Some patterns in 1 Corinthians 13

While researching my masters on the structure Ecclesiastes, I came across John Harvey's "Listening to the Text", where he sets the foundation for how one should and should not seek to understand and describe structures in texts. I found it immensely helpful (I say "chiasm" a lot less these days, preferring "ring structure" or "concentric symmetry"), but his interest is really in Paul's letters (and even then, his Hauptbriefe), so I couldn't make use of any examples, just the theory. 

But now I'm in 1 Corinthians, I've been able to refer to some specifics in his book, and while he's sceptical about the second structure (because of a lack of linguistic parallels), his suggestion for the third is pretty convincing. So I'll suggest my own for the first, and develop his (rejected) one for the second, and also show a bigger picture one which I think is helpful.

Bookends, 12:31; 13:13

Beginning at the end then, it's noteworthy that the end of 1 Corinthians 12 finishes with Paul telling the Corinthians that they should rather desire the "greater" (μείζονα) gifts. He then goes on to discuss love, what it is and what it isn't, which seems so out of place that Conzelman for instance suggests ch13 is an interpolation, or has been dislocated from perhaps after ch12. However, after mentioning faith, hope and love, he returns to the word "greater" (μείζων) to describe love in comparison with faith and hope. I think it's fair to say that love, and ch13 as a whole, is the governing principle for the wider unit chs12-14. As good as prophecy, tongues and the other charismata are, it is love which must govern and order their use.

Life without love, 13:1-3

The first section, vv1-3 is just three parallel phrases, beginning Paul's use of triplets in this passage (see also v8, 13). These three verses all have three parts: 

1. If I am x
2. But I have not love
3. I am y

Where x is something which could be good, but is probably used to boast in their context, and where y is something not so great: in v1 it is an annoyance, in v2 it is nothing, and in v3 it gains him nothing.

This ties well back to the issues brought up in chs1-4, where the Corinthians are boasting and getting in fights over the wrong thing. Here too, while Paul thinks tongues are great, as is prophecy and great faith and gospel-centred priorities, these things without love are nothing. Instead of things that are not becoming things that are, here they are inverting that, turning things that are into nothing.

What love does/doesn't, 13:4-7

Harvey's issue with any paragraph-wide structure here is the lack of lexical parallels. Which is fair enough. But what we do have are four sections which are each tightly contained, and together forms something of an ABBA structure.

Love is patient
Kind is love

Love doesn’t:
get jealous,
brag,
puff up,
dishonour,
self-seek,
get provoked,
record wrongs

Love doesn’t rejoice in evil
but
does rejoice with the truth.

Love always protects,
always trusts,
always hopes,
always perseveres.

Note there is a legit chiasm in the first verse (v4a), and then a list of "doesn'ts" (v4b-5), then a contrast between οὐ χαίρει and συνχαίρει, while finally the passage crescendos with a four-fold πάντα. So while there aren't bracketing words or structures to this section, the movements between each sections, with the positive outside and negative inside, I think holds this section together well as a "what love does/doesn't". 

Love outlasts, 13:8-13

Finally in the last section there is a more legit concentric ABCDCBA structure, complete with a bookend of ἡ ἀγάπη (v8,13), but also alternating sets of contrasts.

8a Love never ends

8b–d Prophecies, tongues, knowledge will cease

9–10 In part? Won’t matter

11 Children will grow up

12 In part? Will be fully

13a Faith, hope, love will endure

13b Love is the greatest

So there is a lexical bookend, a doxology to love. Then a contrast between those things which will cease (a triplet: prophecies, tongues, knowledge) and those which will endure (another triplet: faith, hope, love). The third level into this structure reuses the "in part" (ἐκ μέρους) idea, which is thrice in vv9-10 and returns once in v12. There is also a contrast between a negative implication in vv9-10 and a positive application in v12. Finally the central section uses the word "child" four times, which is probably an unsubtle way of telling the Corinthians to grow up!

