hotel. The lounge entrance is on the side closest to St. George Street.

The Book of Common Prayer. The “corporate-mystical” prayer is on page 339, the post-communion prayer for Holy Eucharist, Rite I.

The full beer links are Maccabee Beer – Tempo Israel’s leading company for beer, and Taybeh Brewing Company – The finest in the Middle East.

“O Be Joyful.” See O-be-joyful – 17 of the Finest Words for Drinking: 

O-be-joyful began reaffirming the positive properties of intoxicants about two hundred years ago, and although the word is not in considerable use today, a book from 1977 asserted that an abbreviated form of the phrase was still in common use in some areas, and that “some New Englanders even today write ‘OBJ’ on their shopping lists.”

Back in the old days of our country, whiskey – for example – was used instead of hard currency:

One of the first media of exchange in the United States was classic whiskey.  For men and women of the day, the alcohol did more than put “song in their hearts and laughter on their lips.”  Whiskey was currency.  Most forms of money were extremely scarce in our country after the Revolutionary War, making monetary innovation the key to success.

See Why Whiskey Was Money, and Bitcoins Might Be.  So it was in that spirit – primarily – that I looked for some “O be joyful.” 

The lower image is courtesy of Pontius Pilate – Wikipedia. Wikipedia caption: “Ecce Homo (‘Behold the Man’), Antonio Ciseri‘s depiction of Pilate presenting a scourged Jesus to the people of Jerusalem.” 

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For those interested in visiting some of those Jerusalem bars – a mile or so southwest of St. George’s – here are some observations. (Even if those visits are only metaphoric.) They were gleaned from notes I took, via Googling, before I left for Jerusalem. For example, I saw on Google Maps that a number of bars seemed to be clustered “down by ‘Cat’s Square’ and/or ‘New York Square.’ The closest is Hataklit Bar. According to the Google Map review it has ‘Great cocktails’ and it has karaoke.” I wondered if they had David Allen Coe’s “You never even called me by my name,” but never got a chance to find the place. I must have walked by the street, “with the Hawaiian-sounding name,” a dozen times, but its entrance remained hidden. (Officially, its address is 7 Heleni ha-Malka, Jerusalem.)

From this point I’ve included some other notes, mostly in non-italic type, some of which I will use in the new eBook about my 2019 pilgrimage to Israel…

Not too far SW of that is Mike’s Place, “Kosher restaurant,” and great cocktails. It has an easier address to remember, Jaffa Street 33. Yet another place is Dublin Irish Pub, 1.2 miles SW of St. George’s… I saw that – according to Google Maps – there was even a “Video Pub Gay Bar,” near the Hataklit karaoke place. (“What goes on in Jerusalem, stays in Jerusalem?”) But seriously, for those interested in a bit of take-out libation, there are three Avi Ben Wine Stores in Jerusalem:

Avi Ben offers a wide selection of kosher and boutique Israeli wine as well as imported wines from the Bordeaux region in France, Italy and Spain. Avi Ben also supplies a wide choice of spirits from around the world.

The closest one is Yosef Rivlin Street 22. That too is about a mile SW of St. George’s, not too far from Cat’s Square, shown at left. (Apparently it used to be populated with cats, but no more. See “#BringTheCatsBackToCatsSquare.” One guy wrote, “There used to be a little market on the square, young folks gathering and playing music. But thanks to our ultra orthodox brethren the city’s dying. This place died too. Still, it’s close to the city center, restaurants, the Old City…. Ellipses in original.)

So anyway, Avi Ben stores have a “range of gifts including wine glasses, accessories and gift baskets, as well as an assortment of chocolates, olive oils, coffee, cheeses, and more.”

It’s also near the Hebrew Music Museum and the Friends of Zion Museum.  Another BTW:  All these places could be closed on May 2, for Holocaust Remembrance Day.

And in the process of doing all this research – no extra charge – I saw that if you wanted to walk that mile or so to the Hataklit kosher restaurant or the Dublin Irish Pub, you’d have to pass through the “Green Line.” That’s  Highway 60, also called the City Line and the ‘1949 Armistice Agreement Line.’” I emailed Genia at St. George’s, asking if that would present a problem. “Is it possible to walk through [the Green Line], over or around what appears to be a pretty busy highway? She wrote back, “there is no problem walking around the College.  Whatever streets you are passing by, there should be no problem. They are not really very close to us.”

[And there was no problem. My first day – a Sunday – I crossed the Green Line and ended up at the BeerBazaar, a boutique bar in the center of Jerusalem.]

And here are some other notes about the trip, unedited, for future eBook reference:

left atl about 10:30 p,m, friday, very little sleep, got to Istanbul, then Tel Aviv. “Breezed” through customs with the help of the shuttle driver, though he had a hell of a time finding Herod’s [Guest House] on Isfahani Street. [A side note. While we arrived on Saturday night, our lodging at St. George’s didn’t start until the following Monday. So for Saturday and Sunday night we had to arrange our own lodging.]

