Repetition is the Key to Learning

Psalm 136 is one of those passages of Scripture that interprets itself.  If you don't get the point by the end of the Psalm, then you could definitely be described as dense.  Over and over, speaking of God, the Psalmist tells us "His love endures forever."  Some think that the Psalm was originally intended to be read responsively.  A singer would sing the words that vary while the congregation in the Temple would reply with the words: "His love endures forever."  I wonder what it sounded like for hundreds of Israelites to sing or repeat that phrase in the temple courts?

Why does the Psalm involve so much repetition?  Well as the blog title says repetition is the key to learning.  But maybe more than that is going on here.  Maybe Israel is going through some tough times when the psalm is written and so they need the repetition to convince them.  Repeating a phrase about God's love persuades them of God's love and reminds them that it is real.

It is interesting to note that the Psalmist proves God's love by reference to the Exodus from Egypt.  He teaches the people of God's love by reminding them of the story of Israel's flight from Pharaoh.  When the Psalm was written, this event was a millennia old.  None of the Psalmist's audience could remember it first hand.  But the story still functioned in a powerful way to remind the people of God's love.

As we read the Bible, we are reminded that the story of God's people then remains our story today.  Though none of us experienced the events and miracles that the Bible contains, those events still speak to us of God's love for His people.  Many of us are experiencing hard times today: illness, joblessness, depression, the death of a loved one.  Each pages of the Bible repeats that grand phrase of Psalm 136.  Though our lives may not always make it readily apparent: His love indeed endures forever.