Ps. 34.16-18 (his eyes are upon the righteous)

“The eyes of Yhwh / are upon / the righteous – and his ears / open / to their cry for help. – Yhwh’s face / is against / those who do evil, - to cut off / the memory of them / from the earth. – They cry out / and Yhwh hears – and delivers them / from all their trouble.” A litany of assurance begins from this point onward in the psalm. As we saw with the previous wisdom saying, what appears to be fairly generic takes on a depth when read within the context of this psalm. Here, the “eyes of Yhwh” are said to be “upon the righteous”. This is almost a direct parallel to lines in the previous psalm; and the idea has been seen already numerous times in other psalms. Rather than detail those I want to reflect on what it means here. First, we must recall the first directive issued by the psalmist: “Look at him and be radiant, and let not your faces be ashamed.” Likewise, “taste and see how good Yhwh is.” Also, the wise man is one who will “take pleasure in life, that loves days so that he may see goodness.” All of these focus on human seeing. The first is specifically referring to ‘seeing Yhwh’ which, in turn, leads to a ‘radiant face’. As we have argued, many of these images are being deployed by the psalmist in order to show the lowly that their future deliverance is assured, that all they have to do is open their eyes (and see Yhwh, his angel, goodness, etc…). Here, though, the image of seeing shifts: now it is Yhwh himself who has his “eyes upon the righteous”. This is an very important change. Up to this point the psalmist has been ‘positioning’ the lowly. Everything has been referring to how they are to stand so as to be ushered into the sphere of Yhwh’s goodness and deliverance. They are to “fear Yhwh”, “seek Yhwh”, “find refuge in Yhwh”, become as a child to the wise man, “look at Yhwh”. Now, however, Yhwh turns to them. Now we find that their seeking is met by a similar seeking by Yhwh; their looking at Yhwh is met by his returning gaze upon them. And this—this gaze of Yhwh—is what constitutes the ‘answer to prayer’, what will be called in the next line “his ears open to their cry for help.” For Yhwh to ‘see’ the righteous is for him to act for their deliverance. This dynamic of the ‘science of humility’ and ‘fear’ in conjunction with this gaze of Yhwh is the essence of wisdom. It is, therefore, also what provides us with another element of what it means to “continuously praise Yhwh”. It does not mean simply the disciplines of the first part of the psalm: it involves the turning of Yhwh to the righteous. In this turning, when one realizes that to “see Yhwh” is to “be seen by him” and that, in that relational gaze, is the ‘continuous praise’. Again, the focus of this psalm has been not on obtaining a mode of detachment but of steadfastly looking to Yhwh for deliverance. Anything short is mere discipline and closure and a complete misunderstanding of the goal or purpose. Here, just as with the ‘encamped angel’ and the ‘tasting and seeing, we come to learn that Yhwh’s ‘eyes’ are, now, upon the righteous and, therefore, they will be delivered. The psalmist is attempting, as he has been throughout, to show the lowly that Yhwh is with them, now, and because of that, will be their deliverer. This is in contrast to other psalms where suffering is equated with Yhwh “not seeing”, “not remembering”, etc… This psalmist has a different view. As he will say later, “Yhwh is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are spiritually crushed.” This psalmist, we might say, sees in the suffering of the righteous something like a ‘plan’ being worked out by Yhwh. There is no hint that he can’t do anything about their suffering; the whole point of the psalm is that he can and will. Rather, space they inhabit is a type of ‘now, but not yet’. Yhwh is, now, looking upon them and can be seen and tasted. For whatever reason, though, this period is one of marked patience. He is, as will be said later, “watching over all of his bones” so that, in his future deliverance, “not one of them shall be broken”. Again, what holds this together, though, is this patient assurance, not detachment. Here, we come to see that it is based upon the twin of Yhwh’s gaze at the righteous and not merely their ‘seeing of him’. Conversely, this gaze upon the righteous is also a “face turned against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.” Here is a crucial insight—just as directly as Yhwh sees the righteous does he, now, have his face turned against the wicked. This is not a call for Yhwh to ‘rise up’ against the wicked. Rather, if one sees properly, one will see that Yhwh, now, has his face turned against them so as to wipe them out from the earth. This ‘destruction of their memory’ is something we have seen before and signifies utter and complete annihilation. It seems to me, although not explicitly stated, that an underlying vision of this psalm is that Yhwh is, in the present, working out something that will be fulfilled in the future. Right now his ‘eyes are turned’ to the righteous; right now he has his face against the wicked. All of these images, in other psalms, speak to what will happen at the time of deliverance. Here, they are happening now, even though deliverance has not yet occurred. In other psalms, this would be a ‘time of silence’, and of Yhwh’s ‘forgetfulness’. Here, there is no lack of presence. “Yhwh is close to the broken hearted.”  One wonders if we are not here on the edge of apocalyptic, with this ‘wisdom’ element, the sense that one must have the ‘eyes to see’ (for example, Yhwh or his encamped angel) even in the midst of present strife, and the sense that Yhwh will redeem in the future.