Ps. 18 (pt. 1)

Ps. 18

And he said/ I love you / O Yhwh / my strength The opening is shocking for its poignancy. No where else in the OT is the term used that is here translated as ‘love’. And, in our reflections thus far nothing would really prepare us for this statement either. There have been appeals to seeing Yhwh’s face (or form), of being delivered so as to allow praise of Yhwh’s name to continue. But no where has this type of intimate and so familiar of language been employed. These are words spoke by a psalmist (I think, David) that doesn’t just know and experience Yhwh as a delivered and source of life, but of someone who warrants the epitaph he has been given, “A man after Yhwh’s own heart.” This psalm, in particular, with this beginning is the most individual psalm we have encountered; in a sense, this truly is David’s psalm and we simply listen in. David truly is a devotee of Yhwh. This also points us to another psalm we have looked at and really stands in the background o this psalm: Psalm 2. We will refer to this psalm often in our reflection on this psalm, but for the purposes of this opening line we should recall the fact that in Psalm 2, after Yhwh addresses the nations, it is left to the ‘king’ to report the remaining words of Yhwh. These words were told to the ‘king’ apart from our presence, in an intimate dialogue (the ‘anointing’) that made the king the adequate spokesman for Yhwh (much like Moses and the prophets). Upon emerging from this dialogue the king is now (and has been made) Yhwh’s ‘son’. It is this very intimate, persona and unrepeatable conversation (because, it can only occur with the ‘king’) that links that psalm with this one; except, here we are given the words of warmth spoken back to Yhwh, words that could not be more intimate. It is David’s face that provides us a particularly clear window into Yhwh’s heart. From this original statement begins and overflow of praise: Yhwh is / my cliff / and / my stronghold / and / my deliverer My God is / my rock / in whom / I seek / refuge, My shield / and / my horn / of salvation / my safe retreat. Again, we are not in a familiar territory with this piling on of images. Nothing like this has occurred in the psalms covered thus far and it speaks of a very personal and intimate encounter between David and Yhwh. It seems to me that this, again, speaks to the psalms highly individualistic feel: in a sense, this really is only David’s psalm and one we can repeat but it is so personal to David that we can, in the end, only listen in. The images form two constellations, but one universe. They all point to deliverance, however, they do so 1) militarily and 2) in images of the wilderness. Both of these were aspects of David’s eventual rise to power: he was an outlaw who had to live in the wilderness (in the crags, caves and rocks) and he was a military genius. Furthermore, even before he was chosen by Yhwh, he was a shepherd: this may be a source for the wilderness language as well. There is also exhibited here something that is characteristic of the David stories: the sense of David actively seeking out Yhwh’s protecting/power, and Yhwh’s graciously, almost delightedly, giving it to him. It is along these lines that we need to make a point we will return to: as a royal psalm, this is the type of relationship the new Davidic ‘messiah’ would embody when he came. He would, as David did, seem to have a very privileged access to Yhwh’s ear. This is accomplished primarily not through the piling on of images (we have encountered almost all of these already) but through the prefacing of them all as “my”: my cliff, my deliverer, my god, my rock, my shield, my horn, my retreat. David has great love for Yhwh, but here we sense the fact that Yhwh has an almost burning love for David as well. Whatever he asked would be given (and the power of that response to David is astonishing in this psalm). One ‘my’ in particular in this list is deserving of attention: ‘my God’. It would not be proper to say ‘my Yhwh’ (it simply wouldn’t make sense). And one thing I’ve noticed throughout these reflections is, on my part, a lack of referring to Yhwh as ‘God’ but as Yhwh; describing him as “God’ seems almost rude. However, here it is very appropriate and full of pathos: to David, Yhwh is ‘my God’. It is not simply ‘Yhwh is God’. He is ‘my God’. Again, on sense here David’s heartfelt devotion to Yhwh (the fact that he is a devotee). It is crucial that we understand that, regardless of the access everyone had to Yhwh’s presence, the Davidic messiah would be seen to embody this entirely unique and intimate relationship with Yhwh. In the words of Psalm 2, they were waiting for the ‘messiah’ son. The rest of the psalm is going to flesh out exactly how this played out in David’s rise to power, but it seems that this entirely intimate overflowing (in an almost embarrassing manner: like David’s ‘dancing’), provides a context to the psalm that completely shades it into new colors and hues. I called / upon Yhwh / who is / worthy of praise And I was / delivered / from my enemies. This psalm could have begun with these two lines (although it would have completely changed the texture of the psalm). They summarize everything that follows: the fact that David ‘calls upon Yhwh’, the fact that Yhwh is ‘worthy of praise’ and the fact that Yhwh pays powerfully close attention to David’s prayers. The cords / of death / have entwined / me And the torrents / of Belial / have overwhelmed / me; The cords / of Sheol / have surrounded / me; There are many things that need to be said about this introduction to the drama of the psalm. On one level we see here something similar to David’s complaint in a previous psalm regarding Absalom’s rebellion and pursuit of his father: the sense of constriction and suffocation. The ‘cords’ seem to be tightening around David in the same manner as his rebellious son and cohorts were surrounding him on Mount Olive. What is important here is the active sense of Sheol and death: they seem to be shooting up cords from the ground in search of David to drag him into the Pit. They are aggressively after him, on this side of life. A boundary that should not be crossed—between life and death—is apparently being traversed. This image is matched by David being engulfed by a flood: the ‘torrents’ of Belial have overwhelmed me. David is not only helpless to break out of the danger, but he is also overwhelmed by it. Again, the ‘dry land’ that David should be on is being taken over by the ‘flood’—a boundary is being removed. Any familiarity with Genesis (and the law code) and Exodus reveals that when the ‘flood waters’ break their boundaries injustice is rife on the earth. The waters are simply a manifestation of the chaos already prevalent within the human realm. This is leading into the second point about these lines: David is reaching back to Genesis, Exodus and other Canaanite myths to layer his experience. This it not merely literary embellishment though, as we will see. Specifically, there is a Canaanite myth that is most applicable: Mot and Yam (gods of death and chaos), are ascending in power. Baal (god of storm) demonstrates his power and conquers Yam and Mot, thereby establishing order on the earth. This must have been a prevalent myth as it seems to intersect, in some manner, in many ways with the OT. What is transformed in David’s retelling is that he is the one who is about to be overcome by death and chaos: whereas before all of creation was in jeopardy, now it is centered entirely on David. What will become clear later is that David is understood as a type of creation—he carries order with him. Meaning, David is more than just an individual—he is the king of Israel and the destined ‘son of Yhwh’. In a sense, all of creation is ‘riding on him’. As we have had the chance to comment before: we must never forget that for David to be ‘a man after Yhwh’s heart’ is not referring to him simply as an individual but as the king/shepherd of Israel. And not just Israel: Yhwh’s anointed will never be simply a national king but will, in potentiality, be the king of every nation. As the psalm later says, “You made me the head of the nations. A people I knew not served me; On the ear hearing they became obedient to me. Foreigners shrink at my presence, foreigners sink down exhausted…” “David” is a man who establishes Yhwh’s justice upon the earth in his capacity as king. It is because David’s heart was as expansive as Yhwh’s to Yhwh’s people that David’s heart was “after Yhwh’s”. In my distress / I called / upon Yhwh And I cried out / for help / to my God. Again we have the matching of “Yhwh” and “my God”, indicating David’s very intimate sense of almost ownership. The wording “cried out” is something that resonates throughout the OT, particularly in Exodus and Judges. In both, the cry emerges from Yhwh’s people in response to their oppression by a foreign force. In Exodus, the ‘crying out’ is not necessarily linked to the people’s sin although in Judges it is. Here, David is innocent like Jews in the Exodus story. Also, in Judges a ‘deliverer’ is sent whereas in Exodus God intervenes directly. Here, things are not that simple: God ‘intervenes’ by ‘raising up’ David. He heard / my voice / from his temple, And my shout / entered into him / into his / very ears. The first aspect of this verse draws attention to Yhwh’s, in a sense, permitting the voice into his presence. The activity is on Yhwh’s part: He ‘heard’ my voice. The second part of the verse, however, tempers this: the prayer almost forces itself on Yhwh—it is as if Yhwh is defenseless against David’s request. It enters him, and, more than that, it enters “into his very ears”. One gets the sense of the prayer almost impregnating Yhwh with David’s shout. Once it crosses the threshold of the heavenly Temple, it rushes and overtakes Yhwh. In light of Psalm 2, this is the fatherly response to a son’s shout for deliverance. Once the content of the prayer is discerned it overwhelms the father’s heart and becomes totalizing. Also, David ‘shouts’ to Yhwh; later, in response Yhwh will ‘thunder’ at David’s enemies. Yhwh is enraged by the evil being perpetrated upon David. Then / the earth / shook / and quaked and the foundations / of the mountains / quivered

Then / the earth / shook / and quaked The response is immediate and profound. And yet, notice how Yhwh is not the immediate subject of this sentence—the earth is. By delaying the cause of the ‘shaking’ until the end of the verse (“because he was angry”) the psalm gives the impression of an almost uncontrollable, because it is immediate, reaction by Yhwh. In other words, by delaying the ‘cause’ of the earth’s shaking, the psalm shows Yhwh’s visceral reaction to David’s cry—in essence, just as this psalm opened with David’s love for Yhwh, this immediate response by Yhwh clearly shows his absolute devotion to David. It is almost as if David has cast some spell over Yhwh, like a child over his father. This is an important follow up to David’s cry overtaking Yhwh. And his anger is profound—it shakes the very foundations of the earth. This is an earthquake in response to David’s cry, originating from Yhwh’s anger in the heavens. It is interesting that Yhwh has not yet ‘parted the heavens’ to descend to the earth. His anger in heaven alone is enough to cause this earth to shake and quake and the mountains themselves to quiver. It is a foreboding of events yet to come when the earth is responding like this already to Yhwh’s anger and he has not yet begun his descent. It is almost as if the earth and mountains are acting some sort of prophetic ‘cowering’, knowing that once David’s cry is heard Yhwh will move with fury. I wonder too if we are to hear a foreshadowing of another sort: later in the psalm the nations will come before David ‘quaking from their strongholds’. So here Yhwh’s ‘authority’ is enough to make the earth shake, later David’s authority will be enough to make the nations quake as he is empowered by Yhwh’s strength. Smoke / has gone up / from his nostrils, and consuming / fire / from his mouth; coals / and fire / flame forth / from him. Yhwh is enraged. He takes on the appearance of volcanic anger as his face is transformed into a dark and burning flame that shoots forth coals and fire. He is like some meteor preparing to enter earth’s atmosphere. One sensory aspect of this is the mixture of darkness (“smoke from his nostrils”) and unbearable heat/light (consuming fire; coals and fire). As at Sinai Yhwh is wreathing himself in this mixture of both darkness and light. This is very different than when a psalmist speaks of Yhwh’s face ‘shining on him’. Rather, this is the tremendum of Yhwh’s presence as it displays itself in sovereign anger/wrath and love for his endangered ones. This is Yhwh clothing himself for battle (Judges 5:4-5; Ps. 68:7-8) for his anointed.

