A refrain throughout the Psalms and Proverbs in the Bible calls out “the fool” who says there is no God. I have been puzzled by the inclusion of these verses in the Bible. At first, I suspected there actually were people over two thousand years ago who thought there was no God, ancient atheists being called out. But I was wrong.
When you look at the Psalms (particularly 14 and 53), you will notice the criticism of these so-called fools or better “scoundrels” (Robert Alter’s word) was not that they intellectually had concluded there was no God but that their actions, which were corrupt, displayed their lack of faith. The “fools” were not atheists in our sense of the term; they were people who lived their lives as if no one was watching. They were individuals doing what they wanted, when they wanted, however they wanted, assuming there was no community, only their own self-interest. The scoundrels were pure ego obsessed humans. Nothing else mattered.
Today’s scoundrels park their cars in the designated disabled areas, feel free to ignore speed limits and red lights, respond to emails and texts late or never at all, are consumed and obsessed with their phones regardless of the effect, lie at will, live as if there is no God watching and they and only they are the center of the universe. The list could go on and on.
James L. Kugel, in his thoughtful book, In the Valley of the Shadow, talks about the amazing smallness of the human being and the “looming outside” of God.
Passover and Easter are two holy days which declare, “God is God and you are not.” In the confluence of these two moments, we hear again about the power of God, the mortality and smallness of the human being.
May this Passover and Easter be a time when we will resolve not to be the scoundrel or act in a foolish way. After all, what we do reflects who or what we trust.
Thanks, Murray :)
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