Ps. 38 (sickness: cause and purpose)

‘My flesh / has no soundness / because of your indignation – and my bones / have no health / because of my sin.’ In light of previous observations regarding whether Yhwh is ‘causing’ this sickness, this verse is a perfect encapsulation of how difficult it is to isolate such a ‘cause’. Here, we find the familiar use of parallelism we have seen so much of before. The first line describes an event or situation; the second line states the same thing but in a slightly different way thereby adding depth (either emotionally or developmentally). With that in mind, though, what we find here is something very interesting: the first line attributes the lack of ‘soundness’ in his flesh to Yhwh’s indignation; the second line parallels the first but now it is because “of my sin”. I don’t think there is an ‘answer’ by the fact that the first line concerns the ‘flesh’ whereas the second concerns the ‘bones’. Rather, what we find here is that for the psalmist, these two lines are saying the same thing. Furthermore, it is precisely in this verse that the transition is made from ‘your’ (wrath/anger/arrows/hand/indignation) to ‘my’ (sin/wicked deeds/weighty/wounds/folly). There is, I think, a temptation to rationalize this combination and to attempt to dissect it in its separate parts. The problem with that approach is that, for the psalmist, this line is not talking about two discreet realities (one, Yhwh; the other, sin). Rather, for him, it is just as accurate to say his ‘sin’ is causing his sickness as it is to say Yhwh is. An inherent difficulty in this is that, almost by necessity, Yhwh comes to be seen as the only ‘agent’ and everything is subsumed under him (meaning, one either says that Yhwh ‘caused’ the sickness or, he did nothing to prevent it). Stating it thus looses what the psalmist is attempting to show: that one must be able to attribute this sickness to the power of sin just as equally as to the power of Yhwh. Of course, these are not competing forces: they are both agents of working to a common aim. With all of this said, however, there are important ways in which we can come to see differences in the two. The psalm opens with describing Yhwh’s action as “rebuke” and “discipline”. All of the following actions by Yhwh are then mirrored in the ‘my’ section of the psalm. However, this opening portion is not. No where does it speak of ‘my folly/sin’ acting as “rebuke” or “discipline”. If we are to say that sin is as much as cause of the sickness as Yhwh we must be careful to note that sin is not, itself, a ‘rebuke’ or ‘discipline’. Rather, its only effect is destruction. It would seem, then, that while sin causes sickness in much the same way as Yhwh, Yhwh purpose is to bring back to health (in other words, to cause repentance). Sin is apparently more ‘blind’ than this and only operates in one manner: destruction; sin is not ‘personal’ in this way. It is because of this distinction that we can find the psalmist praying to Yhwh to lift him out of, or heal him, of his sickness and sin. In short: it is crucial to understand that the cause of sickness is understood to be sin and Yhwh; however, when we speak of the ‘purpose’ of sickness, there is an important difference: for Yhwh, it is for healing; for sin, it is destruction. In this way we see how Yhwh remains the lord over one’s physical health while at the same time not attributing to him, in isolation, the ‘cause’ of sickness.

Ps. 38.1-2 (sickness, Yhwh and sin)