Then / he spread apart / the heavens / and came down, with dense cloud / under his feet; and he rode upon a cherub / and flew and soared / upon the wings / of the wind. We have here the second “Then” of three. The first revealed the shaking of the earth in response to Yhwh’s heavenly anger. Now, Yhwh parts the heavens and begins his descent to the earth (much like he descended onto Sinai during the exodus). It is easy to lose sight of the fact that all of these divine displays of power are in response to David’s prayer. Most of them are deriving their imagery either from myths associated with the enthronement of a god or with Yhwh’s rescuing of the entire nation of the Jews (his ‘first-born’) from Pharaoh. But here, again, Yhwh’s love for David is so profound that not only does his prayer invade his ears and cause an immediate response of anger, but it actually calls Yhwh forth from heaven. Yhwh is not sending a messenger, he is not orchestrating David’s rescue from his temple (unlike in other psalms, Yhwh doesn’t answer from his temple; he himself leaves his temple, parts the heavens and descends). There could be no greater display of rescue than that Yhwh would himself leave heaven to personally redeem David from the cords of Death and Sheol. The vehicle for Yhwh’s presence is truly terrifying: dense clouds under his feet, riding on the wings of cherubim. He made / darkness / his den; his lair / round about was dense clouds / dark with water. There are a few things about this image that deserve comment. First, on a sensorial level the image is of Yhwh engulfed in a massive storm head. One gets the sense that the darkness is shrouding the power contained therein. But, interestingly, we must acknowledge that this ‘darkness’ is, in fact, the beginning of Yhwh’s revealing of himself on earth. This terrifying darkness is a display of power that both reveals and conceals Yhwh. Furthermore, there could be a reference here to the darkness at the beginning of creation. If that is the case then the image works in several ways: it would show that in Genesis the ‘darkness’ is not an indication of Yhwh’s absence but of a type of ‘pregnant pause’ before the burst of creative activity; likewise, here, the darkness would be a shrouding that ‘hides’ Yhwh in one sense but serves only to cower creation and make it weak before the explosion of Yhwh’s saving hand. This could also point to the fact that when Yhwh removes his garment of darkness, a new creation will emerge: David, redeemed from Death and Sheol. This image is enhanced by the darkness being described as a ‘den’ or a ‘lair’—Yhwh appears like a lion (or some dragon), waiting in hiding, providing his own cover, prior to unleashing his torrent of anger. Furthermore, this image also stands in contrast to David’s being ‘surrounded’ by the cords of Death and Sheol: whereas David was involuntarily being dragged into the underworld, Yhwh descends from heaven, ‘surrounded’—but this ‘surrounding’ is a withholding of his massive power. The ‘surrounded one’ (David) will be freed by the ‘surrounded one’ (Yhwh). And, as if Yhwh’s presence was simply too powerful to be hidden, the cloud’s themselves burst into flames: “From the brightness / before him / clouds / burst into flames”. In the heavens, Yhwh was described in images of fire (and smoke), as a type of volcanic deity. When he parted the heavens though, his first mode of expression was in deep darkness, a storm cloud that was pregnant/dark with water. The heavenly reality, when it appears on earth, first shows itself in its opposite: in heaven—Fire/Smoke; on earth—Water/Clouds. Now, though, the heavenly reality is beginning to emerge, as if it cannot be contained in its earthly embodiment. Indeed, it actually ignites the clouds and begins to consume them (much like Yhwh’s flame descended from heaven and consumed the watery wood of Elisha). And they are not merely consumed, from the midst of these water clouds emerge “Hail / and fiery coals”—again, a reference back to the heavenly display of anger. There “coals and fire flame forth”, here, the storm clouds begin to give off these heavenly realities. It is as if the lion is emerging from his ‘den’ or ‘lair’ (the dark clouds). In the language of Genesis, this would mean that the chaos is beginning to be dispelled and a new creation is about to emerge. It does seem important to note here that David will later describe Yhwh as “lighting my lamp”, indicating he is in darkness (something certainly implied with Sheol and Death). It would seem, then, that Yhwh actually clothes himself in this darkness at first, only to emerge later as utter, and powerful, light (much like creation itself). Yhwh’s revealing of himself on earth can, therefore, take on aspects of deep darkness of death: it can evoke this sense of terror, and impending doom. And yet, this darkness is not Yhwh’s heavenly reality; it is the but his ‘outer garb’ as he begins his descent from heaven and, in fact, it cannot contain him but is itself ignited by his presence. Without pushing this too far, one might point to the beginning of the gospel of John: “and the darkness has not/cannot perceive him”. Furthermore, we have noted the parallels between the imagery deployed and other Canaanite mythologies, specifically those of Baal. I wonder if this contrast between the heavenly ‘flame and smoke’ and earthly ‘water and cloud’ is not working along these lines as well: it is showing that Yhwh, in his earthly appearance, has all of the powers of Baal in the storm cloud and yet, this appearance is only his ‘den’ or ‘lair’ that he emerges from in fiery anger. If that is the case then this psalm is both co-opting the mythology and showing that Yhwh is in fact the power of storm clouds, and not Baal, and also making a rather strong rebuke to these mythologies: these clouds are actually unable to contain the power of Yhwh; in fact, they ignite with the presence contained in them. By contrasting the heavenly reality of fire with the earthly reality of water the psalm is showing that Yhwh is in fact stronger (much stronger) than Baal, and the point of this is not merely to showcase Yhwh’s strength and superiority but to display Yhwh’s devotion to the Davidic king. In this way, the psalm operates to show that this king has the power of Yhwh behind him, a power that is almost infinitely more powerful than the ‘god’ who stands behind any other king. Then / Yhwh thundered / from heaven, And Elyon / gave forth / his voice – hail / and fiery coals! The final transition is, again, marked by a ‘then’. The first described Yhwh’s heavenly and incendiary anger; the second Yhwh’s descent to earth clothed in a storm cloud; this final one will detail the war waged by Yhwh on behalf of his anointed. From the midst of the flaming storm cloud, thunder emerges. The war begins with a Voice. This is somewhat reminiscent of Psalm 2: there, the nations gathered to make war on Yhwh and his anointed; they arrived at his mountain, and then a horrendous booming laughter emerged from heaven followed by a shout. Here, heaven erupts in anger, Yhwh descends in a storm cloud and now Yhwh booms in thunderous response to David’s precarious situation. The following line is particularly stately: Elyon gave forth his voice. It conjures up images of supreme, sovereign strength. The ‘voice’ is itself a type of object ‘given over’, indicating the fact that this is not merely a vocal utterance but is itself the powerful judgment of Yhwh/Elyon. War has begun and it has been initiated, with terrible ferocity, by Yhwh with his ‘voice’—Hail / and fiery coals! Again, images of the heavenly fiery anger emerge. This is Yhwh’s pure unadulterated anger, blazing out of a storm cloud. And / he dispatched / his arrows / and scattered them, And multiplied / bolts of lightning / and routed them. In a previous psalm we saw the image of Yhwh ‘preparing for battle’: he was ‘sharpening his sword’ and ‘preparing his fiery shafts’; he bent the bow back and, presumably, shot fire tipped arrows at the earth (the wicked). There, the fiery shafts descended from heaven. Here, we have been given the impression that Yhwh has descended from heaven and yet it says he “thunders from heaven”. It would seem the psalm is intentionally allowing for both Yhwh’s descent and his continued ‘speaking’ from heaven, thereby showing that either ‘heaven’ as the source or place of ‘power’ is wherever Yhwh is (I don’t think as likely), or that a literal reading is not what the psalm wants to portray but rather the fact that Yhwh/Elyon can both ‘descend’ and remain in heave (as he does in the Exodus, dwelling in the earthly Temple and remaining in the heavenly one). Here, the victory is not simply immediate but profound and total. And the beds / of the ocean / were revealed, And the foundations / of the earth / were laid bare at your rebuke / O Yhwh, at the breath / of wind / from your nostrils. It is important to note here something that will become prevalent later on: here we are discussing the redemption of David from the perspective of Yhwh; later in the psalm we will witness the same redemption but from the perspective of David. When Yhwh is the subject, in a type of ‘pure battle’ between Yhwh and the ‘sea’, events are telescoped such that it gives the impression of a clear and immediate victory. When David is the subject, however, we see something much more similar to what we read in 1-2 Samuel: a sure but patient and ongoing battle between David and his enemies. Here, Yhwh’s victory is a stripping of the earth down to its barest existence. It borders on a type of anti-creation but falls short; rather, it is an utter weakening (almost shaming) of the powers that have entwined David in their grasp. One sense here that the voice does to these powers what they do the ‘cedars of Lebanon’—tearing from them every semblance of authority, honor and respect. In effect, he leaves them in a state of utter vulnerability. Notice too how it is Yhwh’s ‘wind’ that causes this shaming: just as in creation when Yhwh’s wind hovered over the waters, and in Exodus when it ‘blew’ over the waters all night to create dry land. So too, this ‘wind’ is now acting on behalf of David (evoking a personal exodus for Yhwh’s anointed king; and a new ‘creation’ in his deliverance). Furthermore, this ‘wind’ emerges as a type of snort by Yhwh: it comes ‘from his nostrils’ which before gave forth the smoke of his rage. This wind is a judgment, a powerful force of Yhwh to subdue every force aligned against his chosen one (including forces of the gods). One could say that this is Yhwh disarming every opposing force. He / reached down / from on high / he took hold / of me; he / drew me out / from the deep waters. Finally, Yhwh extends his hand and draws David out from the midst of the sea/powerful foe. The psalm has spent a great deal of time focusing on Yhwh’s displays of power and his fierce attack against David’s enemies; ever since David’s cry was heard by Yhwh we observed a divine drama as Yhwh’s anger was ignited in heaven, the parting of the heavens and descent of Yhwh and the subsequent routing of the foe. Here, the purpose of it all centers down on one man as Yhwh, after all of this amazingly powerful displays of power, reaches out for David and pulls him out of the water. The fact that such displays stands as a backdrop to this moment is rather astonishing: it only heightens the sense of Yhwh unremitting loyalty and love for this man, his ‘anointed’, his ‘messiah’. Yhwh will, literally, part the heavens, arm himself and strip the earth down to its fundamental roots in order to save this single man on whose shoulders rest Yhwh’s people. This is the exodus of his messiah because this messiah is the anointed of his people. We have moved from the cosmic and epic to the utterly personal. This sense of pausing over this moment is reminiscent of David’s opening line, “I love you O Yhwh, my strength.” Without question this is Yhwh’s expression of love for David.

