Often Have They Attacked Me From My Youth
Devotional
Companion to the Psalter
A Devotional Guide to the Psalms
Object:
"Often have they attacked me from my youth ...
yet they have not prevailed against me ..."
May all who hate Zion
be put to shame and turned backward.
-- Psalm 129:1a, 2b, 5
Theme: God keeps Israel from destruction
Outline
1-4 -- Through Israel's many ups and downs, the LORD has not let it perish.
5-7 -- Confident hope and prayer that the enemies of Zion shall be turned back before their wicked schemes mature.
Notes
• Affirmation of Faith
• One of the Song of Ascents (Psalms 120-134).
• "Plowed on my back" -- a metaphor of cruel treatment, picturing the slave's back lacerated by the lash.
• "Cords" -- things that fasten the yoke on the oxen's necks, symbol of servitude.
• "The blessing of the LORD be upon you!" is the kind greeting of passersby to reapers at their work, and the response received, "We bless you in the name of the LORD!" (See Ruth 2:4 for an example.)
For Reflection
• Think of the sufferings of the Jews, not only those of ancient time, but also of modern times. The call of God to be his people has been, and always is a call to share God's suffering heart for the world.
• We can suffer with him and for him, as he did and does for us, or we can suffer from our own choices of sinful pride and willfulness.
Prayer
Pope John XXIII (1881-1963) gave Christians a good example in making this prayer (and publicizing it) for the whole church:
O God, we are conscious that many centuries of blindness have blinded our eyes so that we no longer see the beauty of thy chosen people, nor recognize in their faces the features of our privileged brethren. We realize that the mark of Cain stands upon our foreheads. Across the centuries our brother Abel has lain in the blood which we drew or which we caused to be shed by forgetting thy love. Forgive us for the curse we falsely attached to their name as Jews. Forgive us for crucifying thee a second time in their flesh. For we knew not what we did. Amen.
-- quoted in The Oxford Book of Prayer, #366, ed. G. Appleton, 1985
yet they have not prevailed against me ..."
May all who hate Zion
be put to shame and turned backward.
-- Psalm 129:1a, 2b, 5
Theme: God keeps Israel from destruction
Outline
1-4 -- Through Israel's many ups and downs, the LORD has not let it perish.
5-7 -- Confident hope and prayer that the enemies of Zion shall be turned back before their wicked schemes mature.
Notes
• Affirmation of Faith
• One of the Song of Ascents (Psalms 120-134).
• "Plowed on my back" -- a metaphor of cruel treatment, picturing the slave's back lacerated by the lash.
• "Cords" -- things that fasten the yoke on the oxen's necks, symbol of servitude.
• "The blessing of the LORD be upon you!" is the kind greeting of passersby to reapers at their work, and the response received, "We bless you in the name of the LORD!" (See Ruth 2:4 for an example.)
For Reflection
• Think of the sufferings of the Jews, not only those of ancient time, but also of modern times. The call of God to be his people has been, and always is a call to share God's suffering heart for the world.
• We can suffer with him and for him, as he did and does for us, or we can suffer from our own choices of sinful pride and willfulness.
Prayer
Pope John XXIII (1881-1963) gave Christians a good example in making this prayer (and publicizing it) for the whole church:
O God, we are conscious that many centuries of blindness have blinded our eyes so that we no longer see the beauty of thy chosen people, nor recognize in their faces the features of our privileged brethren. We realize that the mark of Cain stands upon our foreheads. Across the centuries our brother Abel has lain in the blood which we drew or which we caused to be shed by forgetting thy love. Forgive us for the curse we falsely attached to their name as Jews. Forgive us for crucifying thee a second time in their flesh. For we knew not what we did. Amen.
-- quoted in The Oxford Book of Prayer, #366, ed. G. Appleton, 1985