‘O Yhwh / do not rebuke me / in you wrath – or / discipline me / in your anger – for / your arrows / have pierced me – and your hand / has come down / heavily upon me.’ It seems important to highlight the fact the psalm opens with words of an imploring intimacy: “O Yhwh”. The psalmist calls God by name. This is not a ‘prayer to God’ but a ‘prayer to Yhwh’, to one from whom the ‘name’ has issued. For that reason, the psalm begins within a sphere of covenantal communion; we might say, it begins from within a familial bond. This is the prayer of a ‘first son’ to his ‘father’, which means that, prior to any plea for withholding of discipline/wrath, there is the enveloping womb of covenantal love. It is from within that prior electing love that this plea and prayer comes from. One can begin to see the evidence of this by the fact the psalmist parallels ‘wrath’/’anger’ with ‘rebuke’/’discipline’. It is the psalmist’s disobedience that has caused this response. It is not the case that his sickness is evidence of a merely arbitrary act by ‘God’. Rather, it is the rebuking and disciplining hand of Yhwh. We can see this, formally, by the following transition from “your …” to “my …”: Your wrath; Your anger; Your arrows; Your hand; Your indignation; My sin; My wicked deeds; (my wicked deeds) are too weighty for me; My wounds; My folly. Five times the psalmist mentions Yhwh’s action and five times he mentions his own. This is not merely formal mirroring: the psalmist is intensely aware of the fact that his own sin/wicked deeds/folly, themselves create this punishment. Notice the parallels: “your arrows have pierced me” (meaning, pestilence)—“my wounds reeked and festered because of my folly”; “my flesh has no soundness because of your indignation”—again, “my wounds reeked and festered because of my folly” and “my bones have no health because of my sin”; “your hand has come down heavily upon me”—“(my deeds) like a heavy burden, they are too weighty for me”. It is not the case, as it may appear on first reading, that the psalmist is simply attributing to Yhwh his sickness. There is much more at work here. We can even tentatively say that the ‘my’ portion of the psalm mirrors the ‘your’ portion as a type of recapitulation, a restating of the original from a different, valid, perspective. From the ‘my’ perspective, his sin, itself, is just as much the ‘cause’ of his sickness as Yhwh. In a very real sense, he has, in and through his own sin, punished himself, and inflicted disease upon his body. With this in mind, what can we say, though, about how he envisions Yhwh’s action? The first is the traditional image of arrows of pestilence being shot at him by Yhwh; this is a stock image in the Mediterranean world (even Apollo is seen doing this, apart from the other Canaanite deities). Regardless of its prevalence, the image is disturbing and points to the psalmist sense that he is under attack from Yhwh; that he is an object of Yhwh’s anger, like some animal to a hunter. Second, he describes Yhwh’s hand as “coming down heavily upon me”. Later, we will see how the psalmist comes to describe his sin in much the same way. Here, however, we find that it is Yhwh’s oppressive hand that is crushing the psalmist to the ground. While the arrows ‘pierced’ him, the hand, externally, crushes him. It may be that we have here both the bodily attack as well as the psychological/social attack as well. Both images find Yhwh as ‘over’ the psalmist; he is not ‘pulling him down’ but ‘pushing him down’. He is not a god of the earth, dragging him into his ‘home’ in the ground (i.e. Sheol); but a kingly god who, on high, comes to his own. Yhwh’s presence is felt as encompassing the psalmist. One final thought: what are we to make of the relation between sin and sickness?  Initially, we can make the observation, based on what we have already seen, that, from a certain vantage point, sickness is not so much sin’s punishment as the manifestation of sin. We have seen this image before in reference to the ‘weight of sin’. In other contexts, we saw how sin often becomes oppressive and crushing; the individual who labors under its weight is aware of the fact that he cannot remove it, that he has somehow foisted upon himself something beyond his strength to remove. And here we come to an important point: one can lift sin onto one’s shoulders, but one cannot lift it off; it is light when it is being courted, but it is monstrous when one wants to remove it. In this way we see how sin is always greater than the act performed; it consumes or, in the words of our psalm, it crushes. Once committed it expands beyond the power of the individual to remove.

Ps. 37.37-38 (Yhwh's garden)

“Observe / the blameless / and watch / the upright – for / a peaceful man / has a future – but transgressors / shall be destroyed / together – the future of transgressors / shall be / cut off.” The previous section began with the teacher’s (past) observation of the wicked as they grew, ‘luxuriant’, like a ‘native tree’. They seemed utterly at home in the land and drawing from it and being blessed by it. They were, in short, a remarkable object of beauty in their success. There was, however, a marked note of anxiety in this; they were, after all, wicked. The teacher (the observer), in observing this tree, was placed within the ‘hiatus’ between Yhwh’s seeing and Yhwh’s acting that we have noted throughout the psalm. These two actions should be united in Yhwh (his seeing and acting), but here (in ‘the land’) a tree was allowed to grow—and, not just grow, but flourish and dominate the landscape—that was in rebellion to Yhwh (and, truly, to the land itself). This was no ‘tree of knowledge of good and evil’ nor was it a ‘tree of life’. This was a tree thriving on its power to take and never return, of slander and liable, and of ‘lying in wait’ to slay the righteous. This was a tree of death and curse. Here, the teacher’s ‘observations’ are focused elsewhere, to the ‘blameless and upright’. It is to them that one’s watchfulness should be geared. And the contrast with the previous section is indicative of the fact that these men are not surrounded by the glory of the wicked; rather, it is likely that they are humble and the lowly. And yet, as we have seen throughout the psalm, it is precisely to them that a future is granted. While they may not be a type of vegetation that is easily noticed now they will come to represent the only life in the land; they will, in short, come to have bestowed upon them all of the glory that the wicked now enjoy. But, for now, in that hiatus time between Yhwh’s seeing and acting, they are like small plants (one might say “mustard seeds”). They are being steadfastly looked over by Yhwh and protected, but their success is something that will come in the future once the larger ‘trees’ have been cleared so that the sun can enliven them. The point the teacher is attempting to get at is that the type of vision necessary to see these men is one of patience and trust in Yhwh’s ownership over them. While the larger wicked tree may be growing, like ‘native’ tree, that is precisely all is doing: it is growing purely on its own power and strength. And, just like all of the goods we have encountered in this psalm, if one’s life is not something given by Yhwh it will be cut off; it is an object of vanity. Rather, it is precisely the ‘transplanted trees’ (Psalm 1) that are the objects of Yhwh’s attention and care. We must recall that evil is something that is ‘works under its own steam’, much like a ‘natural plant’. It generates its own energy; it grasps at its own wealth. The righteous, by contrast, are provided for, they are ‘taken from one land’ and ‘planted in another’. They are anything but ‘natural’. They see themselves as not residing in themselves but being planted by Yhwh and are always already aware of the fact that they came ‘late in the game’. While almost any other culture reveals in its antiquity, Israel was created long after the fact. And, not only that, but their land is not one they originally came from. They didn’t ‘grow up there’ but were, in the words of the prophets, found ‘weltering in their (baby) blood’ in the desert. All of this may seem far afield of this verse (and it probably is), but the point is that the ‘inheritance’ that the teacher sees the righteous coming into is always in the future, much like Israel’s origins were not ‘in the beginning’ (yes, in some sense it was; but clearly in some sense it was not) and never really seemed complete, which is very much like these men the teacher is now asking the student to observe (they are like Abraham in the land; almost entirely unrecognizable and of almost no consequence and yet he was the harbinger of the future kingdom that would overtake the land). Transgressors, on the other hand, those who are actually native to the land, will be ‘cut off’. Although they have a past, they have no future in the land. In this regard, the land, as a type of garden, will always show forth this dynamic: that it is something fashioned not by itself, but by Yhwh the gardener who both clears away what is natural and plants what is alien.

