{"id":82731,"date":"2020-11-04T09:10:45","date_gmt":"2020-11-04T07:10:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=82731"},"modified":"2020-11-04T09:10:45","modified_gmt":"2020-11-04T07:10:45","slug":"restraints-external-and-internal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/restraints-external-and-internal\/","title":{"rendered":"Restraints, External And Internal"},"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":"82731","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":36535,"related_cahpter":"605","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"And a plea to return to honesty and sanity\r\n\r\n","content":"

It is easy to write off Psalm 38 as simply being about depression, similar to Psalm 13. We read a similar litany of enemies, isolation, and constant grief. But where I would read Psalm 13 as a purely internal struggle, the psychological pain of Psalm 38 may be rooted in something more external, objective, and interpersonal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I would propose that it is describing a form of angst.<\/span><\/p>\n

Suppose we would believe what the poet writes in 38:13, \u201cthose who wish me harm speak malice; they constantly utter (<\/span>yeh\u2019gu<\/span><\/em>) deceit.\u201d Suppose these are not figments of his imagination or voices in his head. What if there actually existed people who constantly propagate propaganda?<\/span><\/p>\n

The Hebrew \u201ckol ha-yom<\/em>\u201d for \u201cconstantly\u201d literally means \u201call day.\u201d This is the second time in this Psalm that he uses the same phrase, the first time being in 38:7, \u201cI walk about in gloom all day long.\u201d This feeling is constant and unrelenting.<\/span><\/p>\n

The poet continues with two seemingly repetitive verses in 38:14, \u201cBut I am like a deaf man, unhearing, like a mute who cannot open his mouth (<\/span>piv<\/span><\/em>)\u201d and 38:15, \u201cI am like one who does not hear, who has no retort on his lips (<\/span>be\u2019piv<\/span><\/em>).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He feels overwhelmed and silenced by the lies.<\/span><\/p>\n

This may be an allusion to a verse at the beginning of Joshua (1:8), which employs the same root verb of <\/span>h-g-h<\/span><\/em> \u201cutter\u201d, a separate reference to the physical mouth (<\/span>peh<\/span><\/em>), and the action of doing something all day long (<\/span>kol ha-yom<\/span><\/em>). \u201cLet not this Torah cease from your lips (<\/span>mi\u2019picha<\/span><\/em>), but recite (<\/span>ve\u2019hagita<\/span><\/em>) it day (<\/span>yomam<\/span><\/em>) and night.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

How do you communicate with someone who elevates dishonesty to the level of Scripture, repeating lies like a religious precept? Do you listen? Do you point out the falsehoods? Do you block out the insidious and insipid pablum? What can you even respond?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You become conflicted, like the author of Proverbs 26:4, \u201cDo not answer a fool in accord with his foolishness, else you will become like him.\u201d and Proverbs 26:5 \u201cAnswer a fool in accord with his foolishness, else he will think himself wise.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The constant mental equivocation is exhausting.<\/span><\/p>\n

The word \u201cangst\u201d is originally derived from the word for \u201crestraint\u201d. The act of constantly restraining yourself from responding, from engaging, leaves you \u201cbent and bowed\u201d (38:7) and \u201cbenumbed and crushed\u201d (38:9). It causes your heart to increase its palpitations (38:11), and it physically exhausts you (38:18).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And should you finally break down and choose to respond or reply, you are mocked for pursuing good (38:21).<\/span><\/p>\n

These aren\u2019t the rantings of a psychotic person, who imagines pretend enemies around every corner; this is a plea for others to rediscover sanity.<\/span><\/p>\n

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