
690 AD to 710 AD, Psalm 82: The Visigoths.
This generation is that of the 690s and 700s
If Muhammad turned away from Jerusalem to direct his prayers to Mecca, his successors tried to reclaim Jerusalem. Especially in the generation that interests us, Abd Al ‘Malik built the Dome of the Rock in 691 on the former site of Solomon’s Temple alongside the Al Aqsa Mosque built by his predecessors.
- In [10] the year 80 (of the Hegira), there was in Mecca a great flood, which destroyed many houses. The torrent carried all that was on its way to fully loaded camels; nothing resisted him; he even passed over the walls of the houses. This year is called the year of the torrent. In that same year, there was a violent epidemic in Baçra, from which many people died.
(extract of the psalm 82 associated to this generation, verses 1 and 2 )
- A song of Asaph. God stands in the congregation of God; in the midst of the judges He will judge.
- How long will you judge unjustly and favor the wicked forever?
- In 680 [11], King Erwig ordered all Jews in the kingdom to accept baptism, otherwise they would have to go into exile. The nobles not deploying the same zeal as their kings in the will to oppress the Jews. They were threatened with heavy fines if they were caught helping Jews escape the laws.
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- It is [12] precisely in the Visigothic kingdom that the sacral rite taken from the Old Testament knows its first reuse. It is applied to Wamba at the time of its advent, in 672. […]
- The rite of the coronation crossed the Pyrenees and the Channel less than a century after its first use.
(extract of the psalm 82 associated to this generation, verses 3 and 4 5 6 to 8 )
- Judge the poor and orphan; justify the humble and the impoverished.
- Release the poor and the needy; save [them] from the hands of [the] wicked.
- This part evokes the fate of the Jews in the land of Spain, rendered as slaves, dispossessed of their property and their children.
- They did not know and they do not understand [that] they will walk in darkness; all the foundations of the earth will totter.
- While the Visigothic kings are at the height of their fight against the Jews, the Muslim troops are preparing in the African soil to make them fall.
- I said, « You are angelic creatures, and all of you are angels of the Most High. »
- Indeed, as man, you will die, and as one of the princes, you will fall.
- Arise, O God, judge the earth, for You inherit all the nations.
- The Visigothic kings wanted to impose their belief to the Jews of their kingdoms, relying on the divine nature they attribute to Jesus, the prophet of Christianity. And indirectly to the Visigothic Kings through the sacral rite. This pretension will be useless to them and will not give them the desired immunity, including from their own aristocracy. Through the future fall of the Visigothic kings, it is the triumph of the divine real that is affirmed.
[10] TABARI: « The Chronicle, The Umayads » / Chapter: « Government of Haddjadj, son of Yousef, in the Irâq » (French: « La Chronique, Les Omeyades » / Chapitre : « Gouvernement de Haddjadj, fils de Yousef, dans l’Irâq » (p.114) )
[11] CHAIM POTOK: « A story of the Jewish people ». Book III: Islam, Nightingales in the Sandstorm « . (French: « Une histoire du peuple Juif ». Livre III : L’Islam, les rossignols dans la tempête de sable » (p. 404) ).
[12] Jean-Pierre MOISSET: « History of Catholicism ». Chapter 5: « One Church, Two Cultures: East and West » (French: « Histoire du Catholicisme ». Chapitre 5 : « Une église, deux cultures : Orient et Occident » (p. 149/150) ).