Date: March 25, 2024
Yesterday, I decided as part of Palm Sunday discipline to read a chapter from a t&tclark book called Psalms: My Psalm, My Context, edited by Athalya Brenner-Idan and Gale A. Yee. I went to the chapter by Melody Knowles on “Psalm 132: Livegiving conversations with a Psalm”. It was a beautiful, intimate, and powerful piece of writing. The goal of the book is to write short articles “about a psalm that is your favorite, or that you dislike, or that has had a great influence on your life – a highly personal piece.” The contributors are from around the world and include an impressive range of leading Old Testament scholars.
Melody’s chapter is stunning. She weaves together biography (being a mother and a scholar) with a deep intimate knowledge of this remarkable and rather enigmatic psalm. This Psalm is not particularly well known – it isn’t used in weddings or funerals, although it is an option in some ordination services. Two participants in this Psalm are unusual – David actually says something and, perhaps even more surprising, God does (most of the Psalms are prayers to God, so God rarely speaks). But the God portrayed is lovely; God is, explains Melody, “a sympathetic and generous deity.”
With this framing, Melody then explores her various moments of engagement with the text. An opportunity to write a commentary led her to start a monograph on this Psalm; the significance of the Book of Hours; her interest in the Duchess of Pembroke (1561-1621); and the importance of libraries (even those where you must promise not to burn the place down). It is an amazing piece of writing. I really enjoyed reading it.
The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D.
Dean and President of the Virginia Theological Seminary and the President of The General Theological Seminary