In the 22 minute clip I talked about Psalm 36 and traits of the wicked in the context of the local news regarding the latest stunt, a Pig Head for President Bacon, pulled by the pro Palestinian anti Jewish agitprop group based out of UBC. A brief analysis of chiastic structure follows.
summary :: In this conversation, Bad Hijabi discusses Psalm 36 and the themes of the evil inclination, the struggle between good and evil, and the importance of self-improvement. She explores the concept of the wicked voice and the allure of negativity, as well as the dangers of hatred and idolatry. Bad Hijabi also touches on the current social and political climate and the need for peaceful coexistence. Overall, the monologue emphasizes the importance of introspection, moral values, and striving for goodness.
keywords :: Psalm 36, evil inclination, struggle between good and evil, self-improvement, wicked voice, allure of negativity, dangers of hatred, idolatry, social and political climate, peaceful coexistence, introspection, moral values, goodness
takeaways :: The evil inclination and the struggle between good and evil are recurring themes in Psalm 36 | The wicked voice and the allure of negativity can lead to a loss of moral values and a lack of self-improvement | Hatred and idolatry are dangers that can hinder personal growth and prevent peaceful coexistence | Introspection and striving for goodness are essential for navigating the challenges of the current social and political climate.
Sound Bites
"It is really important to get this right."
"Everything is like the ally or the enemy."
"Sin is alluring to him. God recoils from him."
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Background
03:20 The Evil Inclination and the Struggle Between Good and Evil
05:17 The Allure of Negativity: The Wicked Voice and Its Dangers
10:08 Hatred and Idolatry: Hindrances to Personal Growth and Peaceful Coexistence
14:41 Examining Sin and Its Consequences
19:00 The Importance of Introspection and Striving for Goodness
21:28 Conclusion
“King David says that there's a voice of wickedness that speaks inside his heart. I don't know whether it's troubling, that David, somebody who is so holy as King David, should have this experience, or whether it's comforting. I'm not sure whether it's troubling or comforting.”
“So it means to be soft, to be smooth. So, it becomes sin, this pesha, the sin becomes smooth to him, becomes alluring to him. He says, when his wrongs emerge, God recoils from him, is the way he translates it here.
Now, you could understand that very differently. These first verses are difficult. So, Rav Steinsaltz takes it differently. He says, for in his eyes, he glides past. That's how he's that sliding sound of chalaq. That's how he deals with that, he1 glides past him to find his iniquity to hate.
So he says that the hate, this note to hate is what is what that negativity inside of us is inspiring, right? Not that God is going to not that God is going to recoil from him, but that there's a hate builds up. So if we sort of take the narrative, if we take the narrative literally, I have this pesha, this sin which is inside, which is speaking to the wicked one that lives inside my heart, and says not to be afraid of God in that immediate way, and kind of seduces me into a state of hatred.” — Lee Weissman
Determining the chiastic structure of the poetic verse provides a very helpful technique for literary analysis of the Psalms. Chiasmus involves studying the text for themes and patterns repeated, mirrored, paralleled throughout the body of the psalm itself. Note: this one I provide in this post is my conceptualisation, this Psalm proved quite challenging linguistically so you may disagree, and if you do a search you will find several others and they might all look slightly different. Study the text and the various structures provided and choose the one that best fits your interpretation and understanding and your connection with the text.
A :: Lines 2 through 5 :: modus operandi of wickedness
B :: Lines 6 through 8 :: gratitude for Divine judgement
C :: Line 9 and 10 :: G-d as the source of light
B :: Lines 11 :: cleaving to Divine protection
A :: Lines 12 and 13 :: fate of those who court and choose wickedness and arrogance.
The primary source language, i.e. Hebrew, determines the chiastic structure and mirroring, and the structure itself provides instruction. So, for example—Line 2 describes wickedness and its ways and Line 13 describes the fate of those who choose wickedness. Line 4 describes the seduction of deceit and idolatry and Line 12 describes the how of those who allow themselves to be wooed into idolatry via the deceit of apathy toward the bad, they end up alienating themselves from G-d.
Line 2 and Line 13 chiastic mirroring
Line 2 :: rebellious whispers rise up within the wicked, in a subtle seduction, there is no fear of G-d in his psyche.
Line 13 :: thence makers of discord fall, laying prostrate under their burden, cast down in violent collapse upon them, unable rise.