Ps 37.35-36 (grace abounding)

“I have seen / the ruthlessly wicked – flourishing / like a luxuriant / native tree. – But / I passed over / and – lo! - / he is no more, - and I sought him / but he could not / be found.” If we compare the final line of the last section and the first line here we see this: “and you will see the wicked cut off” – “I have seen the ruthlessly wicked flourishing…” The point is obvious and is found in the verb tense and the condition of the wicked: you will see the wicked cut off; I have seen the wicked flourish. We might be tempted to say that appearances are deceiving, and there is an element to that. However, it is precisely in the act of ‘seeing’ that Yhwh’s faithfulness is demonstrated (when wicked are cut off). It is this aspect of ‘seeing’ that I want to focus on here. What the teacher saw: the wicked flourishing like a luxuriant native tree. There are several important elements to this metaphor. First, ‘flourishing’ and ‘luxuriant’ are obvious terms of wealth, opulence and virility. These wicked are not just healthy, they are prospering, reaching their hidden and fruitful potential. And, they are manifestly beautiful. Second, they are compared to ‘native’ trees. Their prosperity is one that seems utterly natural and stable. They are not ‘transplanted’, but completely at home ‘in the land’ and ‘the soil’. We should pause over this for a moment: for the wicked to be compared to what is native to ‘the land’ would be incredibly troubling for anyone who sees them as corrupt. They seem to have all the ‘blessings’ that were to be provided by Yhwh in his covenant, and they seem to ‘represent’ the land itself through their being nourished by it.  This leads into another important insight: that those looking upon this ‘native tree’ would feel, themselves, to be alien to the land. If everything was working in favor of this tree than those who stood in opposition to it would, in a sense, stand in opposition to the land itself (and, even, to Yhwh who seems to bless the wicked). This pinnacle of prosperity (and (apparent) blessing) would then become a great source of anxiety and discomfort to those at odds with it. A last point as to the tree imagery: the psalm began by comparing the wicked to vegetation. The first section described them as “grass” and “green sprouts”. There, however, as we saw, those images were associated with the ephemeral nature of the wicked, that they could easily be destroyed. By contrast, here the wicked are compared to an incredibly solid tree, which is the strongest form of vegetation. Again, this would induce anxiety (very much unlike the comparison of them to grass). They appear utterly secure and dominant as the highest and strongest from of vegetation “in the land”. It seems, though, that once all of this is established, at the very point at which the wicked have cast their spell over the land, they are, in secret, destroyed. It is important to note that the teacher does not witness the destruction. Rather, it almost seems to happen in the middle of the night (we might say “like a thief in the night…”). And not only is it accomplished in secret but it is total and absolute. As secure as they appeared in the first section is as utter their destruction in the second. The fact that their destruction occurs ‘off stage’ is indicative of a central theme of the psalm: although not stated, the destruction of the wicked occurs as a pure act of grace. Furthermore, as with many of the psalms, when this grace occurs (whether through healing or victory) it always ‘abounds’ and leaps a gap that man could never predict. In this way, it always carries with it its own witness as to who accomplished it: only Yhwh could so irrevocably and utterly destroy what was so patently strong and secure. One cannot help but be reminded of the original reconnaissance of the land: those sent came back reporting that those who ‘inhabited the land’ (we might say, the “native trees”) were like giants (we might say, “luxuriant”); for those who trusted in Yhwh, however, the success during the actual invasion was in many ways as remarkable as what we see here.  At no point could the Israelites have attributed to their own ‘grasping’ the success they had while entering the land. Furthermore, the idea of Yhwh ‘clearing the land’ is present everywhere in the histories (and the prophets). It is Yhwh who actually removes the native trees and (trans)plants his own vegetation into the land. It is Yhwh who makes the “land secure” and who gives to the Israelites “cities you did not build”. This ‘sudden reversal’ of the wicked also signals the reversal of anxiety for the righteous—the teacher, in order to assure himself of the wicked’s demise actually seeks them out. He is not willing to take at face value their absence but must be assured that they are not in hiding and able to return. And what he hoped for was true: they “could not be found”. The righteous can now leave behind their tentative steps into the homes of the rich and become the true ‘residents of the land’, in security and perpetuity.

