Which?

Elisha sees Elijah taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire drawn by horses of fire this coming Sunday, and our liturgical response is the first six verses of Psalm 50. This prompts me to read the psalm right through to the end. The final verse reads 23 זֹבֵ֥חַ תֹּודָ֗ה יְֽכַ֫בְּדָ֥נְנִי וְשָׂ֥ם דֶּ֑רֶךְ אַ֝רְאֶ֗נּוּ בְּיֵ֣שַׁע אֱלֹהִֽים׃. I meet agonizing futility trying to pick through the Hebrew, and Dean Gerhard Schroeder from my seminary would have been appalled that I resort to an interlinear and start tracing, but there are English translations. One says 23 He who is sacrificing praise honoureth Me, As to him who maketh a way, I cause him to look on the salvation of God!

A sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving is our Anglican theology of the sacrifice of the Mass. It's somewhat in Reformation rebuttal to understanding the Roman Mass as, not remembrance, a very repeat of the sacrifice of Calvary. The Anglican view seems meet and right considering that in Psalm 50, God likes praise and a righteous life as ways to honor him, castigates blood sacrifice. 

Down a side path, that wasn’t at all where I meant to go with my aimless wandering.

Intriguing me is the last phrase of Psalm 50, the promise, “I will show the salvation of God.” I will bring to peace and blessedness. Liberty, deliverance, prosperity. (Was this contrived as a source of the so-called prosperity gospel? IDK, in Bible times, prosperity was indeed seen as a sign of divine favor and blessing). Apt or not, “I will show him the salvation of God” brings to mind Moses standing atop the mountain being shown the Promised Land but cannot go in. At least, not in this life. As in, “look, there it is, too bad for you, maybe next time.” 

My intrigue is with the meaning of the word translated “salvation.” Is it about peace and blessedness, liberty, deliverance, safety, welfare and prosperity in this life? Or is it about one’s portion in the world to come? 

W+