He / delivered me / from my / powerful foe, and from / those hating me / for they were / too strong / for me. They confronted me / on the day / of my distress But / Yhwh / was my support. The only reference so far to David’s enemy has been cast in the mythic imagery of death, Belial and Sheol. Here, however, we get the first indication of the human faces of these enemies. From this point on the epic/mythic sense of the psalm will begin to fade into the background (although not entirely) as David begins to move into focus. In the midst of this transition is the fact that the ‘enemies’ are here equated with the ‘mighty waters’ making us think of both the flood, with Noah, and with the Reed Sea and the exodus (along with other references). It is from the midst of these “waters of chaos” that Yhwh pulls David. It is important to note that the enemies are seen to be agents of the same chaotic power. They are destructive in the sense that the rebel against the order established by creation (when Yhwh’s ‘wind’ blew over the waters, just as here Yhwh’s wind begins the judgment). By attacking David, they are reenacting the destructive forces that threatened to submerge all of creation back into its primordial beginning. This focus on David places him the same place as creation (Genesis: Flood) and as Yhwh’s chosen people (Exodus; his ‘first-born’).This sense is confirmed by David’s painting of his deliverance in terms of Israel’s entry into the Promised Land: “And / he led me / out to / the broad place; He / delivered me / because / he delighted / in me.” The use of the phrase ‘led me’ is important: it denotes both shepherding and the ‘path of Yhwh’ that David follows in covenant fidelity, which anticipates David’s later claim of innocence. Israel was, to say the least, a reluctant flock; David goes willingly behind Yhwh to “the broad place”. It is important to note this dynamic as a counter-balance to Yhwh ‘reaching down from on high and taking hold’ of David. In one, David appears to be the purely passive recipient of deliverance. In the other, David ‘follows’ the path laid down by Yhwh. This nicely captures the dynamic that is about to be exploited in the Psalm: the first half has emphasized Yhwh’s unilateral movement from heaven to earth to save his messiah. The second half will now emphasize the faithfulness on the part of the messiah in that deliverance. Lastly, it seems to go without saying that Yhwh ‘delights’ in David, but the phrase here is disarming. One gets the sense of Yhwh’s fatherly/parental (almost maternal) delight in his anointed. He is an object of beauty to him. It is a counterpoint to the blazing anger that has thus far been exhibited by Yhwh and serves to show that that violent outburst had its root in this simply statement: because he delighted in me. Again, in the midst of the chaotic images we find something similar to the opening line of the psalm, “I love you O Yhwh my strength.” Yhwh / has dealt fairly / with me / according to / my righteousness; according to / the cleanness of / my hands/ he has rewarded me. The psalm now begins a very different tact. Up to now it has been a drama: prayer to heaven; Yhwh is enraged; Yhwh parts heaven and begins his descent armed for battle; Yhwh enters into war for his messiah and redeems him. Now, there is a type of pause as David explains why Yhwh would act with such unwavering devotion to him. David begins with a more abstract statement: he is innocent and righteous. His hands are clean. Hooking back into the previous verse, it this innocence that Yhwh ‘delighted in’; it is what drove him out of heaven with such vengeance. However, this is then followed up with what has constituted the essence of this innocence. It is David’s fidelity to Yhwh’s demands. “For / I have kept / the ways / of Yhwh and have not / departed in wickedness / from my God.” The verses now alternate between what David has done and what he has not: I have kept the ways of the Yhwh ---- have not departed in wickedness; all of his judgments have been before me—his statutes I have not put aside from me; I have been blameless with him—I have guarded myself from iniquitousness. It then concludes with the opening verse: Yhwh has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight. This alteration is similar to some extant to psalm 1 and the ‘wise man’ who ‘does not’ travel with the wicked and who ‘does’ delight in torah/instruction. His life is made up of both actions, serving for ‘blessedness.’ Here, David embodies this same dynamic but it is more expressly incorporated with Torah: he speaks of following Yhwh’s statutes and judgments. The image of ‘not departing’ would seem to strengthen the image of him being “led out to the broad place” both terms indicating a type of covenant faithfulness on the part of David to Yhwh. Again, this idea is also reinforced by the idea of his judgments being ‘before him’. They are his ‘path’, his ‘way’ and the ‘tracks’ of Yhwh that all of the righteous men in the psalms have so far been appealing to. David has, essentially, hemmed himself in to following Yhwh. And, for that reason, as in Psalm 1, he is ‘rewarded’ (there, the ‘wise man’ was considered ‘blessed’). It is ‘according’ to this path of David (and his protection against wickedness) that such massive displays of deliverance have been wrought for him.

With the faithful / you show yourself / faithful; with the blameless / you show yourself / blameless; with the pure / you show yourself / pure, and with the twisted / you deal tortuously. Although it appears conventional there are some rather shocking claims being made here. It may not come as a surprise that Yhwh would ‘show himself’ faithful to those who are faithful to him; this is standard for covenantal fidelity. Likewise, the blameless Yhwh ‘shows himself’ blameless; again, this does not appear too surprising. However, the language changes when we get to the ‘twisted’. Here, Yhwh is no longer ‘showing himself’, but ‘dealing’ tortuously. This seems significant. Yhwh can ‘show himself’ to those who are most like him: faithful and blameless. When it comes to those who break with covenant fidelity though, no longer are we in the realm of theophany/showing, but of ‘dealing’, as if the psalmist does not want to afford the same sense of ‘revealing’ of Yhwh’s wrath as when he is with those who are faithful and pure. This seems rather straightforward. However, when Yhwh ‘shows himself faithful’ in this psalm it is in the context of his ‘dealing’ with the twisted. Therefore, Yhwh would seem to have two faces. This experience coincides well with a dominant theme already explored: the exodus. To the Israelites, when the plague of darkness descended, they were shrouded in light; when they were fleeing, a column of fire moved before them, and a column of terrifying smoke went behind them to frighten the Egyptians. The same god therefore appeared very differently depending on whether one stood ‘with him’ (and his people) or against him (and his people). This same experience will emerge in regard to the Temple in later psalms (those coming to attack with shrink in dread while those ‘inside’ will rejoice). It is therefore, probably an overstatement to say Yhwh has ‘two faces’: his one act of devotion to those who are faithful/blameless/pure requires a consequent act of judgment on the ‘twisted’who oppress them. The importance, however, in these verses is that the psalmist doesn’t want to use the words ‘show himself’, probably because he knows Yhwh’s nature is not truly ‘revealed’ in his acts of judgment as much as in the fact that the act of deliverance is rooted in his love for the faithful/blameless/pure. In the context of this psalm, this is a nice summary of the previous physical description of Yhwh’s descent: initiated by David’s prayer, Yhwh explodes in anger and ‘shrouds himself in darkness’ as in a ‘den or lair’. Contained within this ‘dealing’ of Yhwh is the burning love he has for David. For you deliver / and afflicted people, and you / bring down / haughty eyes. Although not explicitly stated, these verses embody Yhwh’s exodus for those who are afflicted: that act is accomplished, as we have seen throughout, by a consequent ‘casting down’ of the wicked. Here, though, we have something slightly new: it is their ‘eyes’ that are ‘brought down’. It is a very appropriate image. To be ‘haughty’ is to refuse to ‘lower one’s eyes’ in the face of a superior. This is not a mere metaphor. It is what happens whenever two opposing forces meet each other’s gaze. In that moment, the entire force of the two individuals are channeled into and through the eyes. One senses, at that moment, that the human soul and power is being displayed in a manner unequaled, even in physical force. It is the sense of ‘presence’ and of the power of human ‘I’ that stands behind those eyes. This is why one would never break the ‘gaze’—it would signal a defeat more profound than physical submission; it would be the submission of the person’s entire being to the other. In a sense this is the greatest victory because it is the person own admission that they are under the authority and control of the other. Surely, in a culture where honor and shame were much more to the fore than in ours, this image would speak volumes. Finally, this verse speaks to a common biblical theme: Yhwh ‘raises up’ and he ‘casts down’; likewise, the ‘first shall be last’ and the ‘last shall be first’. For you / light my lamp / O Yhwh. O my God / you enlighten / my darkness. Although not stated, it is certainly implied that whereas the eyes of the ‘twisted’ will be brought low, David’s ‘eye’ will see light due Yhwh’s ‘lighting’ his lamp and ‘enlightening’ his darkness. Behind the surface of this I wonder if we are not to hear, due to all the resonances so far, an echo of creation: of the ‘first light’ that shown in the darkness of the waters of chaos and began the initial impulse of creation. It may be that David is himself , in some way, seen as this ‘first light’ of Yhwh. The following verses will detail how, through the power of Yhwh, David will restore order to creation by ‘subduing’ the nations and thereby bring peace. He will, in that way, continue Yhwh’s creative act of ‘separating and dividing’ making sure that justice keeps things in their proper place and boundary. This may seem like a stretch of course, and I do not mean to imply that it is overt. However, this precise verse, does stand as a type of hinge between the two sections of the psalm. What went before was a description of the events as told from the epic/mythic perspective of Yhwh; here, we are transitioning into the section on David. This movement to David is accomplished by the ‘lighting’ of a lamp; a certain ‘flame’ is placed before (and within?) David, perhaps reminiscent of the very ‘flames’ that erupted from Yhwh when he first heard of David’s prayer. This same flame of vengeance has now been ‘placed before’ David, and will ‘lead him’ into battle against the forces of chaos. Likewise, something we pointed out before was that David’s description of his situation was one of surrounding doom (bound by ‘cords’ of Sheol and death); Yhwh’s, on the other hand, was similarly ‘bound’ but it was of his own doing (he shrouded himself in darkness like a den). Contained within his self-imposed darkness was a massively burning flame that shot forth coals and flames of fire. Once Yhwh moved, in his utter freedom, into David’s ‘cords’, David was released in the same manner as Yhwh and he now became empowered by that same strength to deliver Yhwh’s people from their ‘cords’ (the ‘nations’). Yhwh’s redemption of David was, therefore, an empowering, a training, a ‘girding’ of David, in Yhwh’s power, to redeem his ‘flock’ and ‘lead them into broad places’.