Ps. 37.34 (exaltation and possession)

“Wait for Yhwh – and observe / his way – and he will exalt you / to take possession / of the land; - you will see / when the wicked / are cut off.” Following on the heels of our previous reflection, this section fills out and confirms all that we observed. It fills it out by including the individual in the dynamic between Yhwh and the wicked. As we saw, the previous section abruptly transitioned from the wicked to Yhwh without any reference to any action taken by the righteous. Here, they are implored to “wait for Yhwh” and to “observe his way”. There is both a passive (‘wait’) and active (‘observe his way’) element to this, although both of them are centered entirely on Yhwh. This section deepens the previous one by reference to the word “wait”. In the previous section it was the wicked who were ‘lying in wait’ for the righteous; here, the righteous are told to ‘wait on Yhwh’. As to the wicked, their waiting is one of cautious planning; they can see the righteous, but they are biding their time to pounce at just the right moment. For the righteous, their ‘waiting’ is very different: they are waiting on another, Yhwh. Their ‘waiting’ is something that presumes their trust in Yhwh’s ability to protect them from enemies they cannot see. This observation flows into the next—for the wicked, their success is something they grasp at from their hiding place. For the righteous, it is completely different. Their success comes from Yhwh: “he will exalt you to take possession of the land.” The wicked wait and grasp. The righteous wait and are given victory. The image of ‘exaltation’ can also catch our attention. The fact that this is directly linked with ‘taking possession of the land’ and ‘seeing when the wicked are cut off’ could remind us with a previous verse: ‘and he will make your righteousness come for as a light, and your justice like the midday sun’. We saw in that context that this image of ‘light’ was related to the righteous being given the land and the wicked being ‘cut off’. There, the righteous who were currently in the shame of darkness would later be revealed in the light of their righteousness as those to whom Yhwh gave “the land”. Here, ‘exaltation’ seems to be almost another way of saying the same thing: a type of lifting up into the public eye in glory, when one can, without anxiety, occupy a position of prominence. From that great height the righteous “will see the wicked cut off”. The teacher is now telling his student that he will come to see the same thing the teacher has seen throughout his life: the fact that the righteous are protected and the wicked are destroyed. The teacher has referred in three places to things he has seen personally: the destruction of the wicked, the preservation of the righteous, and the ‘cutting off of the wicked’. In this verse, we hear him telling his student that he will likewise come to be a ‘witness’ to such things. And they will not occur by his doing; it does not say the righteous will cut them off. Rather, just as with the conquering of the land, it will be Yhwh’s doing. It will be handed to them. Lastly, it seems important that whereas the wicked were before known to be ‘lying in wait’ and therefore unable to be detected by the righteous, here they are going to be ‘seen to be cut off’. Once the righteous are exalted, everything will be made clear and the righteous will no longer exist in a state of anxiety. Their trust in Yhwh will have been vindicated and their blindness will be rectified.

Ps 37.34 (man stays man)

