Arise / O Yhwh / do not let / humans / prevail
Let / the nations / be judged / before you
Put fear / in them / O Yhwh
Let / the nations / know / they are / only human.
There are two initial observations. The first is that, again, we see the motif of the ‘rising’ or ascending of Yhwh in order to become the judge of the nations/earth. It is one of the most common directives issued at Yhwh we have seen in the previous psalms; and, note, it is a command issued to Yhwh. The psalmist is imploring Yhwh to ascend to his throne and, in light of the previous verses, the reason is that the hope of the afflicted is about to be quenched, and the poor forgotten. This is an intercessory prayer by one who, reflecting upon the absolute destruction of nations by Yhwh, does not want this same destruction to fall upon Yhwh’s afflicted. For that reason, he stands within this space of hope and a fading memory, and asks that Yhwh ascend—it is this action, this ‘ascension’,that will re-ignite hope and memory because, as we have seen, the ascension of Yhwh to his throne is his both rescuing of the afflicted/righteous and his condemning/judging of the perpetrators (here, the nations). That is the first aspect. The second is the use of the word “let”: do not let humans prevail…let the nations be judged…let the nations know. Again, this is something we have had the opportunity to reflect on before but it deserves more attention in light of our first observations. The first use of the word, “do not let”,implies an almost active agency on the part of Yhwh: the psalmist is asking Yhwh to intervene in some manner, actively. The second and third use, however, seem more passive: “let the nations be judged….let the nations know”. The psalmist is not saying, “judge the nations” or “make the nations know”. There is a sense here that Yhwh simply needs to notdo anything in order for these (judgment and ‘knowing’) to take place. Now, this observation must be counter-balanced this fact: Arise Yhwh (active), Let nations be judged (passive), Put fear in them (active), Let nations known (passive). The dynamism here is unmistakable. And I think we can, very tentatively, say something to this effect: the rising of Yhwh as ‘judge’ of the nations effects both of these movements (the active and the passive). What I mean is this: when Yhwh ascends his throne, evil is ‘brought to its completion’as it boomerangs back upon the heads of the evildoing, and righteousness is redeemed to Yhwh’s praise. It is as if Yhwh’s presence, alone, reveals things as they are (evil, as evil and therefore as judged; righteousness, as innocent and therefore redeemed). Yhwh’s ascension is like a sun: hardening clay that is wicked, but softening wax that is able to be molded. It is the nature of the objects that stand in his light (as the ascended king) that determines the judgment; their nature ‘effects their own judgment’ (passive), and yet this judgment is effected because Yhwh has ascended his throne (active).
A final observation to make is in regard to the last two lines. There, we see the psalmist pleading with Yhwh to “put fear” in the nations. The effect, however, is so they “know they are only human”. It seems like an important insight given the fact that wisdom is said to “begin with fear of Yhwh”. Essentially, the psalmist is asking that the nations be cured of their foolishness, but it is one rooted in their esteeming themselves as ‘more than human’. If we look back at how the ‘nations’ have been treated in this psalm something interesting conclusions can be reached regarding why this ‘fear’is so important. The ‘nations’ are only mentioned, explicitly (other than the two times in these concluding verses), three times. In the first—they are ‘rebuked’by the enthroned Yhwh. They are also in the company of the ‘wicked’ who ‘perish’.They are also described, in this first instance, as having been subjected to utter destruction: Yhwh has ‘wiped out their names’. As we saw, this utter destruction is contrasted to the current plight of the afflicted, who also stand close to ‘perishing’. So, we see here the fact that, in the past, nations have not only been ‘struck down’ by Yhwh but annihilated, without remainder. In between the first and second mention there is a long description of Yhwh as the‘refuge of the oppressed’ and the “Enthroned of Zion”. The second time we find them, shovel in hand, digging a pit, only to find, once Yhwh ‘arises’, themselves plunging headlong into the cavern they created; again, the nations are described as being in the company of (or, being identified as) the ‘wicked’.The third time is likely a development of the second: the nations “return” to Sheol. Importantly, here they are described as ‘forgetting God’ and, in their absentmindedness, afflicted the righteous. These forsaken ones are perhaps the central character of the entire psalm (thus far). They have been forced into the dust by these wicked nations and the psalmist is imploring Yhwh to ascend, presumably ‘higher’ than the nations so that he can effectuate judgment, restore the earth to justice and thereby re-ignite the hope that is in danger of being snuffed out. Importantly, the ‘afflicted’ are those who are in the present. The psalm fluctuates wildly between the past, the present and the future. The past is marked by the destruction of nations—the future by the ‘setting things to right’ by Yhwh. The present is a time of affliction for Yhwh’s people, which is precisely why the psalmist implores him to “arise”. In sum, what we see is that the nations have begun to do again what they have done in the past: they have arisen against Yhwh’s people and afflicted them. They have ‘raised their heads’ so high that they are in danger of eclipsing the Enthroned of Zion. Their‘raising themselves up’ though is actually revealed to be their forcing (or attempting to force) Yhwh’s people into “the pit”; they are not, therefore, climbing higher as much as driving everyone else into the ground. Two further observation is this—1) the nations are described as “forgetting God”. In this last line it is implored by Yhwh that he “let the nations know they are only human”. It is an important juxtaposition: in the one, something is absent from their minds that should be (God), in the second it would seem that something is there that shouldnot be (they think they are “more than human”). While these should probably not be equated, they do relate to each other: to forget God can lead, disastrously, to a belief that a nation is more than human (and, vice versa, to remember God is to know that the nation is‘only human’); 2) this is not described as relation to individuals but to ‘nations’.When one is involved within such a unified force, as in a nation, it is almost impossible to keep in mind that that nation is just “as human” as Adam. The sheer size, power and durability of a nation would (almost inevitably) lead to an understanding that the nation is imbued with a force that exceeds what is mere ‘human’ and, in fact, is informed with the life of the divine. Throughout Scripture we see nations take on these additional powers: they are often described with terrifying power (often as monstrous beasts). They seem like anything but ‘human’. It is tempting to say that to view a nation as ‘merely human’ is not something that would/could come naturally to it but that it is only those who have stood within the Divine Name who see this fact so clearly (and, here, we see an additional ‘reality’ that springs from the Divine Name: that nations themselves are entirely relativized and brought low, even as much as man is revealed to be “Adam” and ‘raised up’). The question then becomes, “How would they ever know they were ‘only human’?” With these thoughts in mind these lines take on an added poignancy: “Let the nations know they are only human”. For the nations to know they are ‘only human’ they must be brought within the governance of Yhwh. As we saw in Ps. 2, they must become vassals and submit themselves to Yhwh (and, there, his anointed). They do not ‘become Israel’; they remain other ‘nations’. They do, however, come to recognize what must be ‘beheld’in this psalm: that Yhwh is the Enthroned of Zion and, for that reason, they are ‘only human’
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