Ps. 37.10-11(delight in great peace)

“But / a little while / and the wicked / will be / no more – And I will watch / his place / carefully / but he won’t / be there – And the meek / shall inherit / the land – and shall / take delight / in great peace.” A theme we have been tracing throughout the psalm is that of time. The psalm began with it: “for like grass they will wither quickly.” We also saw how, in the first section, the wicked will not only die ‘quickly’ but ‘out of season’: “like green sprouts they will die away”. There will be added to their natural ‘withering’ an element of ‘advanced destruction’. Conversely, the same is true for the righteous: just as ‘quickly’ as the wicked are destroyed will they be raised up to ‘their inheritance’ in the land. Here, these ideas are resumed and developed. First, as to time, the wicked’s destruction will be in “a little while”. While the destruction of the wicked was certain and even ‘quick’, the fact that it is soon to occur has not been present until now. This only buttresses the teacher’s argument to his student regarding his ‘fretting’ and ‘envy’: not only are the wicked sure to be brought down, but they will be brought down soon. Therefore, the ‘goods’ that they enjoy (the success they have), are not only not permanent but they are even more fleeting that we had originally thought. In effect, only a fool would envy what is about to be destroyed. Second, whereas in the first section the wicked were spoken of as ‘withered grass’, and as vegetation in the land that will be removed (or scorched at the revealing of the righteous), here, the image is less metaphoric: domicile destruction. The wicked’s homes, their dwelling places, will, like the ‘green sprouts’ be removed. Although the term ‘cut off’ is not used, the effect is the same.

The psalmist then moves into the idea of ‘watching’ the wicked’s deserted home. This is a crucial moment. If the wicked return to their homes then the ‘goods’ they enjoyed will have returned to them. His entire exhortation would therefore fail as they would have resumed their position of success. More importantly, however, it would appear that the wicked were enjoying the ‘perpetuity’ of goods that only Yhwh can provide. It is imperative, then, that when the wicked fall, they fall utterly and completely. When they are removed from their homes, they cannot return. This is the reverse of the central tenet of the psalm that Yhwh is the only one who provides goods in security and perpetuity. If that is the case, then those who are his enemies must experience the same totality (but in destruction and judgment).

There is a common image employed throughout the prophets and the psalms of Israel’s ‘inheriting’ the land. It is of Yhwh ‘clearing the ground’ like a gardener of all the weeds and making the land a suitable place to ‘grow his vineyard’. In these verses something similar is found: as the wicked are removed, and removed in such a way that they are certain to not return, the ‘meek inherit the land’. This image is actually closer to the historical books in its literal depiction of an abandoned home and dwelling and Israel’s subsequent ‘inheritance’ of the land. What is central to both (the historical books and this psalm) is that Yhwh is the one who removes the inhabitants and gives the land to Israel. Interestingly, if this is in fact in the background of the pslamist’s mind, he has taken this historical remembrance and is now applying it as a lesson in the present—in this way it is a type of abiding principle. The wicked will be removed (in the future) just as they were removed in the past (and just as utterly); likewise, the ‘righteous’ will come into their inheritance just as effortlessly as Israel did when they ‘inherited’ the land.

The final phrase is interesting: “shall take delight in great peace”.  This is a rather poignant expression of what we have argued all along: that ‘goods’ are ‘good’ only when given by Yhwh in safety and perpetuity. What we find here, though, in its context is something very interesting. Clearly, the wicked were strong, the ‘strong of the land’. When they were removed, the psalmist stood looking to see if they would return. This is a very anxious ‘looking’. If the wicked return it is not only that they will come back into possession of ‘goods’ but that they will again ‘lord it over’ the righteous. As time passes, the ‘meek’ gain confidence that, in fact, they are not returning. One can picture them very cautiously moving out of hiding and coming to look at the houses of the wicked, unsure of whether they should set foot in them for fear of what would happen if their former inhabitants came back. It is a very beautiful image of grace: inhabiting the dwellings of others due to Yhwh’s judgment of the wicked. They would be continuously reminded of the fact that these homes were not built by them. At some point, assurance would be so internalized and certain that the anxiety would be dispelled, celebration would occur and “the great peace” would begin.

Seen from this perspective, the inheritance of the promised land is but a foretaste of the eschatological ‘day of the lord’ when the entire world will be ‘cleansed’ and the righteous (here, “the meek”) will inherit it.