Psalm 151; 1 Kingdoms/2 Samuel 17; 1 Corinthians 1:22-27
Orthodox stand pretty much alone in including Psalm 151 in the OT Psalter, though it has its uses also in the Armenian and Coptic churches. In the past, though, it was used as a canticle even some “Western” lands, alongside others like the Song of the Three. For example, half of the Anglo-Saxon liturgical psalters that we have retrieved include the Psalm, in various translations, placed at the end of the Psalter, or with the Song of the Three in the canticles. Even earlier, there is an explicit reference to the Psalm by Athanasius of Alexandria, who speaks of it in his Letter to Marcellinus on the Interpretation of the Psalms. The saint commented that when a person who considers himself too weak or insignificant for a position finds himself there, he should chant 151, and like David, give glory to God. For the saint, then, the psalm served as a model of humility, and a deterrence to arrogance. The Psalm itself is unassuming and very short, beginning with an introduction concerning its authorship. Standing as it does at the end of the 150 numbered psalms, it is like a kind of signature or postscript to all of them. Here are its seven short verses:
[This psalm is ascribed to David as written by his own hand (though it is outside the number), after he had fought in single combat with Goliath.]
I was small among my brothers, and youngest in my father’s house;
I tended my father’s sheep.
My hands made a musical instrument, my fingers fashioned aharp.
And who will recount this to my Lord? The Lord Himself, it is He who Hears.
It was He who sent his messenger
and took me from my father’s sheep,
and anointed me with His chrism.
My brothers were handsome and tall, but the Lord was not pleased with them.
I went out to meet the Philistine, and he cursed me by his idols.
But I drew his own sword;
I beheaded him, and removed disgrace from the people of Israel.
For us Orthodox, the psalm is not only helpful in such personal matters as fostering humility, but also makes its mark in services such as the Matins of the Feast of the Archangels. During the “many mercies” section of this service, a single verse from David’s psalm is recited: “He sent out his angel (or messenger) and took me from my father’s sheep, and anointed me with his anointing oil.” In the Biblical story, of course, we know that that messenger was Samuel, a kind of “human angel,” like John the Baptist, whom God used to raise an insignificant shepherd boy like David above the faithless King Saul. But the Greek word for messenger, angelos, gives the Psalm a thematic link with angels in general, and so the verse was considered appropriate for this feast day.
Reference to the Greek version, the Septuagint, reminds us that it was through this tradition that the Psalm was included in Orthodox Bibles. It did not have the same status in the Latin Vulgate, since Jerome gave precedence to Hebrew texts. He did not have to hand any Hebrew examples of the Psalm, and so it was considered by him and others in the west to be a late addition written during the later Greek period, when many Jews were scattered. However, in our own time, the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls changed that assessment: the first and second parts of Psalm 151 were found separately written in Hebrew and transcribed in the Great Psalms Scroll (11Qpsa). A memory of this appears to be inscribed in the Irish Latin Glossa on the Psalms, where the preface to its Latin translation says, “The voice of Christ exhorts the world. A psalm first according to the Hebrews.” In that introduction, we hear also that this canticle is placed with the Canticle of the Three Young Men, because its theme speaks about a young person who conquers a mighty one. (For more on this see McNamara, ‘Introduction to Glossa in Psalmos: The Hiberno-Latin Gloss on the Psalms of Codex Palatinus Latinus 68’, Psalms in the Early Irish Church, 310-311.)
Some of these psalters actually add alongside the text visual representations of the Psalm—four tableaux that show scenes from David’s life, with his enthronement and anointing by an angel on the right and left sides, and his playing an actual organ, and caring for the sheep in the inner panels. Clearly the “organ” and “angel” pictured in these scenes follow literal interpretation of the Greek or Latin, where the words for organ and angel might easily have been misunderstood in the medieval period, according to their understanding. We know from 1 Samuel, of course, that David fashioned a lyre or harp, and that Samuel anointed him! (I am indebted to the work of scholar Brandon Hawk for all these fascinating details on Irish and Anglo-Saxon use of Psalm 151).
All this goes to say that our forebears found the Psalm important, and since it remains in our canon, with a verse from it embedded in our liturgical tradition, this reverence should hold for us, as well. Its themes, after all, are perennially Christian. David speaks of his smallness, of his singing to the glory of the LORD, of the rejection of his grander brothers, of his anointing by God, and of his victory over Goliath, by using the enemy’s own weapon: “I was small; I fashioned a harp for the God who hears; I was anointed; though cursed by Goliath’s gods, I removed Israel’s disgrace.”
