By Jeremy Bell
I am going to share my personal study on Psalm 112 using groupings from my motif analysis. I have taken these groupings of the Psalm and put them together. So, the entirety of the Psalm will be posted, but these groupings will present the text in a different order. Color coded motifs are highlghted in my book, Psalms in Motif Visualization.
Distortion
Distortion is a word we apply to many subjects. It can mean warped, twisted, deformed, and perverted. It also means to give a misleading account or impression. We distort the truth, we pervert justice. We might claim that someone has a twisted personality, or distorted view of the world. Fawn M. Brodie states, ‘A man’s memory is bound to be a distortion of his past in accordance with his present interests, and the most faithful autobiography is likely to mirror less what a man was than what he has become.’
Some History
Distortion in music is relatively new. This is because in music, distortion is related to audio signal processing and amplification. These things exist due to human discovery and harnessing of electric charges and magnetic fields that we call electricity. Electricity had been studied for hundreds of years but harnessing it and using it did not come about until the early 20th century. The first practical amplifier was the triode vacuum tube, invented in 1906 by Lee De Forest, and produced by 1912. By 1927, Public Address systems, or PA’s, could be plugged into regular wall sockets and quickly became popular with musicians.
During 1920s George Beauchamp began experimentation with electric amplification of the guitar. He eventually produced the first successful single coil pickup. The pickup was two massive “U” shaped magnets and was known as the “horseshoe pickup”. So, guitars could be electrified for amplification and amplification was evolving for guitarists to be amplified. By the mid 1930’s enough had come together for this to be a growing market for the players and the listeners.
Too Much
In music, distortion happens when the audio signal from an instrument, like a guitar, goes into an amplifier and the amplifier does not have the capacity to fully handle the signal. It could be said that it is too much for the amplifier to handle. So, what is heard is not the original, clean transmission of the guitar, but rather a distorted transmission. It is deformed, warped, and twisted. As the electric guitar and amplifier were being developed, distortion came often by accident. Over time, it was pleasing to people. By the mid 1940’s blues artists were doing it on purpose as an artistic element. One can hardly imagine music since then without distortion.
In 2022, Garth Brooks performed a concert to over 102,000 fans at LSU’s Tiger Stadium. News from TheMusic.com.au stated that the performance caused a small earthquake, recorded and documented by a professor at LSU. The ground was shaken and picked up by seismograph. The performance was so loud it set off smart device alerts due to sounds reaching above 95 decibels. There was an alert because more than 10 minutes of that noise causes significant temporary hearing loss. A news station reported that people half a mile from the stadium could hear the performance, with one witness stating, “I can hear it, hear the crowd singing along.” There were no reports of houses or the ground moving in the stadium’s outer areas. https://themusic.com.au/news/garth-brooks-causes-earthquake-during-performance-tiger-stadium/UItIQkVER0Y/05-05-22
When I post for Audio Visualization, my goal is to highlight the patterns and intent over strict translation. I hope it gives fresh encouragement, but I strongly recommend the Psalm to be read as is for proper understanding. Psalm 2, grouped by motif’s, for audio visualization:
[ Psalm 112 ]
Grouping A
Praise Yah!
Blessed is the man who fears Yahweh,
who delights greatly in his commandments.
Wealth and riches are in his house.
His righteousness endures forever.
For he will never be shaken.
The righteous will be remembered forever.
He will not be afraid of evil news.
His heart is steadfast, trusting in Yahweh.
He has dispersed, he has given to the poor.
His righteousness endures forever.
His horn will be exalted with honor.
Grouping B
His offspring will be mighty in the land.
The generation of the upright will be blessed.
Light dawns in the darkness for the upright,
gracious, merciful, and righteous.
It is well with the man who deals graciously and lends.
He will maintain his cause in judgment.
His heart is established.
He will not be afraid in the end when he sees his adversaries.
The wicked will see it, and be grieved.
He shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away.
The desire of the wicked will perish.
Artsy
I grew up in an era was distortion was regular. As an element of artistic expression, I enjoy it; I appreciate it. I can’t imagine my music without it, and I can’t imagine banning it’s use. I have lived long enough to have my life shaken. I had beautiful things and experiences and I enjoyed them. And a day came when they were all removed from my life. A day of shaking; an earthquake that swallowed up who I was and everything I had built my life around. And it was all vanity; a breath that had come and gone. A very good friend reminded me in those days to remember truth. When I lost it, my world was distorted, warped, and twisted. He reminded me to rest in what was not distorted.
God cannot be shaken. He does not warp, twist, or distort. A day is coming when I know the fullness of His righteousness will transform me so that all that is distorted is removed forever. Until then, I do get shaken, I do relate to the distortion of the true. If I am not careful, I will warp my own life. I will take an expression of pain and rather than desire it to be removed, I will revel in it to be praised. When distortion is praised, I grow further from the original, further from truth. Until that day, it’s important to remember that what I hear through the amplified events of my life gets distorted. I can’t handle it. But God can. He can’t be shaken; He does not distort.
In God, the memory of me will continue not because of something I acquired or did, but because of His steadfastness. When I am steadfast, not fearing bad news, it will because of my trust in the Lord. If I see triumph over foes, it is because of what God has done. God asks His people to scatter the gifts He has given them to the poor. Don’t let fears distort the truth. God wants to help the poor and He asks His people to do it. His foes are against those who are against the poor. This is the distortion that points to the original.
Look for the Clean Truth
Remember, there is no distortion without a clean, perfect sound to begin with. Distortion is unnatural, it is manipulation of the true. It is also so common and so praised, it is loved. It is returned to typically without a moments’ thought to what is clean. But rather than this being an excuse, it is a sign. To really appreciate the distortion artistic effect of the art, one must know the clean state from which it comes. If you are experiencing a whirlwind of terribleness, remember truth. Take time to breathe and get past the unnatural distortion of your current circumstances. Get to the clean truth. The Bible was God breathed, written by His people who were in 100% agreement with God’s Holy Spirit. This is undistorted truth. In it is truth, life, and relationship with Him through His son. In it is the Nature of Joy.
Resources and Notes
All scripture in this article is from the WORLD ENGLISH BIBLE (WEB). The World English Bible (WEB) is a Public Domain (no copyright) Modern English translation of the Holy Bible. The World English Bible is based on the American Standard Version of the Holy Bible first published in 1901, the Biblia Hebraica Stutgartensa Old Testament, and the Greek Majority Text New Testament.
For more related to this blog, check out my post on Practical Life Strategy Steps Created in Root Cause Abundance.
This is a reliable translation, but it is always good to read other translations as well. Biblegateway.com has a multitude of translations to read from. It is a great resource.
Another great resource is Biblehub.com. There are multiple translations, commentaries, and so much more. Great research can be done on this platform.
One more I use regularly is Gotquestions.org. This is a great site to answer questions and find threads of related questions.
There are many resources. The key is that God wants relationship directly with you, the individual. His primary source for revealing who He is and growing in intimacy is His word, the scriptures. Don’t just read for instruction. Analyze and read for understanding. Explore, ask questions, and be transformed in Jesus every moment you possibly can. There is no dispute this is a key desire of God. People are brough to the Father, in the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit. This… This is the Nature of Joy.
Jeremy is an author, musician, and business intelligence manager. His mission is to equip and encourage those in Christ, to equip and encourage others in Christ. Jesus, Christ, is the Nature of Joy and melody of the heart. Jeremy unites business analytics (business intelligence), songs, and Scripture for Christian living in the power of the Holy Spirit.