Luke 10 and Luke 19:26-44 projecting jealousies onto Yeshua

Luke 10 and Luke 19:26-44

Highlights code: gray editorials, yellow comments on Bible, blue or green Bible highlights.

Updated 8/12/23 NIV and 4/8/24 to CJB

[I promote individual, personal fulfillment of Genesis 1:26-28. Paraphrasing its message:  The mysterious God, whatever constrains the consequences of human choice, accepts humankind’s rule on earth. Humans may and can mirror the God’s humility by accepting the power and authority to rule until they die. I study Bible passages and express opinion as to whether a specific passage comports to this 5,500-year-old Sumerian philosophy, expressed by Semitic-speaking scholars 3,900 years ago and preserved in the Bible.]

Nomads Sunday school class members don’t have to impose divisive claims to Yeshua, the son of Josef and Miryam of Nazareth.

Discussion: Luke 10 contains many human projections onto Yeshua. Erroneous projections influence some believers to divide from civic-citizens.

It seems OK to believe your person is chosen by Yeshua. But holding that Yeshua has no power to accommodate a non-Christian civic-citizen arbitrarily limits the Genesis-1 suggestion that human-being is responsible for peace on earth. What if Yeshua authorized Genesis 1? To exclude this possibility seems to deny the report that Yeshua said “Before Abraham was born I am.” It seems inconsistent for believers to so limit Yeshua.

I think attempting to constrain Yeshua to either son-of-God, God, or man is traditional yet possibly wrong. I prefer Yeshua as practical-man, civic-man but do not know the-ineluctable-truth. A human-individual may& can arbitrarily (without ineluctable-evidence) adopt the Holy Spirit to compete with Yeshua.

I think the practical Yeshua we develop through transparent, civic appreciation ought to be shared in the USA and beyond. In the 2023 years since Yeshua, the world has developed chaos and 45,000 Christian sects. I doubt that was Yeshua’ hope.

The USA needs no aliens or enemies to divide us: Christian churches are themselves divergent.

Nomads can initiate an achievable better local and national future by leading UBC to free the practical Yeshua from Baptist constraints and Judeo-Christian limits.

Since 1787, the U.S. has intended responsible-human-independence (RHI), specified as an amendable constitutional republic with 5 domestic disciplines that do not include religion. The disciplines are integrity, justice, peace, strength, prosperity, and responsibility “to ourselves and our Posterity”.

Reform can begin in 2023 at UBC. Members would like an achievable better future for “ourselves and our Posterity” and may adopt the dream of making it happen.

Turning now to the text,

Luke 10, CJB

^10:1 After this, the Lord appointed seventy other talmidim and sent them on ahead in pairs to every town and place where he himself was about to go. ² He said to them, “To be sure, there is a large harvest. But there are few workers. Therefore, plead with the Lord of the Harvest that he speed workers out to gather in his harvest. ³ Get going now, but pay attention! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. ⁴ Don’t carry a money-belt or a pack, and don’t stop to shmoose with people on the road.

⁵ “Whenever you enter a house, first say, ‘Shalom!’ to the household. ⁶ If a seeker of shalom is there, your ‘Shalom!’ will find its rest with him; and if there isn’t, it will return to you. ⁷ Stay in that same house, eating and drinking what they offer, for a worker deserves his wages — don’t move about from house to house.

⁸ “Whenever you come into a town where they make you welcome, eat what is put in front of you. ⁹ Heal the sick there, and tell them, ‘The Kingdom of God is near you.’ ¹⁰ But whenever you enter a town and they don’t make you welcome, go out into its streets and say, ¹¹ ‘Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off as a sign against you! But understand this: the Kingdom of God is near!’ [This metaphor expresses that Genesis 1:26-28 is operative and the individual should take heed.] ¹² I tell you, it will be more tolerable on the Day of Judgment for S’dom than for that town.

¹³ “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Beit-Tzaidah! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tzor and Tzidon, they would long ago have put on sackcloth and ashes as evidence that they had changed their ways. [This is bad influence: better to reform than to claim reform; better to be humble than to self-judge.] ¹⁴ But at the Judgment it will be more bearable for Tzor and Tzidon than for you!

