The Ten Days of Awe – Rosh-Hashanah and Psalm 81
The Ten Days of Awe – Rosh-Hashanah and Psalm 81. (this post is in process and incomplete at this time)
Sing and shout joyfully to God our strength; raise your voices and acclaim the God of Jacob. Raise a song, take up a melody, and sound the timbrel, the psaltery, the sweet harp, the pleasant lyre. Blow the shofar at the new moon, at the full moon, on our holy feast day! For it is a statute in Israel, a rule ordained by the God of Jacob, Who made it a decree for Joseph when he came forth from the land of Egypt.” (Ps. 81:2-6).
Psalm 81 has traditionally been sung and celebrated at both Rosh-Hashanah and the soon thereafter Feast of Tabernacles (Succoth). One common Jewish tradition has the believers singing Psalm 81 on the night before Rosh-Hashanah. Early in ancient Judaism this psalm was used to provide the structure of the Rosh-Hashanah liturgy that had three parts: the Kingship of God, the remembrance of His good works, and the blowing of the shofar. The psalm has two distinct sections… the first section calls on His people to gather and rejoice as they celebrate a holy festival day in the Faith. Then there is that interesting word “Selah” that interrupts the flow of the rejoicing, a term which is a musical term that means to pause, to think on this, to lift up your attention and deeply consider something. And then comes the prophetic part of the psalm that challenges His people to remember what He has done on their behalf, their sinful response to His mercy, and the need for them to repent of all their rebellious ways. The Lord wants His chosen people to return to their covenantal faithfulness promised at Mt. Sinai. After commanding the people shout a joyful noise, the readers are told to shut up and listen! From Ruwa! to Shema!
Ruwa! The psalm starts right off with a big bang of worship… Ruwa! is a Hebrew word meaning… to shout joyfully; to make a joyful noise; literally, to split the ears with sound; to shout a victory cheer in honor of God; to cry aloud at the top of your lungs; to shout aloud in triumph; to make a loud noise of praise; to shout out a war cry before going into battle; to shout out in celebration of God’s goodness and blessing. There are moments when fervently singing in worship that we become so filled with joy and thanksgiving that we feel like we are going to explode. What do we do then? When the ancient Jews felt like this, they were not embarrassed to do something in praise that most of us would never do: SHOUT! Look closely at the Psalms from beginning to end, and there was a lot of shouting going on. As the resident geniuses of praise, the Israelites were only too happy to include the option of shouting their praise, of making what the psalmists called a “joyful noise.” “Make a joyful shout (ruwa) to the Lord Yahweh, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come before His presence with singing, and acknowledge that the Lord, He is God!” (Psalm 100:1-2). If we were standing outside the doors of the ancient Temple during the height of worship, what would that have sounded like? I think it would be inspiring and hilarious and moving and poignant and ear-splitting, and all of it tremendously enjoyed by the Lord. I have a sense that the term “joyful noise” was often an accurate description. Won’t heaven be fascinating, with an amazing concoction of worship styles, complete with shouters in the midst! Jeremiah seemed to claim there will be a redemption of voice in the New Kingdom, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Yet again there shall be heard in this place… the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, ‘Give thanks to Yahweh-Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts! For the Lord is good, His lovingkindness and His mercy are everlasting.’” (Jeremiah 33:10-11).
Shema! This crucial Biblical term is mentioned four times in the second section of Psalm 81. “Shema” can be ranked right there along with “Hesed” (mercy, lovingkindness, covenant grace) as the most central term in all of the Hebrew Bible. Shema is usually translated “hear” or “listen,” but actually means hear and do, listen and obey, hear and respond, listen and take action, take heed; there is a traditional Jewish saying that “to hear God is to obey God, and to obey God is to hear God.” Hearing and doing are two sides of the same coin of faith and a vital aspect of biblical spirituality. Shema is the first Hebrew word in the essential prayer of the Jews in the Hebrew Bible, found in Deuteronomy 6:4… “Hear, O Israel! Yahweh is our God, Yahweh alone! And you shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might!” The Shema Prayer is the first prayer taught to Jewish children and continues to be prayed twice daily by observant Jews, sunrise and sunset. It was given by Moses to the Israelites as they prepared to enter the Promised Land. It laid the groundwork for how the people were to live out their faith in their new homeland. The Shema prayer was intended to help the people to always remember Whom they worship and how they are to hand it on to each generation to keep the faith alive. Jewish law requires a greater measure of concentration on the first verse of the Shema. Traditionally, the Jewish worshipper is thus asked to close their eyes or cover their eyes with the palms of their hands while reciting it, so that they can focus attentively with a minimum of distractions. When Jesus quoted the Shema (Matthew 22:36-40, Mark 12:29, Luke 10:27), He added the “mind.” Evidently, Jesus wanted to make sure that the listeners understood that we are to love God with all our mind. The Jews understood “heart” in the Shema to be the seat of both thoughts and feelings, reflecting both the mind and emotion. Jesus added the mind to underscore its importance in love of God.
Psalm 81 (from the Tanakh version, the Jewish Publication Society)
81:1 (To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of Asaph.)
81:2 “Sing aloud (ruwa) unto God our strength; shout (ruwa) unto the God of Jacob.
81:3 Take up the melody, and sound the timbrel, the sweet harp with the psaltery.
81:4 Blow the horn at the new moon, at the full moon for our feast-day.
81:5 For it is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
81:6 He appointed it in Joseph for a testimony, when He went forth against the land of Egypt. The speech of one that I knew not did I hear:
81:7 ‘I removed his shoulder from the burden; His hands were freed from the basket.
81:8 Thou didst call in trouble, and I rescued thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder; I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah
81:9 Hear (shema), O My people, and I will admonish thee: O Israel, if thou wouldest hearken (shema) unto Me!
81:10 There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any foreign god.
81:11 I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt; open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.
81:12 But My people hearkened (shema) not to My voice; and Israel would none of Me.
81:13 So I let them go after the stubbornness of their heart, that they might walk in their own counsels.
81:14 Oh that My people would hearken (shema) unto Me, that Israel would walk in My ways!
81:15 I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries.
81:16 The haters of the Lord should dwindle away before Him; and their punishment should endure for ever.
81:17 They should also be fed with the fat of wheat; and with honey out of the rock would I satisfy thee.”