Native Americans=Ancient Israeli Civilizations

After reading the early American (would that be puritan?) version of Psalm 2 in the hymn book, I noticed some interesting changes to the text. Though I don't like the implications that the changes express, I think that their version was really quite appropriate for their time. It makes sense to localize a text to your surroundings. The settlers can't relate to events happening in ancient Israel, but they can relate to current events and people, such as the native Americans. If people understand what they are reading, they are more likely to believe in the text. So I think that the adaptation worked well for the new Americans. Although it is very possible that the text is using the word "heathen" to mean non-Christian, I think that it would be interesting to look at it in this light. Here are some of the changes made in the updated text:

First of all, the "nations aroused" become "heathens." Huh. In the new psalm, it appears that the native Americans that were encountered by early settlers are equivalent to the conspiring nations in the Middle East. The change is completely degrading to the native Americans. However, ethnocentrism was rampant during the settlement, and for long after. The settlers saw native Americans as primitive people, completely undeveloped to the settler's "sophisticated ways. I am not trying to say that if I were a settler at the time, I would view them differently; definitely not. I would probably follow the popular belief and think of them as sub-human, even though that is something that they are NOT. Anyway, the settler's saw the native Americans as threats to their ways and beliefs, and since they didn't seem to have religion (they did, of course), labeled them to be heathens. In the new psalm, the native Americans were, like the ancient countries, the immediate threat to the settler's religion. Therefore, they needed God's help to get rid of them.

In addition to the distinct change in text concerning native Americans, there new version is also updated in its basic syntax. It incorporates regional language and symbols (such as the "potters sherds" instead of jars). The language is less sophisticated than the original text. The basic reason for this is to make the text accessible to citizens of that time. Makes perfect sense to me!
However, I find the "heathen" replacement offensive. They should have just left the text alone...

Tangential side-note: I noticed how one of the sections used the word "fire." This was a pretty big symbol for puritans: symbolizing the burning flames of hell. All you have to do is read John Edward's sermon "Sinner's at the Hands of an Angry God," which compares people to dangling spiders above the fire, being supported by God's mercy. I thought it was interesting that fire was incorporated.