“Strive / O Yhwh / with those who strive / against me; - fight / with those / who fight me.” The structure of this opening line is something that will be mirrored throughout the rest of the psalm and it establishes the psalm’s rhythmic quality. I am assuming these are words spoken by the king, perhaps by David himself. Understood in this way, this opening line has strong resemblances to Psalm 2 and how the other kings congregate ‘against Yhwh and his anointed.’ Here, Yhwh is called upon to become the Warrior King and Enthroned One on behalf of his son, the anointed king of Israel. And, not simply a warrior, the word ‘strive’ carries legal connotations. This is interesting to note and something we will reflect upon later—that Yhwh is called upon to act as the king’s ‘defense attorney’, or, paraclete. Not only will Yhwh be the one who ‘declares the anointed righteous (innocent); he will also ‘take his side’ and prosecute the case for him. This falls in line with the other royal psalms we have examined: Yhwh displays a particular concern for his anointed; it is a love and care that is different than that embodied in other psalms. He is passionate about this ‘son’ and becomes enraged when he is attacked or maligned. As we have said before—this is not simply the love of an individual but the king of Yhwh’s kingdom; the anointed’s heart is the heart of shepherd. It is because he carries in him Yhwh’s people that Yhwh is so passionate over him. What is interesting about this royal psalm, in contrast to others, is that these are words only of the anointed. Nowhere does Yhwh ‘part the clouds’, nor does he speak either to the nations or to his anointed directly. This is not unique; we have seen it before. It is, however, something to keep in mind and provides us an interesting vantage point from which to see this messianic prayer. After the legal connotations we also noted the militaristic imagery: “fight with those who fight me.” This is perhaps the most common theme we have seen in these royal psalms: the anointed one is a military being. In Psalm 2, the ‘nations’ were envisioned; Ps. 3, it was the danger of a coup; Ps. 18 (I believe), was a psalm composed regarding Yhwh’s fighting for David’s enthronement. Everywhere in these psalms is the national safety, as embodied in the king’s safety, regarded as of primary concern for Yhwh. One thing that seems important to note about this is that Yhwh’s regard for this nation is as a single entity, just as his concern for the king is as his adopted son. The nation, as embodied in the king, is Yhwh’s special object of concern. It is in their corporate identity that his, Yhwh’s, plans are to be accomplished. As indicated: all of this becomes centralized on the anointed. In a very real sense, he is and represents the nation as a whole. This ‘militaristic’ emphasis, then, finds its source here: in the anointed’s representation of the nation; his being its ‘head’. The imagery now becomes concrete in the following verses: “Take up / shield and buckler – and rise up / in my aid. – And draw out / spear and pike – to meet / my pursuers. – Say to my soul – I am / your victory.” The first verse is defensive: “shield and buckler”. The second is offensive: “spear and pike”. Evidently, this call for Yhwh’s protection comes after war has been declared: the enemy is already bearing down on the anointed and he cannot protect himself; later he will describe the enemy as “those who make themselves great”—here, the anointed clearly regards any victory as coming from Yhwh’s defensive and offensive guarding. Any victory obtained will be Yhwh’s (“I am your victory”). The term “rise up” is, as we have seen in other psalms, a militaristic call for Yhwh to ‘rise’ and meet the enemy (similar to the call to raise the arc as it was carried into battle). It is Yhwh’s ‘rising’ to his power (to his ‘throne’?) in order to wage war from this vantage point of greater strength. The fact that these enemies are described as ‘pursuers’ is perhaps significant in that, as we will see, they initiated the conflict (they ‘hid the nets’ for the king to fall into) while the anointed acted properly. As to “I am your victory”: it has been postulated that this may have been something uttered by a priest as a type of oracle when Israel went to battle. Here, it has been appropriated by the king as he asks that Yhwh say it “to his soul”.
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