Ps. 39.3 (tongue of flame)

“A fire / burned / in my mutterings – I spoke / with my tongue” These are the final lines before the eruption (and it will be an odd eruption). What I want to focus on here is the fact that the psalmist has been employing the imagery of fire and heat twice in order to describe his rage. It seems a common enough metaphor but I think we can mine some important insights from it as it is used in this psalm. Initially, we can point out that this metaphor comes at the end of a long(ish) description of his frustration, anger and, importantly, silence. As we pointed out in a previous reflection, the self-imposed silence is, in a very real way, only increasing the power contained within the psalmist; in other words, it is only making him more angry. By ‘muzzling’ himself he has not robbed the flame of oxygen. Rather, perversely, the flame has found a fuel source in the darkness of the psalmist’s restraint (containment only increases it). Furthermore, there has been a progression here: agony aroused à heart grew hot à fire burned in mutterings à I spoke.  We see here an increasing inability to ‘muzzle’ himself. And, like any flame, it begins (is ignited) by his agony, it increases with his heart growing ‘hot’, and then, his lips become like flickering flames as they ‘mutter’. Finally, the flame is allowed to expand and the psalmist ‘speaks’. The muzzle is burned away. This final image is important as the “tongue” is a ‘flame of fire’. This idea centers back on the opening because often wisdom literature alludes to the destructive power of the tongue. Here, the psalmist knows that by unleashing his tongue he is, potentially, setting fire to himself (and to others). However, as is clear by now, he cannot contain himself. It is important, especially in light of what will follow, that we recognize how aware the psalmist is of his own flame. What will emerge—this ‘flame’—will emerge in a very restrained manner. The psalmist, although he must speak, will do so, not in uncontrollable rage but in a restrained moment of respect (not without anger though).