Curse psalms

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Initial to Psalm 69 : Monster with bird's body. Psaltery, northern France, 13th century. Mainz Charterhouse . Mainz City Library

Curse psalms is the traditional name for prayers in the biblical book of psalms , in which the prayer in his extreme distress implores God to destroy his enemies by force . The term goes back to the magical use of these psalms in medieval popular belief , where they were used to curse personal enemies. In contrast, modern exegesis speaks of enemy psalms or retribution psalms .

example

Psalm 58 (based on the Luther Bible 1912)
A golden jewel of David to sing out so that he should not perish.
Are you then mute that you do not want to speak what is right and judge what is equal, you human beings?
Yes, you willfully do injustice in the country and go straight through doing wrong with your hands.
The wicked are perverse from the womb; the liars err from the womb.
Their rage is like the rage of a snake, like the deaf otter that plugs its ear,
That she does not hear the voice of the magician, the conjurer who can conjure.
God break her teeth in her mouth; crush, sir, the teeth of the young lions!
They will melt like water flowing away. They aim with their arrows; but they break.
They perish like the snail withered; like an untimely birth of a woman, they do not see the sun.
Before your thorns ripen on the thorn bush, an anger will tear them away so fresh.
The righteous will be glad to see such vengeance, and will bathe his feet in the wicked blood,
That people will say: The righteous will enjoy his fruit; God is still the judge on earth.

context

The cursing psalms are set editorial in different contexts, such as in the situation of the betrayed King David , the God implores him right to give ( Ps 54  EU ), or on the run from King Saul , who had given the order to David's killing ( Ps 59  EU ), or on the run from the pursuit of other enemies ( Ps 7  EU ). Other psalms show the prayer exposed to the distress and hatred of his enemies ( Ps 69  EU ), or the indignation against God's silence in the face of the deeds of the wicked ( Ps 109  EU ).

scope

Although none of the biblical psalms as a whole exclusively calls down the judgment of God over the enemies of God or the prayer, some psalms within the group of the lamenting psalms are expressly referred to as curse psalms. In the Hebrew text of the book of Psalms, which comprises a total of 2527 verses, 41 unambiguous requests of the prayer to God can be counted in a close reading to intervene punishing the suffering caused by his enemies. Due to the context of meaning, however, additional verses may be included in this, whose linguistic form as a wish or request in Hebrew cannot be distinguished from the form of a statement of confidence. Such requests contain a particularly large number of Psalms Ps 58  EU , Ps 83  EU and Ps 109  EU as well as individual verses from at least 16 other Psalms ( e.g. Ps 17  EU , Ps 69,23-29  EU , Ps 54,7  EU , Ps 137 , 7–9  EU and Ps 144,6  EU ).

history

As early as the 12th century, the Parisian theologian Pierre le Chantre criticized cases of so-called “dead prayers”, in which funeral masses were read for the living in order to let them die as soon as possible. In the same way, scriptures from the Bible were used to "pray for dead", including the Psalter in a special way. In the late sixteenth century Johann Weyer reports that clergymen “used the 108th Psalms [according to the Vulgate counts ] as a black art and enchantment…, the certain opinion, against which this harsh and difficult word is spoken, that it will soon perish and go under or not have to experience the Jar… ”. This magical practice can be proven until the 19th century.

Problem

Apart from their use as a means of magical harm against personal enemies, it has meanwhile been established that these "violent psalms" or the corresponding zealous verses and prayers show friction with biblical ethics, such as the Jewish commandment to love one's neighbor ( Lev 19:18  EU ) and to the stranger ( Lev 19,33-34  EU ) and in Jesus' program of love for enemies ( Mt 5,43-48  EU ). Therefore, they were felt to be offensive or at least particularly in need of interpretation at an early stage.

Already in pre-Christian times, Hellenistic philosophers turned against the attitude of Jewish texts to violence (see also violence in the Bible ). One of the earliest Christian systematists, Markion , later classified as a heretic , rejected the entire Old Testament for this reason, among other things . Augustine, and with him other church fathers , allegorically interpreted the "enemies", whose annihilation God is called, as morally reprehensible behavior. The later Christian tradition has sometimes seen these verses as a dark Jewish "contrast film" against which Christian morality should shine all the brighter. Luther still interpreted Psalm 108 (109) as a prophecy about the fate of Israel , which was fulfilled in the persecution of the Jews : “But David made the psalm into the spirit of Christ, who speaks the whole Psalms within his own person or Judah the betrayed and against the whole of Jewry, and proclaims how it will go to them. "

Both Catholic and Protestant theologians endeavored to either delete the passages in question from prayer practice or to defuse them through various interpretive approaches. Often a clear rethinking in exegesis only happened after the Shoah . Others tried to keep the whole Psalter as a prayer treasure for Israel and the Church.

Deletion from the Catholic Liturgy of the Hours

The curse psalms became a particular problem when the Second Vatican Council wanted to make the Liturgy of the Hours, which largely consisted of psalms, from a pure clerical liturgy again into a church liturgy and very soon spoke out in favor of the use of vernacular languages in the liturgy. Although a large majority of the Council Fathers were in favor of keeping the full Psalter, Pope Paul VI continued. , who had already rejected the curse psalms before his election as Pope, carried out the eradication of several psalms and a number of individual offensive verses by virtue of papal authority.

