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Commentary
I hope that before reading this background, you will make sure you have entered the scene. Let your imagination picture my companion, Reality, and his reluctance to be clothed in metaphor.
I wrote this poem after reading various versions of Psalm 73:16-20. There must be some translation difficulties in this passage…. In the Modern English Version, verse 20 goes “Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when awakened, You will despise their image.” What if this translation is correct? What if Asaph really wanted to picture God having a nightmare but then waking up and scorning the characters in His nightmare?
“Oh no! Absolutely NOT,” a voice in my head insists. “God does not sleep. The Bible tells me so.” And I can imagine others–maybe you–saying the same thing. We limit how the poet is allowed to picture God. It must jibe with our systematic theology. Increasingly, I see this as a stilted and mistaken approach to understanding God’s words.
(AI-generated background image by Judas on Pixabay)