This thoughtful song of praise offers unique and neglected insights into the place of humanity in creation.
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Lord, our Lord, thy glorious name
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aabb
This psalm (like many others) begins with awe at the power and glory shown in the universe: within that context, humanity seems infinitesimally small and weak. But creation also shows the wisdom of and love of God: humanity in its weakness is still divinely significant, given responsibility for all the earth. Readers of the New Testament will be reminded that the greatest demonstration of this theme (wisdom, love, and sovereignty, shown through weakness) is the life of Jesus.1 But failure to recognize the broader context in which that demonstration was made, will limit our understanding of that demonstration.
This is another result of the nineteenth-century American Presbyterians' work on an updated psalter. [[move to history??]] They published complete, official psalters in 1871, 1912 and 1927. In the twentieth century, the 1912 version was probably the most widely used psalter in North America.
This psalter did not have "literary" ideals (or pretentions).2 It was designed to be sung to the meters common in gospel music of the time (the style that dominates our hymnals). That opened more metrical possibilities -- seven syllables per line here -- but required more careful placement of word accents (since the bumpty-bumpty-bump gospel-music tunes are less rhythmically fluid than the old psalm tunes.) The writers were less tolerant of word-shuffling to find rhymes. Obviously, compared to the Scottish Psalter or even Watts' Psalms of David Imitated, the language is "early modern" -- also contemporary with our gospel songs. Stylistically, these psalms will seem less alien3 than any others in this collection.
The complete psalm is well represented in verse. The vocabulary is formal and poetic, but consistent with current use. The word order is almost completely compatible with good grammar: the only deviations from even the most prosaic use are several verbs moved to the end of the clause (well within the bounds of acceptable poetic practice) and the elliptical "thine the name of matchless worth" (unusual in everyday speech, but a standard rhetorical construct in poetry or oratory.) The boundaries of lines, double-lines, and stanzas correspond well to natural punctuation points4.
ssfmrdrmr ssfmrdrmr; 55432 12325 54321
aab
The Wesleys learned the value of hymn-singing from Moravians whom they met while sailing from England to Georgia. While still in the colonies, John published their first hymnal.5 Eventually, they wrote their own hymns. Charles heartily disliked the psalm tunes of the time, for several reasons: the old tunes provided for very few poetic meters, while he wrote hymns in over 40 different meters; the old tunes were sung very slowly6 (often dominated by choir or organ), while the methodist congregations were renowned for enthusiastic, fast congregational singing.7 It's not surprising that the Wesleys borrowed many Moravian tunes; this and others entered English use through their tunebooks.
Another tune sometimes used for this text, "Gott Sei dank durch alle welt", also came into English use via the Wesleys' tunebooks from another contemporary German source.8
In the scale of the universe, man occupies an insignificant speck. Modern materialists are very fond of that observation, but they seem even fonder of the myth that only modern, atheistic observers recognize that fact! This 3000-year-old theistic psalm refutes their myth on both points. Furthermore, where the materialist stubbornly stops and shuts his mind, the psalmist pauses for deeper reflection.
What materialists carefully do not recognize (and the ancient psalmist did) is the place of design ("wisdom", "information" or "intelligence") in the universe: according to them, it all happened by chance. Logically speaking, that is pure nonsense: information-bearing order simply does not arise by chance; water may occasionally run uphill but it never spontaneously creates life or literature! Mere power cannot rule: it only follows physical laws. The psalmist says something very like this: It is wisdom that rules (even in weakness). And the humanity that (unlike the vast universe) can consciously recognize its Creator, is (despite its weakness) uniquely equipped to rule the earth (in all its wonder and glory). Contrary to the philosophers, we are significant.
The psalm also resolves a deep contradiction in the position of some environmentalist extremists, who say that humanity (on the one hand) has no right to a privileged position in nature, but (on the other hand) has a unique ethical responsibility to abdicate its privileged position in favor of other animals. The psalmist has no such difficulty. Humanity rules, by the will of God and under the laws of God; it immediately follows that humanity has the right and responsibility of "keeping" the earth, and we will answer to God for our actions.
Against the spirit of the age, we need to ask, "what is man?" and listen for the complete answer. A few modern hymnwriters have attempted this theme, but the psalmist has still said it best.
There is no excuse for not using this version. The psalm's theme is universal, even distinctively Christian, but hardly treated in our hymnals9. Its idiom, musical and poetic, is well within the scope even of our most provincial and sectarian hymnals. Other hymns in our books begin with this psalm's stirring words of praise, but no others follow its full train of thought.
DRAFT COPY: CIRCULATED FOR REVIEW
Copyright © 2002,2003,2004, Stephen Hutcheson
Please circulate copies to elicit comments, but do not broadcast or publish.
Feedback would be received with gratitude.
| These studies are created by members of the West Allen Church of Christ in Allen, Texas |