Treachery and deceit rise inside the human psyche and self respect disappears. Eventually the burden of treacherous thoughts becomes too much. The individual becomes afflicted by the weight of her own deeds, which collapse heavily upon her like an imploding building in a demolition project. Those who fall from their own arrogance lack the capacity to rise. When we allow treacherous rebellion to rise within ourselves we lose self respect and we lose fear of limits we end up falling under the burden of our own discordant words and deeds—we cannot rise when we fall for haughtiness.
Line 3 and Line 12 chiastic mirroring
Line 3 :: the wicked one that lives inside my heart counsels me with flattery, she smoothes out the edge of wickedness until she finds my propensity for perversion.
Line 12 :: let not self worship be what holds me up in this world, nor wickedness of my heart be what moves my deeds away from G-d.
We talk ourselves out of wickedness with flattery and other forms of self idolatry until we trigger our threshold for perversion. At first we slither past wickedness and become slowly hardened as we shore up our apathy. Eventually we end up careening into an existence in which self worship and fame and glory serve as our legs and deceit and perfidy and apathy become our hands. The dark hardness of apathy blocks us from the penetrating light of goodness.
Line 4 and Line 13 chiastic mirroring
Line 4 :: Speech from my mouth embodies treachery and depravity, wisdom falls away, I stop wanting to do good and be better
Line 13 :: thence makers of discord fall, laying prostrate under their burden, cast down in violent collapse upon them, unable rise.
We speak ideas and feelings and desires into creation. We speak treachery and depravity into existence. We own thoughts and they own us once they become spoken into being. The more attention we give to depravity the further aways wisdom fall from us, our desire to be good and do better vanishes and we collapse under the burden of self loathing, culminating into a calamitous and violent collapse into the absence of goodness and light. As we rise in treachery and deceit so shall well fall under the weight of it in the end.
Line 5 and Line 12 chiastic mirroring
Line 5 :: I lay awake at night and plan depravity, choosing a path devoid of goodness, undeterred, embracing evil
Line 12 :: let not self worship be what holds me up in this world, nor wickedness of my heart be what moves my deeds away from G-d.
When we lay idly in the dark, fully locked in under the weight of our own depraved thoughts, we embark on a path into normalised evil, doing bad becomes normal and maybe even our glory, our legs become our false persona of perfidy and our hands become the treachery in our hearts we have allowed to grow like weeds that choke away the goodness and life, treachery takes the place of G-d.
Does Shelter of Kindness Guard Us From Arrogance?
Line 8 says people shelter in the shadow of G-d’s wings, so precious is Her kindness.
“I love this image. When I think of the shelter of the shadow of your wings, I think of my grandfather. My grandfather, so I used to sit in synagogue with my grandfather. My grandfather wore a prayer shawl, right? And he would go pretty much every day because he lived in an old people's community and they needed to minyan, they needed to have 10 people to pray. And I was a little kid and I spent a lot of time with my grandparents. And so I'd go with my grandfather. My grandfather would kind of sit me next to him and he would put, his talit around me. He'd wrap his prayers all around me. And I would sit there and play with the fringes and that was my thing. But I felt so safe and warm and nice, you know? And it was like, that was like, you know, that was like my place.”
I will end this essay on a positive note. What if kindness, checed, could be our shelter, rather than the idolatry of our rage and grief? This psalm for me essentially boils down to that simple concept — love is louder than apathy, ego and narcissism lead to self worship and kindness requires discipline and structure and it requires tenderness and courage. A home for my life stands more soundly on a solid foundation of checed than on one erected upon the quicksand of treachery and arrogance.
Line 10 say For with You is the source of life, an in Your light we see light — meaning, sometimes we cannot see what we cannot see because it’s so damn dark where we are. The darkness beckons and death seems comforting sometimes. Resist. Love is a verb, being is an action we do, not a commodity we receive to consume. Remember the light and never forget life.
Non-Sefaria References
Grossman, Yonatan. (2016, January 24). Literary Study of Biblical Narrative (en)—Lesson 26: Chiastic and Concentric Structures. Yeshivat Har Etzion. https://etzion.org.il/en/tanakh/studies-tanakh/literary-readings-tanakh/chiastic-and-concentric-structures
Jordan, James. (2015, April 9). Psalm 36 Commentary. Theopolis Institute. https://theopolisinstitute.com/psalm-36-commentary/
Miller, Christine. (2014, April 29). A Little Perspective. Psalm 36 Chiastic Structure. https://alittleperspective.com/psalm-36-chiastic-structure/
the evil imagination of the heart is he in this Psalm, often Judaic literature anthropomorphises evil and makes it into a character with whom we intellectually spar.
Psalm 36 Study