For by you / I run up / to a troop, and by my God / I scale / a wall. The God --/ his way / is perfect! Yhwh’s utterance / is free / of blemish. At this point we can now develop at some length the relationship between this psalm and psalm 2 (as well as psalm 2’s relationship with psalm 3). First, as to Psalm 2: there, the nations congregate, Yhwh’s shouts, Yhwh confers with/anoints David, David addresses the nations describing how he is has been empowered by Yhwh for victory. One thing we noticed in that psalm was how the opening ‘shout’ of Yhwh was, in effect, reproduced in David’s empowerment to subdue the nations. It was looking at the same event through different perspectives: David’s subduing of the nations could be seen as the ‘shout’ of Yhwh. Something similar is at work in this psalm: we have been given a vantage over what is happening within Yhwh when David prays to him—Yhwh is enraged and descends to deliver his anointed messiah. In this aspect of the psalm, we are making a similar transition as occurred in Psalm 2: now, we are witnessing what it means for David to enact Yhwh’s wrath. David’s deliverance is David’s empowerment is Yhwh’s ‘descent’ from the heavens. Likewise, in Psalm 2, it seems as if Yhwh is the ‘main actor’, except for the fact that all he does is speak; it is not, as in this psalm, as if Yhwh ‘shoots arrows of flame’ and disperses the waters of abyss. Although it is manifestly the case that Yhwh is ‘granting him the rod of iron’ the ‘victory’ seems to fall on the shoulders of David. As we saw there, though, this is not abstract notion of ‘grace vs. freedom’, but of the fatherly devotion of Yhwh to his son who he delights in watching enact his justice on the earth. In essence, the ‘perspective’ of the psalm seems to be from that of Yhwh. In psalm 3, by contrast, the perspective seems much more to be from David. There, the ‘victory’ is entirely Yhwh’s. This is simply the reverse of the relationship: a dutiful looking up to his father and ‘giving him all the glory’. I would argue that something very similar is going on here in our transition: the psalm now brings us into the perspective of David, whereas before it was from the perspective of Yhwh. From this vantage we hear the words of utter praise and thanksgiving issue forth from an anointed/messiah son not for his ‘rescue’, but for his empowerment to subdue the nations. It is interesting that when the psalm speaks more from Yhwh’s perspective is uses words of deliverance; when it speaks from David’s perspective, David almost universally mentions Yhwh’s equipping and empowering him. Apparently, the battle that Yhwh engaged in as he emerged from heaven is now being enacted by David on the nations. It is very intriguing: when viewed through both lenses, so to speak, we realize that David’s ‘deliverance’ is, simultaneously, David’s empowerment to destroy the nations. This captures that delicate balance we see in the psalms (particularly 2 and 3): the scriptures are continuously looking at the same event through these two different lenses. As to these words in particular—from this point on everything is in martial imagery. The love that David has for Yhwh, as expressed in the first verse, is rooted in this martial empowerment to subdue the nations (to ‘run up to a troop’ and ‘scale a wall’). It is this power that is ‘light’ to David, the power to enact judgment and restore order to creation. Likewise, this ‘way is perfect’, because it is so total in its devotion to David’s military conquest. Although we have been given the reason for Yhwh’s faithfulness as rooted in covenant fidelity (blamelessness, purity) the ‘light’ and Yhwh’s ‘utterances’ are now conceived not so much as statutes to be followed in moral/ethical manner but as forces of military deliverance. Yhwh’s utterance / is free / of blemish. The only other time Yhwh has ‘spoken’ in this psalm is when he rains down hail and fiery coals in conquering force against the enemies of David. Again, other psalms speak of Yhwh’s ‘words’ as being ‘pure’ and they tend to have predominant overtones of ‘holiness’: here, while that may be present, the overwhelming effect is that his ‘words’ are powerful acts of warfare. And if Yhwh ‘speaks’ them, David is the ‘word’. He is / a shield / for all / who seek refuge / in him. As incredibly particular as this psalm gives the impression of being, it still affirms the fact that any deliverance experienced by David is one that is entirely in keeping with Yhwh: ‘all’ have access to this power, just as Yhwh shows himself faithful/blameless/pure with those who are faithful/blameless/pure. David will later speak about Yhwh handing him his own shield (‘and you gave me your shield of deliverance’), but here that same ‘shield’ is open to all who ‘seek refuge’ in him. Although Yhwh’s love for David is passionate, it is not exclusive; David is a type of ‘Adam’, a type of ‘everyman’, in that his faithfulness and devotion to Yhwh is the ideal of very man. The fact that Yhwh would become volcanic at David’s danger is something that, perhaps, is more in keeping with David’s role as ‘king’; it does not mean that Yhwh would not become similarly enraged at one who was not so much of a public figure, but he may not ‘need to’. For who / is a god / apart from / Yhwh? And who / is a rock / except our God? The first question at least sounds reminiscent of the Shema prayer and the first commandment. The second is interesting in that it mimics the second third line of the psalm. There David said, “My god is my rock in whom I seek refuge”. Here, what was David’s is now ‘ours’. Likewise, in the context of the psalm, this ‘rock’ is one who supplies martial empowerment, which is now something that David describes as open to everyone. By placing this in connection with the previous question we then see a picture of Yhwh not simply as the ‘one god’ but as the one Warrior King. The god / who girded me / with might, and made perfect / my way. When David was first anointed he removed Saul’s armor and instead used his sling in an action obviously freighted with meaning: David would not ‘wear’ Saul’s military outfit but would remain exposed with Yhwh. Here, Yhwh ‘girds’ David with might. That same movement of Yhwh out of heaven that was typical of a god arming himself for battle is now seen to be Yhwh arming and infusing David with divine power. This is nicely put in the following line: whereas before God’s ‘way’ was described as ‘perfect’, now Yhwh makes David’s way perfect.

Ps. 17

Ps. 17

Hear / a just cause / O Yhwh / attend to / my cry / give ear / to my prayer / from lips / free of deceit.

There are many themes previously explored in this opening petition. We find the idea that Yhwh ‘hears’ those who are righteous and, conversely, he refuses to listen (and ignores) the voice of the wicked; likewise there is the idea of the mouth as giving forth ‘truth’ or ‘freedom from deceit’. As we have had the chance many time to comment on, the mouth one of the most (if not the most) dangerous aspects of man. It is often central to a psalm and therefore man’s speech was almost a litmus test for the person. This also shows that the psalmists were very aware of deceitful mouths. They knew of ‘double-heartedness’ and the words that could ‘trip’ or ‘slander’ a friend. They knew of words that weave subtle arguments in order to work oppression. They knew of words that could tear apart a man’s reputation—which was the man’s communal person and, therefore, an act of murder. And they knew these words could deployed in petitions to Yhwh. There must have, therefore, been anxiety that Yhwh would in fact listen to those men, grant their petition and continue their obfuscations. There must have loomed in the back of their minds, a time when mouths would not utter deceit; when the heart would be ‘single’ and guile would be banished from Yhwh’s people. It would be, in a word, a return to Eden, before Adam ‘learned to lie’. However, on this side of Eden, man must implore Yhwh to listen not just to the words used, but to test the ‘cry’ of the petition. Man must cast his prayer out to Yhwh, and hope that Yhwh would find it to be a ‘just cause’.

One thing to notice here is the anxiety of being heard. This is a plea, a sense that one must exert all of one’s self in order for the prayer to be given admittance to Yhwh’s presence. I’m not sure where this stems from: whether it is in the nature of the plea/request, the sense that there are competing claims that the psalmist is attempting to over-come, the fact that Yhwh is ‘fickle’, the fact that his distress is so acute that his plea enters into the same realm of desperation (I think this is probably the likelier).

From you / let my / vindication come / let / your eyes / see / the right.

Another aspect of this psalm that has become familiar to us is the image of Yhwh as presiding judge. Here, the image of Yhwh as the grantor, or dispenser, of justice is again employed. “Vindication” has overtones of ‘declaring innocent’ as well as ‘deliverance’, something we have noted in the past are part and parcel of the same thing: to be declared innocent is to be delivered from your oppressors by way of judgment upon them. Likewise, in a different image, we have Yhwh ‘looking’ upon the case and searching for what ‘is right’. Here, the often used term “let” is used to call Yhwh’s attention to the case, and implore Yhwh to find the just cause, or innocent (or righteous) man. Like David in a previous psalm, this man places himself among the parties being judged and has confidence he will be found on the right side.

If you / try my heart / if you / visit me / by night / if you / test me / you will find / no wickedness / in me; / my mouth / does not / transgress.

This idea of ‘placing himself’ among the people is found here in a more overt manner. Here, the idea of ‘testing emerges’, and the psalmist asks that Yhwh perform three things to show that he has been a faithful covenant partner (and, therefore is deserving of the protection of Yhwh as himself being a faithful covenant partner): 1) try his heart: as we know, it is from the hear that ‘true’ words emerge; it is, likewise, from the ‘heart’ that actions befitting a covenant partner emerge; 2) visit me by night: the nighttime is when the wicked man ‘plots on his bed’; it is, therefore, the time when hiddenness would seem to allow evil to have some sway; for our psalmist, though, he claims that if Yhwh were to visit him during this treacherous time, he would be found without wickedness; to visit at night is, itself, a form of testing because of the temptation to allow wickedness more room to breath; 3) my mouth: although he has already pointed to his heart as pure, he now draws attention to the fact that he does not slander or oppress others through his words; in effect, he not only keeps his words pure, but he also, most likely, watches his mouth to make sure nothing comes out that would show him to be a poor covenant partner.

Structurally:

A: petition to be heard and request for righteousness (1-2)

B: acknowledgment of innocence of words by testing (3)

C: acknowledgment of innocence of deeds and avoidance of evil (4-5)

As for / the deeds / of mankind –

By the word / of your lips,

I have / kept myself

From / robbers’ roads.

My steps / held firmly / in your / tracks,

My footsteps / have not been /shaken!

