Psalm 55 is another of those psalms that is rich with phrases and concepts that have been quoted and borrowed over the centuries. It is a pointer to layers of meaning that have accumulated and now form part of our cultural geology. Here is an example.
"Fear and trembling have overcome me..." (Psalm 55:6)
Therein is a phrase we have heard that has contributed its own additions to our collective psychic and social ground - S. Kierkegaard's philosophical work of the same name, "Fear and Trembling." Kierkegaard's reference is - perhaps more properly - to the epistle to the Philippians, chapter 2, verse 12 which uses the same or similar phrase as the psalm (at least in my translations). (And the 20th century gave rise to a curious metamorphosis from trembling to "loathing.") At 5:30 in the morning, which is often the time I read the psalms, when it is dark and I am bleak with sleep, the verse that comes to my comfort is the one immediately following.
"And I said, "Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest." (Psalm 55:7)
"I would flee to a far-off place and make my lodging in the wilderness." (Psalm 55:8)
How perfectly these verses comfort (and remind me of Psalm 102 - remember the pelican in the wilderness?); how perfectly.
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