Barack Obama Reads Psalm 46: Bob Clegg, a Huckabee supporter in New Hampshire in 2008, commented on Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann's use of God in their campaigns recently by comparing them to Mike Huckabee: "He wasn't like these guys," Clegg said last week. "Mike was a religious person, but he didn't campaign saying God put him here, God told him to run and this and that."
Obama reads psalm 46 at the 9/11 commemoration in New York. What translation did he use? What meaning should we attach to this reading?
Russel Simmons @unclerush an Obama supporter and many others tweeted the line:
"Be still, and know that I am God" – Psalm 46:1 "
Strange summary of the psalm, but if this is what people remember from the reading it could well be that Barack Obama was aiming to play into the religious cult around his personality, the anti-muslim sentiments and justify his ongoing assault on civil liberties.
Klaas Schilder wrote a short piece on the meaning of psalm 46 september 29 1933 in which he contrasted his interpretation of this psalm. Nobody questions that psalm 46 is an eschatological psalm, it connects the past with the future. In his usual mathematical approach Schilder zooms in on the meaning of the river (in the psalm) for both creation and generation. His statement:
"Wij gelooven aan de continuïteit der herschepping, en zien haar vruchten, en haar zegeningen in de gebroken schepping. Wij kunnen slechts zóó gelooven aan de waarheid van Psalm 46."
In my translation:
"We believe in the continuity of regeneration and see it's fruits, it's blessings in the broken creation. Only in that specific way can be believe in the truth of Psalm 46"
Obama reads psalm 46 at the 9/11 commemoration in New York. What translation did he use? What meaning should we attach to this reading?
Russel Simmons @unclerush an Obama supporter and many others tweeted the line:
"Be still, and know that I am God" – Psalm 46:1 "
Strange summary of the psalm, but if this is what people remember from the reading it could well be that Barack Obama was aiming to play into the religious cult around his personality, the anti-muslim sentiments and justify his ongoing assault on civil liberties.
Klaas Schilder wrote a short piece on the meaning of psalm 46 september 29 1933 in which he contrasted his interpretation of this psalm. Nobody questions that psalm 46 is an eschatological psalm, it connects the past with the future. In his usual mathematical approach Schilder zooms in on the meaning of the river (in the psalm) for both creation and generation. His statement:
"Wij gelooven aan de continuïteit der herschepping, en zien haar vruchten, en haar zegeningen in de gebroken schepping. Wij kunnen slechts zóó gelooven aan de waarheid van Psalm 46."
In my translation:
"We believe in the continuity of regeneration and see it's fruits, it's blessings in the broken creation. Only in that specific way can be believe in the truth of Psalm 46"