After declaring his innocence by way of his mouth, our psalmist now moves into his deeds. As in Psalm 1, his deeds are primarily those of avoidance. He has avoided ‘the path’ of the wicked; in Psalm 1, the image of a road upon which the wicked travel was prominent and here the image emerges again. The idea of a path or road or ‘way of life’ is portrayed by way of ‘walking’ and ‘footsteps’—that ‘way of life’ is not one that our psalmist has travelled down. Rather, there is a second road—Yhwh’s ‘path’ that he has ventured down. This one is paved, so to speak, with the “words of Yhwh’s lips”. One is reminded of Deuteronomy here: man living by the word of Yhwh and not be bread alone. Here, the image is subtly changed into the words providing a path or road on which a person travels—and this imagery will be reverted to with great effect later on (it is precisely along this road that the evil lie in wait to attack).

There is something else going on there that deserves attention: this declaration of innocence is set within the context of a request for vindication. This is one covenant partner asserting that he has, in fact, lived up to his end of the bargain. He has guarded his mouth and he has guarded his footsteps. In every manner of life he has kept to Yhwh’s commandments and conditions. Notice how it is words “of your lips” and “your tracks”—in a very intentional way the psalmist is saying, “Because I was faithful to you I am now being persecuted”. He has, in essence, exhibited covenant faithfulness. When he says, therefore, “I have walked in your path” he is also saying “now you come to my aid because those are the terms of the covenant”. This is not merely a loving description of Yhwh’s ‘words’ but a implicit request (or demand) that Yhwh vindicate those who have been faithful to him.

It is crucial that we understand the psalmist’s assertions of innocence not abstractly, as if he was appealing to ‘innocence in general’. He is, rather, appealing to covenant innocence and this also, not abstractly but in order to call Yhwh to attention so as to receive deliverance (which is, again, the mark of the covenant). The objectivity accomplished is one of covenant objectivity, not a purely interior or ‘spiritual’ objectivity.

A1: petition to be heard and request for deliverance (6-7)

I have called / on you,

For you / will answer me / O God!

Incline / your ear / to me

And answer / my utterance!

The psalmist now, after laying the groundwork, begins his prayer anew, except now he speaks with more confidence. Whereas in vs. 1, he words were purely a petition to ‘hear’ now he says Yhwh “will answer me”. This confidence, in light of the previous reflections, makes sense as ‘covenant confidence’: it is a confidence that emerges from his declaration of innocence—because he is innocent he has fulfilled the role of faithful covenant partner and therefore can be assured that his covenant partner, Yhwh, will now come to his rescue.

This is not, though, an unadulterated demand: he still requests that Yhwh ‘incline’his ear; all of he petition has not be lost with his declaration of innocence. And yet, there is this sense of him being confident that he can demand that Yhwh “answer my utterance”.

Reveal / the wonder / of your lovingkindness,

You / who deliver / by your / right hand

Those / seeking refuge / from assaults.

Here we find the heart of the Psalm, the direct center. And here the psalmist reaches back and employs language of the great act of Yhwh’s deliverance: the Exodus. He carefully crafts this central part of the psalm as a direct mimicking of the Israelite’s song of praise after being delivered from the Egyptians, as they stood on the far side of the Reed Sea. Notice the similarities:

Ex. 15.11-13

“wonder”..”in your lovingkindness”…”your right hand”

Ps. 17.7

“reveal the wonder”…”your lovingkindness”…”by your right hand”

Notice too, how even here, at the center of the center stands Yhwh’s covenant faithfulness which has been the linchpin in the entire psalm. In effect, the psalmist has not just reached back to the foundation of Israel and her ‘birth’in deliverance, but to Yhwh’s great act of covenant faithfulness (before the covenant). By doing so he has done something rather shocking—taken the corporate memory of Israel and applied to himself in a type of personal exodus. He is asking that the same Yhwh that exhibited covenant faithfulness to the entire nation now deploy that same ‘wonderworking’ power of faithfulness to him.

This may also point in another direction as will be fleshed out later: it may be that these are the words of the king of Israel requesting deliverance from an opposing leader (the ‘lion’). If this is the case, then the ‘wonderworking’ and reference back to Exodus would be entirely consistent and not a personal appeal; rather, it would the king imploring on the behalf of the nation that Yhwh deliver them in the same manner he delivered them from Pharaoh (the Egyptian ‘lion’).

Further, if this is the case, then we also encounter another interesting observation: the king would have been appealing to his own innocence on behalf of (himself, of course, but primarily) Israel and the nation as a whole. He would have, in that respect, been a representative of the nation and Yhwh’s enactment of his covenant faithfulness could have been initiated not because the entire nation had been faithful but because the nation’s representative (the king) had been.

B1: request for protection (8-9)

Guard me / as the apple of your eye;

Hide me / in the shadow / of your wings

From wicked ones / who have / assaulted me.

A request for protection is not, in and of itself, anything new to our reflections. It is, in fact, in almost every psalm we have encountered, whether in the form of a request for deliverance or a more straight-forward request. Here, though, we have the addition of something new: a direct reference to Deuteronomy 32.10-11 (“In a dessert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them aloft.”)

Here we find a counter-point to the quotation from Exodus even though they are referring to much the same thing. This quote points to an idea familiar not just to Deuteronomy and the histories but to the prophets (some of them): that the original time in the dessert was a type of honey-moon, when Israel and Yhwh were in an almost idyllic relationship. What this quote adds to the Exodus quote is the sense of an ongoing active protection and special attention that Yhwh lavishes on his people. There is a greater sense of warmth and compassion here. The psalmist is, in effect, drawing from this shared memory and imploring Yhwh to enact that same protective care for him in the face of his enemy(ies). Furthermore, this quote comes from Moses’ great ‘Song of the Covenant’. In this way it further develops this idea of covenantal bonds as the ground for this protection and this devotion that Yhwh has for his people.

C1: description of impending destruction by rebellious (10-11)

My mortal enemies / encompass me!

They have become / rebellious.

Their mouths / have spoken / with arrogance.

They have / tracked / me down. Now / they have / surrounded me!

They set / their eyes / to pitch me / to the ground.

Finally, we have come to the people are the reason for the psalmist’s petition. And, apparently, the threat is very real. We have seen before claims that the ‘wicked’ or the ‘rebellious’ have surrounded the psalmist; David reports such an impending doom in Psalm 3 (I believe).

I wonder too if the previous reference to Deuteronomy is not supposed to echo on here in the verses. There, the ‘honey-moon’ ended rather abruptly with rebellion. It was the not threat of nations that Moses spoke of but the threat of forgetting and covenant unfaithfulness. It would seem that these may be similar‘ internal’ enemies as seen by “they have become rebellious”. These enemies may not be a surrounding nation but Israelites who are, to the psalmist, in rebellion against Yhwh in much the same way that Israel rebelled in the wilderness.

One final point in this regard: it speaks of these men ‘tracking’ down the psalmist. This word refers back to vs. 5 (“My steps have held firmly in your tracks, my footsteps have not been shaken!”). The psalmist has been journeying down a road established by Yhwh—the covenantal road. It is one the psalmist has been placed upon and elected to journey down. This road, however, has made him an open target to the wicked. Their ‘rebellion’ has now turned into ‘tracking down’ the psalmist who is on Yhwh’s tracks. The psalmist is therefore telling Yhwh that he has, in a very real sense, exposed him to danger. Yhwh’s covenant has placed him in jeopardy from the wicked who have now, on Yhwh’s path, surrounded the psalmist with ‘mortal’ danger. In a certain way these men are like the snake in the garden, attacking the ‘apple of Yhwh’s’ eye—and he is as exposed and alone as Eve when she was first tempted.

Likewise, these men ‘set their eyes’ to pitch him to the ground. Notice again how the psalmist is employing terms that originally referred to Yhwh and now are used for the wicked: before the psalmist declared himself the apple of “Yhwh’s eye” (or, more literally, the pupil of his eye). He was an object of devotion and beauty to Yhwh. Here, the wicked, ‘set their eyes’ upon him to kill him (“pitch me to the ground”).The same thing that makes the psalmist lovely to Yhwh makes him despicable to the wicked. This is a common idea we encounter throughout the psalms: what should be an object of beauty (the Temple for example) is abhorrent to the wicked, or those who are not covenantally faithful.

C2: description of ‘the lion’(12)

His appearance / is like / a lion / longing / to lacerate,

And like / a young lion / lurking / in secret places.

What was corporate has now become individual, “enemies” has become “his appearance”. The image of a singular, powerful threat being designated as a beast of some sort is prevalent in the psalms and will become much more so in apocalyptic literature where the beasts come to represent entire nations. Here, it may be that the ‘leader’ of these rebellious people is envisioned (perhaps a king).

I wonder too whether the reference to him have an ‘appearance’ like a lion is to play off the concluding lines where the psalmist will see Yhwh’s “form”. Here, he sees the ‘form’ of the evildoer as a lion, once he is delivered he will “see” Yhwh’s form. (Again, I can’t help but think of descriptions of Yhwh’s glory as “the appearance of…”;are we to see here a description that is to evoke something much more powerful than the image used?).

Also, we have encountered lions before, specifically in psalms where David has found himself accused of covenant unfaithfulness and his attackers are after him. It could be, then, that the reason we have moved into the singular from the corporate is that this man is rising up, with his comrades, to attack the ‘one’ (the psalmist, the king) and their battle will result in the subsequent attacking of their followers. David, as a shepherd (literally) must have employed this image (metaphorically) to describe his anxiety of being attacked and leaving his sheep (Israel; the faithful) vulnerable.

D: demand that Yhwh ‘arise’ and kill the enemy (13-14a)

Arise / O Yhwh / Confront him / to his face / Make him bow!

We have contemplated the term ‘arise’ numerous times before: in essence, it is a request/demand that Yhwh enact his sovereign power and deliver the psalmist. The fact that geographical term is used, ‘arise’, is similar to ‘arise to your throne.’ It is an ancient battle cry of Israel; whenever they moved into battle with the arc Yhwh was said to ‘arise’ and take on their enemies. The same idea is here also: their Warrior King, Yhwh, will confront the enemy. In this confrontation the psalmist’s request for ‘vindication’ for Yhwh to “see the right things” will be met: the image of the judge who, in his ‘verdict’ is also a Warrior King enactment punishment on the guilty is everywhere in the psalms. One is never merely ‘declared innocent’: the ‘declaration’ is deliverance and judgment. All of these ideas are contained in the term “Arise”.