In summary then, I think ch13 holds together well, in three clear sections, with three clear ideas in each. Each of the three sections hold together tightly and make it clear both where the Corinthians should aspire, but also where they are failing, which makes all the more sense as they reflect on the state of their public worship in the chapters either side.

If you're interested in structure, you should check out John Harvey's book. Here is my goodreads review if you want some more thoughts. 

Review: Ecclesiastes and the search for meaning in an upside-down world

It took a while but my copy of Russell Meek's "Ecclesiastes and the Search for Meaning in an Upside-Down World" finally arrived, and this afternoon I set aside some time to read it. It's only a short book, coming in at 69 pages, and with three easily digestible chapters.

So what is this book? It's part autobiography, part thematic commentary and part encouragement to live well under the sun. From my internet interactions and observations, Russ has always been one to wear his heart on his sleeve, and he wants to share his own story, not as voyeurism or triumphalism, but to show how Qohelet struggles just like us, to understand real issues in the real world. Qohelet's world is not so different from our own; he simply is not afraid to call it out. 

The first chapter, "The Genesis shape of Ecclesiastes," brings his 2016 article, "Fear God and Enjoy His Gifts: Qohelet's Edenic Vision of Life," to a popular audience, and proceeds to take us through the intertextual links between the opening chapters of Genesis and Ecclesiastes. I'm grateful for how Russ filled this out, as the creation thread in Ecclesiastes is very important for me in understanding how the world, despite everything, remains good. Russ acknowledges that not every link will convince or even be noticed by everyone, but he puts forward a very strong argument, and demonstrates how seeing these links expands our reading of Ecclesiastes.

The second chapter, "Abel and the meaning of 'Vanity,'" reworks a 2013 chapter from "The Words of the Wise are like Goads," and explores the fascinating suggestion that to best understand הבל (vanity) in Ecclesiastes, the link to Abel (also הבל) must be understood. I found his biblical survey enlightening for the use of this term in Ecclesiastes, and this again helps the reader better understand the frustration encountered by Qohelet.

The final chapter, "From here, where? Enjoy God and his Gifts" takes another aspect of his 2016 article, and in particular discusses 12:13-14 as the key to the whole book. Here Russ really builds on the idea of covenant, and shows how the fear of God is a good thing, showing us how to live well in this world, in right relationship with our creator. As a concluding chapter, this was both lighter from a scholarly aspect, but also much more pointed from a theological aspect. 

Ecclesiastes is indeed such a powerful book; it deals with the real world, in an eyes-wide-open kind of way, asking real questions, grappling with real struggles, but always returning to the creator God, the giver of all good gifts, to ground us and give us true hope.

Although I paid for the book myself, I'm still really thankful to Russ for putting this together, and I look forward to commending it to anyone grappling with Ecclesiastes and the questions it raises. 

Keeping an eye out - Psalm 101

Psalm 101 is a David psalm, but not really. It is perhaps a psalm for David, or looking forward to a better David, rather than a psalm about David (one key is Yhwh's house (v2,7) was not constructed under David but his son, Solomon). It is the first David psalm for a while (not since Ps 86), and, with Psalm 103, is one of only two "David psalms" in Book IV.

It's an interesting psalm, which shifts quite a bit after the first four verses. That is, in the first four verses, each clause contains a verb, and although they are all related, any clause could stand on its own. 

1 Of steadfast love and justice shall I sing
you, Yhwh, shall I praise
2 I will closely attend to the blameless path
when will you come to me?

I will walk with integrity of heart within your house
3 I will not set before my eyes worthless words
the deeds of deviants I hate
it will not cling to me
4 the heart of the crooked will turn from me
no evil shall I know

In the first half of this psalm we find mostly 1st person yiqtols, the "I will ..." verbs; only "I hate" is a qatal among the 1st person verbs. Nonetheless, the distribution of the verb is either at the front or the back of the clause. It seems more regular (to my ear) to have it at the front, while when it's at the back (v1a,b; 4b) it seems to highlight what precedes it (steadfast love and justice, Yhwh, no evil). 

