Ps. 7 (pt. 3)

And let / the assemblies / of people / gather around you.

And above it / take / your seat / on high.

The Lord / adjudicates / the nations.

We covered much of this ground yesterday: the idea of Yhwh’s ‘rising’ as his ‘coming close’ in judgment (i.e. it is only when Yhwh stands “above” the nations that he is placed in the role of the judge of those nations). It might help in this regard to review the psalms covered and see what this ‘judgment’ looks like. Ps. 1: the wicked shall not “rise up” in judgment (again, note the movement of ‘rising’ and how it is tied absolutely to judgment); Ps. 2: language very reminiscent of our current ps. 7 (“assemblies of people”; nations). There is here the military image of the congregating people coming to do war against the Lord. The Enthroned One then shouts, from “heaven”,and silences them handing to his son the “rod of iron” to smash the nations. Apparently, the enforcement of judgment has now been handed over to the anointed. Ps. 3: “Rise up, O Lord! Give me victory, O my God!” The act of deliverance from enemies is matched with the Lord’s ‘rising up’ and the provision of victory. Likewise, from his ‘rising’ he will “smite and smash”David’s enemies. Ps. 4: from the midst of his cry for judgment the psalmist asks that the Lord “lift up” his countenance; again, the act of judgment and the “lifting up” are coincidental. Ps. 5: “judgment’ in this psalm is simply too pervasive to summarize, although there is not explicit mention of Yhwh’s “rising”.He does, however, place over the righteous a ‘screen’ and is a ‘refuge’ (an image that shows up in our psalm). Ps. 6: the act of judgment occurs by visiting upon the enemies a punishment that is essentially the evil they had delivered to the sick man. What we see then is that “judgment” is often intertwined with the idea of Yhwh’s “rising” (whether that be his “face” or his sitting upon his throne). Likewise, the act of judgment is an act of deliverance and restoration. In Ps. 1 and 6 it also can be seen as an act of enlightening the righteous man’s path (it becomes a source of ‘blessedness’ or a “light to path”).It is likely then that when Yhwh “takes his seat on high” he is performing an action that is at once judicial (he will pronounce one party “righteous” (or innocent) and another party guilty). This pronouncement will also be an act of punishment and deliverance (deliverance for the ‘innocent’ and punishment for the guilty). And, it could be an act of provision of light. This is not to be understood, however, ‘chronologically’ (as in, justification (pronouncement of innocence) and then sanctification (provision of light)). These are all different ways of perceiving the same action (in certain contexts, certain aspects might be highlighted however: for example, the provision of light as guidance is desired when the enemies are hidden; or, the desire that Yhwh “rise up” could be in the context of a military attack). One final observation to make regarding the phrase “let the assemblies of people gather around you”.There are two ways of interpreting this, one of which I find the more probably and more profound. The first way is to see the nations simply gathering into the courtroom in a type of neutral manner; they simply congregate there in order that Yhwh will be able to divide the “wheat from the chaff”. The other manner of interpreting this (and the one I prefer) is to see this “letting” of Yhwh to be a request that he allow the rebellious nations into his presence in order that they be condemned. The difference between these two interpretations is that, in the second, the “people” are like those in Psalm 2: they are gathering together in order to make war against the righteous. To “let them come in” is to, in a sense, open the gate to them. The reason I prefer this interpretation is that the context of the psalm suggests that these men attacking David (attacking the anointed: Ps. 2), think they are correct; they think David has committed this crime, in much the same way that the nations in Ps. 2 were “seeking freedom”. To allow them to come into the judgment chambers is to give them what they want: they want a platform from which to speak their accusations. This request on David’s part to allow them room is similar to his self-imposed curse and assertion of innocence. Rather than being defensive, David asks that they be given room to speak because he knows Yhwh will search them out and defend David. It is, in essence, a way for David to have his name cleared “in the open”.It is an incredibly risky move: it would be much safer to simply ask that they be destroyed. It is, however, a move from which David stands to gain the most: if he is cleared “in public” then his enemies are shamed, his name is cleared, and his enemies were allowed to vent the full force of their wrath. If his enemies “lose”, there is no further danger.

Judge me / O Lord / according to / my righteousness

and / according to / my integrity / O Most High.

