Be Still and Drop Your Gun

Ps. 46:11-12

In his first public statement following the 1945 nuclear bombing over Japan, President Harry Truman, a devout Baptist, thanked “Providence” that the Americans had developed the bomb before the Germans. He concluded his speech with a pledge to pursue ways that “atomic power can become a powerful and forceful influence towards the maintenance of world peace.”

I guess the jury is out on whether that strategy worked. 

In the so-called name of god, weapons are sold and used at alarming rates all over the world, as gun violence continues to be one of the worst killers of humans on earth, not only on battlefields. 

In today’s psalm a pacifist call to surrender arms and rely on the divine source that unites us is heard loud and clear. And yet it is ignored and mostly mistranslated and misunderstood. 

This psalm is about the truest trust that Truman probably did believe in - that there is strength in higher power and ulterior motives that drive destiny.  But this psalm also calls on us to drop the weapons - and to do because that is what ultimately the divine will wants: 

מַשְׁבִּ֥ית מִלְחָמוֹת֮ עַד־קְצה הָ֫אָ֥רֶץ קֶ֣שֶׁת יְ֭שַׁבֵּר וְקִצֵּ֣ץ חֲנִ֑ית עֲ֝גָל֗וֹת יִשְׂרֹ֥ף בָּאֵֽשׁ׃ הַרְפּ֣וּ וּ֭דְעוּ כִּֽי־אָנֹכִ֣י אֱלֹהִ֑ים אָר֥וּם בַּ֝גּוֹיִ֗ם אָר֥וּם בָּאָֽרֶץ׃

God puts a stop to wars throughout the earth,

breaking the bow, snapping the spear,

consigning wagons to the flames.

“Desist! Realize that I am God!

I dominate the nations;

I dominate the earth.”

Ps. 46:11-12

It is the second verse here that gets a lot of play and different interpretations. 

The Hebrew for ‘desist’ is ‘Harpu’ which is elsewhere translated as ‘leave off, let be - or most famously - be still. Robert Alter suggests that  it can be read here as “an injunction to cease and desist from armed struggle, to unclench the warrior’s fist.”4

“Be Still and Know God’ is a very popular phrase and often used in religious contexts - Christian and Jewish alike. It’s often about the art of surrender - leaning into trust and letting go of our control. 

Yet what is powerful in the connection of these verses is that this is a radical call to armistice, to say goodbye to guns and to let go of weapons. Can we even conceive of such a radical idea in these terrible times? 

The Bible scholar, James Luther Mays, writes of this psalm:

“War is self-defeating; it brings about the destruction of those who practice it…. In a prophetic word from God, the psalm concludes by turning the vision into exhortation to the nations: “Cease your warring! Stop your attacks! Leave off your vain attempts to subject history to your power. There is but one power exalted over the earth and nations. Only one is God – the one whose work is the destruction of weapons and whose help is the refuge of those who recognize that God is God.”

Whether one believes in God or Providence or whatever - how powerful that at the core of our belief systems is this voice that loudly says - the only way ahead is to let go of guns. And to let the goodness prevail.

Naive, perhaps, but how else can we move forward?

Tonight we celebrate the Jewish holiday of Shavuot - the night of revelation. It is a night for seeking knowledge.

As this chapter teachers us — let go and know — there is and there must be another, better way.

How do we get there?

We are marking this moment while this terrible war continues to claim lives and in the so-called name of god destroying the holy land and so many who yearn to live free and happy lives. 

How can each of us let go today, resist, desist, unclench the fist and trust that there are other ways to achieve safety and security? What can our ancient poem help reveal about the truest trust we hold within? 

What presidents and poets, generals and gun owners know is that it is not about the weapons. It’s about the hand that holds the fate and it’s about the faith that can perhaps help us let go of fear based, faith-fueled violence and figure out a better path for all of us. 

Selah.

May this holiday of revelation bring about good news, deep learning, and renewed commitment to the peaceful teachings of our ancestors,  for this and for all time. 

Image: Banksy's Love in the Air, this image first appeared in 2002 on the side of a garage in the West Bank’s Beit Sahour, a Palestinian town east of Bethlehem, close to the 708-kilometre wall that separates Israel from the West Bank territories of Palestine.

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