Ps.34.3-4 (boasting in Yhwh, praise and wisdom)

“My soul / makes its boast / in Yhwh – the humble / shall hear / and shall rejoice. – Magnify Yhwh / with me – and together / let us / exult his name.” ‘Boasting’ is something common the psalms. It is not, however, an activity that is condemned per se. The issue always revolves around what the boast is being made in. In some contexts, however, an entirely negative connotation of boasting seems apparent. What is clear, though, on closer inspection is that ‘boasters’, in those contexts, are often synonymous with ‘idolaters’. And so, again, the issue is what fills in the blank to “my boast is in ___.” In effect, the individual is saying, the source of my strength/power is in ___. In the previous psalm the ‘kings’ and ‘warriors’ found their ‘strength’ in chariots and their own strength. By contrast, Israel’s was in Yhwh. The same idea is prevalent here: the boast is “in Yhwh”. So what do we mean by ‘boasting’ and how does this relate to our previous reflections on praise and blessing? To ‘boast’ in something, as we have said, is to acknowledge where one’s authority/power comes from. Typically, we think of this as one boasting in one’s own power (hence, its close resemblance to arrogance). To bracket that form, though, we see that boasting is a form of praise (negatively, it is self-praise) specifically related to authority/power. For the psalmist, his ‘boast’ is in Yhwh—Yhwh is that source of power/authority that has acted on his behalf. And for that, the psalmist intimately ties himself to Yhwh through his ‘boasting’—he is, in a sense, making himself vulnerable by doing so as his ‘strength/authority’ reside in something other than himself. His boast is, in a word, relational (we might say, covenantal). “The humble shall hear and rejoice”: what has not been made clear is why he would boast in Yhwh. The beginning of an answer can be found here. When the psalmist boasts, others are lead to praise and, specifically, to rejoicing. Those others are “the humble”. Without looking too far ahead, we can note here that ‘boasting’ as it relates to ‘the humble’ is the same as the ‘high’ and the ‘low’. Therefore, the fact that the ‘low’ would ‘rejoice’ at his boasting would indicate that they too might be ‘made high’ in Yhwh, that they too will have reason to ‘boast in Yhwh’. In effect, this ‘boasting’ is an invitation to the humble to enter into the sphere of Yhwh’s authority and power and to, therein, find deliverance and protection. Clearly, the psalmist has experienced it and, in his boasting, is making his experience the doorway through which other ‘humble’ men should pass. What we will come to see is that much of the remainder of the psalm is aimed at showing how, precisely, he came to his deliverance in Yhwh and how others might follow that example (how others might ‘walk through the same doorway’). This is called “wisdom”, the passing down of experience to other generations or those in similar situations. This is why this opening of the psalm concludes with words of exhortation: “Magnify Yhwh with me, and together let us exult in him.” The psalmist is preparing to reveal the wisdom that enables one to ‘constantly praise Yhwh’ and to be buoyed by Yhwh’s power and authority