Читать книгу The Psalms - Herbert O'Driscoll - Страница 17

Psalm 10

The Lord is king for ever and ever …

To give justice to the orphan and oppressed.

“Why do you stand so far off, O Lord, and hide yourself in time of trouble?” This cry echoes down through time, in every generation. At certain moments in life the question is voiced by all of us.

It would seem that cry of the psalmist is not linked to any present personal agony. Instead it issues from a condition he regards as rampant in his society. “The wicked arrogantly persecute the poor … They lurk in ambush in public squares … they murder the innocent; they spy out the helpless.”

But there is something beyond all this that troubles the psalmist at least as much. It is the attitude of those who perpetrate such crimes. “The wicked are so proud that they care not for God; their only thought is, ‘God does not matter’ … They say in their heart, ‘God has forgotten.’”

Most of us are painfully aware that almost all the psalmist’s images point to a similar condition in our own society. For us, the phrases “lurk in public squares” and “murder the innocent” appear too often in the daily news, and are becoming so familiar that they seldom merit headlines. In our day, people of power and authority too often “persecute the poor” in the name of such apparently desirable goals as the restructuring of society or the new corporate agenda.

But beyond the ghastliness of crime and the brutalities of what we call the market economy, there is an even more troubling question for us today. While much in our society remains fine and worthy of loyalty, people increasingly live on the assumption that “God does not matter,” that human actions and policies need no transcendent source to guide or nourish or judge them. “They say in their heart, ‘I shall not be shaken … God has forgotten.’”

For the psalmist, the blemishes of his society are unacceptable. If “the Lord is king,” then there must be “justice to the orphan and oppressed.” For him, it is inconceivable to think otherwise.

Centuries later a young woman who is poor—both she and her child are in great danger from the awful powers of her society—recalls such a song as this. She prays for justice in the world and safety for her child. “He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,” sings Mary, “and has lifted up the lowly.”

Consider a person or group who suffer cruelty and oppression. Ask God to be with them and to give them courage and comfort. Ask God to be with their oppressors, to show them the suffering they cause, and to move them to deeds of compassion.