Perhaps some of us have forgotten the detail of Goliath cursing David by his pagan gods: I had. In 1 Samuel (1 Kingdoms)17:43, we read: “The Philistine said to David, ‘Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?’ And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.” David gives Goliath this reply:
“This very day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’S and he will give you into our hand.”
Yes, it is David’s stone from the slingshot that downs Goliath, but the giant is slain by his very own sword, and all this is to show that “the battle is the LORD’s.” Similarly, in the Psalm, the victory is attributed to God, and the slingshot is not even mentioned. Rather, David is put in a position by the God who hears him to take away the disgrace of Israel.
What disgrace? If we read earlier in the narrative of 1 Samuel (or 1 Kingdoms), we see that the youth David is astonished, on arriving to the battle scene with lunches for his warrior brothers, that no one has the faith in the LORD to stand up against this Philistine who mocks the people of God, and thus God Himself. St. John Chrysostom, in his homily on this passage puts it this way:
[David asked,] “After all, who is this foreigner who reproaches the ranks of the living God?” Then, on hearing the man’s awful arrogance and the unspeakable cowardice of those who had gone with Saul, he said, “What will be given to the man who cuts off his head?” He showed great boldness of spirit through these words and caused amazement in every one.”
We catch a glimpse of this great boldness of spirit in the Psalm, too. This psalm admits the weakness of the singer, but the greatness of God who listens, and who helps him to put down the dreaded enemy. Not by human prowess, nor even human courage, but by dependence upon the God who had been with David in the sheepfold, and who had listened to his harp, is Goliath defeated. And so the reproach of Israel is removed, a foreshadowing of what the true David, our Christ did, when He removed the reproach of all humanity by binding the evil One by His mighty deeds, His crucifixion, and His resurrection. As St. Paul reminds us,
We proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength…. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. (1 Cor 1:22-27)
Psalm 151, like the Magnificat, like the Song of the Three in the furnace, like the story of David from the Old Testament, proclaims the power of God to take the weakest of us and shame those who are strong. This week in our own time we have witnessed the impact that a young man can make upon many people. Charlie Kirk was not small in stature like David (he was 6’5”), but he was relatively uneducated, and so “small” in that sense. Yet his impact cannot be ignored—many remember and mourn him, some question his purity or ideals, others sadly scorn him even at this moment of his death, saying maliciously that he deserved what he got. Yet he is still, a week later, on the minds of people across the globe. I hope I will not be criticized for mentioning him, since Charlie Kirk was not Orthodox. But as I do so, I have in mind what Jesus said when the apostles asked Jesus to quiet those who were not of the twelve but were on mission: “He who is not against us is for us.” Charlie was a truth seeker, open to the historic church, and sincere, I believe, in what he said and did. He did not have the advantage of those of us who are Orthodox, with the sacraments of confession and the mysteries. Yet he constantly spoke of the Crucified and Risen One, and commonly began his times with young people by referring to Jesus, as he did on the day that he was murdered. Whatever judgment we make of his work as a whole, it is clear that this young man serves as an illustration that even those who do not have all the perks of our society (for example the college education that some consider to be necessary) can become a force to reckon with.
This tradition of the surprising might of the small and the humble is peculiar to us Christians: throughout the Bible, God takes the “little ones” and uses them, as in the Old Testament, with Joseph, with David, and with Micah’s prophecy over the little town of Bethlehem. This surprising transformation from least to greatest is, however, fulfilled gloriously in our Savior, who was esteemed as nothing by the great ones, but has conquered over the evils of this world. He made Himself of no reputation, but now has the name above all names! May we take to heart this paradox of ours, that God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness, looking to the many we know as saints, who showed this in their lives throughout the centuries, and whom we see around us on in our icons, cheering us on. Most especially, though, let us conduct our lives by gazing at the likeness of the One whose power was hidden from many eyes during His earthly years, but who has astonished the world with His life-giving power for two millennia and more. Even more than the boy David, He is the One who became small, who was anointed, who was cursed, and who destroyed evil by its own weapons. And He is the One who hears our praises as we remember Him by means of David’s psalms, including this extra one, Psalm 151.
Edith M. Humphrey 