“The wicked / lie in wait / for the righteous – and seek / to kill them. – Yhwh / will not abandon them / into their hand – and will not pronounce them / guilty / when they are brought / to trial.” These lines are not uncommon in our reflections. They image of the wicked ‘lying in wait’ is actually so common that it is clear that it works more like a stock phrase. That said, the image is always disturbing. This section is soaked with attempted murder. The wicked, whether though physical violence or through defamation in court, “lie in wait” in order to kill the righteous. Like lions hiding in the brush, they bide their time in order to wait for the opportune moment when the righteous are most vulnerable. It is this ‘waiting’ and ‘watching’ that is so ominous; the wicked have self-control and can be patient in order to accomplish their ends. Furthermore, as indicated, they are hidden. Again, this is a very common image for the wicked. The righteous are intensely aware that their enemies cannot be located; that they, the righteous, are blind as to their location but not to their threatening presence. Lastly, as to the wicked, important to note is the fact that, in the context of this psalm, the wicked are attempting to do to the righteous what will eventually occur to them: they are attempting to ‘cut off’ (to kill) the righteous. As indicated above, though, this image of ‘lying in wait’ is not something that needs to be taken literally; it can include, as we will see, the idea of perjury (of false accusations in order to ‘bring down the righteous’). Once the wicked are described, there is an abrupt transition to Yhwh. This transition is marked by what the wicked ‘do’ to what Yhwh “will not” permit to happen. In effect, it is one from activity (the wicked) to Yhwh’s defensive posture as to “his own”. There are several interesting features to this verse. The first is that Yhwh ‘possesses’ the righteous; they are his, always already. The fact that “Yhwh will not abandon them” implies that they are his in the first place. The wicked, by contrast, are attempting to ‘get possession’ of the wicked, but in order to destroy them. Yhwh owns them and thereby protects their life. Second, we find here a type of ‘resolution’ to the blindness suffered by the righteous. Rather than focusing on how the righteous ‘counter’ the wicked, the verse focuses solely and entirely on Yhwh’s action. While the righteous cannot locate the wicked, Yhwh has their ‘coordinates’. This is crucial to recognize—the righteous are fully aware of their inherent limitations as to locating the wicked; instead of attempting to find some other method of ‘finding them’ (or, of becoming detached from them), they cast their trust on Yhwh and his ability to not “deliver them into their hands”. Man stays man (both positively: not detaching himself from his humanity; and negatively: not attempting to gain a god’s perspective on the wicked) precisely in placing his trust in Yhwh.

Ps 37.30-31 (wisdom: walking and talking)

“The righteous man’s / mouth / utters wisdom – and his tongue / speaks / justice. – His god’s instruction / is in his heart – and his footsteps – do not slip.” Up to this point the ‘righteous’ and the ‘wicked’ have been contrasted largely through how they treat their wealth. The wicked borrow, but don’t repay whereas the righteous give and lend freely. There has, as we indicated, in vs.  23-24 a very similar description of the righteous, particularly as it relates to their ‘walking’, but there has not been any indication, in either with the wicked or the righteous, as to their manner of speech. Likewise, even though the psalm is a ‘wisdom’ psalm, this is the first and only time the word ‘wisdom’ is actually used. The question then becomes how this section coheres with the rest of the psalm. Initially, we should note how the lines are arranged. The first two lines speak of operation of the ‘mouth’ and the ‘tongue’. It seems logical to conclude that they are largely parallel. If that is the case, then the utterance of wisdom is likened to the speaking of justice. Two observations: one a question, the other an interpretation. First, what does it mean to ‘speak justice’? Is it referring to some type of ‘ruling’? Don’t we usually think of performing justice? The answer seems fairly straightforward: wisdom and justice and integrally related in such a way that they are both ‘active’ (wisdom is not, here, the knowledge of the ‘right order’ of things and how to live in accordance with that order). They produce a good result in other words. This completely coheres with the other use of the word ‘justice’ in the psalm: “Turn from evil and do good … for Yhwh loves justice.” (vs. 27-28). Words, in these verses, as in almost all the other psalms we have looked at, are not merely ‘pointers’ to another reality; words are deeds—they accomplish things and are performative. Furthermore, as vs. 27-28 make clear, these words are objects of affection to Yhwh (he loves justice). All of this, however, is really merely preface to the following verse: “his god’s instruction is in his heart”. The ‘heart’ is mentioned twice in this psalm: here, and in vs. 15 where the wicked are described as performing a type of suicide (“their sword will enter their own heart”.) There, we saw how the wicked heart’s destruction was rooted, primarily, in the self destructive nature of evil itself: it creates its own judgment and boomerangs back upon the one enacting it. Here, the thrust is entirely different. This man’s heart, rather that being the object of an evil sword, is a ‘womb’ within which Yhwh’s instruction grows. Whereas the fruit of the wicked man’s heart is his heart’s destruction, the fruit of the righteous man’s heart is Yhwh’s protection and governance (“and his footsteps do not slip” is very similar to “A man’s steps are established by Yhwh … if he falls, he wont fall flat on his face for Yhwh is holding his hand.”). The ‘womb’ imagery also gets close to the second point: the wise man’s words are his, but the instruction in his heart is ‘his gods’. There is a dynamism at work here: the wise man has taken into himself the ‘seed’ of Yhwh’s instruction. Within his ‘heart’/womb he adds to that instruction his own active appropriation in such a way that what comes out of his mouth is “wisdom” and “justice” (qualities that are Yhwh’s), the ‘children’ of this union of instruction and appropriation. It is in this dual-nature of instruction and speaking that we find his ‘footsteps not slipping’. Just as the words are his, so too are his footsteps; however, this man is a ‘lover’ of Yhwh’s instruction. His steps and his words, therefore, are the expression of this loving embrace of Yhwh’s concern and care; in other words, his ‘goodness’. And, it is this cooperation that I think we come to see this section’s relevance to the rest of the psalm: the land given to the righteous in perpetuity is much like Yhwh’s instruction. Both of them are to be actively appropriated and incorporated into one’s life, and it is precisely in that active possession of Yhwh’s instruction and ‘the land’, that ‘perpetuity’ results, either in continuous possession or in ‘footsteps that don’t falter’.

