Keywords
Psalms 1-14
Lament
Suffering and Affliction
COVID-19
How to Cite
Abstract
The COVID-19 global pandemic and its consequent outcomes have caused immense suffering and distress in every community and at all levels of life worldwide. Theological and religious communities raise the question about God’s involvement in the causes of and healing from this horrendous misery and grief. These questions become paradigmatic of how God is involved in suffering and how the supplicant could experience deliverance through interaction with God, whilst situated in the midst of such a crisis.
Exegetic contemplation on Ps 13, a well-known lament song, provides an exemplary experience of a psalmist in a severe life-endangering context. An exposition of the text—its historical, cultic and literary contexts—and the genre of ‘lament’ brings insight into the Yahweh-believer’s interaction. Without pretending to provide answers to enigmatic forms of suffering, this article shows how Yahweh-believers in ancient Israel understood and reacted to suffering. Human suffering is indeed in need of the ‘face’ and ‘eyes’ of Yahweh to experience healing and redemption.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).