We begin to pick up again a thread we left off in the earlier verses and are introduced, in a fresh way, to an aspect of David that we were beginning to grasp but had not fully appreciated: his deep sense of honor. The self-imposed curses of the earlier verses were not true acts of self-doubt. David knew he was innocent of the charges of covenant infidelity. They did, however, begin to show us how intensely David despises these charges against him. Nothing could cut him more deeply than to have been charged with betraying a covenant partner. Just notice the intensity of the words used throughout this psalm (rip me…tearing me...treachery…trample my life…lay my glory in the dust…wrath…furious outbursts…indignation…sharpening sword…instruments of death…arrows of fiery shafts…in labor with iniquity….pregnant with mischief…violence descending upon his forehead). This psalm is a psalm of fury rooted in David’s honor being called into question. This sense of violated honor is one reason why there is also this repeated idea of exposure. David begins the psalm like a lamb “on the run” from attacking lions. He is seeking ‘refuge’. He then moves into the curses of covenant infidelity which involve allowing such men to be exposed to the danger of “ripping” and “tearing”. As we have seen, this ‘exposure’is heightened by painting a continuous picture of Yhwh’s ‘rising’. As Yhwh ‘rises’and assumes his authority, everything else ‘crowds’ around him, subject to his judgment. The ‘higher’ the “Most High” ascends, the more exposed is the earth to his dominion. So what is David accomplishing in all this? We began to see this in our last reflection and see it fully here—he conjuring a court room scene wherein his name can be fully ‘exposed’ to the judgment of the Most High. This enables David to have his honor (not just his ‘innocence’) returned to him because it is only in this very public (exposed) arena that he can have what was so publicly taken from him (his status as a covenant partner). It in this context that we can properly hear the portion of today’s reflection: “Judge me…”.In almost every other psalm we have encountered the judgment is not to be leveled against the psalmist himself; rather, it is to fall on his enemies. Here, David, standing at the foot of the ‘judgment seat’, along with every other ‘nation’and enemy, asks that he be scrutinized. This harkens back to the already performed self-scrutinizing he performed on himself in the opening of the psalm. All of this is in order to publicly display his innocence. This is truly a soldier/warrior ethic and honor system: a fully public reckoning. Nothing honorable is ever performed in secret and so every clearing of David’s name must be performed in public (‘innocence’ can be declared in secret; ‘honor’ can only be maintained in public). There is another aspect to this: these are the words of a true king. David knows that his leadership depends upon his honor. His ability to command troops and be the object of their devotion and love is absolutely wed to his honor. This accusation (of covenant-infidelity), if allowed to fester, would destroy his (future) ability to lead. I do not mean to imply by this that this a ‘calculated’move on David’s part—rather, as we can sense from his rage, his honor is who he is, and it is for this reason that he is a “man after Yhwh’s own heart”. When David is anointed king, it is Davidwho is anointed king. Saul understood the need for public honor, but it seemed, to me, to not be something wed to himself but was, in fact, something more ‘calculated’than David (it always had the potential of deviating into hypocrisy; it was always something remembered ‘after the fact’). The request that Yhwh judge him according to his “righteousness” and “integrity” fit this context beautifully: they are leadership qualities, king-like qualities. They are the type of characteristics that a person intensely aware of their own honor would seek to establish and would find to be a source of defense to accusations of treachery.

Let / the evil / of wicked persons / come / to an end.

But / establish / the righteous

and / scrutinize / the thoughts / and emotions

O Righteous God

There is here a very strong resemblance to Psalm 1. There, the evil were like “chaff” blown away by the slightest breeze in the act of ‘winnowing’. The righteous, by contrast, were ‘planted’ by rivers of flowing water and were allowed a place in the “assembly”. As we saw there evil and wickedness were not seen as things of ‘substance’. They were so easily separated from the righteous that all one needed to do was simply throw them in the air, in the same manner as the wheat. Their “end” therefore consisted in the same action as the righteous (the ‘throwing up’ or ‘winnowing’) but they, by their lack of weight, were ‘carried off’. Here, the evil of wicked persons, is to ‘come to an end’. This is contrasted to the ‘establishment’ of the righteous. Whereas in Ps. 1 the separation was understood as consisting in the ‘winnowing’,here it is understood ‘chronologically’ – as “coming to an end”. They very much speak to the same act of separation, but now, the separation is one of ‘ending’while the righteous ‘persist’. In the context of this psalm, it would seem like David is asking that this act of judgment that Yhwh is about to perform on everyone (David included) will be the ‘beginning of the end’ for the evil. They may persist for a short period of time after the judgment is rendered but it will “come to an end”, and on the other side the righteous (David, who has already appealed to his righteousness) will remain. The content of the judgment are the “thoughts and emotions” of those subject to Yhwh. It is not merely their thoughts, but their emotions as well—and David is fully of fury, which is emblematic of his sense of violated honor. This is very much an impassioned psalm (as every one has been, with the exception, in some ways of Psalm 1). These emotions are, very much, what carry the prayers to heaven (recall the fact that the psalmist in ps. 4 wanted Yhwh to hear not only his words, but the “sound”of his voice and murmurings). Indignation, fury, wrath, hatred, joy, peace: all of these saturate our psalms and they are not attributed only to Yhwh but also the psalmist. It is to these emotions that David now appeals for judgment. He wants Yhwh to see his, to sense and to hear them. It is clear what David thinks; the manner in which he composes the psalm and the images he uses convey his emotions. One thing we are going to need to address, perhaps next time, if the fact that ‘righteousness’ all of the sudden is making a large appearance in this half of the psalm (according to my righteousness; establish the righteous; O Righteous God; God is a righteous judge; I will laud Yhwh because of his righteousness).