Also, here we find an image we have not encountered before: that Yhwh will actually confront the lion “to his face”. Yhwh’s ‘face’ is something often mentioned (Moses spoke to Yhwh ‘face to face’, even though “no one can see Yhwh and live”). The ‘face’ was often though to reside in the Temple as Yhwh’s glory. It is the pinnacle of the psalmist’s object of devotion. It seems, then, that to confront a person’s ‘face’ is to confront them in the most naked revealing. If the enemy is confronted to ‘his face’ then the result of such a confrontation would be final because the enemy would have revealed everything he had and, if defeated, there would be no ‘remainder’. It is in this way a call for total war. The effect of this total war will be, for the ‘lion’, his ‘bowing’, which must the be the ultimate sign of submission. For the lion’s comrades, the effect will be described later: utter destruction.

Deliver / my soul / from wickedness / by your sword.

Perhaps we are to see here the lion ‘bowing’ and Yhwh beheading him, or ‘cutting him down’ in much the same way Samuel cut down the king of Agag after finding Saul to have been disobedient.

Kill them / by your hand / O Yhwh!

Kill them / from the world,

Their portion / from among / the living.

The ‘one lion’ has now again become ‘them’. And the request is that Yhwh execute the same ban judgment on them that Israel was called to enact upon the inhabitants of Canaan when entering it under Joshua. The request is total, not only are they to be destroyed “from the world” (reminiscent of requests that their ‘memory be erased’) but their ‘portion’ is to be removed ‘from the living’. This act of judgment will be met by a mirror-image blessing on the ‘treasured ones’ later: there, their posterity and their ‘portion’ will be enhanced and blessed in ‘surplus’.

The image of the ‘hand’ is also important for its military connotations. Often Yhwh’s ‘hand’ is what is described as enactment deliverance and striking down the enemy.

E: chosen ones and psalmist will be sated and see Yhwh’s face and form (14b-15)

But / your treasured ones! – you will fill / their belly,

Sons / will be / sated

And they will / bequeath / their surplus / to their children

Just as the enemies moved from ‘them’ to the ‘the lion’ and back to ‘them’ so too has the psalmist now moved into the corporate reality of Yhwh’s ‘treasured ones’ where before he alone was the ‘apple of Yhwh’s eye’. Now, in his deliverance ‘they’ will be filled, their children will be safe and sated and, most importantly, the peace established will be generational—they will be able to bequeath their blessing/surplus to their children. The total war of face to face combat with ‘the lion’ has led to total peace for Yhwh’s chosen ones.

I / in vindication / shall see / your face;

On awakening / I shall be / satisfied / by your form.

After Yhwh met the lion ‘face to face’, the psalmist is now able to see Yhwh’s face. Everything is being reversed in blessing.

Notice here how ‘vindication’ is not simply the ‘declaration of innocence’—it is the permission to stand in the presence and see Yhwh’s face. It does seem that there is more to ‘seeing Yhwh’s face’ here than a literal visual sight: to see Yhwh’s face is to be seen by Yhwh in blessing. The psalmist is the ‘apply of Yhwh’s eye’—it seems then that the idea of ‘vision’ here is more complex than straightforward. To ‘see’ Yhwh may be to experience his blessing and his peace, and this, in turn, is to be ‘vindicated’ by Yhwh. There is this intimate sense that one most clearly ‘sees’ Yhwh when one knows one is ‘seen’ by Yhwh—notice how this nicely rounds out the original request that Yhwh’s “eyes see the right thing”.

Finally, the last image is not one of ‘sight’ but of ‘satisfaction’. The fact that these two lines parallel each other indicates they are saying the same thing in slightly different ways: to be ‘vindicated’ and ‘see Yhwh’s face’ is also to ‘awake’ and be ‘satisfied by his form’. It may be then that this ‘awakening’ is more metaphoric than literal: this is the experience of ‘emerging from the darkness’ of the enemy into the ‘light’ of deliverance. This ‘dawn’ is now not the ‘rising sun’ but the very face and form of Yhwh. Revelation will pick upon this when it says the heavenly temple receives its light not from the sun by from the lamb. Lastly, this conjoining of ‘face’ and ‘form’ is interesting, largely because of the prohibition that Yhwh’s form ever be portrayed. The blessing experienced is truly profound.

Ps. 15

Ps. 15

O Yhwh / who / may reside / in / your tent? Who / may dwell / on your / holy mountain? He / who walks / blamelessly, and does / what is / right, and / speaks truth / in / his heart. He / has not / tripped over / his tongue. He / has not / done evil / to his friend. He / has not / taken up / reproach / against / his neighbor. In / his eyes / the reprobate / is despised, but / he honors / those / who fear / Yhwh. He / has sworn / to do / no wrong / and / does not / falter. He / has not / lent / his money / on interest, nor / taken a bribe / against / the innocent. The one / doing these things / shall not / be shaken / forever. First, a few structural observations: the psalm opens with a question regarding admittance to Yhwh’s presence. Further, it is not simply ‘admittance’ but a desire to ‘reside’ in his ‘tent’. This is then paralleled by a question regarding who can ‘dwell’ on his ‘holy mountain’. The ‘answer’ to this question are ten ‘commandments’, an appropriate mixture of ‘shall not’ and ‘shall(s)’. It may be obvious at this point what the opening question is harkening back to—the Exodus and the approach of Israel to the ‘mountain of Yhwh’ from which he will ‘descend’ into their camp to ‘dwell’ in a ‘tent/tabernacle’. The ‘vehicle’ for his descent was the Ten Commandments. What may not be as obvious is that the Temple later took over the ‘tabernacle’ and was often, still, called Yhwh’s ‘tent’ and Zion became the ‘holy mountain’. In essence, the experience as Sinai became the perpetual presence of Yhwh in Jerusalem. When the pilgrim asks this question, then, he is not merely referring back to Sinai—Sinai is the temple mount. And, just as the people were commanded to stay away from the mountain lest they be struck dead, so too is this same dread at the heart of this opening question. The question, then, is an earnest one—what must one do in order to stand on such holy ground and not be destroyed. I can’t help but think here of a similar question in the NT, when the ‘rich man’ asks Jesus what he ‘must do to inherit eternal life’. Jesus responds in much the same way this psalm does. There is something rather striking about this list though: it makes no reference to the Ten Commandments nor does it in involve any ‘cultic’ references to purity nor does it seem to imply any of the covenantal commandments; one would expect, for example, if this was an entrance psalm to the Temple, that there would be included in the list regulations regarding cleanliness (as, for another example, was the main emphases in Exodus when Israel ‘approached the mountain’.) In fact, of the wording we have encountered in the Psalms it is most reminiscent of psalm 1, the wisdom psalm opening the entire psalter. If that is the case, and this is not so much an entrance psalm to the Temple, but a wisdom psalm that uses the form of entrance psalms in structure, then we have a very different reading of the psalm that emerges: it is almost ‘secularized’ in a certain manner, becoming a more universal psalm. Furthermore, if the psalm is a wisdom psalms, the final line is interpreted very differently: rather than being the ‘entrance’ to the Temple and a blessing, it is more of a promise regarding the outcome a person’s life who lives according to these standards, much like the end of Psalm 1. A second structural observation: the ‘does not’ and ‘does’ mirror each other.

Walks blamelessly – not ‘tripped’ over his tongue

Does what is right – not done evil to a friend

Speaks truth in heart – not taken up reproach against neighbor

Despises reprobate – honors those who fear Yhwh

Sworn no wrong – does not falter

Not lent money on interest – not taken a bribe

The mirroring is not merely a literary devise, or a way to easily remember the instruction (although they certainly are that), but the mirror image helps interpret the former. For example, if one wanders what it means to ‘walk blamelessly’, it means, in part, to ‘speak honestly’; to ‘do what is right’ entails ‘not doing evil to a friend’. Fascinatingly, the psalm can also be read in another pattern, like this:

He who walks blamelessly: A

And does what is right: B

And speaks truth in his heart: C

He has not tripped over his tongue: C1

He has not done evil to his friend: B1

He has not taken up reproach against his neighbor: A1

Read in this manner A and A1, B and B1, and C and C1 interpret each other, with C and C1 being the center. This would, in some way, show a ‘wisdom’ center to the psalm because of the wisdom literature’s focus on the power of tongue (evil and good). As to ‘speaking truth in the heart’, if we are to read ‘not tripping over the tongue’ as enhancing, or interpreting, it, we are probably on solid ground when we look back at previous psalms that speak of being ‘double-hearted’. In those psalms the ‘double-heart’ is not merely deceitful but oppressive and a force for injustice; it focuses primarily on how one who says one thing but intends another can confuse, oppress and take advantage of ‘the poor’. It is not merely ‘verbal’ but active. Here, speaking ‘truth in the heart’ does not twist that tongue into a knot so as the ‘trip’ over it later: either being caught in a contradiction or working evil on neighbor or friend. Notice how, if we are correct, the formal construction leads into speaking: the actions seem to hover around it or ‘spring’ from the mouth (again, a very prominent theme in wisdom literature). And it is not just in C and C1, A, B seem to point to ‘actions’, whereas after C1 the emphasis seems to be almost purely on speech. It is interesting in this regard how this psalm has used these ‘wisdom sayings’ and yet prefaced them with ‘entrance into Yhwh’s tent/Temple’. This type of ‘good living’ or ‘practical living’ has here been matched and, indeed, is seen as the preface to, Yhwh’s presence.

Another structural observation: in outlining the psalm it would look like this—

Introduction—question (v.1)

Answer—actions toward neighbor/friends (vs. 2-3)

Answer—who he values (v. 4a)

Answer—swearing and money (v. 4b-5a)

Conclusion—Blessing or acknowledgment (v. 5b)

We had the chance in Psalm 1 to comment on the ‘delight’ of the wise man. There, it was in ‘torah’ (or, instruction). Here, it is “those who fear Yhwh’. To gain entrance into Yhwh’s presence one must have the same attractions and dislikes as Yhwh: “In his eyes, the reprobate is despised, but he honors those who fear Yhwh.” Perhaps one of the most enlightening aspects for me of the psalms so far has been this constant emphasis on Yhwh’s despising of the wicked. It is obvious that this loathing is something the psalms are trying to impart, but here the ‘bridge’ so to speak is made explicit. One’s aesthetic impulses (what one finds beautiful and worthy of honor) are themselves just as much markers of admittance to Yhwh’s presence as the more ‘ethical’ or ‘moral’ prescriptions: not lying, walking blamelessly, etc… It is, quite literally, embedded fully within the midst of the other ‘commands’.