The General Introduction to the Liturgy of the Hours , issued in 1971 , accordingly prescribes:

“The three Psalms 58 (57), 83 (82) and 109 (108), in which the curse character predominates, are not included in the Psalter of the Liturgy of the Hours. Individual such verses from other psalms have also been omitted, which is noted at the beginning. These text omissions were made because of certain psychological difficulties, although curse psalms even occur in the piety of the New Testament (e.g. Rev 6:10) and do not in any way aim to induce cursing. "(AES § 131)

Since then, these three psalms are no longer part of the general Liturgy of the Hours; another 19 psalms have been shortened. Individual religious communities, such as some Benedictine monasteries, still pray the entire Psalter, as do some Orthodoxy churches or parts of the Jewish religious community .

Theological discussion

In the theological discussion it is noted that the verses felt to be offensive want to bring the whole reality of life of the prayer before God, who cannot always sing the praises of God in serene pious submission, but who, especially in existential distress from God, only see an immediate end to violence hope, yes demand. The raped, tortured, should not be robbed of his last emergency scream.

“... for God it is an essential question how things are with the world and people; in his standing up for the oppressed, in his anger against the oppressors, it becomes clear whether he keeps his word and remains true to himself. Nothing less than his being God is at stake when the speakers of the Psalms invoke him again and again with the words: 'For the sake of the honor of your name, help us, God of our salvation! For your name's sake, tear us out! '"

The aim of these prayers is not blind vengeance , but justice ; and there, too, no retribution at any cost; Finally, those who pray for these psalms renounce their own action and leave the punishment of the perpetrator to God - which keeps the way to repentance and pardon of the perpetrator open.

Last but not least, approaches of feminist theology deal with dealing with experiences of violence, as articulated in these psalms, and work out possible contextualizations to speak these texts in solidarity with the victims and on their behalf.

literature

  • Uwe FW Bauer: Greed for revenge - wage addiction - madness: an analysis of anti-Judaistic interpretations and language patterns in psalm commentaries of German Protestantism in the 19th and 20th centuries. Volume 22 of the Old Testament and Modernity. LIT Verlag, Münster 2009, ISBN 978-3-643-80007-7
  • Walter Dürig: The use of the so-called curse psalm 108 (109) in popular belief and in the liturgy. In: Münchener Theologische Zeitschrift 27 (1976), pp. 71–84.
  • Notker Füglister : From the courage to use the whole script. For the intended elimination of the so-called curse psalms from the new Roman breviary. In: Voices of the Time 184 (1969), pp. 186-200.
  • Hannelore Jauss: Praying curse psalms? To the problem of the enemy and curse psalms. In: Bibel und Kirche 51 (3/1996), pp. 107–115.
  • Ursula Silber: "We do not pray what is in brackets" !? : deal with enemy psalms "Christian". In: Bibel und Liturgie 83 (4/2010), pp. 260–271.
  • Unknown: The curse psalms in the judgment of Luther and Franz Delitzsch. Monthly for the history and science of Judaism, year 61 ,. July 7/9 / September 1917, pages 241-246
  • Erich Zenger : Curse Psalms. In: LThK 3, pp. 1335-1336.
  • Erich Zenger: A god of vengeance? Understand enemy psalms. Herder, Freiburg 1994, ISBN 3-451-23332-0 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hannelore Jauss: Praying curse psalms? To the problem of the enemy and curse psalms. In: Bibel und Kirche 51 (3/1996), pp. 108-109.
  2. ↑ Walter Dürig: The use of the so-called Fluchpsalm 108 (109) in popular belief and in the liturgy. In: Münchener Theologische Zeitschrift 27 (1976), p. 71 f., P. 82.
  3. ↑ Hannelore Jauss: Praying curse psalms? To the problem of the enemy and curse psalms. In: Bibel und Kirche 51 (3/1996), p. 107.
  4. ↑ Erich Zenger: A God of Vengeance? Understand enemy psalms. Herder, Freiburg 1994, ISBN 3-451-23332-0 , pp. 11-21.
  5. ↑ Ursula Silber: "We do not pray what is in brackets" !? On the problem of the "enemy psalms" in Christian reception. Lecture 2010, pp. 3–4 (PDF; 422 kB).
  6. ↑ Ursula Silber: "We do not pray what is in brackets" !? On the problem of the "enemy psalms" in Christian reception. P. 3.
  7. ↑ Erich Zenger: A God of Vengeance? Understand enemy psalms. Herder, Freiburg 1994, ISBN 3-451-23332-0 , pp. 26-37, 66-73.
  8. ↑ Luther, WA XIX, p. 595, quoted from Walter Dürig: The use of the so-called Fluchpsalm 108 (109) in popular belief and in the liturgy. In: Münchener Theologische Zeitschrift 27 (1976), p. 79.
  9. ↑ Erich Zenger: A God of Vengeance? Understand enemy psalms. Herder, Freiburg 1994, ISBN 3-451-23332-0 , pp. 66-73.
  10. ↑ Uwe FW Bauer: Rachgier - Lohnsucht - Aberwitz: an analysis of anti-Judaistic interpretations and language patterns in psalm commentaries of German Protestantism in the 19th and 20th centuries. Volume 22 of the Old Testament and Modernity. LIT Verlag, Münster 2009, ISBN 978-3-643-80007-7
  11. ↑ Ursula Silber: "We do not pray what is in brackets" !? On the problem of the "enemy psalms" in Christian reception. P. 2, footnote 4.
  12. ↑ Ursula Silber: "We do not pray what is in brackets" !? On the problem of the "enemy psalms" in Christian reception. P. 8.
  13. ↑ On vengeance, punishment and justice in this context: Erich Zenger: A God of Vengeance? Understand enemy psalms. Herder, Freiburg 1994, ISBN 3-451-23332-0 , pp. 129-143.
  14. ↑ Ursula Silber: "We do not pray what is in brackets" !? On the problem of the "enemy psalms" in Christian reception. P. 7.
  15. ↑ http://www.jstor.org/stable/23080196?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents