It’s one of the most famous lines in one of the most famous songs: “You spread a table before me in the presence of my enemies” (Psalm 23).
Israel knows very well that this is what Yahweh the Shepherd does. This is how Israel was born as a people – by slaughtering a Passover lamb or goat, spreading blood, and feasting in the midst of their Egyptian enemies.
Also at Sinai: Yahweh cuts covenant with Israel, and the ceremony ends with Israel’s representatives on the slopes of Sinai, dining in the presence of Yahweh: “And He did not stretch out His hand against them” (Exodus 24). He might have, as He stretched out His hand against Egypt (Exodus 3:20; 9:15) and Egyptianized Hebrews, but He didn’t. He might have been Israel’s enemy, but wasn’t.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Moral Certitude and the Iran War
The current military engagement with Iran calls renewed attention to just war theory in the Catholic tradition.…
The Slow Death of England: New and Notable Books
The fate of England is much in the news as popular resistance to mass immigration grows, limits…
Ethics of Rhetoric in Times of War
What we say matters. And the way we say it matters. This is especially true in times…