Sunday I wandered around, Mostly on Jaffa street. Found BeerBazaar and liquor store on Davidka Square. Met Greta, but no further contact

Got a nice room early on Monday, 5/13, opening reception, etc. Dinner at Jerusalem Hotel, ate too much, kabobs, beef, chicken, lamb, miserable overstuffed night

Tuesday. Mount of Olives, lecture room, dozed off a couple times.  Lousy sleep patterns. Pools of Bethesda, etc.

Wednesday [May] 15th

city of david, coming down with a cold, excused myself from Holocaust museum, got the “‘Quils,” day and night, slept good for a change.

Thursday

Four beers during the day, Taybeh,  early night, early morning

[Then there was this;] “Shalom, y’all!”  

Referring to the “Hebrew word meaning peace, harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare and tranquility and can be used idiomatically to mean both hello and goodbye.

And here are some other notes, from various Facebook posts…

It’s a shade after 11:00 p.m. here in Jerusalem.  (A shade after 4:00 in the afternoon back in the ATL.)  I just got back from up on the rooftop of St.George’s Pilgrim House, where my wash-and-wear clothes were drying in the breeze.  During the day it’s “hot as Gehenna” (Google it) here in the Holy Land, but at night it’s quite pleasant.  Cool and breezy, “Up on the roof…”  (Google it.)

Up there on the [terrace] and down in my room I’m in the process of sipping a brandy and water.  (“Sommelier,” for those interested in such things.)  And reflecting on the events of the day.

This morning we visited the Church of the Visitation, in Ein Kerem. After  lunch at the “Tent Restaurant, Beit Sahour,” we visited the Church of the Nativity and St. Jerome’s chapel and tomb, both in Bethlehem.  The church was both packed and crowded, and after standing around – and learning some fairly interesting talking points – I did a Good-Samaritan thing and gently persuaded a fellow pilgrim – who was in danger of getting stressed out – to forego a hump-through-a-tunnel extension of the tour, AND go to the garden restaurant next door and have (another) Taybeh (Palestinian) beer.

In situations like this you have to pick your battles.  It seems to me that finding a spiritual breakthrough usually comes in relative solitude, not when your surrounded by hot, sweaty and pushy “fellow travelers.”  (Google it.)

Speaking of which, the theme of the Visitation to Mary centered “on Mary responding to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to set out on a mission of charity.”  But there I didn’t see a whole lot of charity in the visit we made at the end of the day…

As my brandy-and-water is winding down and it’s getting time for bed – we’ve got an early start in the morning – I’m tempted to say the road to both freedom and spiritual enlightenment is littered with dumbasses along the way.  But hey, that wouldn’t be Christian…

Of course I knew that before I came over here. But before you start thinking I’m getting grumpy in my old age, it actually has been a pretty fun trip. I wouldn’t have missed it…

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Psalm 137, “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem” – 2021

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“By the waters of Babylon,” where an exiled Remnant finalized the Old Testament…

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November 12, 2021 – It’s over two weeks before the next major Feast Day, Thanksgiving.

Which means I have time to re-visit a post I did in 2019, “If I Forget Thee, O Jerusalem.*” In that post I previewed my three-week pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and in the process talked a lot about n Psalm 137. (And the creation of the Old Testament as we know it.) I was reminded of that post while finishing a book on turning 70 in 2021. (And hoping to live 50 more years, to 120, like Moses, with “eye undimmed and vigor unabated.” See Deuteronomy 34:7.)

I put the boring details about how all that came about in the notes. (How writing the last chapter of my book on Turning 70 in 2021 reminded me of that 2019 pilgrimage to Israel.) But here’s the point: That in my own version of a “Babylonian exile,” something good eventually came out of what was originally – at the time – something really bad. (Kind of like how the Old Testament as we have it today only came about because of a national catastrophe.)

So here’s more about that April 2019 post. (Where something good happened from “something very bad.”) It referred to a series of video lectures, The World of Biblical Israel | The Great Courses Plus. (Before that site was changed to “Wondrium.”) Lecture 2 was “By the Rivers of Babylon – Exile.” In it Professor Cynthia Chapman focused on Psalm 137 as the story of how the final version of the Old Testament came about. Chapman said Psalm 137 is the mid-point of both years of Jewish history and the Bible itself. Chapman said Psalm 137 came just when the books of the Hebrew Bible – the Old Testament – were collected, edited and redacted. 

In other words, the “Old Testament” as we know it didn’t exist before 586 “B.C.”