The second half of the psalm, from 5-8, each line depends on two clauses to make sense, as follows:

5 the one slandering in secret their neighbour
        this one I will silence
the haughty eyed and arrogant hearted
        this one I will not endure

6     My eyes [will be] upon the faithful of the land
in order [that they] might dwell with me
        the one walking in blameless paths
this one will minister to me.

7 They will not dwell in the midst of my house,
        whoever does deceit.
        whoever speaks falsely
will not be be established before my eyes.

8 By morning I will destroy
        all the wicked of the land
in order to cut off from the city of Yhwh
        all doers of iniquity

As you can see, you need both clauses to say something. Who will not dwell in my house? Whoever does deceit. And so on. Verse 8 is really the only verse which seems to be one thought over four clauses. 5-7 however are all good examples of synonymous parallelism, where both halves say essentially the same thing. 

There might be some overarching structure, with Yhwh only in the first and last verses, and your house // my house (v2, 7). There's also a contrast between the "faithful of the land" who will dwell there, (v6) and the "wicked of the land" who will be cut off (v8).

As a whole, this psalm feels unfinished, with no development. If anything, it feels like a downwards spiral, from praising to destruction, from calling on Yhwh to act at the beginning, while at the end committing to enact human judgement. I would almost prefer to read this psalm in the reverse order, where we move from human action to trusting and praising Yhwh alone. 

So I'm not really sure what to do with this psalm. It could be I'm tired after a week of travel and sickness and classes I can't see why anyone would have this psalm as their favourite. 

As an exodus psalm, this almost feels like Moses speaking to the Israelites after they have been caught in their idolatry and no more will he put up with sinfulness among the people. Only those who match their words (1-2b) with their actions (2c-4) will be those who may come into Yhwh's promised rest. 

Back to school with Esther

I'm in my forties, and I'm back to school. Part of my PhD program is I have to do a couple of classes, so this semester it's Medieval Hebrew, Esther and Daniel. Today was really fun, with my first outing into Medieval Hebrew, but I have to prepare Esther 1:1-9 for tomorrow, and there are a couple of interesting points to note.

First is, there are very few verbs. In this first section, 1:1-9, there are only five active verbs, and I think this gives us our five sections:

1. And it happened in the days of the great king Ahaseuros (1:1)
2. The generous king held a great feast and displayed his wealth (1:2-4)
3. The king held a banquet in his ornate palace garden (1:5-6)
4. The king instructed the wine to flow without restriction (1:7-8)
5. The queen Vashti held a banquet for the ladies in the king's royal house (1:9)

The great care with verbs means they are infrequent, and three of them are repeated, leaving only the first, "and it happened", which introduces the story, and then the confusing verb, עסד (yissad), which could mean various things, but in context, means something like "made a firm instruction" (to not withhold wine from anyone).

The second thing which stood out was the royal names and the word "king" and "queen". Each of the five active verbs more or less has an accompanying "king" or "queen", which is indicated in the summary above. This is particularly skilfully used by the narrator, because when we hit the fifth verb, it is not the king, but the queen, and she is having her own royal booze-up, but just for the ladies.

This, of course, very clearly sets up the tension which will allow for Esther to enter the story, and the rest of the goings on.

Fourth, the centre of the passage, 1:5-6, has a lot of unknown vocab, which I gave up on. It's just a long sequence of nouns, which I take it are just trying to show how very rich and opulent and overwhelming is the king's palace garden, where this final banquet for the king's nearest and dearest is held.

Finally, there was one nice bit of parallelism which I quite liked: 1:4 has this repeated structure:

         בְּהַרְאֹת֗וֹ

אֶת־עֹ֨שֶׁר֙ כְּב֣וֹד מַלְכוּת֔וֹ

וְאֶ֨ת־יְקָ֔ר תִּפְאֶ֖רֶת גְּדוּלָּת֑וֹ

he let them see

his kingdom's glorious wealth

and his majesty's previous pomp

The very tight repetition stands out, perhaps because the rest of it is such a slog. But it does feel a bit like Hezekiah (Isaiah 39), although I'm not sure there's any fear that the guests will take over his kingdom.

