Psalm 144 is an ABC of praise to God as King. When Mgr Ronald Knox translated it into English he cleverly started every line with the consecutive letters of the English alphabet. He had fun but made a good teaching point. He appreciated that each Hebrew verse begins with a consecutive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, probably as a memory-aid. Ps 144 is what’s known as an acrostic psalm.
The Dead Sea Scrolls tell us that their practice was to sing a refrain or community response after every verse: “Blessed be the Lord, and may God’s name be blessed for ever!”
That gives us the feel of this joyful hymn of praise: a community rejoices together with enthusiasm and love.
The psalm is also composed as a sandwich: the last verse more or less repeats what was sung in verse one.
Let’s focus now on the nutritious filling in this sandwich.
Verses 8-14 tell us why God’s goodness is to be praised, and it echoes almost word for word the reply of God to Moses in Exodus 34:6. “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” Our psalmist similarly sings about the Lord as kind, brimming over with compassion, slow to anger, abounding in love. Verse 14 says that God is a support for anyone who stumbles. We can picture God as a caring mother tenderly picking up a child who has fallen. The psalm continues with the Lord supporting anyone who has been humiliated; and he provides food for the starving “with an open hand” (verse 16), not tight-fisted ; he is reliable (verse 17) and is near (verse 18), ready to satisfy our every need, to hear our cries and save and protect each one of the singers (verse 19). That’s what God is like, says psalm 144!
Psalm 144 is a meaty sandwich to bite into.
Ps 144 : words (c) TheGrail, England. Music Gerry Fitzpatrick (c) Kevin Mayhew. Recorded by Sally Mulholland.
Psalm settings and commentaries can be found in a growing abundance at St Mungo Music.org.uk
under ‘Psalms of the Liturgy 2023
