Thursday, August 09, 2007

Psalm 119 - theme and variations

I have been dreaming this psalm. There are patterns, some more obvious than others, some small, some related to what one might call a springboard word - a word introduced and then elaborated on in subsequent parts. Whether these are deliberate on the part of the writer(s) or not, I am not yet 'sure'. The pattern of the missing nouns is there of course as described in this earlier post.

I have coloured the themes as they appear - see what you think of the patterns and presentation (an acrostic coat of many colours). I have missed some - feel free to point them out and I will adjust the diagrams.

Excluding the main nouns, here are the colours I have used:
forecolor red - indicates completion achieved or presupposed
blue - indicates continuing action (walk הלכ hlk, keep שׁמר shmr)
gold - teaching/learning (למד lmd)
purple - aspects of the heart
green - observed (נצר ntsr)
grey with red bordercolor - human emotion - delight and shame

backcolor without gradient - shows one of the big 8 - definitions here
backcolor with gradient
grey - 'will not forget' - often in a negative/positive contrast in the verse
red - the life motif
pink - being/soul (somewhat negative to begin with) and righteousness (צדק tsedeq)
green - troubles
teal - covenant mercy and correction (חסד chesed)

There are additional motifs I have not yet coloured - love, hope, trust, faith, superlatives [to the max מאד m)od]

Promise motif and servant are connected by the same colour scheme - I think the completion and salvation theme are also connected as noted in the earlier posts.

If a border color = main noun color (the big 8) - it is often a verb used with one of the main 8 nouns - explored in this post. (Note there are other nouns belonging to God that are significant - e.g. truth and faithfulness.)

connectors - fat - first diagram only - show connections among the big 8 (and occasional displaced nodes)
thin connectors - show some displacement of words when required for the acrostic in English
thin connectors of various colours - show individual part structures and some interpart connections.

One thing I am imagining is the emergence of a motif and its continuance - when is it first mentioned - when is it last mentioned and what if any significance for the poet's thought this tells us. E.g.

Righteousness is in part 1 and 22
The life/live motif begins in part 3 with servant and continues to part 22
Teaching goes from 1 to 22
The human emotion of delight is noted in part 2 and continues to 22
Covenant mercy - in contrast, does not appear till part 6.

The jpgs are large - be patient and the reward will come :) - hopefully someone will get some enjoyment from them besides me.

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