That’s when most Judeans were taken from their homeland. They went through a “death march,” 800 miles to Babylon, where many of the Remnant died. In further words, before the Exile (circa 600-515 BC) , the Judeans had a lot of uncollected books (or scrolls), but “here is where they were first collected into what we know as the Old Testament today.” In that captivity they compiled, edited and shaped their collected national stories into a “virtual library,” a library that connected them to their homeland. See also Psalm 137 – Wikipedia:

This period saw … the emergence of the central role of the Torah in Jewish life.  According to many historical-critical scholars, the Torah was redacted during this time, and began to be regarded as the authoritative text for Jews. This period saw their transformation into an ethno-religious group who could survive without a central Temple.

But here’s the point, as it relates to my life: Without all that life-drama I went through ten years ago, I might still be living back in Largo. I might still living in highly congested mid-Pinellas County, Florida, with all its heat and sopping humidity, instead of up in “God’s Country.” (The ATL, or Atlanta Metropolitan Area.) Another happy result is that, for the first time in my life, I’m “comfortable,” spiritually, artistically and financially. But that’s a subject I’ll discuss more in my “2021” book. (And while it’s about turning 70, I’ll title it, “Will I really live to 120?)

A side note: When I publish it – in both an E-book and paperback version – I’ll include a link, For a book version, for your consideration. (As detailed in the Introduction.)

And here’s yet another kicker: St George’s College is Open for Pilgrims!

In 2022 that is.

Saint George’s Cathedral (and) Pilgrim Guest House is where I stayed for two weeks in May 2019. And that means next year I may be able to go back to Jerusalem, hopefully for the “Footsteps of Jesus” course. Another reminder: In 2019 I took the “Palestine of Jesus” course, along with 20 other members of my church. To review, I wrote about that pilgrimage in “On to Jerusalem” (before I left), “If I Forget Thee, Oh Jerusalem,” also before I left, and On my first full day in Jerusalem. That one I posted once I got back home, in June 2019.

Which means that I can look forward to the future and now say, with feeling:

Next Year in Jerusalem!

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A late-afternoon view of Jerusalem – with the Dome of the Rock in the foreground…

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The upper image is courtesy of the Wikipedia article on Psalm 137. The caption: “‘By the Waters of Babylon,’ painting by Arthur Hacker, c. 1888.”

Re: “Thanksgiving.” The link is to a post I did, On Thanksgiving 2019. That post started off: “Things have been hectic since I got back last September 25th [2019] from my 19-day, 160-mile hike on the Camino de Santiago. See On Saints James, Luke – and the lovelies of Portugal, along with Just got back – Portuguese Camino!” It ended with a note on pilgrimages in general, and how if a truly-meaningful spiritual journey was easy, “anybody could do it!”

Which brought up the topic of “dormancy, darkness and cold,” referring to the Dark Ages, that period of intellectual darkness between the “light of Rome,” up to the rebirth or “Renaissance in the 14th century.” (Not that there was any connection to current events or anything)… Which in turn serves as a reminder that whatever “Dark Age” you may be going through, during this fine but politically-hectic November of 2019: “This too shall pass.”

Another note: That 2019 post came shortly before the current COVID pandemic started, and at a time when Donald Trump seemed to be a shoe-in for re-election.

A note about the post, If I Forget Thee, Oh Jerusalem. The original version in the Bible reads, “O Jerusalem.” I put “Oh Jerusalem” in the 2019 post, but corrected it in the main text here.

Re: “Breaking Point – and broke.” The “breaking point” quote is from Garry Wills’ translation of the Lord’s Prayer. See Garry Wills’ book, What the Gospels Meant, Viking Press (2008), at page 87. The alternate translation is in Part II, “Matthew,” Chapter 5, “Sermon on the Mount:”

Our Father of the heavens, your title be honored … and bring us not to the Breaking Point, but wrest us from the Evil One.    

The usual Lord’s Prayer translation: “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” per Wikipedia. My life tells me “breaking point” is more accurate and appropriate.

Re: Being reminded of the “Jerusalem” post while finishing a book on turning 70 . in 2021. At the beginning of the last chapter, I made a reference to that long-ago post. That chapter (Chapter 9) is about Leaving a legacy, and it in turn is based on a 2015 post that I did in a companion blog. (That post, about leaving a legacy, reminded me of my 2019 trip to Israel.) I wrote – in that companion blog, about my legacy – that in a sense I started thinking about that back in 2009-2010. As explained in the book, that’s when I had to retire early “due to circumstances beyond my control.” In simple terms, I got led to the “Breaking Point – and broke.”

I didn’t enjoy life much back then [in 2009-2010], during the functional equivalent of a Babylonian exile. Among other things I felt abandoned by God. (“Why hast thou forsaken me?”) On the other hand, the results of my exile-and-feeling-abandoned have been good. (Much like the original Exile was “good…” Something very good – the final version of the Old Testament – was the result of something very bad happening to “God’s Chosen People.”)

