How can we find our way forward at times of great confusion and chaos, with so many questions about leadership?
Whether it’s personal or public, medical or political - we all know how hard it is to live inside the fog of the uncertain and confounding realities, seeking something, someone to somehow show us the way.
Whoever the poet or poets named Asaph whose name is linked to today’s poem - they knew about this peril and this poem is a cry of pain inside the harsh reality of loss. At least one verse hints at the calamity which was the breakdown of Judean civilization and the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. But which one - the first or second? Neither makes sense per who Asaph is thought to be and this just adds to the confusion and the chaos that this chapter is about. The despair is depicted as a lack of leadership, and no way to decide or predict what to do next:
אוֹתֹתֵ֗ינוּ לֹ֥א רָ֫אִ֥ינוּ אֵֽין־ע֥וֹד נָבִ֑יא וְלֹֽא־אִ֝תָּ֗נוּ יֹדֵ֥עַ עַד־מָֽה׃
“No signs appear for us;
there is no longer any prophet;
no one among us knows what to do and for how long this will be.”
Ps. 74:9
The historical tragedy alluded to here could be the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians -- remembered by the authors of the psalms a century or two later. The loss of prophets and direction matches this time period. According to most traditions - prophecy died out in the first decades of the Second Temple era - replaced, eventually, by sages and rabbinic leaders. But the in-between time was pure chaos.
How will order and a sense of security and spiritual guidance be found?
These authors don’t rely on rational data — they are trying to make sense of life’s speed bumps through the power of myth, referencing the archaic layers of Canaanite and Semitic legends to help establish order at a time of disarray. The psalm skips from laments of loss to the epic narratives of the Creation of the World - found in fragments in Genesis and in much greater detail in the earlier local folklore such as Sumerian and Akkadian texts. The name changes but it’s always the Creator who forms order out of chaos in a massive battle that defeats the primordial abyss - often depicted as a sea serpent and often as the feminine.
In a desperate attempt to convince YHWH that the people badly need divine political guidance to help them navigate history-- Asaph goes all the back to the mythic beginning of time itself:
אַתָּ֣ה רִ֭צַּצְתָּ רָאשֵׁ֣י לִוְיָתָ֑ן תִּתְּנֶ֥נּוּ מַ֝אֲכָ֗ל לְעָ֣ם לְצִיִּֽים׃ אַתָּ֣ה בָ֭קַעְתָּ מַעְיָ֣ן וָנָ֑חַל אַתָּ֥ה ה֝וֹבַ֗שְׁתָּ נַהֲר֥וֹת אֵיתָֽן׃ לְךָ֣ י֭וֹם אַף־לְךָ֥ לָ֑יְלָה אַתָּ֥ה הֲ֝כִינ֗וֹתָ מָא֥וֹר וָשָֽׁמֶשׁ׃אַתָּ֤ה פוֹרַ֣רְתָּ בְעׇזְּךָ֣ יָ֑ם שִׁבַּ֖רְתָּ רָאשֵׁ֥י תַ֝נִּינִ֗ים עַל־הַמָּֽיִם׃
it was You who drove back the sea with Your might,
who smashed the heads of the monsters in the waters;
it was You who crushed the heads of Leviathan,
who left it as food for the denizens of the desert;
it was You who released springs and torrents,
who made mighty rivers run dry;
the day is Yours, the night also;
it was You who set in place the orb of the sun;
Ps. 74:13
The purpose of these verses is to remind the deity - and the desperate faithfuls - that while Jerusalem’s reality is in shambles, there is a basis for the victory of order over chaos, and life over death.
The mythology of creation stipulates that only through fierce battles and trauma overcome -- will the world be built again, just as it was at the very beginning.
If YHWH could destroy the great sea serpents - will the Babylonians not be turned away as well? If YHWH could crush the great Leviathan and then use its flesh as food for those wandering in the wilderness (and what is THAT forgotten fragment of mythology all about??) why can’t miracles occur again?
The ancient mythic meets the contemporary collapse as a vestige of hope, a vision of the possible. Myth is never just about the past but also about the present and the future - chaos and cosmos forever fused in the dance of destruction and rebirth.
What are the mythic legends and the prophetic paradigms that can help us navigate through the current chaos and traumas towards better days of balance and of bliss?
Who are the poets and prophets to help us resurrect the mysteries of life and death, and invent new ones that are far less violent to reimagine our future with more harmony between chaos and order, telling new tales that fuse tribal memories and universal unities?
Only time will tell.
Below the Bible Belt: 929 chapters, 42 months, daily reflections.
Become a free or paid subscriber and join Rabbi Amichai’s 3+ years interactive online quest to question, queer + re-read between the lines of the entire Hebrew Bible. Enjoy daily posts, weekly videos and monthly learning sessions. 2022-2025.
Psalms #PSLAMS #Psalm74 #ספרתהילים #תהילים #BookofPsalms #כתובים #tehilim #Ketuvim #Hebrewbible #Tanach #929 #labshul #belowthebiblebelt929
#Chaos #chaosvscosmos #noprophetsleft #Cosmicbattles #Leviathan #YHWHandtheseaserpent #semiticmyth #Asaph
#endthewar #stoptheviolence #peace #prayforpeace #nomorewar #hope #everywhere #peaceispossible #theprophetic