Waarom - beurtzang naar psalm 73 = Why - Antiphonal Song from Psalm 73, 1979 - 1981

Oosterhuis choice of Psalm 73 is a didactic poem, engendering reflection. It shares many aspects with the Book of Job, about confidence in the face of hopelessness. Alongside expressions of trust and declaration of innocence, there is the inescapable struggle of the psalmist and concerns as to the very survival of faith, which must ultimately lead to a deeper trust in God. There is resentment as to why the wicked prosper, remaining unpunished, even growing from strength to strength. Bij U, ik ben altijd bij U - With you, I am always with you. Huijbers intentionally puts the stress on the preposition with twice. He has chosen a setting of Kyrie eleison as his melody, the opening words of the Greek penitential litany, Lord have mercy. This is the setting for a liturgy at the grave side, following the Absolution and the Libera me Responsory, in Gregorian mode 1. This commends with confidence the deceased to a merciful God. Whenever we sing Kyrie, it is as though we were pleading for help, often against all odds. The meaning behind the words Kyrie eleison have led to a more positive understanding, being interpreted as Be here among us that we might prosper, that all might be well. Behind the confidence is a hopeful longing emerging from the turmoil of a torrent of unanswerable doubts and anxious questions. This is the school of Wisdom Litreraure, which questions the imponderables and leaves the soul searching for deeper resonance into the mystery of being.

Mowinckel, in The Psalms for Christian Worship, suggests that this is a cultic psalm, from a liturgy of thanksgiving, belonging within the gates of the Temple. There has been a catastrophe, to which the psalm alludes, but subsequent redaction by Temple editors have glossed over this, to produce a generic hymn to God's unquestionable mercy and promise. The overall purpose of thanksgiving seems to be that at last, all doubts have been resolved, and the psalmist has at last found peace. - Tony Barr