The Voice of Becoming PSALM 105 (B)
Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice! Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his presence continually! Remember the wonderful works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered, O offspring of Abraham his servant, sons of Jacob, his chosen ones!
- Ps 105: 3-6: Revised Standard Version (RSV).
Psalm 105 describes praise as “seeking.” The hearts of those who seek “the LORD” are invited to rejoice, not to cower in fear before idols of force. “Fear of the LORD,” we read in Proverbs, “is the beginning of wisdom.” True, and yet, understanding, love and trust are wisdom’s fruit.
Who is this “LORD”? That is one of the most fascinating questions of the scriptures, woven between the lines on every page. Someone evokes “praise,” someone invites us to seek further. We turn our attention from the motionless statues on the avenues of conventional piety, to a living presence and a playful absence, a treasure hidden in plain sight. In Psalm 105, as in every psalm, a window opens. This window, discernible in the original Hebrew, becomes invisible in translation. Yet, when thrown wide, this window lets in everything. The seeking work of praise begins, and rote recitation ends. The terrible roar of the external is stilled, and faith’s internality speaks.
The casement of this window, in the sacred text, is four Hebrew letters. They flow from above the line, tongues of fire radiating onto the page: Yod, Heh, Vav, Heh. Their sounds are unknown, but they can be felt: like breathing, or like thunder. It is the “I Am Becoming,” speaking to Moses within the Burning Bush.
Scholars have called it the Tetragrammaton (“Four Letters”) – a most clumsy tag for Emerging Presence never captured in language. We have always struggled with the Voice of Becoming. It is disturbing, since it is neither “action” nor “essence.” Unable to pronounce this Name, and unable to ignore it, translators write something else, something more familiar, to stand in the place of Becoming. For Yod, Heh, Vav, Heh – that fiery open window – we find, throughout scripture, the word “LORD” (all capitals). A massive compromise, arbitrary and clumsy, it has all but stifled the breath of scripture. But there it is.
Here too, in Psalm 105, we read: “give thanks to the LORD…” and “seek the LORD.” Thus, the unutterable Voice of Becoming (Yod, Heh, Vav, Heh) is reduced to the honorific of a master (“Lord”). Although “Lord” expresses familiar deference to God’s rule over us, still, “Lord” is not LORD.
We are confronted with our effort to tame the ineffable, our haste to aim our fire extinguisher at the Burning Bush. We will continue to struggle with the Voice of Becoming, continue to miss its living sense, continue to translate clumsily. And yet, once we know, we are also blessed to be able to gaze more attentively through this mysterious window.
Psalm 105 – like all of scripture – beckons, again and again, like the Burning Bush. The Voice of Becoming speaks: “Take off your shoes, and listen!”
Henry Ralph Carse