DAY 12

"Heralding Dawn" by Johann van Heerden

Psalm 130
Roosters

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A Greeting
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.
Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
   to the voice of my supplications!
 (Psalm 130:1-2)

A Reading 
Therefore, keep awake—
for you do not know when the master of the house will come, 
in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, 
or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep 
when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you 
I say to all: Keep awake.’ 
(Mark 13:35-37)

Music


Meditative Verses
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
   and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord
   more than those who watch for the morning,
   more than those who watch for the morning.
(Psalm 130:5-6)

A Reflection

The petitioner has offered this prayer and in verses 5-6 waits for God's mercy to come to fruition. Morning was the time for deliverance from trouble, and the petitioner's waiting is compared to the waiting of the guards who watch for the morning. Waiting here is not impatiently watching the time pass. It is rather anticipating that divine forgiveness and a new beginning will come. Hope is at hand, and the waiting is a yearning for it to become reality. The waiting is in light of the promise. 
- from Psalms, by Walter Brueggemann and William H. Bellinger, Jr.

Verse for the Day
O Israel, hope in the Lord!
   For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
   and with him is great power to redeem. 

(Psalm 130:7)

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A detail from the
mystery painting

 Domestic poultry were not extant in the Old Testament eras until after the Israelites had returned from exile. The words rooster and cock are interchangeable in most biblical references, though the cock carries a tradition of fighting or regal bearing in some cases (see Job 38 and Isaiah 22). By the time of Jesus, roosters were very common, most likely brought to Israel from India, like many other birds. The rooster plays an important role in the passion narratives by offering the sign by which Jesus anticipates and Peter realizes his denial of Jesus. (See Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22 and John 13.)  The Gemara, a Jewish text of the Mishnah, describes how within the Temple precinct there was a man who cried out at the beginning of Temple service in the morning. In other places, the call of a rooster was used as the call to worship. Therefore it is possible that Peter's denial happens in the early hours of the morning, near the time of the first ritual worship of the day.

"Rooster in Sunrise" by PK-CZ

LC† Psalms in the Stable is a project of
Lutherans Connect / Lutheran Campus Ministry Toronto.
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