"The folds shall be full of sheep; the valleys also shall
stand so thick with corn, that they shall laugh and sing" (Psalm 65:14).
I looked up this verse from the Psalms in one of the so-called "modern
translations" of the Bible, where "modern" appears to be a synonym for
"awful writing" and "missing the point." There I found "Meadows are filled
with sheep and goats; valleys overflow with grain and echo with joyful
songs."
The first translation, found in our Prayer Book Psalter, is older even
than the King James Version, and it comes from the early days of the Reformation
when translating the Bible into the common tongue was often punished by
burning the translator at the stake. It may well be, as Dr. Johnson once
observed, that the threat of death "focuses the mind," because this particular
translator, Miles Coverdale, got to the heart of King David’s poetry, while
the "modern scholars" missed the point entirely.
The modernists claim "Meadows are filled with sheep and goats," as if
the words of the verse just "hang in the air," without any reference to
the other Psalms or to the rest of Scripture. Coverdale, on the other hand,
remembered that David had said in Psalm 23 "The LORD is my shepherd." He
remembered that our Lord Jesus Christ, building on the Psalms, had called
himself "the Good Shepherd" (John 10:11,14), and that he had promised that
as the Good Shepherd he would separate the faithful from the unfaithful,
the sheep from the goats (Matt. 25:32-33).
Coverdale also remembered that David was writing poetry, a type of writing
in which his words can mean more than one thing at a time. Coverdale understood,
therefore, that David was writing of more than mere material prosperity
and of meadows filled with sheep and goats. He was writing of the sheep-fold,
and of the sheep set aside and kept by their shepherd. He was writing of
Israel redeemed by her God, and of the faithful who receive spiritual as
well as material blessings from the God who loves them.
The modern translation has killed the sense of the words, as well as
the poetry. Likewise, when the modern translators write "valleys overflow
with grain and echo with joyful songs" they miss the subtlety of David’s
words and the simplicity of his method. David had spent more time out of
doors and in the fields than he had in a library or faculty lounge. He
had stood in a field just before the harvest when the wind, the Biblical
image of the life-giving breath of God, swept through the valley and made
the ripe grain murmur and dance. He had found the land itself celebrating
the abundance of God, even before the farmers had come to claim that bounty,
and so he wrote: "the valleys also shall stand so thick with corn, that
they shall laugh and sing."
The new translators don’t translate King David very well because they
don’t understand him very well; but this is one of those cases where the
"why" is more important than the "what." These are well educated, well
meaning men, and it is easy enough to forgive them for lacking the poetic
gifts that God gave to David. It is harder, however, to explain why they
were not self-aware enough to recognize this fact. The answer lies in their
very modernity.
Words like "Modernism" and "modern" refer less to time or technology
than they do to a particular philosophy. The "modern movement" began, after
all, more than three hundred years ago in the late seventeenth century,
when the modernist credo that man and his intellect are the measure of
all things was first written down by candlelight. The modernist philosophy
was a fantasy then, and it remains so today, even if it is being downloaded
to a laser printer or broadcast over satellite television.
Modern man has always dreamed of the power of man to control the complexities
of life for himself, and the more that he has dreamed the more complex
his dreams have become. Modern man has dreamed of taming and controlling
the Word of God, but now there are so many "new translations" of Scripture
out there that most people have no idea what the Bible means. Modern man
has dreamed of governments and social programs that in their uncountable
rules and regulations will guarantee human happiness, even though most
human beings are less content today than they have ever been. Modern man
has dreamed of controlling life itself, although in our hospitals and laboratories
human life is often now treated as less valuable than the life of animals
and plants.
These complicated dreams have rendered modern man almost inarticulate,
since it is hard to recount a dream, let alone to interpret it or to put
it into action. King David, in contrast, was not a "modern man," and he
did not live in the dream world of modern men. He lived in the real world
where God’s faithful have always lived. He recognized that the world around
him was not, and could never be, in his control. He turned, then, to the
Creator of the world, and decided quite rationally that he had to let God
be God, since he wasn’t up to the job himself.
The glory of God, David is telling us, is abroad in the world and governing
the world, whether we human beings recognize it or not. We can fight against
that glorious power or we can worship it, but we cannot do both. We can
be the sheep of God’s flock and live in the sheep-fold of his divine care,
or we can be lost. We can stand in a field in awe of God’s power and goodness,
or we can think that the ordinary bounty of our lives is a matter of chance,
good weather, and fertilizer.
Coverdale could understand David precisely because he was an old-fashioned
Christian and so thrilled with the message that God was delivering through
David that he was willing to endanger his life to share it with others.
He wanted to join David in that laughing field of grain and to worship
the Almighty. He wanted his countrymen to understand that the simple pleasures
and happiness that God offers to the faithful far outweigh the dubious
promises of the very best of mankind’s complicated dreams. God gifts are
real, but man’s dreams are only vapors.
Consider, then, the Lord’s Prayer, taught to the disciples in this morning’s
lesson from St. Luke. Besides the forgiveness of sins and the coming of
God’s kingdom, our Lord teaches us to make a very simple request: "Give
us this day our daily bread" (Luke 11:3). Or consider the prophecy we read
from Ezekiel: "And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the
earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and
shall know that I am the LORD." Or consider St. James definition from today’s
Epistle: "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this,
To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself
unspotted from the world" (James 1:27)
These are the true graces of God for which we should pray every day,
and especially on this Rogation Sunday, when we ask God in particular for
the necessities of life. And what do God and his Christ tell us that these
necessities are? The grace and freedom to worship God. The forgiveness
of our sins. Safety for our families and ourselves. Enough to eat, day
by day. And the spiritual and physical means to show charity to those who
are in need.
This is a short and simple list because it is a realistic list. We may
dream of money, careers, power, fame, position, and possessions. We may
dream of ruling the world, or at least our own little part of it. But none
of these things is necessary to a good life and a happy life under God’s
protection and dominion, and if we build our lives around what is unnecessary,
we build them upon a fantasy. The goodness of our lives is not determined
by what we possess, but by who or what possesses us. If we are God’s possession,
he will take care of the necessary details of life, and our eyes will be
opened to the glory all around us, even as King David heard the corn laugh
and sing. If, on the other hand, we are owned by our fantasies and possessions,
there will be little laughter and song in our lives. The choice is very
simple, and very clear, once we remember and understand the Word of God.
Please note: These sermons are offered for your meditation.
If you wish to use them for some other purpose or republish them, please
credit St. Andrew’s Church and Dr. Tarsitano.