¹⁵ “And you, K’far-Nachum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Sh’ol! [Isaiah 14:13, 15]

¹⁶ “Whoever listens to you listens to me, also whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the One who sent me.” [Note: this is Yeshua speaking, neither after-the-events “Jesus” of antinomianism nor Christ of resurrection.]

¹⁷ The seventy came back jubilant. “Lord,” they said, “with your power, even the demons submit to us!” ¹⁸ Yeshua said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. ¹⁹ Remember, I have given you authority; so you can trample down snakes and scorpions, indeed, all the Enemy’s forces; and you will remain completely unharmed. ²⁰ Nevertheless, don’t be glad that the spirits submit to you; be glad that your names have been recorded in heaven.” [This seems like church propaganda.]

²¹ At that moment he was filled with joy by the Ruach HaKodesh and said, “Father, Lord of heaven and earth, I thank you because you concealed these things from the sophisticated and educated, yet revealed them to ordinary people. Yes, Father, I thank you that it pleased you to do this. [This seems like church propaganda.]

²² “My Father has handed over everything to me. Indeed, no one fully knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.” ²³ Then, turning to the talmidim, he said, privately, “How blessed are the eyes that see what you are seeing! ²⁴ Indeed, I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see the things you are seeing but did not see them, and to hear the things you are hearing but did not hear them.” [This seems like church propaganda.]

²⁵ An expert in Torah stood up to try and trap him by asking, “Rabbi, what should I do to obtain eternal life?” ²⁶ But Yeshua said to him, “What is written in the Torah? How do you read it?” ²⁷ He answered, “You are to love Adonai your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your understanding; and your neighbor as yourself.” [Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18] ²⁸ “That’s the right answer,” Yeshua said. “Do this, and you will have life.” [“Love” is overworked, ambiguous, and often unwanted. I prefer to accept the God and appreciate both Yeshua’s civic influence and fellow citizens’ reactions.]

²⁹ But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Yeshua, “And who is my ‘neighbor’?” ³⁰ Taking up the question, Yeshua said: “A man was going down from Yerushalayim to Yericho when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him naked and beat him up, then went off, leaving him half dead. ³¹ By coincidence, a cohen was going down on that road; but when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. ³² Likewise a Levi who reached the place and saw him also passed by on the other side.

³³ “But a man from Shomron who was traveling came upon him; and when he saw him, he was moved with compassion. ³⁴ So he went up to him, put oil and wine on his wounds and bandaged them. Then he set him on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day, he took out two days’ wages, gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Look after him; and if you spend more than this, I’ll pay you back when I return.’ ³⁶ Of these three, [the rabbi, the synagogue keeper, or the strange one] which one seems to you to have become the ‘neighbor’ of the man who fell among robbers?” ³⁷ He answered, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Yeshua said to him, “You go and do as he did.” [At the circumcision/not conference in Jerusalem only 17 years after Yeshua was executed, Peter said to John, James, Paul and other Hebrew leaders, “it is through the love and kindness of the Lord Yeshua that we trust and are delivered” Acts 15:11.]

³⁸ On their way Yeshua and his talmidim came to a village where a woman named Marta welcomed him into her home. ³⁹ She had a sister called Miryam who also sat at the Lord’s feet and heard what he had to say. ⁴⁰ But Marta was busy with all the work to be done; so, going up to him, she said, “Sir, don’t you care that my sister has been leaving me to do all the work by myself?” ⁴¹ However, the Lord answered her, “Marta, Marta, you are fretting and worrying about so many things! ⁴² But there is only one thing that is essential. Miryam has chosen the right thing, and it won’t be taken away from her.”

NIV

^10:1 After this [in Luke 9 Yeshua commissioned the 12 apostles] the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two [36 envoys] ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. ² He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. ³ Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves [Is the Lord or only the writer really that harsh? To everyone in those towns?]. ⁴ Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. [I don’t accept reports of Yeshua being so harsh.]

