Verses on Various Occasions · Chapter
LIX: Judgment explained
The speaker prays to be spared from David's fate and asks God to choose his own suffering, reflecting on the nature of divine punishment and the redemptive value of an angel's scourge.
What happens
The speaker prays to be spared from David's fate and asks God to choose his own suffering, reflecting on the nature of divine punishment and the redemptive value of an angel's scourge.
Themes in this chapter
Sin and Redemption
The speaker seeks to avoid divine punishment and chooses a redemptive suffering akin to David's.
Suffering and Humility
The poem contrasts despair and random ill with the acceptance of a holier, angelic pain.
Characters to notice
- Unknown
The speaker who prays for guidance and deliverance from divine judgment.
- David
Referenced as a figure who chose a holier pain, serving as a model for the speaker's plea.
- Lord
Addressed as the one who wields the rod and from whom the speaker seeks mercy.
- Angel
Mentioned as the bearer of a scourge that is considered gain, contrasting with human and satanic wrath.
- Satan
Described as a tool of wrath alongside man, opposed to the angel's scourge.
Key passages
“If e’er I fall beneath Thy rod, As through life’s snares I go, Save me from David’s lot, O God! And choose Thyself the woe.”
If I ever suffer your punishment while navigating life's traps, spare me from David's fate and instead let you decide my suffering.
The speaker asks God to choose a form of suffering rather than leaving him to the consequences of his own choices.
“Satan and man are tools of wrath, An Angel’s scourge is gain.”
The devil and humans are instruments of anger, but the punishment from an angel is beneficial.
Contrasts destructive wrath with the constructive, redemptive pain sent by a divine messenger.