Anyway, that's the first section of Esther 1. I'm looking forward to find out what else we'll find out in class! 

The Exodus Psalms

A number of years ago I wrote about Book IV of the Psalter, in some circles known as the Exodus Collection. I've been slowly working through them after reading them both on my own and with the insightful MC, and here are the links to the pages, which I'll keep updating as I get to them.

• Psalm 90
• Psalm 91
• Psalm 92
• Psalm 93
• Psalm 94
• Psalm 95
• Psalm 96
• Psalm 97
• Psalm 98
• Psalm 99
• Psalm 100
• Psalm 101
• Psalm 102
• Psalm 103
• Psalm 104
• Psalm 105
• Psalm 106

Thanking God in Psalm 100

 Psalm 100 is one of the shorter psalms in the Psalter, coming in at only five verses. It has a heading, "Psalm, for thanksgiving," which is more expansive than 98's "Psalm", but doesn't give us much more information. However, that this psalm is "for thanksgiving" is reinforced throughout the psalm, as v4a encourages entry to be "in thanksgiving", and v4c is an imperative to "give thanks." This whole psalm is a noisy and an active psalm. 1b has all the earth shouting, 2a joyfully serving, 2b entering with rejoicing, 4c giving thanks, 4d blessing his name. And I can only imagine the acknowledging (v3) was similarly vocalised.

Structure

The psalm could be divided in two, with the first half (1b-3) praising Yhwh as God the creator (all the earth; he made us, his sheep), while the second (4-5) praises Yhwh as God the king (his gates, his courtyard).

There are a couple of noteworthy features in this psalm. The first is what appears to be an ABAB structure; two pairs of alternating panels. The first (1b-2, 4) give instructions to give thanks and praise, while the second (3, 5) explain the reasons that Yhwh is praiseworthy.

A 1-2 Shout, serve, enter before. All the earth.

B 3 Why? Because we are his creation, his people, his sheep.

A 4 Enter, thank, bless.

B 5 Why? Because Yhwh is good, steadfast, faithful.

This leads to the second feature, which (and I could be wrong here) are the two cases of ellipses. The first ellipsis is uncontroversial and rather assumed, in v4 באו (enter, come) is implied:

enter his gates in thanksgiving,

[enter] his courtyard in praise.

The second however relies on the alternating panels, and assumes the דעו (acknowledge, make known) of the first B panel (v3) is implied in the second B panel, v5, so that we have:

3 Acknowledge that Yhwh, he is God...

5 [Acknowledge] that Yhwh is good...

There's also one fun little text issue, which could really go either way. In v3, after "he made us," the written text (ketiv) has "and not we ourselves" (i.e., we did not make ourselves). Although true, this sounds a bit weird. So the read text (qere) suggests "and for him are we" (i.e. and we are his, or we are made for him). The qere makes more sense in the context, and due to their being homophones, it seems simplest to trust the Masoretes' suggestion here.

Psalm 100 as an Exodus psalm

Throughout Book IV I've been asking how we might read these psalms as Exodus psalms, and there's a nice little shout out to Exodus 3 here in the last line of the psalm. His goodness, his steadfast love, and his faithfulness are his characteristics forever, from generation to generation. And in Exodus 3, where Yhwh reveals his name to Moses, he concludes with,

This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation. (Exodus 3:15)

Exodus has לדר דר, while the psalm has עד־דר ודר. So not the same, but the repeated דר (generation) in the context of Yhwh's character seems fitting. It's also worth briefly noting that similar phrases (the double דר) occurs in Book IV at 90:1 (בדר ודר); 102:13 (לדר ודר), 25 (דור ודורים) and 106:31 (לדר ודר). So 16 times outside of Book IV and 5 times within. So it's not quite unique to Book IV (unlike the use of Moses and Aaron, for instance) but it seems that the context matches.

The other potential link might be the repeated use of בוא (enter, come) in this psalm, which might link with the similar use in Exodus 15:17-18

You will bring (בוא) them in

you will plant them in a mountain of your inheritance

a place you made for your dwelling, Yhwh

a holy place, Lord, founded by your hands.