Ps. 37.28-29 (for the righteous, a home, for the wicked, a curse)

“The unjust / are destroyed / forever – and the posterity / of the wicked / is cut off. – The righteous / shall inherit / the land – and shall dwell / in it / forever.” These lines seem acrostic: A. The unjust are destroyed forever B. and the posterity of the wicked is cut off. B1. The righteous shall inherit the land A1. and shall dwell in it forever. Notice how A and A1 both employ the word ‘forever’, the first to signify the unredeemable destruction that will come upon the unjust while the second signifies the perpetual and secure dwelling of the righteous in their inheritance (“the land”). The emphasis on ‘forever’ points to the totality and absolute nature of the land’s relationship with those who dwell in it. For the righteous, it becomes a home; for the wicked, it becomes a source of constant anxiety and, in the end, complete alienation (and even death). In effect, the land becomes the stage upon which either blessing or curse is enacted. (One is reminded of Jesus in the gospel of John: “I did not come to bring judgment, but for those who do not believe, they are already judged.” In like manner, the land itself is to be a blessing, but it is a potent force that enacts this absolute judgment on those who profane it. Similarly, the land is there to ‘be a blessing’, as in our psalm where it says Yhwh “loves justice”.) Likewise, whereas the wicked are “cut off” from the land, the righteous shall “inherit the land”. This section is, importantly, neither in the time of the wicked nor is it in the time of the righteous. The wicked “are destroyed”; the righteous “shall inherit”. Both of these are certain to occur but neither of them are happening now. Rather, we see, again, the fact that the psalm speaks to the ‘time of the hiatus’—that ‘in between time’ just short of Yhwh’s full deliverance. All one must do, therefore, as the psalm repeatedly insists, is “wait” and “trust in Yhwh”.

Ps.37 27-28 (divesting and possessing)

“Turn from evil / and do good – and dwell securely / forever. – For / Yhwh loves / justice – and will not / forsake / his pious ones.” The opening verse is very similar to vs. 3: “Trust in Yhwh and do good, dwell in the land and find safe pasture.” The difference in the opening though is instructive. There, the teacher had been attempting to move the student away from envy of the wicked. In doing so, he directed him to direct his attention (trust) to Yhwh and to realize that only Yhwh could provide what his heart was searching for. Here, the focus is different, as the psalm has shifted its focus. Now, instead of “Trust Yhwh” it is “turn from evil”. We have been given some indication of what this particular type of ‘evil’ is and why it would create a barrier to safe and perpetual enjoyment of the land. The ‘evil’, thus far, are those who ‘take loans’ with no intent to repay. Not only have they not earned their money, but they have swindled it from the more generous (and, presumably, those who follow the Torah commandment to lend). This ‘hoarding’ stands in stark contrast to the righteous: those who give, freely, and without necessity. These men mimic Yhwh’s own free provision of the land. And here we come to the crux of the matter—the teacher, in imploring the student to ‘turn from evil and do good’, he is telling him to adopt that behavior which most resembles Yhwh’s own. In this way, ‘turning from evil’ and ‘trusting in Yhwh’ are much the same. Likewise, and this is the most fascinating aspect to this, if the whole psalm has been an attempt to teach the student how to obtain perpetual goods, then here we find that it is ‘obtained’ precisely in its being ‘let go’ to others. But there is something else very important in this: this ‘letting go’ is not because, or primarily, because it is ‘owned by Yhwh’; rather, this ‘letting go’ is to mirror Yhwh’s ‘letting go’ of the land to them. Just as Yhwh gives to them, so are they to give to others. In this way they become his ‘image’. And, most importantly, it is in and through this divesting of one’s own, that one actually receives it securely and in perpetuity. “For Yhwh loves justice and will not forsake his pious ones.”  The more his ‘pious ones’ enact his own self-giving, the more Yhwh ‘loves them’ and provides for them. It is a very dynamic understanding of possession rather than a static or stable one. It is built on the mirroring, in love, of each other and for the other(s).