Conclusion :“the one doing these things shall not be shaken forever”. It would seem to be an odd conclusion to the psalm that asks how one ‘dwells’ in Yhwh’s tent. Were the final word removed, it would read much easier. However, it appears that the psalm is pointing us toward the fact that this ‘righteous’ man will not be free from trouble. He will, in fact, be ‘shaken’. His enemies will, at times, prevail over him. However, this being ‘shaken’ will not persist forever. The question is whether this means a point in time—at some point you will no longer suffer—or whether it is more of a principle---the righteous man will be sustained by the ‘presence’ of Yhwh. This may point to what we have seen, for example, in psalm 14 between the difference of the wicked man and the righteous: the wicked can’t ‘see from heaven’, whereas the righteous man knows Yhwh is watching over everything.

If the second approach is true then this is a wisdom approach to Yhwh’s presence that is bold in its re-working of traditional formulas to say something new: that living a life of ‘wisdom’ is similar to living a culticly pure life. Not that these are in opposition to each other, but there is a vein of thought that is mined here that is very rich.

Ps. 14

Ps. 14

Fools / say / in their heart / “There is / no God” / They are / corrupt / they do / abominable deeds / there is / no one / who does / good. We have finally made our way to the Biblical fool. He is a character that has received a good deal of attention in the western philosophical tradition. However, that aspect of his life is not something we want to focus on today. Instead, we want to see how (or why) this mad is regarded by the psalmist as a fool. The first thing to note is that the fool is not verbally expressing this statement but says it “in his heart”. This is important because what follows, describing this ‘fool’, are actions he takes. What I think we have here is that, for the psalmist, what a person does are expressions of what the heart ‘says’. These do not need to be verbally, cognitive statements. Rather, a person’s life give’s expression to the heart’s ‘words’. How a person behaves is the ‘word of their heart’. The issue then becomes what exactly is this person doing which would garnish him such a condemnation: and here we are in familiar territory—he lives his life as if Yhwh could not (or, was unable) to bring him to justice. This does not mean that he doesn’t believe in God’s existence; it means he doesn’t believe in God’s ability to oversee or judge him. It is a question of power, not existence. Another aspect of this psalm is how this initial denial of God leads to a categorical and absolute condemnation of such ‘fools’. Initially at least, this blanket condemnation only applies to the ‘fools’. They are the ones are corrupt and do abominable deeds. Again, these statements can be read as a parallelism to the first verse—to say ‘there is no god’ is ‘to act corruptly and do abominable deeds’. The scene now immediately shifts to heaven, with Yhwh peering down on the earth: Yhwh / looks down / from heaven / on mankind / to see / if there / are any / who are / wise / who / seek after / God. First, notice what this transition ‘to heaven’ accomplishes. By removing the reader up into the celestial realm, the psalmist is, geographically, directly contradicting the ‘fool’. A similar juxtaposition happens in Psalm 2 when the nations congregate and Yhwh booms from heaven, and it also happens in a more recent psalm where the friend of the psalmist was telling him to ‘flee to the mountains’ because Yhwh could not protect him. The immediacy of the move ‘to heaven’ is the embodiment of the condemnation of “fool”. It is reminiscent of all of the humorous tales of the ‘prophet’ who is unable to see Yhwh (or his angel) standing right in front of him (Balaam, Eli, etc…). Here, of course, there is no hint of humor but pure judgment/condemnation. We may, in fact, recall two similar situations in Genesis: the flood and the tower of Babel. In the flood story, Yhwh looks down from heaven and sees the earth full of corruption and wickedness; in the story of Babel, Yhwh ‘looks down’ and sees man acting as if he didn’t “exist”(i.e., was the supreme source of all power). In both, this ‘looking down’ revealed a world in almost total rebellion to God—just as we find here. Likewise, this ‘looking down’ eventually become an act of total judgment (in one total destruction, in another, total dissimulation). I wonder here, too, if we are not to catch some vague reference back to when God went out ‘searching for Adam’, and yet he was ‘hidden’ from him due to his sinfulness/shame/rebellion. One way this psalm coheres though is that Yhwh is looking for something in particular: wisdom, which is equated with ‘seeking after God’. Although this will be picked up later, what is fascinating about this search is that whenever Yhwh is on the verge of destroying an entire people (whether in Sodom/Gomorrah, in Exodus, or in Jeremiah), he looks for one “good” person to dissuade him from his judgment. I am not aware of anytime he is looking for one ‘wise’ person. Might we see here an introduction to the Jewish sense of ‘wisdom’ as not involving necessarily ‘perception into mysteries’ but a type of ‘covenant faithfulness’ or ‘goodness’? Later in the psalm the complaint by Yhwh is that there is no one “who is good” (not ‘wise’).It seems as if, here, these are parallel terms (although not necessarily identical). Finally, and this will be more apparent in the next verse, this verse answers verse 1 (something we have already pointed out): The fool has said there is no god---Yhwh looks down….

The last verse was the searching, this is the result: They have / all / gone astray. They are / all / alike perverse. There is / no one / who does / good; / no / not one. The first result is a vision of animals wandering away from their leader: they have ‘gone astray’. This term, at least in the prophets, often refers to Israel’s breaking away from covenant faithfulness and following other gods. The prophets are, in response, attempting to get them to “follow after” Yhwh (as Jesus will, later, call the disciples to “follow after” him). It would seem then that what Yhwh sees when he looks upon the earth are covenant-breakers, those who have entered into a covenant with Yhwh but have ‘veered off’ or ‘wandered off’ of the reserve. They are ‘sniffing’ the wind for the smell of other sources of power and gods. Like Adam, they are searching for wisdom in ways that break from the commands of Yhwh. This ‘going astray’ leads into another description, more sinister—perversity. The first implied almost a type of state of being ‘lost’ or aimless wandering. Here, the true nature of this straying is categorically judged: it is perversity, a veering away from a proper course. One might conclude that ‘going astray’ was willful, although perhaps simply negligent, but here the act speaks more of a rebellion; and intentional and knowing turning away from covenant faithfulness. This leads into the final condemnation: no one ‘does good’. As we have already mentioned, this ‘doing good’ is matched to the ‘wise, seeking after God’. While it may at first glance appear to be a retreating from the escalating judgment, it is, in face, but the final outcome: here it is called rebellion when matched with the ‘wise, seeking after God’. Yhwh looks upon the earth for those who will walk in the ways of covenant faithfulness and not only does he not find any, he finds an open rebellion. The earth seems to be swarming with infidelity. It concludes with the utter wickedness of man: not one person does Yhwh find. This would appear to harkens back to times when Yhwh would avert his wrath if he could find a righteous man; in Genesis it is as low as 10, in Jeremiah, Yhwh, as here, looks for just one person that will calm him. He does not find any and one can only realize that soon Yhwh’s wrath will be vented without anyone to stand in his way. Have they / no knowledge, / the evildoers / who / eat up / my people / as they / eat bread / and / do not / call upon / Yhwh? “Have they no knowledge”—of what? If what we have said thus far is accurate, these evildoers live as if Yhwh was unable to control/stop them. Furthermore, they are covenant-breakers who rebel against the covenant laid down by Yhwh. Their lack of ‘wisdom’ entails, in some form, this rebellion. Yet here we are given an added hint of what their lack of wisdom entails: it may also entail their lack of understanding about the punishment for covenant-breakers. There seems to be a latent threat here, that judgment is being stored up for them, and just as they can’t (or refuse) to ‘ascend to the heavenly’ perspective of vs. 2, so too are they unable (or unwilling) to acknowledge the flames that are being prepared for them in heaven. “Who eat up my people as they eat bread”: For the first time we have been given access to who the psalmist is: the king (perhaps David himself). And he is shocked by the evildoers casualness in performing their wickedness, here described as devouring the poor. They perform in the same manner as ‘eating bread’; there is nothing dramatic to their action. It is as normal to them as eating bread—and the king, in whose heart dwells these poor, is watching this take place. This image of ‘eating the poor’ is not unique to this psalm; the prophets employ it constantly as an image of destruction of just/poor. Jesus will alter refer to his disciples as ‘lambs’sent out among ‘wolves’, pointing to their being devoured. I am not aware, however, of when it is used to refer to ‘bread’, a much more passive form of devouring than hunting. “And do not call up on Yhwh”: this failure is damning; it reverberates throughout the OT, specifically it finds expression as the final outcome in the book of Judges (at the end of the book the downward spiral has hit the bottom when the people cease to ‘cry out’ to Yhwh) and in Jeremiah (where Israel has failed to ‘cry out’ to Yhwh and instead is proclaiming ‘peace, peace’). This crying out, in these two instances, are both for deliverance and repentance—both of which should not be too far removed. It would seem then, that we have something very similar to both Judges and Jeremiah: Judges, in that the people are ‘wandering away’ on ‘their own paths’ in rebellion to Yhwh, and Jeremiah, in that they do not see the coming judgment that is being stored up for them. Likewise, it is surely the case that we have here an echo of the opening line: the fool who says there is no God. To fail to ‘cry out’ as one should is to be an atheist in this king’s eye. There / they shall be/ in great terror / for God / is with / the company of / the righteous. We find here martial imagery. The idea of being ‘found in great terror’ is reminiscent of the terror induced by Yhwh as the Warrior King who fought for Israel in both the Exodus and in the conquest of the land. The enemy was often found to be thrown into a panic and overcome ‘with terror’. This image was exploited by the prophets to point to the ‘day of the Lord’ when Yhwh would come to judge the world, either within time or apocalyptically. Here, it seems that these covenant-breakers are to experience Yhwh not as their defender but their attacker and will be regarded as his enemy in the same way as the Pharaoh and the nations. Likewise, the company they ‘oppressed’ (the poor) will be like the Israelites, delivered from their ‘mouths’. Just as Yhwh was with the smallest of the Israelites, in both the Exodus and the conquest, so too now will he be with the ‘company of the righteous’, fighting for their deliverance. You / would confound / the plans / of the poor / but / Yhwh / is their refuge. You / would confound / the plans / of the poor / but Yhwh / is their / refuge. One thing that is spoke of often in the context of Yhwh’s deliverance is way in which he accomplishes a ‘great reversal’. 1^stSamual, following Hannah’s prayer of the ‘reversal’, can be fruitfully read this way (contrasting the priest Eli and his sons, with Samuel, and Saul with David). What is evident from Samuel is that this reversal is brought about, not simply to show Yhwh’s power, but because justice demands it; human rebellion has so distorted the proper dialogue between Yhwh and Israel that those on the top must be thrown down (Eli and his corrupt sons; Saul) and those on the bottom raised up (Samuel; David). What I have not paid enough attention to but here it is apparent in these reversals is that the dramatic nature of the reversal is premised on the oppressive weight of rebellion against Yhwh and his chosen people by the wicked. It is like a drowning person coming up for air—they do not gently take in their breath but violently take large gulps. Something similar seems to be at work here: the poor are being suffocated almost to death and Yhwh is called upon to deliver them, but their deliverance must be as ‘oppressive’ as the injustice they are suffering under. Notice how the psalm, for the first time, actually addresses someone: “you” (meaning, “the wicked” who claim “God does not exist”). What they are attempting to do is “confound” the poor. Apparently, their ‘eating’ of the poor like ‘bread’ is accomplished by way of leaving them incapable of carrying out their plans. They attempt to keep the poor down by removing from them their ability to succeed (perhaps we have hear references to business transactions they thwart, or they bribe judges (with influence or money or what-have-you) and prevent them from obtaining justice). Whatever it is, they have placed them far away from normal channels of power. What they have failed to realize is what the whole psalm has been aiming at: Yhwh is watching over and sides with these poor in the same way as he sided with Israel in her liberation. I wonder if what the psalmist is attempting to convey is this: we began with the fool who denied that God was able to control them (hence, that heaven was not as strong as they), here, we end with the claim that these men cannot conceive of power coming ‘up from below’ (that there could be a hidden power in the poor; that Yhwh is their ‘refuge’). Perhaps we should see here the fact that the ‘poor’ are to these wicked as what the angel of Yhwh was to Balaam, or the voice of Yhwh was to Eli

