Abstract
Beset by all kinds of ideologies that divest it of its divinely endowed values, family in our contemporary society suffers greatly from those who purport to have a better way of fulfilling its divine mandate. All who understand the importance of family are greatly concerned at the overt derailment that has proved detrimental to human society. The Sacred Scripture offers us varied insights into solving the problem in which we find ourselves. Psalm 128 chosen for this paper is one of those texts in the Bible that reflects on family and its value in human society. As a Wisdom Psalm and didactic in nature, the poem presents to its readers what family is in dire need of at this time. The meaning of this Psalm is coded in its rich poetic techniques and similes that the paper endeavours to explain in its immediate context as a Song of Ascents and in the contexts of other Wisdom texts of the Old Testament. Its theological thrust, the fear of God, which is introduced at the beginning and iterated in various phrases within the Psalm comes out clearly as messages the Psalm offers to worrisomely deformed image of family in our time.
Highlights
Perplexed would anyone, who truly understands the sacredness of marriage as the oldest divinely instituted reality, be at the face of the perverting situation of the surging concepts of human family in our society today
Verse 2 focuses on human labour, and using a metonym—a figure of speech by which one name or noun is used instead of another, to which it stands in a certain relation— (Bullinger, 2003), the poet wishes that the God-fearer will live to enjoy the fruit of his labour; while in verse 3 the poet reflects on how the blessing extends to the family of this righteous person
The Church uses it in this way in her liturgy because she finds in this Psalm some elements of her teaching on human family which are her interpretation of God’s design stated in the Christian deposit of faith: Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture
Summary
Perplexed would anyone, who truly understands the sacredness of marriage as the oldest divinely instituted reality, be at the face of the perverting situation of the surging concepts of human family in our society today. A Preparatory Document of the Third Extraordinary Synod of Catholic Bishops articulates these unusual phenomena which deviate from God’s plan for human family in these words: Concerns which were unheard of until a few years ago have arisen today as a result of different situations, from the widespread practice of cohabitation, which does not lead to marriage, and sometimes even excludes the idea of it, to same-sex unions between persons, who are, not infrequently, permitted to adopt children (Synod of Bishops, 2013: 1) Repercussions of these ills stare at all of us in the face and engender diverse social anomalies because nature has been distorted and divine plan apparently thwarted. The paper focuses on the study of this Biblical text, which is a poem and a Wisdom text, with the intention to elicit from it features of the ideal family depicted therein
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