I originally had all that in the main text, but it was way too confusing, interrupted the flow of the narrative, and distracted from its main point.

Re: St. George’s College, Jerusalem. A continuing education center of the Anglican Communion, its programs “focus on pilgrimage, community, study, and reconciliation. Programs typically last 8, 10 or 14 days, and are open to clergy and laity of all denominations and any faith.” See Wikipedia.

Re: On my first full day in Jerusalem. It included a link to another post, Back from three weeks in Israel.

Re: “Next year in Jerusalem.” The link is to a “Desiring God” article, which read in part: “It seems to me that ‘Next year in Jerusalem!’ is what we Christians ought to wish each other as we mark the closing of another year. It voices far more clearly the sort of happiness we long for than the generic and rather hollow ‘Happy New Year.'” And BTW: Googling the phrase got some 11,800,000 results. Which included Why are you supposed to say “next year in Jerusalem”? – Vox.

The very last words of the traditional seder are “next year in Jerusalem.” As the final moment in the Seder, it’s emotionally significant, and it finishes the Seder’s journey from a reminder of the suffering of the past (and present) to hopes for wholeness and freedom for all in the future.

See also Passover Seder – Wikipedia: The Seder is “a ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover.” The Seder is based on Exodus 13:8: “You shall tell your child on that day, saying, ‘It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.'”

The lower image is courtesy of Jerusalem – Image Results, as featured in the 2019 “On to Jerusalem” post. See also Jerusalem – Wikipedia. Note also that my post-title – “On to Jerusalem!” – alludes to the Civil War’s famous (or infamous) battle cry, “On to Richmond!” See the National Park Service’s The Focal Point of the Civil War, and Richmond in the American Civil War – Wikipedia.

“If I Forget Thee, Oh Jerusalem…”

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“By the waters of Babylon,” in exile, where a Hebrew Remnant finalized the Old Testament…

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As noted in “On to Jerusalem,” this upcoming May 10th I’ll be flying to Jerusalem for a two-week  pilgrimage.  (As part of a local church group.)  To that end, I’ve been listening to a series of lectures-on-CD, The World of Biblical Israel | The Great Courses Plus.

And in the process of doing this post, I stumbled on a Jerusalem Post article that tied in to a point the professor made in Lecture 2, “By the Rivers of Bablyon – Exile.”  The article:  If I Forget Thee, Oh Jerusalem:

There is an almost natural magnetic draw to Jerusalem that stirs within us a special emotion. For millions of people around the world the heart of ancient Jerusalem, Yerushalayim, symbolizes spirituality and mysticism, a place of prayer and miracles, the centre of the world and a holy portal to God.

Note the “spirituality and mysticism” part, which ties in with frequent themes of this post.  (That the “spiritual path” has more to offer than the “literal path.*”)  But the point here is this:  The title of that article is from Psalm 137:5-6:  “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.  If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.”  (That’s from the King James Version; the Bible God uses.)  

Which just happened to tie in with the Biblical Israel Lecture 2, described further below.

See also Psalm 137 – Wikipedia, which described “Nebuchadnezzar II‘s successful siege of Jerusalem in 597 BC.”  That ended up with the people of Judah being “deported to Babylonia, where they were held captive until some time after the Fall of Babylon,” in 539 BC:

In English it [Psalm 137] is generally known as “By the rivers of Babylon,” which is how its first words are translated in the King James Version…  The psalm is a communal lament about being in exile after the Babylonian captivity, and yearning for Jerusalem.  The psalm is a regular part of Jewish, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican and Protestant liturgies.  It has been set to music often, and was paraphrased in hymns.

So anyway, Professor Cynthia R. Chapman began by focusing on Psalm 137 as the story of how the final version of the Old Testament got made up by that Hebrew Remnant – those people in exile.  In other words, something very good – the final version of the Old Testament – was the result of something very bad happening to “God’s Chosen People.”

According to Professor Chapman, Psalm 137 constitutes both the mid-point – the very middle – of years of Ancient Jewish history, and also the very middle of Bible itself.*  And Psalm 137 came at precisely the time when the books of the Hebrew Bible – the Old Testament – were collected, edited and redacted.  And it all came about because of the Exile, that “national disgrace.”

That is, the Old Testament as we know it didn’t exist before 586 B.C., the year many Judeans were taken from their homeland.  (After the horrors of the Babylonian conquest.)  Then they went through a “death march,” 800 miles to Babylon, during which many of the Remnant died along the way.  (Those who weren’t executed during the post-siege “mop up.”)  After those horrors – and the shame of this national disgrace – they compiled, edited and shaped their collected national stories into a “virtual library.”  A library that connected them to their homeland.

