O Yhwh / why / do you stand / at a distance
why / do you conceal yourself / in times of trouble?
In arrogance / the wicked / hotly pursue / the afflicted;
Let them / be caught up / in the devices / they have planned
for / the wicked / has boasted / of his / innermost desires
and / the robbers / has cursed.
A common manner of reading this portion of the psalm is that the psalmist moves from a place of confusion and/or despondency to a place of confidence in Yhwh; when interepreted in this manner these opening verses are relativized as the originating from a place of insecurity and, thereby, as not the fullest or ‘truest’expressions of faith. The psalm is, then, interpreted as a type of inward-spiritual transformation; it is, in a word, rather pietistic. As an example—some would say that Yhwh is not really ‘far off’ or ‘standing at a distance’, but that the psalmist is so overcome by injustice that he cannot ‘see’Yhwh as enthroned and present. Yhwh’s ‘distance’ is therefore not an objective state of affairs but an internal blindness on the part of the psalmist. In a sense, this makes these opening verses to be a type of ‘shadow-expression’, something that has not emerged into the fully light of true faith-vision—the progression in the psalm is purely internal to the psalmist. I think this has a lot going for it; the psalm does shift perspective as it progresses. However, I want to see if there is a way of tracking this psalm that takes these initial verses with seriousness, or, in a way, more literally. Essentially, what happens when we read this as it stands: that Yhwh is, in times of trouble, actually standing far off (meaning, to state it more explicitly, Yhwh’s distance is, in fact, real and not something caused by the internal/subjectivity of the psalmist). To begin: the psalmist asks why Yhwh ‘stands far off’ and ‘conceals’ himself in times of trouble. Initially, we must observe this: so far, we have encountered this idea of Yhwh’s absence; however, what we have not seen is that Yhwh is somehow incapable of being present. Rather, it seems to be rooted in his prerogative. Notice the words used “standing far off”is matched by “conceal”. The predominate idea is that Yhwh is choosing to stand far off/conceal himself. In addition, the word ‘conceal’ is suggestive: he actually is present but he is ‘in hiding’ or ‘in cognito’. Is the psalmist somehow attempting to gain traction on the idea by matching these two images: one of absence, the other of hidden presence? Might it be that the psalmist has no way to formulate, in abstract precise terms, Yhwh’s ‘location’ in times of trouble? My understanding of what it means for Yhwh to ‘conceal’ himself is limited; the only instances I know of refer to him as being ‘concealed in darkness’ and ‘in cloud’. Interestingly, there is, perhaps, an indication that the original ‘darkness’of creation was but a ‘concealment’ of Yhwh: a type of shrouding or a waiting for him to begin his act. Exactly what this means, though, is difficult to determine. Often, his concealing of himself is in order to guard the people against his unmediated presence: something that would destroy them. It is, therefore, an act of protection; this is an interesting concept but not one that I think need detain us for long (in order to be in Yhwh’s presence was to be in the presence of a concealed Yhwh). Here, though, his ‘concealment’ actually leaves the psalmist in a very vulnerable position and subject to attack. These are just some initial thoughts. But they are important because I think we are going to find that they flow, quite naturally, into the psalmist mediation upon “the wicked” who claim Yhwh does not see their action, or, will do nothing about it. Note, however, this fact: the “wicked” are the ones who believe Yhwh is unable to detect their wickedness or unable to do anything about it; the psalmist, on the other hand, never indicates that is his belief, only that Yhwh is concealing himself; he knows Yhwh could intervene.
From these initial considerations, we move into the arena of ‘the wicked’, and the shift is abrupt. The opening verses are a complaint against the passivity of Yhwh (he is, intentionally, either doing nothing about the situation or he is present but concealing himself; either way he refuses to engage in the injustice being performed). These verse, by contrast are full of the wicked’s activity: they “hotly pursue” the afflicted in arrogance. Whereas Yhwh appears to be veiled, these men’s faces of arrogance are fully revealed. Whereas Yhwh’s presence is almost entirely reserved and undetectable, these men’s actions are performed openly and without reserve. The use of the word ‘arrogance’ is important to note: these men, in these verses, are portrayed as flaunting their wickedness. They are not acting by stealth, but in the full light of day. This type of wickedness is, perhaps, the most blatant: to act in stealth is to still act as if one could be caught by a greater power; to act in the open is to say that the person against whom one is committing the crime, is unable to stop the activity (in essence, the wicked are saying they are stronger than Yhwh). This ‘arrogance’ is a direct contrast to Yhwh’s ‘concealment’.We have seen something vaguely similar in Ps. 2—there, the nations were allowed to congregate and muster their strength. They were allowed to travel to the mountain of God and they were allowed to issue their threats. In the context of that psalm, their ability to ‘gather their strength’served as a foil to Yhwh’s booming laughter. It was as if Yhwh was allowing them (‘concealing himself’) to build themselves up as high as possible to show them that, as high as they could get, was no comparison with his might (their words of war were but a source of laughter to Yhwh). Approaching this psalm may be getting ahead of ourselves: it does point, however, to this open rebellion on the part of the wicked (in other words, this ‘arrogance’ of the wicked) and of Yhwh’s ‘concealment’ or allowing the wicked space to grow in order to show them just how infantile they are. From this the psalmist issues what we have seen so often: “Let them be caught in their own devices”. The psalmist is, very appropriately, calling down judgment on these wicked men, but in the manner we have come identify in almost every psalm: the ‘judgment’ is in simply permitting them to be caught in their own webs; it is, in other words, allowing them to continue their evil actions in such a way that the edifice they create comes crashing down on their own heads (or, in an image of Psalm 9—allow them to continue digging their own pit and Sheol (the idea of Sheol as being ‘excavated’by the wicked I find fascinating)). “For the wicked has boasted of his innermost desire”—this is reminiscent of something we saw previously, in ps. __. There, the righteous man commanded to wicked to keep his wicked thoughts to himself; he was allowed to grind away on his bed, but he was not permitted to actually perform his evil actions. Here, though, we find that these ‘innermost thoughts’ have come to fruition: the wicked have ‘given birth’ to them and this is described as “boasting”. There are, in the prophets, indications that ‘boasting’is a form of idolatry (a ‘boaster’ is someone who sets up and worships a foreign god; it may be that they set up these foreign gods in close proximity, if not in, the Temple). Here, the image is similar, as we will see more fully later: the boasting of wickedness is a direct claim that Yhwh is unable or unwilling to counter it. It is, in effect, an idolatrous statement because it places another being alongside Yhwh as more powerful than he: the wicked person himself (or, his god). To hold the thoughts in is, like the ‘stealth’ described above, a statement that one still works within a framework that could ‘bring down judgment’. However, when these thoughts are no longer ‘inner’ and have emerged into the light, they are ‘boasting’ in that they allow the wicked actions complete reign in the public/communal sphere