Ps. 37.25-26 (I was young and now I am old)

“I was young / and now / I am old – but / I have not seen / the righteous forsaken – or / his posterity / seeking food. – Every day / they are generous / and lending – and their posterity / have become / a blessing.” There are three points at which the psalmist speaks in his own capacity as an “I”. The first was in vs. 10-11 where he says he ‘will watch’ the wicked’s ‘place carefully but he wont be there.’ The second, is here. The third is in vs. 35-36, and it is very similar to 10-11: he speaks of searching for the wicked and realizing he is ‘no more’, ‘he could not be found’. The uniqueness of this section is obvious: whereas in 10-22 and 35-36 he is speaking o the (absence of the) wicked, here is speaking of the presence of the righteous. This is an important point to emphasize as it tracks the theme of the psalm. The wicked, as the first section so eloquently states, are short-lived (“they are like grass that withers...like green sprouts that die quickly”). They are, almost by nature, insubstantial and ephemeral. The righteous, by contrast, are preserved during the hiatus of the wicked’s ascendancy and are, in the end, made permanent in ‘the land’. Even when their existence seems most thin and attenuated’, they are ‘preserved from famine’ and, manna-like, given bread to eat.

The contrast is striking: in one the psalmist sees the effect of the curse (‘they are no more’ and ‘cut off’), in the other, he sees how they ‘become a blessing’. In one the result is quick and devastating (once luxurious, now they are no more), in the other there is a constant permanence and care (‘I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his posterity seeking food’).

The emphasis on ‘posterity’: This the first time ‘posterity’ has been mentioned. Until now it was possible to see the ‘blessing’ that resides in having trust in Yhwh as being limited to the individual. Likewise, the curses may have seemed to have been applicable to only the wicked perpetrating the deeds. Here, we find that within each of the sections previously reflected on there is an added depth of ‘posterity’ implied within them. So, when we read, in the first section, about the wicked being ‘cut off’ and ‘dying quickly’, what we now come to learn is that that involves the destruction of the wicked’s posterity. This is clearly seen in the only other verse that mentions ‘posterity’, vs. 28 (“The unjust are destroyed forever, and the posterity of the wicked is cut off.”). It is another way of talking about their ‘memory’ being destroyed; they have no children to carry them on. As to the righteous, this is what we have meant all along by Yhwh granting ‘the land’ in perpetuity—it is generational perpetuity (we have mentioned this before).

‘Receiving and giving’: we noted in vs. 21 how the righteous are ‘generous and giving’ in such a way that they mimic or mirror Yhwh’s ‘giving’ of them the land. The wicked, by contrast, borrow but don’t repay. The contrast was deliberate: the wicked have an obligation to repay but don’t, whereas the righteous have no obligation to give and still provide. Here, when the wicked are not used as a foil, the righteous are now described as ‘lending’. This was an obligation set down by the Torah: to lend to those in need without taking interest. In the event that someone asks to borrow shortly before the jubilee, when all debt were forgiven, the righteous man who follows Torah is not to grumble to himself but to generously lend. Here, the righteous man exemplifies this incredible generosity to others.  Likewise, the first section (vs. 25), although framed in the negative emphasizes that the righteous are ‘given to’ and provided food. Hence, this verse mirrors Yhwh’s ‘giving of the land’ in vs. 21. And, what deserves note here, is that the profound generosity of the righteous is supposed to be seen as a participation in Yhwh’s generosity. Hence, the giving of the land could be seen as a way in which Yhwh does not ‘grumble at the last minute’ before lending the land to his righteous ones. Finally, this generosity is something that ‘spills over’ into the next generation: “or his posterity seeking food.” There is here the sense that the blessings performed by one generation are ‘noted’ and carried forward into the next. That is full of interesting implications: for those who later find themselves in the land, they are made aware of the fact that they are living on the merits earned by their predecessors who ‘emptied themselves’ in a very similar way that Yhwh empties himself in providing the land. One might even say that their ‘father’s righteousness’ becomes a river, flowing into them (and, one they are to drink from themselves). The wicked, on the other hand, ‘store up wrath’ and dam the river to their future generations.

Ps. 37.23-24 ('steps", "the way" and the hiatus)

“A man’s steps / are established / by Yhwh – and he / takes pleasure / in his way. – If he falls / he wont fall / flat on his face –for Yhwh / is holding / his hand.” At first glance this section is odd. In every other section the theme of ‘enduring goods’ has been fairly close to the surface. Likewise, this has found expression through a contrasting with the fleeting nature of the wicked. In other words, in almost every section there has been a dramatic interplay—the teacher has been constantly moving back and forth between the two parties (righteous and wicked) in order to draw the student into the sphere of Yhwh and of enduring goods. The images have seemed consistent in this regard. Here, however, the tone is very different. The focus seems to have softened. Now, there is only “a man” and Yhwh as type of guide and father-figure. The question is how does this relate to the rest of the psalm? (We can take for granted that each section is a type of wisdom saying; that, however, doesn’t explain why this one is where it is and whether or how it works in its context.) The answer, I believe, is found in the two words of “steps” and “way”. Both are used in other places in the psalm.

