Ps. 37.9 (hope, the land and the ascension)

“For / evil persons / will be / cut off – but / they that hope / in Yhwh / will inherit / the land.” Although we have already provided one reflection that incorporates this verse, there are two things that occurred to me after posting. First, when Israel is on the verge of entering into the Promised Land, Yhwh tells them that “today I put before you life and death; choose life so that you will live long in the land.” If they choose death, on the other hand, they will be ‘cut off’ and exiled. It seems to me that this psalm, patterned on wisdom sayings, is a type of meditation on that directive by Yhwh. The teacher is attempting to provide a rational as to why one would not look favorably (envy) those who are currently ‘growing’ (finding success) in the land—they are living under the curse of Yhwh and will be ‘cut off’. Actually, this is explicitly said later in the psalm: “Surely those whom he blesses shall inherit the land; but those whom he curses shall be cut off.” (vs. 22). Second, and it seems I repeat this ad naseum, but the ‘hope in Yhwh’ we find here is not one that incorporates detachment from worldly goods. Rather, precisely the opposite: the teacher is telling the student to, instead of envying the rich for their goods, hope in Yhwh that he will provide them (i.e. a long and fruitful life in the land, or, in the words of the psalm “will inherit the land”). Again, the end or goal of the wicked and the righteous is the same (goodness in the land). The difference is in understanding how it is obtained (wicked: through grasping; righteous: as gift from Yhwh). The righteous do not, as in other traditions, practice an interior ‘negation’ of the world, whereby one orients oneself solely to God by ‘negating’ the things of the world (largely by way of philosophical reflections on the impermanence of all things). Rather, the righteous looks to Yhwh as the sole provider of those goods and maintains an eager and hopeful (and trusting) attitude of love toward him. To stress again: underlying the psalmist’s wisdom is something largely foreign to philosophical reflection—that ‘goods’, devoid of being given by Yhwh, are not actually the proper object of philosophical reflection because they are not ‘fully themselves’. Rather, ‘goods’ are really only ‘goods’ when they are securely and in perpetuity given by Yhwh. This is why, if one were to seek the proper object of reflection as to ‘creation’ one would turn to “the land” and how it is intended by Yhwh (arguably, then, one would also need to turn to the Temple as well…). A further, more important, question is this: if this is true, can it re-orient our understanding of how Christ approached the Cross and of several of his teachings? It is common to speak of ‘building up treasure in heaven’ where ‘rust and the moth’ do not destroy, but what if what Christ was speaking of is essentially what this psalm is speaking: that endurable goods (the land) is something that can only come from Yhwh (or, in other words ‘from heaven’). To ‘build up treasure in heaven’ then is not meant as implying some type of otherworldly goods but of realizing that, as always, “the land” is something that is intended to be enjoyed free from anxiety (do not fret!) and in perpetuity. Second, if Christ carried with him this conviction as he mounted the Cross—indeed, if he died trusting that this psalm would be fulfilled—then he took with him, into Sheol, the light that renders this psalm possible (perpetual and enduring trust in Yhwh’s power to give the goods of the land). In so doing, he would have inaugurated the beginning of this psalm in his conquering (harrowing) of hell, his resurrection and, emphatically, in his resurrection as the ‘first fruits’ of “the land” when he ascended into the heavenly temple to ‘offer sacrifice’. Lastly, if that is the case, then (and this is impossible for me to reflect on now) this could drastically re-orient how ‘wisdom’ is to be understood in this context.