Psalm 118: Monotheism vs. Egocentrism
On the limitations of a personal G/god
From 1979 to 2018, there was a relative 3689% increase in usage of the phrase “relationship with God” in books, according to the Google Books Ngram Viewer. I write “relative” because in addition to the increase in frequency in books, there was an increase in books published. Which is just to say that over the past 40 years, writers have been increasingly referring to a personal relationship with God.
While many books of the Bible portray individuals who had a relationship with God, from Adam to Moses to Jonah to Job, Psalms is filled with descriptors of different sorts of relationships with God.
Reading Psalm 118 conveys a very personal relationship with God, echoing some previous psalms. And while I’m not an expert on relationships, it seems to me that this is a very different meaning than is conveyed in Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd”. Even though 118:6 “[When] God is for me, I have no fear” sounds a lot like 23:3 “I fear no evil, for You are with me”.
In Psalm 23, God is represented as shepherd of a flock of sheep, and as a member of the flock the psalmist feels safe. In Psalm 118, the psalmist self-isolates, and doesn’t trust in any humans (118:8), even the people who others consider to be great (118:9).
It’s a one-on-one relationship; the word “li” in 118:6-7 is almost possessive, to the exclusion of others: God is mine, not yours. “I was pushed down, but God helped me.” (118:13) “God is my strength… and my deliverance.” (118:14) God is his true and only “partner in crime.”
The psalmist isn’t unaware that other people feel a connection to God: in 118:1-4, he writes how others feel His kindness. (I’m informed that it feels great when other people recognize how amazing your partner is.)
But they don’t share the same relationship as him. In the psalmist’s words, even they describe him as “God’s right hand.” (118:15-16) The psalmist seeks to become important in the eyes of all those that he does not trust.
During the same period of 1979 to 2018, there was a relative 141% increase in writers describing their “personal god”, a percentage that had been rising consistently for centuries.
While it could be a beautiful description of a relationship to describe a “personal god”, it could also lead to the sort of the violent, destructive behavior written by the psalmist in 118:10-12, where he “cuts [everyone] down” in the name of God.
Perhaps we should remember, that the phrase “my God” isn’t monotheistic, it’s egocentric.