Yhwh will reign forever and ever.

What is a promise in Exodus 15 has become a reality to celebrate in Psalm 100. The promise to bring them in is answered with them entering the gates, his courtyard. The promise that there will be a holy place for Yhwh to dwell is precisely where Israel now "serve Yhwh with joy" (2a).

Psalm 100 as Christian Scripture

How doe we read Psalm 100 as Christian Scripture? There are plenty of images here which point to Jesus, perhaps primary being his identity as the good shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep. The one who made us, who spoke creation into being, is the same one who gave himself for his sheep. Romans 12 encourages the response to this in similar language and with a similar dynamic, to offer yourselves as living sacrifices as your true and living worship. 

Exalt Yhwh our Holy God - Psalm 99

 I'm up to Psalm 99 in my meander through Book IV of the Psalter (90-106), and it's a shorter one, only nine verses, but nonetheless some really interesting features.

Holy Holy Holy

There is a repeated refrain, which seems to conclude each of the three stanzas: Holy is he! Following that gives us 1-3, 4-5, 6-9, and then another feature sticks out, namely the description of Yhwh at the beginning of the first two stanzas, v1 begins "Yhwh reigns," while v4 starts with "and a mighty king," both the noun "king" and the verb "to reign" are from the root מלך mlk.

The third stanza begins describing not Yhwh but three of the most important figures of the exodus and pre-monarchy period: Moses, Aaron and Samuel. Interestingly, David is not mentioned, which could well be because he as king is certainly not the focus of this psalm; Yhwh is king, and Samuel is not important because he anointed the first two kings of Israel, but because he called on Yhwh, and Yhwh answered him.

You could then summarise the three stanzas as:

1-3 Yhwh reigns over the earth

4-5 Yhwh is the king who establishes justice

6-9 Yhwh answers the pleas of his servants

Apart from concluding with a "holy" phrase, the final verse of each stanza is a tricolon, whreas the other verses are all bicola.

Speech

One interesting factor in this psalm is where Yhwh is addressed. In three places and 5 times total Yhwh is addressed by the psalmist:

3a They praise your name; 

4c You established uprightness,

4d justice and righteousness have you worked in Jacob. 

8b You answered them

8c A God who carries away [sin] were you for them.

Each of these are roughly in the middle of a stanza, which gives further shape to the structure mentioned above. The first two also bookend reported speech, which comes in 3b-4b, bridging the first two stanzas:

“Great and awesome;

Holy is he!”

And, “Mighty king

he loves justice!”

Call and Response

If we were to divide the poem into two roughly even halves, 1-5, 6-9, with the speech at the centre, the psalm takes on a different shape and a different emphasis. The first half focusses on the peoples praising Yhwh who establishes uprightness, justice and righteousness. The second moves its attention to the three aforementioned figures, and the remarkable thing it is for Yhwh to answer them and to respond to their pleas to deal with sin. Both halves then conclude with a near-identical refrain:

Exalt Yhwh our God (5a/9a)

and bow down before his footstool (5b) / holy hill (9b)

Holy is he (5c) / Holy is Yhwh our God (9c)

Both halves also contain the 2nd person address in the centre, so that the stanzas run:

Statement about Yhwh and his people (1/6)

Location of Yhwh (Zion v2/pillar of cloud v7)

2nd person address (3-4/8)

Exalt our holy God Yhwh in a location (footstool v5/holy hill v9)

To me this structure seems more satisfactory, and explains the movements in the text.

Psalm 99 and the exodus

This psalm is clearly written after the exodus; the references to Zion (v2) and Samuel (v6) show that it is from a later time. And yet, the absence of any reference to David (except perhaps by allusion through "Zion") suggests that the author was not interested in going back to the time of the monarchy. More important are images which remind them of the exodus journey, with the cherubim (v1; cf Ex 25:18) and the pillar of cloud (v7; cf Ex 13:21; 19:9), not to mention the decrees and statues which are linked to the exodus (v7; cf Dt 4:45).

