RR Psalm 34:12-15 Part 10
(Early) Shabbat Shalom,
Psalm 34:12(11) Come, children, listen to me: I will teach you the fear of Adonai. 13(12) Who is the one who delights in life, and loves to see good days? 14(13) Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking treachery. 15(14) Depart from evil and do good. Seek shalom and pursue it.
I’ve been looking forward to this. To follow me here, you’ll have to pay attention. This is a story of Psalm 34:14(13) Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking treachery. But not what you might expect. The story expands to include the Siddur (Jewish book of liturgical prayer) and the New Testament, particularly 1Peter 3:10-12. Let’s get started.
The first time I saw “Psalm 34:14” was at the end of the “Amidah” (see the RT below). The Siddur we used at that time did not give many scriptural addresses for reference, so I had no idea this had even borrowed from the Psalms. As far as I knew, this was a prayer one of the ancient rabbis had written.
Rabbi Trail: Most synagogues use a prayerbook called a Siddur (from the same word as Seder, meaning “order”) containing the order of the prayers for the Shabbat and the holidays (also considered Shabbatot - days of rest). The central prayer of every service, weekdays and Shabbatot alike, is the Amidah (which means “standing”). The concluding paragraph of the Amidah (both weekdays and holidays - Saturday Shabbat is also a holiday) starts with Psalm 34 verse 14. This was my mother’s, Shirley Weiner (z”l),* favorite prayer.
* “z”l” is a Jewish honorific that can appear after a deceased person’s name. It signifies “may his/her name be remembered for good.”
This prayer also has another name, the Shemoneh Esrei (which means “eighteen”) so named for the original eighteen benedictions that make up the weekday Amidah. The Shabbat Amidah is shortened to seven benedictions because the other twelve were deemed by the rabbis to be making demands of God to work, which is inappropriate on Shabbatot.
You might have noticed the math doesn’t add up. Seven plus twelve equals nineteen, not eighteen. One benediction against heretics was added, making a total of nineteen benedictions but the name of the prayer was never changed from Shemoneh Esrei (meaning 18). End RT.
The next time I saw “Psalm 34:14(13) Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking treachery.” was after I became a believer as I was reading First Peter chapter 3. 1Peter 3:10 For, “The one who loves life, wanting to see good days, must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.”
My first thought was, “the Rabbi’s must have gotten this from Peter. What are they doing reading the New Testament, and putting it into the Amidah?” Then I thought, “Maybe Peter got it from the Siddur,” but that wasn’t the truth either. The reality is that both the ancient rabbis and Peter borrowed this from Psalm 34. Peter borrowed more of it than the rabbis did.
1Peter 3:10 For, “The one who loves life, wanting to see good days, must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. 11 He must turn away from evil and do good. He must seek shalom and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of Adonai are on the righteous and His ears open to their prayer, but the face of Adonai is against those who do evil.”
Anyway, among all my explanations and misunderstandings it would be easy to miss the point, and it is a big one…. Psalm 34:15(14) Depart from evil and do good. Seek shalom and pursue it. Let’s meditate of just that much of this and we’ll pick it up here on Monday. (Early) Shabbat shalom.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Fri15-Aug 202521st of Av, 5785
De 11:10-21Ez 451 Ch 232 Ti 1 (Jn 11:1-27)
Psalm 34:12(11) Come, children, listen to me: I will teach you the fear of Adonai. 13(12) Who is the one who delights in life, and loves to see good days? 14(13) Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking treachery. 15(14) Depart from evil and do good. Seek shalom and pursue it.
I’ve been looking forward to this. To follow me here, you’ll have to pay attention. This is a story of Psalm 34:14(13) Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking treachery. But not what you might expect. The story expands to include the Siddur (Jewish book of liturgical prayer) and the New Testament, particularly 1Peter 3:10-12. Let’s get started.
The first time I saw “Psalm 34:14” was at the end of the “Amidah” (see the RT below). The Siddur we used at that time did not give many scriptural addresses for reference, so I had no idea this had even borrowed from the Psalms. As far as I knew, this was a prayer one of the ancient rabbis had written.
Rabbi Trail: Most synagogues use a prayerbook called a Siddur (from the same word as Seder, meaning “order”) containing the order of the prayers for the Shabbat and the holidays (also considered Shabbatot - days of rest). The central prayer of every service, weekdays and Shabbatot alike, is the Amidah (which means “standing”). The concluding paragraph of the Amidah (both weekdays and holidays - Saturday Shabbat is also a holiday) starts with Psalm 34 verse 14. This was my mother’s, Shirley Weiner (z”l),* favorite prayer.
* “z”l” is a Jewish honorific that can appear after a deceased person’s name. It signifies “may his/her name be remembered for good.”
This prayer also has another name, the Shemoneh Esrei (which means “eighteen”) so named for the original eighteen benedictions that make up the weekday Amidah. The Shabbat Amidah is shortened to seven benedictions because the other twelve were deemed by the rabbis to be making demands of God to work, which is inappropriate on Shabbatot.
You might have noticed the math doesn’t add up. Seven plus twelve equals nineteen, not eighteen. One benediction against heretics was added, making a total of nineteen benedictions but the name of the prayer was never changed from Shemoneh Esrei (meaning 18). End RT.
The next time I saw “Psalm 34:14(13) Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking treachery.” was after I became a believer as I was reading First Peter chapter 3. 1Peter 3:10 For, “The one who loves life, wanting to see good days, must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.”
My first thought was, “the Rabbi’s must have gotten this from Peter. What are they doing reading the New Testament, and putting it into the Amidah?” Then I thought, “Maybe Peter got it from the Siddur,” but that wasn’t the truth either. The reality is that both the ancient rabbis and Peter borrowed this from Psalm 34. Peter borrowed more of it than the rabbis did.
1Peter 3:10 For, “The one who loves life, wanting to see good days, must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. 11 He must turn away from evil and do good. He must seek shalom and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of Adonai are on the righteous and His ears open to their prayer, but the face of Adonai is against those who do evil.”
Anyway, among all my explanations and misunderstandings it would be easy to miss the point, and it is a big one…. Psalm 34:15(14) Depart from evil and do good. Seek shalom and pursue it. Let’s meditate of just that much of this and we’ll pick it up here on Monday. (Early) Shabbat shalom.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Fri15-Aug 202521st of Av, 5785
De 11:10-21Ez 451 Ch 232 Ti 1 (Jn 11:1-27)
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