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Originally Posted by InOmnibusCaritas
Lee doesn't devalue all the Psalms -- those that were quoted in the NT gets the thumbs up.
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Even some of them didn't pass muster with Lee. Peter's citation of Psalm 34 in 1 Peter chapter 3 got a thumbs down. Not high enough, according to the so-called vision of the age.
And what really irks me about Lee's coverage of the Psalms was his stubborn refusal to see spiritual types in the physical portrayals. So when the psalmist prayed for calumny to his foes, for example, that God would smite the oppressors and turn them back to darkness, Lee simply said, "We shouldn't curse others but bless them." Oh really - was David supposed to bless Goliath? Was Samuel supposed to bless Agag? This is a complete misreading of the OT narrative, in my view. And in the NT, did Jesus bless the demons and unclean spirits, and pat them on their soft, fuzzy little heads? The often bloody and violent world of the OT can be seen as a type of the daily struggle we face. We Jesus-confessors are trying to stay connected to the path home to our Father, and we're violently opposed at every turn. And many of the worst enemies are close at hand; some are within!
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Matthew 26:40-42 "And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? "Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done."
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Our struggles of faith occasionally do involve threats of physical harm. I know in some places that is reality and don't want to dismiss it. But nonetheless the struggle to overcome opposition is real for all of us. Look at what happened to the disciples. They tried to "watch and pray" for one hour, but were overcome. And Paul clearly wrote, "We don't struggle against flesh and blood but spiritual forces", but Lee simply ignored this spiritual dynamic when in the Psalms. "Nope", he said. "These guys wished harm on others; that's not Christian. We can safely ignore this text. On to the next, to the 'high peak revelations' located elsewhere in the Bible."
Interestingly to me, Psalm 119 offers a vivid picture of one struggling to stay connected to spiritual reality. The protagonist continually tries to keep his/her face toward God, and constantly meets opposition, but the narrative is stylized, or generalized, to include spiritual pursuit, and spiritual opposition. "The wicked are waiting to destroy me/but I have pondered all your precepts" (v.95). The "violent opposition" in Psalm 119 is to someone trying to pray! Incredible! What a vivid portrayal of what Jesus presented to Peter et al in Matthew 26! I don't have my RecV in front of me & can't review Lee's textual treatment here, but still the larger point remains of the spiritual struggle to overcome deadness, weakness, greed, dormancy, confusion, shame, dullness, tiredness (can I stop now?) and so forth is repeatedly and clearly laid before us by the seeking one in the OT. It is not vain. Sorry, I just can't see the word of God pushed into an exegetical hole like that. No. I simply refuse this speaking.