⁵ “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ [Proposing order per Genesis 1:26-28 or Sumer philosophy.] ⁶ If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. ⁷ Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.

⁸ “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. ⁹ Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ ¹⁰ But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ¹¹ ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. [I have experienced a self-proclaimed Christian “dusting” me off. I asked if we were still Kenilworth neighbors. He responded that he never gives up. I guess he wasn’t sincere about the dust or something.] Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ [That was 2023 years ago . . . or less?] ¹² I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

¹³ “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. ¹⁴ But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. ¹⁵ And you, Capernaum [The 3 listed towns Yeshua visited often without perceiving peace with/through them.], will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades [This reflects Sumer culture; they did not believe in spirits, so dead bodies went underground.].

¹⁶ “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.” [See John 15:18-23 for more outrageous hate talk.] [I previously thought people should listen to me. When I realized Yeshua is the person who influences me, I realized Yeshua influences other people, too. Now, I share my heartfelt thoughts and listen to the other person if they choose to collaboratively share (not simply refute or wipe dust).]

¹⁷ The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” [Who can judge another human a demon?]

¹⁸ He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. ¹⁹ I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. ²⁰ However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” [I find this an unattractive quid pro quo and possible projection of the author’s reasoning rather than Yeshua’ message.]

²¹ At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned [boastful rabbi’s?], and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. [This is outrageous projection of human psychology onto Yeshua. While it is true that scholars can be mistaken it is not likely that “Lord of heaven and earth” hides the truth. The-ineluctable-evidence is plain, and citizens may& can choose to constrain chaos.]

²² “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” [I accept that I am not chosen under this regime and that the spirit is left out of this text. Also, note that this scripture refutes John 6:39, unless Yeshua is God.]

²³ Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. ²⁴ For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” [Nomads leader Kenneth asked what they saw. I answered peace. Dr. Morgan, M.D., expanded on that, saying that missionaries are trained to offer people peace regarding their special concerns.]

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

²⁵ On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” [The partnership of spiritualism and legislation is Hebrew and goes against the Sumerian political philosophy of Genesis 1:26-28: humankind is in charge of civic-integrity to the living species and to the earth.]

²⁶ “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

²⁷ He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

²⁸ “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” [“You will live” does not affirm favorable afterdeath.]

²⁹ But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

³⁰ In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹ A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. ³² So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan [Israel-group accepting only its own ancient version of the Pentateuch as Scripture], as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. ³⁴ He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

³⁶ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

³⁷ The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” [At best, this story seems like competitive religion (Sumer’s ancient polytheistic thought was more civic than beliefs of priests and Levites of Yeshua’ time) rather than instruction in human-integrity. I do not trust this story as a message from Yeshua.]

³⁸ As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. ³⁹ She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

⁴¹ “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, ⁴² but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” [I agree that it is beneficial to listen, consider, evaluate, and practice Yeshua’ civic suggestions. Extracting them from what is reported about him is like passing a camel through the eye of the needle.]

Luke 19:26-44

²⁶ “He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has [money], more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what they have will be taken away. ²⁷ But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.’” [The-Yeshua (or the-God-of-Gods) I promote is not competitive.]

²⁸ After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. ²⁹ As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ³⁰ “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹ If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

³² Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. ³³ As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

³⁴ They replied, “The Lord needs it.”

³⁵ They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. ³⁶ As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.

³⁷ When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

³⁸ “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” [What is reliable: king, the Lord, the-God, God, the son of God, or the practical Yeshua? Why institutionalize competitive doubt? I think people want to avoid& resist the suggestion in Genesis 1:26-28: human-being can& may provide safety& security on earth.]

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” [Here’s a key to Sumer’s Genesis 1:26-28 division of responsibility: humankind is in charge of safety& security on earth and the unknown is in charge of the unknown. Hebrew scholars didn’t get it. Monotheism is an attempt to divert human duty to provide safety& security on earth, and it did not work out. The world is not at safe, nor is the USA, nor is UBC. Nomads? Maybe so.]