In other words, before the calamity of the Exile, many books (in the form of scrolls) existed, but “here is where they were first collected into what we know as the Old Testament today.”

Eadwine psalter - Trinity College Lib - f.243v.jpgThat idea was mirrored in Babylon captivity, at Psalm 137 – Wikipedia:

This period saw … the emergence of the central role of the Torah in Jewish life.  According to many historical-critical scholars, the Torah was redacted during this time, and began to be regarded as the authoritative text for Jews.  This period saw their transformation into an ethno-religious group who could survive without a central Temple.

The link-article went on to say the period of exile “was a rich one for Hebrew literature.”  For example, the Book of Jeremiah 39–43 saw the exile “as a lost opportunity.”  Also, the “Priestly source, one of the four main sources of the Torah/Pentateuch in the Bible, is primarily a product of the post-exilic period,” while also “during this Persian period, the final redaction of the Pentateuch purportedly took place.”

I’ve written before about Moses writing the Torah – the first five books of the Bible – during and right after the 40 years of “wandering in the wilderness.”  (See e.g. On Moses and Paul “dumbing it down,” and My Lenten meditation.)  Which would mean those first five books of the Bible were written some time before 1,400 B.C., about the time Moses died. (What year did Moses die – answers.com.)  But it was only some 800 years later – and the product of a humiliating national disgrace – that the final version of the Old Testament as we know it came into being.

I’ll be writing more about Psalm 137 and “On to Jerusalem” in a later post.  In the meantime, here’s wishing you a happy Easter.  And a reminder that that joyous occasion could only come about after 40 days of Lenten “doing penance, mortifying the flesh, repentance of sins, almsgiving, and denial of ego.”  Not to mention a humiliating death on the cross.

You know, I’ll bet there’s a lesson that can be gleaned from all this…

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James Tissot, “The Flight of the Prisoners,” from Jerusalem and on into exile…

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The upper image is courtesy of Psalm 137 – Wikipedia.  The full caption: “By the Waters of Babylon, painting by Arthur Hacker, c. 1888.”

About the photo to the right of the paragraph beginning, “As told in ‘On to Jerusalem:'”  From the Wikipedia article on Jerusalem, the caption reads:  “Israeli policemen meet a Jordanian Legionnaire near the Mandelbaum Gate (circa 1950).”

As to the “Great Course,” see also The World of Biblical Israel – English.  Other books I’m reading for the upcoming include Entebbe: A Defining Moment In the War On Terrorism, by Iddo Netanyahu.

As to the “piritual path being better than the literal path.  See John 4:24:  “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”  (See also Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers, which noted of God that “His will has been expressed in the seeking.  But His very nature and essence is spirit, and it follows from this that all true worship must be spiritual.”)  And of course 2d Corinthians 3:6, saying the letter of the law kills, “but the Spirit [of God’s law] gives life.”

Re:  Psalm 137:5-6.  See also Psalm 137:5 Commentaries: If I forget you…, and Psalm 137 – Commentary in Easy English.  Also, “137” is an Imprecatory Psalm.  See Wikipedia, on those  invoking “judgment, calamity, or curses, upon one’s enemies or those perceived as the enemies of God.”

Re:  “Babylon.”  See Wikipedia:  “The remains of the city are in present-day Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq, about 85 kilometres (53 mi) south of Baghdad, comprising a large tell of broken mud-brick buildings and debris.”  There’s probably a lesson there too…

Re:  Psalm 137 as “the very middle of Bible itself.”  In my Good News Bible, Psalm 137 folds out pretty much right at the middle.  Also, it’s on page 687 of a combined 1,395 pages.  (1,041 for the Old Testament, 354 for the New Testament.)  The precise mid-point page would be “697.5.”

About the image to the right of the paragraph, “That idea was mirrored in Babylon captivity.”  From Psalm 137 – Wikipedia, it’s captioned “Psalm 137 in the Eadwine Psalter (12th century).”  

The lower image is courtesy of the Babylonian captivity link at Psalm 137 – Wikipedia.  The full caption:  “James Tissot, The Flight of the Prisoners.”  That article added these notes:

In the Hebrew Bible, the captivity in Babylon is presented as a punishment for idolatry and disobedience to Yahweh in a similar way to the presentation of Israelite slavery in Egypt followed by deliverance. The Babylonian Captivity had a number of serious effects on Judaism and Jewish culture.  For example, the current Hebrew alphabet was adopted during this period, replacing the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet.

This period saw the last high-point of biblical prophecy in the person of Ezekiel, followed by the emergence of the central role of the Torah in Jewish life.  According to many historical-critical scholars, the Torah was redacted during this time, and began to be regarded as the authoritative text for Jews.  This period saw their transformation into an ethno-religious group who could survive without a central Temple.

This process coincided with the emergence of scribes and sages as Jewish leaders (see Ezra). Prior to exile, the people of Israel had been organized according to tribe.  Afterwards, they were organized by smaller family groups.  Only the tribe of Levi continued in its temple role after the return.  After this time, there were always sizable numbers of Jews living outside Eretz Israel;  thus, it also marks the beginning of the “Jewish diaspora,…”

Also, as to Hebrews killed during the post-siege mop-up, see 2d Kings 25, verses 8-12:

On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard … came to Jerusalem.  He set fire to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down. The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.  Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the rest of the populace and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon.  But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.

Also verse 18-20, describing the number of prisoners taken, mostly high-ranking officials.  And verses 20-21:  “Nebuzaradan the commander took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed.”

On “’tis the season…”

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From this time last year:  “Paul Writing His Epistles,” shown “sans amanuensis…”  

 

‘Tis the season…  The season to think about getting and giving gifts, avoiding the Holiday Blues, the New Year coming up … and other things.  (That’s what et alia means:  “and others,” or as expanded, “and other things.”  See et alia – Wiktionary.)

Which means that aside from Christmas coming up, it’s “that time of year again.”  Time to recall the real meaning of the holidays, along with highlights of 2015.  (Now drawing to an end.)

Part of that involves remembering things we did at this time last year.  (As 2014 was drawing to a close.)  But first, a look at today’s Daily Office Readings.  Highlights from those readings include Psalm 119:71, Psalm 49:15, and Matthew 24:51.

Psalm 119:71 reads (in the GWT):  “It was good that I had to suffer, in order to learn your laws.”  On that note, we don’t like to think suffering is good for us.  (Or that we have to suffer to grow spiritually.)  But being both human and stubborn, that’s often the case.

Put another way:  Getting good stuff from God should be at least as hard as shooting the head off a match from 90 yards away.  (See On the wisdom of Virgil – and an “Angel.”)

Psalm 49:15 reads (in the BCP):  “But God will ransom my life; he will snatch me from the grasp of death.”  This follows and goes along with verses 6 and 7:  “We can never ransom ourselves, or deliver to God the price of our life; For the ransom of our life is so great, that we should never have enough to pay it.”

Which is another way of saying, you can’t go it alone.  And that’s especially true when you die. (When you definitely need some help, and a big part of what religion is all about.)

And finally, Matthew 24:51 reads (in the GWT):  “Then his master will severely punish him and assign him a place with the hypocrites.  People will cry and be in extreme pain there.”

All of which is part of Jesus telling of the “Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times,” followed by “The Day and Hour Unknown.”  Jesus illustrated that by contrasting two servants waiting for their master.  One was faithful and wise, but the other got drunk and beat his fellow servants.  One point?  Being a hypocrite is as bad as being that nasty servant:

The hypocrites are the faithless and deceitful, who, while pretending to do their lord’s work, are mere eye servants, and really neglect and injure it.  The remissful steward shares their punishment in the other world.

Another point being:  Take care that you don’t end up a hypocrite.  (Or put another way: Practice what you preach.)  Now, about what I was doing this time last year.

Among other things, I did a post on The psalms up to December 21.  (Directly related to On the readings for December 21.  That was when I did separate posts on psalms…)

http://www.catholic-convert.com/wp-content/uploads/SuperStock_1746-1366.jpgAbout the same time I did On Amanuenses.  (Featuring the image at right.)  This was based on 2d Thessalonians 3:17, a DOR from December 13, 2014:  “I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters.  This is how I write.”

I then added a note from the Pulpit Commentary:

The apostle [Paul] usually dictated his Epistles to an amanuensis, but wrote the concluding words with his own hand.  Thus Tertius was his amanuensis when he wrote the Epistle to the Romans (Romans 16:22).  [See also (Galatians 6:11), (Philemon 1:19), (1 Corinthians 16:21), and Colossians 4:18)…]   Such authentication was especially necessary in the case of the Thessalonians, as it would seem that a forged epistle had been circulated…

Then came a discussion of pseudepigrapha – relating to a possible “forged epistle” – and amanuenses in general.   The post also noted those who focus on the “minutiae of ritual,” as opposed to the real followers of Jesus.  (Those who justifiably seek a higher ethical code of behavior.)  The conclusion?  “Who knows?  In a sense we may all be God’s ‘amanuenses.'”

And finally, I did a post On the 12 Days of Christmas.  (Which for reasons explained below, didn’t get posted until January 4.)  That was an ode to “both a festive Christian season and title of a host of songs and spin-offs (including one on a Mustang GT):”

The Twelve Days of Christmas is the festive Christian season, beginning on Christmas Day (25 December), that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, as the Son of God.  This period is also known as Christmastide…   The Feast of the Epiphany is on 6 January [and] celebrates the visit of the Wise Men (Magi) and their bringing of gifts to the child Jesus.  In some traditions, the feast of Epiphany and Twelfth Day overlap.

See Twelve days of Christmas.  I noted that all these holidays at this time of year were part of an  “old-time winter festival” that started on Halloween and ended on January 6.

January 6th in turn is known as Plough Monday,” and also “12th Night.”  And Twelfth Night was one of many mid-winter occasions for drinking and carousing around.  As one example, Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night “expanded on the musical interludes and riotous disorder expected of the occasion.”  (That is, the “occasion of the ‘drunken revelry’ of 12th Night.”)

All of which is illustrated by the King drinks painting below.

 

 “Twelfth Night (The King Drinks)…”

 

The upper image is courtesy of Epistle to the Romans – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, with the caption:  “A 17th-century depiction of Paul Writing His Epistles. [Romans] 16:22 indicates that Tertius acted as his amanuensis.”  See also Romans 16:22.

Re: The reason 12 Days of Christmas didn’t get posted until January 4:

The Scribe left town at 5:00 on the afternoon of Sunday December 21, thinking that he had already published this post on the “12 Days of Christmas.”   But somewhere along the line he dropped the ball – metaphorically or otherwise – and here it is, Sunday, January 4th.

The lower image is courtesy of The Twelve days of Christmas, with caption, “Twelfth Night (The King Drinks) by David Teniers c. 1634-1640.”

 

On the Psalms

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“David Playing the Harp by Jan de Bray, 1670.”

 

 

 

 

 

As noted throughout this blog, each set of Sunday Bible readings – in the Anglican Lectionary – includes a psalm.  (Or portion of a psalm.)  And, each set of Daily Office readings usually has at least three psalms and sometimes more.  (For more on that see DOR?)

Which means that people who follow the Lectionary spend a lot of time on the psalms, and some people may wonder why.  As to why we spend so much time on them, the Church itself – including the Catholic “Mother of All Churches” – spends a great deal of time on the psalms.  Aside from that, the psalms are widely recognized as critical to spiritual growth.

To begin with, the Hebrew Bible – Tanakh, or what Christians call the Christian Old Testament – is divided into three parts.  The Torah, or “Teaching” – also known as the Five Books of Moses – is followed by Nevi’im (the prophets), then comes the Ketuvim (‘Writings’) that constitute the third section of the Hebrew Bible.  The Book of Psalms is the first book of the Ketuvim:

The English title is from the Greek meaning “instrumental music” and, by extension, “the words accompanying the music.”   There are 150 psalms in the Jewish and Western Christian tradition[, ] divided into five sections, each closing with a doxology (i.e., a benediction) … probably introduced by the final editors to imitate the five-fold division of the Torah.

See Psalms – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  Wikipedia added that the  “version of the Psalter in the American Book of Common Prayer prior to the 1979 edition is a sixteenth-century Coverdale Psalter.  The Psalter in the American Book of Common Prayer of 1979 is a new translation, with some attempt to keep the rhythms of the Coverdale Psalter.”  (This blog is based in large part on the American Book of Common Prayer.)

Among other things, the Psalms are key to meditating on the Bible.

See for example Psalm 1:2, “Their delight is in the law of the Lord, and they meditate on His law day and night;”  Psalm 77:12, “I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds;”  Psalm 119:15, “I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways;”  Psalm 119:23, “The evil have been sitting and plotting against me, but I have been meditating upon your commandments;”  and Psalm 119:48, “I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes.”

And incidentally, Psalm 119 – home of three of the five quotes above – “is the longest psalm as well as the longest chapter in the Bible…    It is the prayer of one who delights in and lives by the Torah, the sacred law.  With its 176 verses, Psalm 119 has more verses than 14 Old Testament Books and 17 New Testament Books.”  See Psalm 119 – Wikipedia.

Getting back to King David (seen above), Wikipedia noted he is credited for writing 73 of the 150 psalms in the Bible, along with some 3,600 tehilim (songs of praise) plus other compositions,” according to “one of the Dead Sea Scrolls (11QPsa).”  And it seems that David got started singing and going on to write such psalms after he was called to the court of King Saul.  (Not to be confused with “Saul of Tarsus” who later became Paul the Apostle, “second only to Jesus Christ” in New Testament importance.  See The Apostle Paul (Saul of Tarsus) – Missionary Giant, and also Saul – Wikipedia, the first ruler of the United King of Israel and Judah, circa 1082-101 B.C.   The Apostle Paul is said to have been born about the year 5 A.D., and died around 67 A.D.)

