Veil over the text
November 20, 2023 - Monday, 33rd Week in Ordinary Time
Psalm 119:53, 61, 134, 150, 155, 158
Psalm 119 is the longest in the Bible and it presents God’s Law as the source of happiness, wisdom, and life (Ps. 119:1, 93, 98). The psalm has 22 stanzas, one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet and there are eight lines per letter. The psalm contains one of the most quoted passages from the Bible: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps 119:105). But, the fragment that we read today focuses on the wicked that the psalmist abhors and hopes to be liberated from them by the Lord.
To proceed with our reflection today, let me first clarify two words that appear in our liturgical translation. In verse 155, we hear that “far from sinners is salvation” but such a translation contradicts the basic tenet of our faith that Jesus came to save sinners. And so, as we turn to the Hebrew text we find that instead of “sinners”, we have there the “wicked”. Thus, in NIV, for example, we read: “Salvation is far from the wicked”. The term “wicked” already appeared in the first psalm of the Psalter. The first verse of Psalm 1 states “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked”. While reflecting on Psalm 1, I said that the wicked are those who sin on purpose but sinners are those who sin unintentionally.
The next word that I would like to bring to our attention is “the apostates” that the psalmist beholds with loathing. An online dictionary defines “apostate” as a person who renounces a religious or political belief or principle. The Hebrew term used here is “faithless” and is defined as someone who acts treacherously. It can have the meaning of abandoning one’s faith but it is also used in the context of human relationships, applying it particularly to divorce. For example, the Lord in the Book of Malachi says that the reason he does not accept the people’s sacrifices is the fact that they were sending away the wives of their youth. Divorcing the wives they married in their youth is an act of faithlessness in the eyes of God (see Mal 2:14-16). Thus, the psalmist’s definition of an “apostate” includes all those who do not keep their promises (see Ps 119:158).
The psalmist is indignant with the wicked and loaths the faithless (Ps 119:53, 158). We can understand his burning indignation. When we see injustice committed by the wicked, we all get furious. Even Jesus got angry with those who placed the law above the acts of compassion (see Mark 3:1-6) and turned the temple into a marketplace (see John 2:13-17). But to loathe someone is another matter. The Hebrew term translated in verse 158 of Psalm 119 as loathing has also the meaning of being grieved. Jesus, for example, was grieved by the hardness of hearts of the Jewish religious leaders (see Mark 3:5). Thus, in this way, loathing does not mean to despise someone - an unacceptable attitude toward anyone - but it means to be saddened by other people’s wrong attitudes or wicked actions.
Some said that reading the Bible in translation is like kissing a bride through a veil. Unfortunately, the majority of us have no other choice. But this should not discourage us from reading it. What we should be aware of, however, is the fact that there is no perfect translation and that the only interpretive key leading to the full understanding of the Bible is Jesus’ life and His teaching.