The Lord speaks of peace. Do we listen?
August 22, 2023 - Tuesday,
Psalm 85:9, 11-12, 13-14
On April 11, 1963, Saint John XXIII issued the famous encyclical letter “Pacem in Terris” (Peace on Earth). The relationship between the two superpowers of that time - the US and the Soviet Union - was at its worst and the Cuban missile crisis brought the world on the brink of nuclear war. The encyclical letter begins with the following sentence: “Peace on Earth—which man throughout the ages has so longed for and sought after—can never be established, never guaranteed, except by the diligent observance of the divinely established order”.
In Psalm 85, it is the Lord who speaks or declares peace to his people (Ps 85:9). The Hebrew word, “shalom” which is often translated as “peace” means more than the absence of wars and conflicts. It is better rendered as “well-being”, a life of contentment and happiness. Wikipedia defines it as “peace, harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare and tranquillity”. Together with the psalmist, we hope that such a life marks our relationship with God and our neighbours. But, the problem is that the majority of people on our planet Earth do not experience such a life.
Psalm 85 is considered to be either an exilic or post-exilic psalm. What does it mean? Between 586 and 538 BC, the Jews lived in Babylon, a period known as the Babylonian exile. In 538 BC, the Persian ruler, Cyrus, issued an edict allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem and some did. So, the Lord’s words about well-being were either directed to those Jews who lived in Babylon or to the Jews who already returned. In the former, the promise of “shalom” aimed to instil hope in the possibility of returning from exile. In the latter, the words encouraged those who returned and encountered challenges and obstacles in rebuilding their lives to trust in God’s help.
The psalmist says that the Lord speaks peace to his people. But what do we say to each other? The number of current wars and conflicts is between 27 to 32. The “Global Citizen” website states that “2 Billion People Currently Live in Conflict-Affected Areas”. Moreover, the conflicts are on the rise instead of decreasing. Then, the website quotes the UN saying “that peace is more under threat around the world than it has been since World War II”. When we add the growing tension between our contemporary superpowers - the US and the communist China - then we have something to worry about.
Verse 9 of Psalm 85 which we are reflecting upon in our English liturgical translations reads as follows: “I will hear what God proclaims; the LORD–for he proclaims peace to his people, and to his faithful ones, and to those who put in him their hope”. However, the New International Version renders this verse as follows: “I will listen to what God the Lord says; he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants—but let them not turn to folly”. The last word of this verse in the Hebrew text has a double dictionary entry: “confidence and folly”.
The ambiguity of this verse reveals the ambiguity at the core of the human heart. We can either put our confidence in the Lord and, as Saint John XXIII encouraged us, diligently observe “the divinely established order”. Or we return to the folly of 1939, start another world war and blow the whole world into pieces.
The Lord speaks of peace to us. But do we listen to what He says?