Ps. 7 (pt. 2)

We ended our last reflection in the “earth” and “dust”of David’s self-imposed curse. His anger at covenant-breakers was palpable. Falsely accused what perhaps, to David, is greatest sin one could be guilty of he lashes out. One can almost feel the heat of his anger. His attack, however, is in an unexpected direction. It is against those to whom this accusation would ring true. It is a fascinating insight into David’s heart that he would, upon hearing of this accusation in particular, react not as much defensively, as offensively. The end result of this anger is in death, the robbing of glory and dust. Although not stated, David sees those who are covenant-breakers as properly abiding in Sheol. It is important to feel this grinding curse in order to see how much the next several demands flow from but stand in contrast to it. The images of ‘ascent’ pile on top of one another in very quick fashion: “Arise, O Lord…Lift yourself up…Awake, O Lord, my God…take your seat on high…” It is not coincidental that the final words of the psalm are “the Lord, Most High”.What is also apparent is that these spatial commands are not to be understood literally but as the Lord’s assuming of his throne in order to execute judgment. Typically, the idea of the Lord ‘ascending’ sounds like a ‘going away’or a distancing. This is manifestly not the case here. Rather, it is the opposite. Because these covenant-breakers are seen as dwelling on the ‘earth’ and ‘dust’the Lord movement ‘upward’ is seen as his ‘coming close’ to David; his providing him the requested ‘refuge’. One way to understand this (which is what these words refer to) is a king’s sitting upon his throne. When a king adopts his stance of authority within his realm, he is not ‘far away’ from his people. He is in fact moving into a position of intimacy and protection: he is adopting the authority of his office. This is why people would flock to see the coronation of a king. It was not until he ‘went up’ to his throne that he was properly vested with the authority necessary to rightly rule his realm. This is why ‘rising’ is almost always associated with ‘receiving glory’. It is the assumption of authority and reigning power. It is, therefore, entirely appropriate that the Lord would, in the face of covenant-breakers, “arise in wrath”. It is as if he is running to his throne in order to put on the authority necessary to punish these wicked men. And so we see that David’s fury is one that is very much shared with Yhwh; David is, indeed, a man after Yhwh’s heart. There is an additional, important, aspect to this ‘rising’. The words “Arise” and “awake”are often associated with the image of warfare. The arc of the covenant, when it would taken into battle, would ‘arise’ to go before Israel. The image of “awakening” is similar to many battle cries, particularly the one spoken by Deborah (Judges 5.12). There is then a combination of images: a ‘judicial’image of a king who arises to his throne in order to enact justice and one of a‘warrior’ girding himself in preparation for battle. These are important images: the Son of Man will ‘ascend’ to the Ancient of Days, in order to ‘sit at his right hand’; Jesus will “ascend” in order to be enthroned next to the Father. These ‘ascensions’ must be understood as both the enthronement and the dawning of battle gear.