Psalm 28 (read a week prior to Christmas)
Our focus text today is Psalm 89, a complex psalm in the sense that it was written before the fall of David’s kingdom and Israel being taken into captivity by the Babylonians. It proclaims the faithfulness of God, His covenant with David and Davids rule that will last forever…which we know didn’t happen.
But we can read the psalm from a more informed vantage point! We know that, even though the psalmist thought he was referring to David, that his words unknowingly described Jesus’ kingdom: guaranteed life and a rule as solid and lasting as rock.
Psalm 89: 1-4
1983 Afrikaanse vertaling: 2Ek sal altyd sing van die Here se liefdesdade, sy trou verkondig aan komende geslagte. 3Eksê: “U liefde en U trou wankel nooit, dit hou vir altyd stand in hemel en op aarde.” 4U het gesê: “Ek het ’n verbond gesluit met my uitverkorene, Ek het ’n eed gesweer vir my dienaar Dawid: 5 Ek sal vir jou ’n nageslag verseker vir altyd en jou troon in elke geslag laat standhou.”
The Message: 1-4Your love, God, is my song, and I'll sing it! I'm forever telling everyone how faithful you are. I'll never quit telling the story of your love - how you built the cosmos and guaranteed everything in it. Your love has always been our lives' foundation, your fidelity has been the roof over our world. You once said:"I joined forces with my chosen leader, I pledged my word to my servant, David, saying, 'Everyone descending from you is guaranteed life; I'll make your rule as solid and lasting as rock'"
· The psalmist sings of the faithfulness of the Lord and God’s covenant with David…
· These words were written for an earthly king, but they unknowingly anticipated another King to come…
· The birth of Jesus – Immanuel, God with us – is the manifestation of God’s faithfulness and covenant…
· In the birth of the King we truly see the unbreakable nature of God’s covenant of love…
As we prepare to celebrate the birth of this King (Jesus) and the faithfulness of God next Sunday, I want to share with you a special bit of background that was lost through translation and lack of background knowledge… In order to do this, I have to take you on a little trip through the Bible and trace the steps that will allow us to rediscover a beautiful, but long-lost ritual for this Christmas: the element of salt in God’s covenant.
Leviticus 2:13
Leviticus is the first and most ancient guidelines of how God’s people are meant to live their lives. It quite clearly connects God’s covenant with salt.
The New International Version contains a standard translation: Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings.
· In the Amplified Bible the salt remains: (don’t) allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your offering…
· But in the New Living Translation the salt is substituted by “eternal”: Season all your grain offerings with salt to remind you of God’s eternal covenant…
· 1953 vertaling vertaal die gedeelte en behou die verwysing na sout: En jy moet al jou spysoffers met sout berei, en jy mag die sout van die verbond van jou God by jou spysoffer nie laat ontbreek nie; by al jou offers moet jy sout bring.
· Maar in die 1983 vertaling word die verwysing na sout anders vertaal: Gooi sout by al jou graanoffers. Die sout herinner aan die verbond met jou God; moenie dat dit in jou graanoffers ontbreek nie. Bied sout aan op al jou graanoffers.
2 Chronicles 13: 5 / 2 Kronieke 13: 5
The next reference to the salt of the covenant or salt covenant is in 2 Chronicles 13: 5, where it is directly linked to the covenant between God and David that we read about in Psalm 89.
Again, the New International Version provides a baseline translation: There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. 3Abijah went into battle with an army of four hundred thousand able fighting men, and Jeroboam drew up a battle line against him with eight hundred thousand able troops. 4Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim, in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, “Jeroboam and all Israel, listen to me! 5Don’t you know that the LORD, the God of Israel, has given the kingship of Israel to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt?
· In the Amplified Bible the salt remains: …the Lord, the God of Israel, gave the kingship over Israel to David forever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?
· But in the New Living Translation the translation captures the meaning of the salt, rather than refer to the salt itself: God of Israel made a lasting covenant with David…
· In die 1953 vertaling lees ons van die soutverbond: Behoort julle nie te weet dat die HERE, die God van Israel, die koningskap oor Israel aan Dawid vir ewig gegee het, aan hom en sy seuns as ’n soutverbond nie?
· Maar in die 1983 vertaling word die betekenis van die sout eerder as die sout sélf vertaal: Julle weet tog dat die Here die God van Israel die koningskap oor Israel vir altyd aan Dawid en sy nageslag gegee het. Dit is 'n onverbreekbare verbond.
What is the meaning of the “covenant of salt”?
These people lived in the desert where it was hot and dry. They had no electricity, no cool-box with ice and no fridge to keep their food from rotting. Salt was used to preserve food and prevent its decomposition. It was an extremely important element of survival.
Therefore, due to its fundamental value, it became the symbol of anything that lasted, such as lasting relationships and friendships. To this day, the Arabs pay respect to one another with bread and salt. Eating salt together is part of their hospitality practices.
The salt of the covenant of God
For this reason, from the very beginning, salt was integral to how Israel lived within the covenant with God. As we read in Leviticus, every single offering was to be accompanied by salt. Salt was the one symbol which was never absent from the altar! Salt was the symbol of the imperishableness of the love of Yahweh for His people. Salt was the symbol that God’s promises are lasting, that God’s covenant will endure forever and that God’s faithfulness will continue indefinitely.
God’s covenant, therefore – with Abraham and David; fulfilled in Jesus - was a covenant of salt: eternal and unbreakable! Flowing from God’s covenant of salt, God’s people shared covenants of salt with each other: at weddings; when friends gathered and at family gatherings. At these occasions they ate salt together; they celebrated the salt covenant!
So, this Christmas…
Let us keep perspective! This celebration is not about presents, lights, tinsel, fake snow or Santa Clause! This day is a celebration of God’s covenant of salt, going back thousands of years! God’s faithfulness and the unbreakable nature of His covenant and promises manifest itself in the birth of Christ…! Jesus is “God with us”; “God for us”.
So, during this time of love, peace and goodwill…share a covenant of salt as couples, friends and family… Let us reawaken the ancient ritual and share in a sacred rite that connects us to the very roots of our faith. Eating salt together celebrates God’s covenant with us – and provides the foundation for lasting relationships with one another.
No comments:
Post a Comment