{"id":81189,"date":"2020-10-08T15:52:17","date_gmt":"2020-10-08T12:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=81189"},"modified":"2020-10-08T15:52:17","modified_gmt":"2020-10-08T12:52:17","slug":"power-and-insight-mastery-and-compassion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/power-and-insight-mastery-and-compassion\/","title":{"rendered":"Power and Insight, Mastery and Compassion"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"81189","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":80977,"related_cahpter":"586","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"God\u2019s world - it runs so well! The people? Not so much\r\n\r\n","content":"

I see two poems in Psalm 19. One about El making the sky for the sun (verses 2\u20137), the other about Yahweh\u2019s wise guidelines for humans (verses 8\u201315). Each poem\u2019s theme, topic, rhythm, style, and voice completely differ from the other\u2019s. Read together as one, though, they provide a type of response – though not a solution –\u00a0 to a well-known conundrum. The divine made the world; it runs so well. The divine made people; they don\u2019t run so well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Poem 1 expresses wonder that El made\u00a0 the sun a racetrack \u2014 the sky \u2014 which the sun loves to run, which in turn sustains life below. The ancients saw the world like a snow globe, and marveled that the sky does not come crashing down. In the poem, instead of the people speaking and saying the magnificent architecture is evidence of the artisan, the god who built it, the sky speaks and gives evidence of its maker and the people hear it.<\/span><\/p>\n

The skies recount the glory of El \/ and of his handiwork does the sky tell. \/\/<\/span>
\n<\/span> Day by day it utters its speech \/ and night by night it expresses what it knows. \/\/<\/span>
\n<\/span> There is no speech and there are no words \/ without their voice being heard. \/\/<\/span>
\n<\/span> Throughout the land their voice went out \/ and to the end of the world are their words;<\/span><\/p>\n

The poem then speaks of the sun that runs across the sky tracing its shape, day by day, with perfect regularity, bursting with the joyous energy of a groom and keeping up that furious pace. As it runs, with a champion\u2019s furious rage, it lights up the world. The poem imagines a tent through which the sun returns, leaving us in darkness, our night.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the sun he made a tent in them. \/ And it \u2014 like a groom bursting from the<\/span> wedding chamber \u2014 \/\/<\/span>
\n<\/span> It rejoices like a champion to run a course. \/ At one end of the skies is its starting<\/span> point, \/\/<\/span>
\n<\/span> and its cycle is until their other ends; \/ And nothing hides from its heat.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Poem 2 the speaker enumerates Yahweh\u2019s ennobling ways, declares scrupulous commitment to them, then admits to confused slip-ups, mindless mistakes, deliberate ones, and even outright villainy. The speaker beseeches Yahweh to wipe the slate clean and allow a fresh start. The poem portrays people\u2019s hopeless lousiness and Yahweh\u2019s profound compassion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Together as one, the two poems evoke a manifold comparison. El\u2019s material mastery makes him a brilliant creator. The sky proclaims him, and the sun, which traverses the sky he made for it, enables life. Yahweh\u2019s wise insight ennobles human life, but humanity, so flawed, depends on something else, his compassion. Like the sky that speak\u2019s El\u2019s mastery, they proclaim Yahweh\u2019s wisdom; unlike the sun that uses El\u2019s gift daily, they do not live by Yahweh\u2019s gift. Admitting so is all they have to offer, and they must beg God forgive them.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":81191,"id":81191,"title":"ps19-end-of-the-world","filename":"ps19-end-of-the-world.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps19-end-of-the-world.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/power-and-insight-mastery-and-compassion\/ps19-end-of-the-world\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ps19-end-of-the-world","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":81189,"date":"2020-10-08 12:52:02","modified":"2020-10-08 12:52:15","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1276,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps19-end-of-the-world-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps19-end-of-the-world-300x199.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":199,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps19-end-of-the-world-768x510.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":510,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps19-end-of-the-world-1024x681.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":681,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps19-end-of-the-world.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1021,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps19-end-of-the-world.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1276,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps19-end-of-the-world-1200x798.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":798,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps19-end-of-the-world-632x420.jpg","home_baner-width":632,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Power and Insight, Mastery and Compassion","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"God\u2019s world - it runs so well! 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