Joy for the Journey (eBook)

CHAPTER TWO

The Old Testament:
The Call to Joy

From our Christmas holidays we have an idea of what joy looks like and sounds like. We have discussed some of the conditions that make for what we might call circumstantial joy. Even when the occasion of our joy has a religious basis, if the joy is circumstantial, it can go away when the first gloomy day or loss occurs. In dark times we need the light more than usual, so let us begin to see what the Hebrew scriptures say about joy.

There are several words in Hebrew that can be translated as “rejoice” or “joy.” We will examine some of these words and passages that were the first to call Jews and Christians to joy.

One of the first references to joy in God’s word relates to the three great pilgrims feasts. In Deuteronomy we encounter rejoicing in the context of festive worship. Samach indicates a joy that is both spontaneous and of extreme gladness. Dancing, singing and music sometimes accompany it. This is a far cry from singing “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee” with faces full of sorrow and defeat. Chapter 16 of Deuteronomy speaks of Passover (Pesach), Pentecost (Shavu’ot) and Booths or Tabernacles (Sukkot or Sukkos). There is a trend among some Christians to celebrate these feasts today. Indeed, many churches celebrate the Seder, the Passover feast. But the whole is preserved in the Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, and Anglican traditions as Eucharist or The Lord’s Supper. We rejoice that Christ, our Passover is slain. We celebrate Christ’s resurrection from the dead as first fruits. Therefore we too rejoice in so great a salvation. This, of course, is the main reason for our joy.

We begin our meditation by reading Deuteronomy 16:11, 14-15. What do we find here? Joy! Yes, Deuteronomy is a God-breathed invitation to joy. While the name of the book in Greek means second law (D’varim in Hebrew),3 the book contains way more than rules and regulations. Amid the three sermons of Moses and regulations for worship, there is (wait for it) Joy!

Joy is also very prevalent in the feast of Pentecost. Orthodox and Conservative Jews observe it for two days. Although many dates have been observed for the celebration of Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), it is celebrated seven weeks after Passover. Synagogues and homes are decked out with greenery. It began as a grain harvest festival, but after time became a celebration of the giving of the Torah, the Law, and by extension the whole Bible. Deuteronomy tells the people of God to rejoice not only over the harvest, but also the harvest that would come because of God’s holy Word.

For Christians, the joy continues. As the giving of the Law was commemorated on Pentecost, so the Holy Church was born in the profound power of the Holy Spirit. This became the center of the Charismatic gifts—indeed, an occasion of joy for all Christians.

But by far the longest and most joyful of these great feasts is the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkos). It is one feast that was never taken over from Judaism to Christianity. Some Jews celebrate Sukkos for nine days; others observe just a week. During this time the people live outdoors. They are loaded with joy, a joy that we have every reason to emulate.

Through the years, these pilgrim feasts eventually became occasions for the singing of the Psalms known as the Songs of Ascent. The Christian tradition calls them Gradual Psalms (Psalms 120–134). The exact origin of titles of these is not known. Some have suggested that they relate to fifteen stairs in the temple from which these were sung. Others maintain that these psalms had melodies that rose incrementally from low to high. It is also said these Psalms were sung on return from exile during the time of Ezra. Ultimately the pilgrims sang them when coming up to Jerusalem for the Pilgrim Feasts.4 Jerusalem is higher than the surrounding countryside, so pilgrims always ascended to the Holy City.

Since these Psalms prepared the pilgrims for the joy of the feasts, should we not also pray them in our quest for joy in the Lord? Should we not sing or read them as we go up from sadness to gladness? Should they not accompany us as an inducement to rejoice—even in persecution? Should we not recite them as we battle the worldwide COVID-19? If these Psalms are great teachers of joy, repentance, and constancy during times of trouble, how much more are they helpful to us at all times. The Psalms are a school of joy, a schola gaudium. “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’ Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem” (Psalm 122).

It was such a joy to recite this psalm as I visited Jerusalem. It was back in the 1990s. Saddam Hussein was attempting to shoot Russian-made missiles at Israel from Iraq. I suffered an accidental fall at the Sea of Galilee. But the Psalm brought me such a joy that I quickly forget the worries about incoming missiles (albeit it out of range) and the pain from my fall. It was the joy of the Lord! Let’s look at a few of the uses of words translated as “joy.” In First Samuel 18:6 we encounter David coming home from killing Goliath, the Philistine, and the women coming out rejoicing with tambourines and songs of joy. Here we see the joy of victory celebrated with music. The same word, samakh, is used as King Solomon is anointed king. The people blew the trumpet as the crowds shouted, “Long live King Solomon.” So the people followed the king “playing on pipes and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth quaked at their noise” (1 Kings 1:40).

Another important aspect of joy begins strangely enough with a lamentation for sin and guilt. Psalm 51 begins with a lament for sin, as King David begs God for the application of His mercy. It is time for him and us to be completely washed from sin. The psalm is very dark, but at verse 8 this characteristic begins to morph to bright promises. We go from sin, condemnation and guilt to joy and gladness. “Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities” (Psalm 51:8-9).

How does this psalm lead us from sin and guilt to joy? First we must look at the picture that God, artist that He is, paints in Psalm 51. The heading reads as follows: “For the leader. A psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone into Bathsheba.”

Remember the details of this portrait? David burned with passion for Bathsheba, wife of Uriah, David’s armor-bearer. David became totally smitten with Bathsheba as she was bathing. The king committed adultery with her. She became pregnant. This began a chain of events. The king devised a plan to send Uriah home to sleep with his wife in order that when David’s child would be born, no one would suspect the king of adultery. Just to remind you, although Uriah went home, he did not sleep with Bathsheba. To understand the setting of Psalm 51, you must take a moment now to read Second Samuel, chapter 11. David orders that Uriah should be cut off in battle and killed by the enemy.

In Second Samuel, chapter 12, we hear Nathan’s condemnation of David using the story of two men in a town. Take another moment to read Nathan’s words ending with his strong pronouncement, “You are the man!” (2 Samuel 12:7). It is right after these words that the king begins, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love.” In the first part of Psalm 51 we encounter the extremity of guilt for sin. In David’s case, adultery led to murder. But David was eventually led by repentance to joy and gladness. He speaks of the bones, which were crushed. Bear in mind, these bones are not merely broken; they are smashed.5

Sometimes our lives seem smashed, our dreams obliterated, and we feel oppressed in every event of our lives. How dare you try to elicit joy in this mess? This is true even as we experience worldwide fear. And yet King David saw no incongruity in experiencing pain, guilt, and judgment while also experiencing joy. As Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931), the noted Christian poet and artist, said, “Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?6 One reason given for joy and gladness in the Bible is that God forgives sins. If this is true for the Hebrew Scriptures, how much more applicable for those who follow the Lord Jesus!

We see yet another reason for joy and gladness in the Book of Esther. It is similar to Psalm 51, namely deliverance from persecution and salvation from mass destruction. Esther chapter 8 presents a joy so intense it must be mentioned here. Haman, the highest advisor to the Persian king, felt insulted by Mordecai, a Jew and cousin of Esther. The wicked advisor plots the extermination of the Jews. Esther has become queen while keeping her Jewishness a secret from the king. As a masterful stroke, Queen Esther denounces Haman in the presence of her husband, King Ahasuerus. Haman then is hanged on the very gallows on which Mordecai was to be hanged!

There is a reversal of fortunes. This is a common theme throughout the Bible. While the biblical tradition is fully enunciated in the New Testament, reversal is present in many sections of the Old Testament. The child of promise of...