³⁹ Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

⁴⁰ “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” [When I heard this on April 10, 2022, it happily reminded me of Nomads leader’s late October 2021 series on the importance of rocks in Bible passages. I said that since Cynthia can no longer converse with me, Nomads can be my rock. Since then, I learned to articulate “may& can choose the-good”.]

⁴¹ As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it ⁴² and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. ⁴³ The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. ⁴⁴ They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” [Things are seldom what they seem. Yeshua reportedly said, “Before Abraham was born I am”. We know that Sargon lived before Abraham was born. For all we know, Yeshua authored Genesis 1:26-28, which states that female& male human-being can& may provide order& prosperity to the lesser species and to the earth. That’s civic safety on earth! The message is sufficient to inspire me to do all I can to limit chaos in my way of living – to practice, facilitate, and encourage civic-integrity. Nevertheless, I am curious for humankind to discover more about how the people of Sumer emerged in homo sapiens evolution.]

Observing father& son plus brother relationships in Luke 15; Psalm 73?

 Luke 15 highlights father& son plus brother relationships; Psalm 73?

Walter Brueggemann (walterbrueggemann.com) in Devotions for Lent, noted conjunctions that “changed” the perspective: “when” then “till”, respectively, in Luke 15 then Psalm 73. [The conjunction-attraction has special significance to me. I returned to UBC when I realized 2 possibilities: first, I don’t have to constrain Jesus with my opinion or other human-opinion to pursue Jesus’ views of the-good and, second, the USA might benefit from transparent discussion of the-good, including the practical Jesus. I studied independently until I perceived a good message to fellow citizens. My interest in the 1787 U.S. intentions were freed when I perceived that Jesus advocates Genesis 1:28’s message: humankind has the duty to provide peace on earth.]

Note 1: Luke 15 can be deeply mined for father& sons and brother relationships. For example, in despair, the younger son relied on his father’s excellence. And without objection, he happily joined the celebration of his own civic salvation. On the other hand, the older son relied on second-hand information about his father’s actions and intentions. He showed no appreciation for neither his father’s early distribution of his estate nor rebuilding afterwards. The father treated both sons as persons to develop at their own pace. The older son did not return appreciation. The father seems a metaphor for God: an entity that depends on human-beings to choose civic-integrity on earth. These perspectives come to me in 2022 after a comment by our son Stephen, perhaps in 1988.

Note 2: I study the Bible to also consider whether a specific passage comports to the perhaps 5,000-year-old Sumerian philosophy probably expressed by Hebrew scholars 3,000 years ago in Genesis 1:28, in my paraphrase:  Female& male-human-being can& may, independent of other entities, constrain political chaos on earth. I think the next Bible canon should include the law codes of Sumer. In other words, an Ancient Testament, the Old Testament, and the New Testament comprise the message human-being can& may consider.

I perceive that the 10,000-year-old Sumer civilization ought to be considered, in order to increase civic-integrity while appreciating private spiritual pursuits for 2022 and beyond.

 

Luke 15 

Now the tax collectors and sinners [who judges “sinners”? Sinners?] were all gathering around to hear Jesus. ² But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered [do sinners choose to be Pharisees and teach the law?], “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” [Do sinners assert “But he was not a man?”]

³ Then Jesus told them this parable: ⁴ “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? ⁵ And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶ and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ ⁷ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. [Since human being involves the choice in a lifetime to pursue the-good or not, is 99% choosing the-good a utopia? Would 2 of 3 be sufficient to practice, facilitate, and encourage the 1 of 3 to reform: would 67% pursuing the-good encourage some of the 33% to reform? Is sheep the right metaphor for the human being who can& may choose the-good in so brief a time, maybe 85 years?]

The Parable of the Lost Coin

⁸ “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins^[a] and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹ And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ ¹⁰ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” [I don’t like 90%, either, when 2/3 would be a wonderful start for reform in the year 2022.]

The Parable of the Lost Son

¹¹ Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. ¹² The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. [I would not have the courage to divide my property, even today. Apparently, “my share” was not the father’s entire estate.]

