The Ethics of a Community Seeking Shalom: Focusing on a Lament Psalm

This article argues that Psalm 102 presents an ethic of communal inclusion grounded in intercession. It interprets the tension between individual lament and Zion petition as a deliberate theological configuration. The afflicted “I” is portrayed as a socially vulnerable sufferer rather than a repentant sinner. Crucially, by aligning its identity with the “dust” of ruined Zion, the community embraces the individual’s suffering as its own, creating a suspended temporal space that preserves memory. Furthermore, framed by the intercessory paradigm of Book IV’s “Prayer of Moses,” this act defines the “people yet to be created.” Thus, communal shalom is realized not through the resolution of crisis, but through the shared bearing of unresolved suffering.