My shield / is upon / God the One / who delivers / the upright / of heart

The psalm began with David’s reminding Yhwh that he has been David’s ‘refuge’. This image is very reminiscent, as we saw then, to the image in Ps. 3 of Yhwh as a shield which allowed David to sleep in the midst of his persecution (it was, in fact, what enabled him to enter into the rhythm of the created order of nightfall and morning). Here, the image of the shield emerges again. It seems almost out of place. The previous verse spoke of the courtroom and the ‘scrutinizing’ of the divine judge. The following verse speaks of the ‘righteous judge’. Here, though, the courtroom scene is seemingly set aside for a militaristic image of a ‘shield’. When looked at structurally, however, it is not at all strange: the psalm has moved in this pattern throughout: arise in wrath against enemies à awake and declare a judgment à let assemblies gather and ‘take your seat’ à adjudication of nations à let evil of wicked come to end à scrutinize the thoughts and emotions à shield and deliverance à God is righteous judge à He ‘sharpens his sword’ and makes ‘fiery shafts’. It is apparent that the act of ‘judging’ is part and parcel to the militaristic image of deliverance and punishment. This seems to be incredibly important: the act of declaring someone ‘righteous’ is also the act of destroying of the enemy. There is not the idea, at least here, of a pure ‘juridical’ pronouncement. To declare someone ‘righteous’/innocent is to also enact a defeat of the guilty; to ‘rise’to one’s seat of ‘judgment’ is to rise to one’s seat as Warrior King. We see, in this single verse, the combining (on some level) of this fact: the ‘delivering of the upright of heart’ has referred in the previous verses to being “judged according to my righteousness” and yet, the “shield” imagery harkens to the militaristic images that pervade the psalm. For Yhwh to have “David’s shield upon him” is to be his defense in a court of law—and, for him to be his defense, is to be his ‘refuge’ from the chasing lions and his ‘deliverer’.

God is / a righteous judge but God is / indignant / every day if / a person / does not / repent

Notice here how God’s emotions are employed: his indignation. We saw already how his act of judgment is one which scrutinizes the entirety of man: his thoughts and his emotions. He wants to see in man the same response to wickedness that he experiences—indignation. To have this emotion is to enter into (or mimic) God’s judgment. This emotion results in the readying for war against these men who do not repent (he will bend his bow, make ready instruments of death and make his arrows “fiery shafts”). This is what a “righteous judge” should do, not merely ‘proclaim’ judgment but enact it. Also, this indignation is absolute and without interruption. It does not rest but persists “every day”. This is an interesting comment, especially in light of David’s previous imploring of Yhwh to “wake up”. There seems to be here both a sense of an ‘abiding’characteristic of Yhwh (every day) and a sense of Yhwh moving/waking up/arising/’lifting self up’. Perhaps the context of this verse makes some sense of this: God is a ‘righteous judge’ (he doesn’t ‘become’ a righteous judge); He is indignant every day. Could it be that the shift to Yhwh having resumed his throne now places these characteristics of Yhwh in the present? Or, perhaps we should understand this in less of logical way and more in an ‘impressionistic’way. Neither of these are to be taken literally (we saw that Yhwh’s ‘rising’did not mean, necessarily, his literal movement ‘up’, but his assuming of authority). I’m not sure. This deserves more thought.