Ps. 9.4-5 (judgment as death-dealing)

When / my enemies / turn back 
they shall be / thrown down / and / perish / before you 
for you / have undertaken / my judgment / and / my cause 
you / have sat / upon the throne / judging righteously.

We are, here, in familiar territory. Much of this can be understood as a condensed version of Ps. 7.  There, we saw Yhwh ‘arising’ to his throne as judge and, likewise, that his acts of judgment declaring one party guilty involved their destruction—Here, we see the “Most High” sitting upon his throne and declaring one party guilty. Furthermore, this act of judgment was understood to be an act on behalf of David—Here, see Yhwh “undertaking my judgment and my cause”. There, the act of destroying David’s enemy was portrayed as a ‘lowering’ into the dust—Here, we see that they shall be “thrown down”. Along these same lines, there the imagery moved from the “low” of death and dust to the ‘arising’ of the “Most High”—Here, we have an appeal to the “Most High” who “sits upon the throne”. There are a few differences, though, but more in tone than anything: there, we saw David placing himself, along with everyone else, in front of the throne of Yhwh. He even went so far as to pronounce a curse upon himself if he was found guilty. Here, there is a different emphasis. The distance of Ps. 7 is gone and Yhwh is actively undertaking the psalmist’s cause and judgment. And I wonder if the word “thrown down” has any similarity to the “throwing down” of the Egyptians from their chariots in the Reed Sea? If so, that act of ‘judgment’ was a ‘taking upon himself’ the ‘cause of Israel’ much like we see here. Perhaps what should be emphasized again is the fact that Yhwh’s judgments are not mere declarations of ‘innocence’ or ‘guilty’ but involve the destruction of the evil. The proclamation of his judgment is the execution of that judgment: the safeguarding of the innocent and the ‘perishing’ of the guilty. Likewise, this points to another aspect—the judgment’s of Yhwh are judgments of life and death. To have Yhwh take up one’s cause is to stand within life; to have Yhwh pronounce one guilty is to be “thrown down” and “perish” before him; as we saw yesterday, and will see again, this “life” consists of memory and praise in the real presence of Yhwh, this “death” consist of descending into Sheol were Yhwh cannot be remembered and where his presence is absent (to be judged guilty by Yhwh is to be ‘cast out’ from life itself).