I spent my morning devotion reading Psalm 1 and Terrien's commentary of it. As much as I have mentioned that it is a joy reading Terrien with his excellent writing and usage of language, it proved to be a challenge too. What with the usage of words like transhumance, sapiential and stichoi. Looks like I need a dictionary to carry along with the heavy tome of a commentary.
- The verbs "walk," "stand," and "sit" (Ps 1:1) suggest nomadic transhumance with its necessary choice between two tracks in the sand.
transhumance - the seasonal migration of livestock, and the people who tend them, between lowlands and adjacent mountains.
~ www.dictionary.com
The initial word, "blessed" or "happy" attempts to translate the Hebrew 'ashre, an exclamation, probably of sapiential origin, which hails and greets someone with a wish for success and the plenitude of existence.
sapiential - that is wise or intelligent
~ Pocket Oxford English Dictionary
Unlike most other psalms, which usually comprise strophes of double or triple stichoi, each strophe contains only a single triad preceded and followed by an opening and closing element.
- stichoi - stichometry is a term applied to the measurement (μετρον) of ancient texts by στιχοι (lit. "rows") or verses of a fixed standard length.
~ www.wikipedia.org
Picture by Steve Woods
Samuel Terrien, The Psalm, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003): 70-1
Dude! Now that guy knows how to throw around a thesaurus!
ReplyDeleteMay he bless you anyway :-)
=D
ReplyDeleteHi Maeghan,
ReplyDeleteOne of those words - sapiential - I am actually familiar with b/c we had a speaker at work talk about "sapiential theology". I think it refers mainly to the wisdom of God.
I say, along with the commentary & dictionary, a camera would prove to be quite a burden!
Sapiential Theology
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. I think it refers to Theology of Wisdom. I did a check in the net - not much.