Week 4- Ethics

I see the Psalms as a reflection of the ethics God believes his followers or the people of Israel should follow. They should be honest (15). They should keep their promises and be genuinely truthful. They should not harm other people physically or verbally (15). People shouldn’t betray their friends or allies. People should be humble (37). If they commit evil deeds, then they should repent and accept their punishment (51). Breaking these morals is evil and evil creates more evil (7). In short, people should try to be innocent.

If they refuse to live like this then, then they have to face the consequences which may come in the form of illness, suffering, and other misfortunes. However, people don’t necessarily follow those morals because it is the “right” thing to do. I think that they apply the ethics to their lives out of fear. Several passages in the Psalms refer to God’s rage. The only way to avoid being harmed or even destroyed is to follow the ethics.

In addition, it is very convenient to obey these morals. God grants people protection from suffering. He also protects them from the enemies, which are people who don’t follow the ethics in the Psalms. But this convenience undermines another important moral: to “give free of charge” (37). People aren’t really living their lives selflessly because they have in mind the prosperous future that awaits them for behaving in such manners. God promises them that he will grant their desires and that they are the heirs of the Earth for following these morals. It is a livable ethic, but there is a tinge of hypocrisy caused by the fear of God and his desireable promises.

From what I know about Christianity, I think that Psalms’ ethic is very similar to it. They resemble closely the Ten Commandments. For example, “Thou Shalt not lie” is basically the same as the deceitful will stumble in the Psalms. However, the Psalms, I think are not very specific in some cases. They are more general. For instance, it says that you shouldn’t betray an allies but that isn’t very specific because there are several forms of betrayal such as lying and murder. I think that they are very much alike.

I think that the Psalms are missing something. Instead of focusing on God and how they will anger him for the wrongdoings they commit on earth, they should have focused on why it is wrong to harm others for example. The Psalms are missing the purpose of applying this ethic, which allows them to understand that people shouldn’t harm others because they have feelings as well. I’m sure people understood that but in the Psalms the emphasis was more on divine punishment.