One odd lexeme is עלילה 'alylah (99:8d) which occurs fairly rarely in the Bible (24x), and here is usually translated "misdeeds." It's a little confusing; in Psalm 103 and 105 it's the deeds or decrees of Yhwh, whereas in Deuteronomy 22 it means slander. Although it's not described with the same vocabulary, I wonder if the times Moses and Aaron sin could be described as slander? And if it's their sin which was carried away? The alternative is that v8 is speaking more generally of Israel's sin, dealt with by the priests.

In any case, this psalm looks back to a time when Yhwh was honoured as king, when he spoke and the people responded in praise—the optimists' memory of the exodus!

Psalm 99 as Christian Scripture

By harking back to time when Yhwh was acknowledged as king, this implies a time when Yhwh was not acknowledged as such. What greater (worse?) time could there be for that than when Jesus was ignored as king. He was neither praised nor exalted above all peoples (v2-3), even though he spoke clearly to his people (v6-7). Despite this, he was the one who carried away our sin, dealing with our slander (v8). Our praise then is directed not to the temple, but to the holy hill (v9) on which he died, worshipping at the cross the one who, though being holy, died for sin.

Singing the new song - Psalm 98

 Psalm 98 is a bit loud:

• v1 sing
• v4 make noise, break forth, exult, praise
• v5 make music
• v6 make noise
• v7 roar
• v8 clap hands, exult

Why the racket? In v1-3 the psalmist looks back for reasons:

• Yhwh has done wonders
• Yhwh has wrought salvation
• Yhwh has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness

Three times Yhwh's salvation is mentioned:

1. In v1 it is seen in his right hand and his holy arm.
2. In v2 he has made his salvation known before the nations.
3. In v3 the ends of the earth have seen his salvation.

And it is his faithfulness in the past that means those who sing this psalm can look forward in the final verse:

• he is coming to judge the earth
• he will judge the cosmos with righteousness
• and he will judge peoples with uprightness.

The beginning and the end of the psalm then speak of his acts of salvation, some past, some yet to come. And the praise in the centre of the psalm looks backward and forwards in light of this. The noise from the peoples (singing and playing instruments) in v4-6 seems to be looking back to what has gone before, while the noise from creation in v7-8 (the sea and cosmos roaring, rivers clapping, mountains exulting) looks forward to the salvation which is to come.

1-3 Past salvation

4-6 The people rejoice and give thanks

7-8 All creation makes noise looking forward

9 Salvation to come

Of course, this unravels a riddle from v1 which didn't become apparent until we hit the end.

Sing a new song because he has done wonders.

What is confusing is the new song refers to past events, things which have already happened and already been revealed. But at the end we see that the new song begins with the old story, in order to look to the future with confidence.

Psalm 98 as an exodus psalm

For those who came in late, part of my project in going through Psalms 90-106 is to think through them as potentially telling the story of the exodus. And in this psalm v1 in particular shouts out to me as an exodus psalm. The נפלאות (wonders) sung of here consistently speak of the wonders done in rescuing Israel from Egypt (cf Exodus 3:20; 34:10; Micah 7:15). Similarly, the mention of "his right hand, his holy arm" is a clear call-back to the language of Exodus 6-7 (6:1,1,6,8;7:4,5) as Yhwh promises Moses that his mighty hand will bring them salvation.

Psalms 98 recalls Yhwh's salvation out of Egypt, and looks forward (as does Micah, above) to his future acts salvation along similar lines.

Psalm 98 as Christian Scripture

The creation language of this psalm directs me to the language in Romans 8 as Paul writes of the groaning of creation; here the creation has a certainty which causes it to pre-emptively sing and rejoice.

Psalm 98 proclaims Yhwh as the king (v6); this side of the cross we know Jesus as the king who gave his life to bring salvation, and we look back to that event for our hope in the future and in living now, trusting that God continues to remember his steadfast love and faithfulness (v2) for all who call on his name, for all who know his salvation, even tot he ends of the earth (v3).