¹³ “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. ¹⁴ After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine [I doubt the famine was meaningful to the ruin, so it seems a benefit to the ruined.] in that whole country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵ So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶ He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

¹⁷ “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! ¹⁸ I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ ²⁰ So he got up and went to his father. [“Came to his senses” may refer to realizing he was near death. He never lost trust in his father.]

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion [is appreciation a possible translation from the original language?] for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

²¹ “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴ For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

²⁵ “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ So he called one of the servants [could have called his father] and asked him what was going on. ²⁷ ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ [Here’s the real appreciation: safety& security.]

²⁸ “The older brother became angry [passionate] and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. [Stephen, d. 1991 at age 19, commented that the older son had no thought of including the father in the celebration he imagined.]³⁰ But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes [Not “your property”; the property had been distributed -- at the younger son’s request.] comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

³¹ “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. ³² But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” [Appreciation for the younger son’s life.]

[Opposite slants on passion in this story: “compassionate” and “angry”.]

Psalm 73

A psalm of Asaph.

¹ Surely God is good to Israel,
    to those who are pure in heart. [After drought, all Israel enjoys rain.]

² But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
    I had nearly lost my foothold.
³ For I envied the arrogant
    when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. [In self-interest, prosperity can& may mean civic-integrity more than wealth. Seems wrong-minded to associate arrogance with prosperity.]

⁴ They have no struggles;
    their bodies are healthy and strong.
⁵ They are free from common human burdens;
    they are not plagued by human ills.
⁶ Therefore pride is their necklace;
    they clothe themselves with violence.
⁷ From their callous hearts comes iniquity^];
    their evil imaginations have no limits.
⁸ They scoff, and speak with malice;
    with arrogance they threaten oppression.
⁹ Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
    and their tongues take possession of the earth.
¹⁰ Therefore their people turn to them
    and drink up waters in abundance. [Do people really turn to tyrants? Is the writer expressing factual reality or prejudice? Should he reform his intent from wealth to civic-integrity?]
¹¹ They say, “How would God know?
    Does the Most High know anything?”

¹² This is what the wicked are like—
    always free of care, they go on amassing wealth. [There he goes again. I am not wealthy. However, I oppose associating wealth with wickedness.]

¹³ Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure [really? I don’t think so. That is, I don’t think your judgment about your heart is valid. Let another entity judge your heart.]
    and have washed my hands in innocence [really? Like Pontius Pilot washed his hands? Are you a sinner judging your sins?].
¹⁴ All day long I have been afflicted,
    and every morning brings new punishments.

¹⁵ If I had spoken out like that,
    I would have betrayed your children. [Is that the children of the wicked?]
¹⁶ When I tried to understand all this,
    it troubled me deeply
¹⁷ till I entered the sanctuary of God [The Nomads leader, Kenneth asks if this means psychological comfort or equal, a personal process. I think so.];
    then I understood their final destiny.

¹⁸ Surely you place them on slippery ground;
    you cast them down to ruin. [The children?]
¹⁹ How suddenly are they destroyed,
    completely swept away by terrors!
²⁰ They are like a dream when one awakes;
    when you arise, Lord,
    you will despise them as fantasies.

²¹ When my heart was grieved
    and my spirit embittered,
²² I was senseless and ignorant;
    I was a brute beast before you.

²³ Yet I am always with you;
    you hold me by my right hand.
²⁴ You guide me with your counsel,
    and afterward you will take me into glory.
²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you?
    And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is the strength of my heart
    and my portion forever.

²⁷ Those who are far from you will perish;
    you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. [Is the sinner qualified to judge integrity as weighed by the-God?]
²⁸ But as for me, it is good to be near God.
    I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;
    I will tell of all your deeds.

[I oppose this picture of futile-living while expecting relief in death. I especially oppose it, because Jesus seems to approve Genesis 1, and V 28 states that human-being can& may constrain chaos in their way of living. To pray to the Lord to constrain chaos in personal living seems blasphemy. And to castigate the wealthy as wicked is a bad choice a person can& may make.]