Hey, this is John at Bible Project, and today on the podcast I get to talk with Dr. Temecki

and Dr. Kyrissa Quinn about the eighth poem in the Book of Psalms.

Salmaid has become a very important chapter for me as I've realized more and more how

the entire story of the Bible is about God's relentless pursuit of humanity.

The partner with us, even though we are weak and quite frankly, pretty stupid most of the

time.

And so the question is why would the God of the universe, the creator of the heavens in

the earth, want a partner with us?

At the most basic, it's a poem reflecting on God as the creator.

So this poet has internalized Genesis 1 and is offering us the meditation, not just about

God's relationship to the world, but God's relationship to humans and what humans are

all about.

Salmaid was also an important poem for Jesus and the apostles.

Jesus expressed an interest in this poem and actually so did Paul and the anonymous author

of the letter to the Hebrews.

This is actually a frequently quoted poem in the New Testament.

Now in the beginning of the poem is a riddle.

What's one of the weakest things you can imagine?

Well perhaps it's an infant crying in his helplessness.

From the mouth of nursing babies and little infants, you have founded a stronghold because

of your enemies to stop the enemy and the avenger.

What?

...