Ps. 30.17 (part I: Yhwh's 'shining face' and the dark night)

“Let your face / shine / upon your servant; - deliver me / in you’re your lovingkindness. – O Yhwh, / let me not / be put to shame, - for I have called upon you. – Let the wicked / be put to shame; - let them be silent / in Sheol. – Let lying lips / be sealed, - that speak arrogantly / against the righteous, - in pride / and contempt.” At first I had ended this portion of the comment at “for I have called upon you” and left the curses for wicked for a separate reflection. However, as I was reflecting on it I realized that these two portions are tied too closely together and, if separated, would leave something important out, especially regarding what it means for Yhwh’s face to “shine” on his servant. The main reason I continued to lines is due to the word “let”, a word we have had the chance to reflect on in numerous other psalms. Here, it is used five times: two for blessing of the righteous, and three for cursing of the wicked. The first, “let your face shine”, I believe, is a type of introduction to what follows—the shining of Yhwh’s face upon his servant is what leads to the remaining blessings and curses. A first thing to note is the fact that Yhwh’s face “shines” on his servant. In other psalms the psalmist has asked that Yhwh’s face ‘turn’ toward the psalmist, but I do not recall his asking that it ‘shine’ upon him. The image is of a radiant face, a face of power and holiness; Moses’ face is said to ‘shine’ after speaking to Yhwh. It is very much the image of authority, sovereignty and the imposing force of glory, hence, why he then designates himself as a ‘servant’. The second thing to note is the word “upon”. In psalm 29 the ‘voice’ of Yhwh was ‘upon the waters’. There it was the image of overpowering and controlling (and destructive) force. Here, as to the psalmist, it is the reverse: the face shining ‘upon’ the psalmist is one of bathing, creative and protective light. He is the object of Yhwh’s favored attention as he stands below (and within) his beaming gaze. This ‘gaze’ is later described as Yhwh’s ‘lovingkindness’ and therefore bears all the marks of Yhwh’s complete covenantal reliability. In light of what we have seen before we need to pause over this in the context of the psalm. We saw, in our last reflection, the fact that to enact the first commandment led, potentially, to a covenantal dark night of the soul—a place where of shattering and uselessness and, yet, a place where the covenantal bond still holds but only in so far as it resides in Yhwh. Here, that ‘dark night’ is seen to originate in Yhwh’s ‘shining face’. It is this ‘shining face’ of lovingkindness that is the face of the Creator and Covenant God, who, prior to everything, creates and elects. This ‘face’ is that which stands below and undergirds both creation and covenant and it is, therefore, the face below which everything shattered and useless cannot descend. This is absolutely essential to grasp: this shining face is what makes possible the dark night. And so, in a very real sense, the darker the night gets the more and more one realizes how bright Yhwh’s face actually shines and burns. And, in case it seems we are emphasizing something abstract, the reason I have referred to this as the covenantal dark night is in order to emphasize that this is fully embodied and concrete trust that emerges from this psalm. It is one rooted, completely, in the covenantal obligations of Yhwh to his chosen: this psalmist is looking for full and concrete deliverance (hence, it is one that has, within it, a resurrection (Ezekiel—Christ) trust).