Case Study on Psalm 101 Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Case Study on Psalm 101 - Term Paper Example Historical Analysis Psalm 101 was written â€Å"for the occasion of the enthronement of a Judahite king†3 and the glorification of the Davidic king’s example of virtue and righteousness. In fact, Psalm 101 is known as â€Å"David’s mirror of a monarch†4. It may have actually been written during the time _____________ 1Jerome F. D. Creach, The Destiny of the Righteous in the Psalms (2008): 107. 2James Douglas Grant Dunn, â€Å"God-Talk for a Disillusioned Pilgrim in Psalm 21,† Eerdmas Commentary on the Bible (2003): 413. 3Michael L. Barre, â€Å"The Shifting Forces of Psalm 101,† The Book of Psalms: Composition and Reception, vol. 99 (2005): 206. 4James Luther Mays, â€Å"Psalm 101: The Way of Integrity,† Psalms (1989): 321. when David was sworn in as king over all of Israel, and he wrote this as a pledge of allegiance to God5. This could have then taken place in 1002 BC6. Literacy Background Psalm 101 uses a number of poetic devices in order to convey the message of royal conduct, virtue and integrity. Among these are metonymies like â€Å"my house† in the line â€Å"I will conduct the affairs of my house/ with a blameless heart†7. The word â€Å"house† here does not necessarily mean the house where one lives but rather the whole kingdom that one holds and rules, for it is a king that is assumed to be speaking in Psalm 101. Nevertheless, the use of the word â€Å"house† somehow implies that the king considers his own kingdom as something that is of his immediate responsibility. Another metaphor in Psalm 101 is the line â€Å"I will put to silence†8 as a form of punishment. Putting someone to silence may mean something imposing a punishment on a criminal that will teach him a hard lesion and make him not commit the same wrongdoing ever again. â€Å"Haughty eyes† and â€Å"proud heart†9 are also two other phrases that speak of a person’s character rather meton ymically. Both haughty eyes and a proud heart only mean one thing: pride. This pride is one thing that displeases God, and the fact that this verse on pride _______________ 5Barre, â€Å"The Shifting Focus of Psalm 101, The Book of Psalms: Composition and Reception, volume 99 (2005): 206. 6David M. Carr & Colleen M. Conway, An Introduction to the Bible: Sacred Texts and Imperial Contexts: Composition and Reception (2010): 234. 7Ps. 101:2, New International Version. 8Ps. 101:5, 8. 9Ps. 101:5. on â€Å"slandering [one’s] neighbor in secret†10 implies that those who slander their neighbor are actually proud and haughty people. Nevertheless, the point is clear – haughtiness and pride displeases God. Structural Outline of Psalm 121 The basic structure of Psalm 101 is uneven because there is a problem â€Å"where to mark off its second major division†11. In fact, as discussed by Barre, the second line of verse 2: â€Å"when will you come to me?† does no t seem to be a part of the first or the second stanzas for this particular line is a question of longing while the rest of the first and second stanzas are the king’s promises to God. The first strophe, or verses 1 and 2, is all about the Psalter’s exaltation of the Lord and his desire to live the blameless life. The second strophe, or verses 3 to 5, is all about the description of the negative things that the Psalter or the king himself is supposed to do12. Among the people condemned here are those with faithless (Ps. 101:3), those with â€Å"perverse of heart† (Ps. 101:4), and those who â€Å"slander their neighbor in secret