Ps. 12

Ps. 12

Help / Yhwh / for the faithful one / has come / to an end,

For the honest persons / have disappeared / from among / the sons of man.

In several of the previous psalms, especially David’s lament over Absalom’s advance, the speaker certainly implied a sense of being alone. However, here, the note is explicitly struck, and at the opening of the psalm. The cry for help, here, is not so much because of the impending doom of the wicked, but because the psalmist does not see any other people of covenant faithfulness around him. He is alone in a crowd.

Note also, that the ‘wicked’ are not engaged in violence. A first reading of this psalm may give the impression that the psalmist is cowering, and hiding (seeking ‘refuge’ in Yhwh). This, however, does not seem to be the case.

With this in mind, these verses are not speaking about the wicked overcoming the faithful, but the faithful disappearing (or becoming) into the wicked. There is no kidnapping, no abduction--this psalmist is standing at the end of the line and he has watched as all of those in front of him, those who he thought were covenant partners (honest and faithful) exit and join the wicked.

I do not sense that he is concerned he might be next; he is too angry for that and there is none of that type of introspection. This, however, is not to say that he is not sensing himself to be profoundly alone; one is never more aware of their alienation than when they are in a group of people they have nothing in common with (many of whom used to be his friends).

They speak / vanity / each man / with his neighbor;

With flattering lip / and / double heart / they speak.

It is an interesting accusation: the words they speak to each other are emptiness. And these words are ‘flattery’. Notice the poetic contrast between flattering ‘lip’ and a double ‘heart’. It is not the lips that are ‘double’ (as is literally the case) but the heart itself.

“Flattery” if often thought of as an empty compliment. To those engaged in it, and to the unperceptive outsider, these men’s speech would actually appear very kind, very ‘uplifting’, ‘positive’ and, probably, very polite. The psalmist does not describe these men as ‘tearing each other down’; no, they are ‘focused on the positive’ apparently. The problem is that all of this ‘positivity’ is, in fact, emptiness; it is the act of ‘building up’ that is the emptiness itself (that is the vanity). Both of these lines are saying the same thing in two different ways.

Just as they speak, they are spoken to. The word ‘neighbor’ is a purely relational term: there is no ‘neighbor’ if there is not another person (just as there is no ‘father’ if there is no ‘son’). So, if each neighbor is spoken to, each neighbor also speaks. There are no ‘victims’ in this verse (there will be later). They are all perpetrators and victims together. Like some vicious circle, the vanity and flattery, passes one to another.

And understand too, that this description is coming from the psalmist. He is incredibly upset by these words; this is obviously not the description one would get from any of these men.

Let Yhwh / cut off / all flattering lips,

The tongue / that speaks / great words,

Those / who have said / “By our tongue / we will / establish strength.

Our lips / are our own! / Who will be / our master?”

As we have seen in the past, the punishment always fit’s the crime. If the mouth is evil, then the psalmist calls for the Yhwh to literally rip the lips off of these men and tear our their tongues. It is, by far, the most brutal and violent image in the psalm. Also, as with many other requests for judgment, it is initiated by the words “Let Yhwh…”. There is the sense in these words of allowing Yhwh full reign, an open field and a total lack of restraint. Perhaps this is why the image is so violent: all of the rage at these men has been pent up and is now let free.

Is it of significance that the ‘tongue’ now comes in to play? Before it was only the lips and the double heart. Now the tongue is that weapon by which the wicked will ‘establish strength’. Notice too, in their speech, how much ‘ownership’ is asserted: by our tongue we establish strength. Our lips are our own! Who will be our master?” This is the assertion of utter self-control and freedom. Nothing intervenes between their speech; there is no space for any interruption. Their words, to them, accomplish their goal; and, most importantly, their words are their own and therefore their goals are their own. There would be nothing, as a first-fruit, to turn over to (any) god. Truly, everything begins and ends with them.

In this context, it is interesting to note this: these words of the wicked sound very much like the words used in other stories of Israel’s neighbors by kings. A sense of utter power and assertiveness; of control and heroism. Yet, in the OT, these attributes are all ones given to Yhwh. The OT seems to react very strongly against this type of heroism; to them it would be hubris. “Great words”--these words would/could appear in a different tradition as exactly that--the pinnacle of what the hero is to attain to. Interestingly, to the Jew, these words would be the exact opposite: vanity. They see them as high, the psalmist sees them as nothing but emptiness. They see them as accomplishing everything; the psalmist sees them as filled with a judgment of their own.

No wonder this psalmist is so alone.

Because of the devastation / of the afflicted / because of the groaning / of the poor,

I will / set him / in safety. / I will / shine forth / for him.”

Here we are given the first indication of the fact that this speech has, in fact, entailed violence and/or oppression. The building erected by these ‘great words’ has come on the backs, and at the expense of the ‘afflicted’ and ‘the poor’. Apparently, these men’s words were not the only ones: the ‘groaning’ of the poor pierced their veil and went up to Yhwh. Likewise, it the ‘devastation’ of the afflicted Yhwh recognizes. Are we to see here the fact that Yhwh both ‘sees’ the devastation and ‘hears’ the groaning of the poor? That as much as these men attempted to cast a net of words over their wickedness, Yhwh was still able to not just hear, but also see what they were doing?

There is another important aspect to this verse that will become more apparent in the following verses: these are the only words directly uttered by Yhwh in the psalm. And they are words of deliverance, of raising up his servant, and of his ‘shining forth’ for him. In answer to the ‘groaning’ of the poor (and, in answer to the psalmist) Yhwh will lift up and ‘set in safety’ a man; and ‘for him’ Yhwh will shine forth. This image of ‘shining forth’ is important for a couple of reasons. When Yhwh appears, it is not only in the sense of ‘making himself known’. For most (if not all) of Yhwh’s theophanys, he ‘shows himself’--shines forth--in order to enact the deliverance of his people. It is not simply a revealing of ‘his nature’, but an act of kingly rescue (incidentally, this would ‘shed a lot of light’ on the transfiguration of Jesus…). It is, in this regard, an act of judgment (as we have seen, ‘judgment’ is both deliverance and punishment at the same time). To ‘shine forth’ then is Yhwh’s revealing of his absolute mastery and the fact that he is judge; that ‘judgment’ resides in him. Yhwh’s ‘glory’ then is not something that is merely physical, or tangible, but something that also points to, or embodies, this sense of sovereign, judging authority. It is, in this way, the ‘glory’ of a king. It is both ‘aesthetic’ (in the sense of it being an object of wonder and beauty) and ‘ethical’ (in the sense that it utterly takes over and places ‘under judgment’ those who stand in its sphere). It is not merely something to be contemplated, but something to obeyed.

The utterances/ of Yhwh / are pure utterances,

Silver / refined / in a furnace

Gold / purified / seven times.

You, / O Yhwh / will watch / us,

You, / will guard / us / from / this generation / for ever.

To further the reflections above: these ‘utterances’ of Yhwh stand in stark contrast to the wicked precisely because they are words of deliverance and justice. The psalmist uses imagery of metal refinement to describe Yhwh’s speech: refining and purifying. Yet, again, these are not words that point merely to Yhwh’s nature, as such, but to his act of deliverance. They are ‘pure’ and ‘refined’ because they lift up a servant to deliver the oppressed, the poor, and the afflicted.

This observation is confirmed by the fact that the purity of his utterances is immediately followed by Yhwh ‘watching over us’ and ‘guarding us’ from ‘this generation’. Just as his words are purified from all dross, so too will they remove the ‘dross of the wicked’ from the poor, oppressed and afflicted. They will become within his people what they, themselves, are: a purifying act of holiness.

Lastly, the pick up a thread from before: these utterances are not merely ‘effective’ (accomplishing deliverance). They are, themselves, also ‘gold’ and ‘silver’. Just as Yhwh ‘shines forth’ in an act of visible beauty and glory, so too are his words to be compared to the most valuable of all earthly objects.

Yhwh’s words have this twin ability of being, in themselves, absolute purity and, also, words that are not merely objects of contemplation but active forces for deliverance: they are both the aesthetic (in themselves they are wonderful and beautiful) and ‘ethical’ (commanding respect, loyalty and obedience).

I wonder if the psalmist uses the word “utterance” rather than ‘words’ or ‘speech’ in order to draw a further distinction between what Yhwh says and the wicked; he doesn’t even see them engaged, almost, in the same behavior.

All around / the wicked / strut about,

As the vileness / of the sons of man / is exalted.

This is a strange concluding verse. I feel as if an editor, or a scribe, tacked this on. It is poetic, though. The use of the word ‘strutting’ to describe the gait of the wicked is particularly apt in light of the fact that their words are seen as ‘hubris’; they are like peacock’s strutting around the land, oblivious to the danger they are in. Likewise, the use of the ‘vileness’ to now describe their words is apt; we have moved into a description of them, as they are, rather than their words.