ps 27 (part II)

Part II

“O Yhwh / hear my voice / when I cry; - be gracious to me / and answer me.” At first glance this would seem like the beginning of a different psalm. Stated even more strongly, this section seems almost like a contradiction of the first. This would seem to be the case except for a few observations: 1) this the first time that Yhwh is addressed (this is the beginning of a ‘prayer’); 2) the psalmist apparently saw no problem with the change in perspective (from total confidence in Yhwh, to petition to Yhwh not to ‘turn his face’). As to the first (and really both of them are related), if we were correct in hearing these as words of the anointed king, then the first section was a public proclamation made by the king to the people of Yhwh’s steadfast devotion to him, as expressed (or manifested) in the solidity of the Temple; in a sense, the anointed was going to be just as unshakeable as the Temple itself and for the same reason—because Yhwh has established both. This confidence is, in this regard, not something established within the individual king but in Yhwh’s action (in anointing (king’s are ‘adopted’, not born) and in providing for the Temple). The ‘unity’ or ‘foundation’ is Yhwh’s, and for that reason it can be a source of total confidence. With that said, the psalmist is thoroughly aware of the fact that everything established by Yhwh is, in a sense, ‘covenantally’established; the roots go deep into both Yhwh and man and their abiding agreement with each other. We might say, then, that its ‘solidity’ (the ‘confidence’)is something that demands the entirety of the psalmist (and, perhaps, of Yhwh?). Covenant, sacrifice, prayer: all of these speak to the fact that nothing is ‘absolute’ (or, a monologue). (Regardless of how ‘intrusive’ such philosophical terms would be, it would seem to me that the bible is very convinced of the utter contingency of creation). When seen from this perspective, the turn to prayer in these verses is not unnatural at all, nor is it jarring. In other word’s, man’s confidence in Yhwh’s ‘establishments’does not hinder or negate the need for prayer/humility/petitions. In fact (if we are correct), it is the complete opposite: if Yhwh’s speaking presumes a response and, in that response, the thing spoken to is ‘established’ then prayer is the act of solidifying Yhwh’s intentions (of being the Eve to Adam’s searching). Prayer, in this sense, is what generates confidence and is not the perceived absence of confidence. Following this opening, the terms are quite conventional, and they are nothing we have not already seen before: “My heart said to you: I have sought / your face. Your face / O Yhwh / I will seek; do not / hide your face / from me. – do not / turn away / your servant / in anger - you who have been my help.” The recurrence of the word ‘face’ three times in three lines is telling. As the source of all blessing (and protection), Yhwh’s ‘face’ was not even granted to be seen by Moses (in some texts; in others they spoke ‘face to face’). This seeking his face is perhaps a reference back to the “one thing I have asked” in the previous section of the psalm. Here, he has sought and he will seek it. And, in light of what we have said above, this still (and will always) requires prayer that it not be ‘hidden’. This ‘hiding of the face’ is paralleled here by ‘turning away a servant’, presumably in anger.

However conventional these lines are, the following are decidedly not: “Do not reject me / and do not forsake me; - O God / of my salvation. – For my mother / and my father / have forsaken me – but Yhwh / will take care / of me.” There is not another instance of this ‘forsakenness’by mother and father in the OT. If we have been correct, however, in our reading of this psalm as one spoken by the anointed king, then this phrase perhaps takes on a different meaning. In Psalm 2 we saw that the anointed, unlike most middle eastern kings, is not born a king but adopted by Yhwh’s anointing. He is made/becomes a king. It would not be too far of a stretch, then, to see these lines as identifying the kings ‘removal’/forsaken from his parents and placed under the sole protection and guidance of Yhwh as his son. This may shed some potentially powerful light on the experience of the king: unlike all of his subjects he alone stands, without familial mediation, in front of Yhwh. In this he is both dreadfully exposed and amazingly empowered. Perhaps, then, we are to see the opening lines of confidence as almost uniquely anointed statements of confidence. It may be that they emerge precisely from this fact of ‘forsakenness’ and ‘adoption’: in a sense, the king moves further into Yhwh’s ‘light’ than most others precisely because he severs those other bonds in order to be more fully appropriated (adopted) by Yhwh for Yhwh’s purpose of establishing His kingdom. With that in mind these next lines also take on a different hue: ”Teach me / your way / O Yhwh – and lead me / on a level path – because of / my enemies.” Wisdom is supposed to be passed down from father to son within the family. Proverbs and other wisdom books emphasize this over and over. Here, however, the psalmist has no father except Yhwh. It is for that reason that Yhwh must now be his teacher. And this is because the king has been removed into a realm that is entirely Yhwh’s—the realm of Yhwh’s kingdom. It is for this “path” that he has been adopted and taken from his mother and father and why they would not (could no) be adequate ‘teachers’;only Yhwh can serve this role now. Without tiring in emphasizing: when Yhwh redeems or saves he does so by conquering the wicked. Here, the same holds: the establishment of the kingdom will be accomplished by ‘teaching’ the anointed Yhwh’ ‘path’ because of his enemies. As Psalm 2 makes clear, the anointed’s enemies are Yhwh’s enemies and warring against them are the ‘birth pangs’ of the kingdom.

“Do not / deliver me / to the greed / of my opponents – for false witnesses / have arisen / against me, - violent witnesses too.” If our approach thus far has been correct (as reading this as a royal/anointed psalm), then these lines may refer to the ‘grumbling’ of the nations, something we saw in Psalm 2 as the hallmark of the anointed’s enemies. Here, the anointed pleads with Yhwh not to deliver him over to these grumbling and uniting forces. “I believe / I will see / the goodness / of Yhwh – in the land / of the living. – Wait / for Yhwh. / Be strong, - and let / your heart / be bold. – Yes / wait for Yhwh.” This is a very fitting conclusion to the psalm. It ends on a note that perfectly summarizes the dynamic of total confidence and prayer. The first part looks back to the opening lines—Yhwh is my light and my salvation—as well as the ‘one desire of his heart’—to see the goodness of Yhwh—and places them squarely within his present situation—the land of the living. This is something that will happen. And yet, this is now matched with the need to “wait” and “be strong”, “let your heart be bold”---again, there is here the sense that the confidence the anointed is rooted in is in his‘waiting’, his ‘opening of himself’ (in servanthood) to Yhwh. It in this ‘existential’stance that confidence is achieved. In a sense, this confidence cannot be seen in a ‘snap-shot’ but only in the anointed’s continuously putting one foot in front of the other (or, confidence is achieved only in the ‘becoming’ of the king). Finally, it must be noted that these final words are those said by Moses to Joshua (the model pre-king) as he begins to move into the Promised Land. It is therefore a completely fitting command to be given to the anointed as he emerges to expand Yhwh’s kingdom in the face of the nations.