Returning to the subject of David and his “call to courtship:”

As punishment for his previous misdeeds, Saul was tormented by an “evil spirit from the Lord” (1 Samuel 16:14) and it was suggested he send for David, a young warrior famed for bravery and his lyre playing.  Saul did so, and made David one of his armor-bearers.   From then on, whenever “the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.”

See David – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  As far as the spiritual efficacy of reading and studying the psalms, see Thomas Merton’s Praying the Psalms (Liturgical Press 1956), where he noted the Catholic Church has “always considered the psalms her perfect book of prayer:”

There is no aspect of the interior life, no kind of religious experience, no spiritual need of man that cannot be depicted and lived out in the Psalms.

Also, Psalms – Wikipedia made the following points:  1)  the Psalms have been used throughout traditional Jewish worship, for thousands of years. (See also On “originalism”.)   2)  Many Jews complete the Book of Psalms on a weekly or monthly basis.  3)  The reading of psalms is viewed in Jewish tradition as a vehicle for gaining God’s favor.  4)  The Psalms have remained an important part of worship in most Christian Churches.  5)  In the early centuries of the Church, it was expected that any candidate for bishop would be able to recite the entire Psalter from memory (all 150 psalms).  6)  Several conservative Protestant denominations sing only the Psalms, and do not accept the use of any non-Biblical hymns.  And 7)  The Psalms have always been an important part of Catholic liturgy as well, as Merton noted.

For more on the Anglican and/or Prayer Book take on the psalms, see The Psalter.

See also The Significance of the Psalms | Bible.org, which said that Psalms is one of two Old Testament books most frequently quoted in the New Testament.  (The other most-quoted OT book is Isaiah).  The article added,  “In their preaching and writing, the apostles often quoted from the Psalms as biblical proof of the fact that Jesus was the promised Messiah of the Old Testament.”  For example, Peter quoted Psalm 16:8-11 as proof that Jesus must be raised from the dead in Acts 2:24-36.  Thus, “Any book so prominent in the minds of the New Testament writers should also be important to us.”  (Emphasis added.)

See also The Daily Office | From the Diocese of Indianapolis (aka “dailyoffice.org”):

Psalms are the poetry and songbook of Jesus’ day.  All we have are the words, not any music that was sung with them, but the words themselves are musical.  Christ and all the Jews were taught the Psalms as children and probably memorized them…   The Psalms are the essence of Morning and Evening Prayer.  Scripture instructs, while prayers request;  psalms worship, and that’s the point of the Office.  Worship is the only intelligent response to the overwhelming lovingness of God.

This then is why we spend so much time on the psalms, for reasons including to “gain God’s favor” and to make better and greater spiritual growth (like Thomas Merton, below).

 

 

The upper image is courtesy of Psalms – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 

The lower image is courtesy of  the Thomas Merton Center website, discussed further below.

As to David playing the harp, see David – Wikipedia, which noted First Samuel, Chapter 16, about Saul, the first-ever king of Israel, being tormented by an evil spirit as noted above.

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A lectionary is a “book or listing that contains a collection of scripture readings appointed for Christian or Judaic worship on a given day or occasion.  There are sub-types such as a ‘gospel lectionary’ or evangeliary, and an epistolary with the readings from the New Testament Epistles.”  See Lectionary – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, which added that the practice goes way back:  “The Talmud claims that the practice of reading appointed Scriptures on given days or occasions dates back to the time of Moses.”  Wikipedia added that the Roman Catholic Mass Lectionary – the Roman Rite of Mass – “is the basis for many Protestant lectionaries, most notably the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL).”  (The readings in this blog are based on the RCL.)

As to “the Catholic ‘Mother of All Churches.’”  The phrase including “mother of all” came into the popular lexicon in 1990-91, “after its use by Saddam Hussein, then president of Iraq, in reference to the Gulf War as ام المعارك (umm al-ma‘ārik, ‘mother of battles‘).”  See mother of all – Wiktionary, and also Mother of all | Define Mother of all at Dictionary.com, referring to “mother of all, the greatest or most notable example of,” as in: “the mother of all mystery novels.”

For more on Thomas Merton – and/or his book Praying the Psalms – see On Thomas Merton.

The lower image is courtesy of  the Thomas Merton Center website, which noted, “His writings include such classics as The Seven Storey Mountain, New Seeds of Contemplation, and Zen and the Birds of Appetite.  Merton is the author of more than seventy books that include poetry, personal journals, collections of letters, social criticism, and writings on peace, justice, and ecumenism.”

(Ecumenism is “an interdenominational initiative aimed at greater Christian unity or cooperation. The term is used predominantly by and with reference to Christian denominations and Christian Churches separated by doctrine, history, and practice.  Within this particular context, ecumenism is the idea of a Christian unity in the literal meaning: that there should be a single Church.”  See Ecumenism – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.   For more on that subject, Google the phrase “there are no denominations in heaven.”)