Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Backhoe Bibliomancy

Fortune-telling by randomly choosing a passage from a sacred text is an ancient practice. The classical Greeks used Homer; the Romans used Vergil’s Aeneid. Even Christians who would condemn astrology or Tarot have been known to flip open the Bible to get a coded message from the Divine.

Using heavy construction equipment to do so is, perhaps, overkill.

Recently an Irish backhoe operator spotted an ancient Book of Psalms in a peat bog. It was open to Psalm 83.

Given the apocalyptic mindset of certain world leaders and the current crisis in the Middle East, this is clearly a sign. But of what?

It all depends on the burning question of whether the book holds to the Catholic or Protestant numbering.

Psalms 83 in the Douai-Rheims version used by Roman Catholics is a lovely verse of praise for the protection of God.

83:2. How lovely are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!

83:3. my soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God.

83:4. For the sparrow hath found herself a house, and the turtle a nest for herself where she may lay her young ones: Thy altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God.



In the KJV, Psalm 83 is a rant against the enemies of Israel, imploring God to smite them.

83: 1: Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.

2: For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.

3: They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.

4: They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.

5: For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee: [snipped: list of enemies with a few pious wishes for their destruction]

13: O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind.

14: As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire;

15: So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm.


Unfortunately, according to the article, The book was found open to a page describing, in Latin script, Psalm 83, in which God hears complaints of other nations' attempts to wipe out the name of Israel.

Now, the book-lover and medievalist in me rejoice at the rescue of another ancient book. The fortuneteller is reading it as a sign. And the person who hopes the Apocalypse won’t happen next week regrets that there are highly placed politicians who may well believe this is a signal to get the end times started with a nice nuclear Armageddon.

Incidentally, this coming Sunday would normally be International Bog Day, but for unstated reasons, the holiday has been canceled this year. Is that a sign too?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You should also consider Young's Literal Translation. This is an extremely literal translation that attempts to preserve the tense and word usage as found in Greek and Hebrew writings.

Psalm 83

1 A Song, -- A Psalm of Asaph. O God, let there be no silence to Thee, Be not silent, nor be quiet, O God.

2 For, lo, Thine enemies do roar, And those hating Thee have lifted up the head,

3 Against Thy people they take crafty counsel, And consult against Thy hidden ones.

4 They have said, `Come, And we cut them off from [being] a nation, And the name of Israel is not remembered any more.'

Anonymous said...

You should also consider Young's Literal Translation. This is an extremely literal translation that attempts to preserv the tense and word usage as found in Greek and Hebrew writings.

Psalm 83

1 A Song, -- A Psalm of Asaph. O God, let there be no silence to Thee, Be not silent, nor be quiet, O God.

2 For, lo, Thine enemies do roar, And those hating Thee have lifted up the head,

3 Against Thy people they take crafty counsel, And consult against Thy hidden ones.

4 They have said, `Come, And we cut them off from [being] a nation, And the name of Israel is not remembered any more.'