“Steps”: vs. 30-31 read, “The righteous man’s mouth utters wisdom and his tongue speaks justice. His God’s instruction is in his heart and his footsteps do not slip.” This is an important clue for our verse. Here, we find that the righteous man’s firmness of foot is rooted in the fact that Yhwh’s ‘instruction is in his heart’. We have seen wording similar to this in other psalms and it seems to indicate an active appropriation of a way of life into one’s being (in our previous psalm, the wicked had ‘transgression in the midst of his heart’). Without diving into too much depth on vs. 30-31, what we see is that Yhwh’s instruction and having one’s steps ‘established by Yhwh’ are probably closely related (if not simply different ways of saying the same thing). Furthermore, this image of ‘slipping’ is strikingly similar to the image in our verse of ‘falling, but not on his face’.

“Way”: vs. 5 reads, “Commit your way to Yhwh and trust in him and he will do it, and he will make your righteousness come forth as a light and your justice like the midday sun.” As we noted there, ‘way’ is a common designation in wisdom literature to describe a person’s ‘way of life’—the habits and disposition of a person. Vs. 5 indicates that that ‘way’ is something that should be ‘committed to Yhwh’ and, through it, one’s ‘righteousness’ will shine forth. What we saw in commenting on this section was that this ‘righteousness’ was integrally related to the righteous man’s being endowed with Yhwh’s ‘good things’ (the land). In our verse, there is an issue though: does it mean the man takes pleasure in his or Yhwh’s way? Ultimately, the verse should be read both ways. Because the ‘steps’ are already a dialogue with Yhwh one cannot speak simply of the ‘man’s way’ apart from Yhwh.

What are we to make of these two observations? I think the answer lies in recalling what we have said is the ‘goal’ of the psalm as well as the current ‘hiatus’ the student finds himself in. The ‘goal’ is Yhwh’s providing of ‘the land’ in safety and perpetuity. The present, however, is the time of a ‘hiatus’ between Yhwh’s watching over the righteous and his final provision. It is a time marked by ‘trust, patience and being quiet before Yhwh’. It is, I believe, this situation this section speaks to: both the ‘steps’ and the ‘way’ in the other contexts they are found are future oriented and they speak to an enduring presence of Yhwh in the midst of the hiatus. In one, it is rooted in ‘Yhwh’s instruction’ (we might read this as Yhwh’s ‘torah’ as providing the ‘bridge’ and presence of Yhwh, to ‘provision one needs’, as one journeys to ‘the land’). In the other, it is a ‘committing’ of one’s self to Yhwh so that he will reveal that person as righteous in the future. The final verse, of not falling flat on one’s face, is to be seen as another way of emphasizing this ‘patience’ in Yhwh and the fact that he is present throughout; he will provide in ‘times of famine’ and one ‘will not be ashamed’ with Yhwh. What is interesting is that this section, in its original setting, probably meant something quite different. In the context of our psalm, however, it comes to represent another vantage point to see how one lives in the ‘hiatus’ until Yhwh’s final providing.

Ps. 37.21-22 ("storing up wrath")

“The wicked borrow / and do not repay – but the righteous / are generous / and give. – Surely / those whom he blesses / shall inherit / the land – but / those whom he curses / shall be / cut off.” The wicked’s ‘goods’ have been a central concern of the psalm. As we have seen the ‘hiatus’ that has opened up between Yhwh’s ‘seeing’ and his ‘acting’ is one which is embodied by the fact that the wrong people have the right stuff. What has not been as clear is how the wicked came to obtain what they have. We have called it a form of ‘grasping’ in contrast to the righteous who must wait and trust in Yhwh. Yet, this has been more by implication than by what the psalm has explicitly stated. Here, in this section, we are provided a window. And it will be repeated several times throughout the rest of the psalm. And each time, as here, the psalmist will come to paint this picture of the wicked not merely by describing their action but by way, also, of contrasting their behavior with that of the righteous. One cannot summarize it more clearly than how the psalmist presents it. The wicked borrow and do not repay. They are not merely hoarders. As is indicated, their receipt of goods is not due to payment but borrowing. In effect, there goods are by way of robbery and injustice; they are not merely ‘rich’. By contrast, the righteous are not designated as merely those who repay but those who give ‘from their bounty’. Whereas the wicked have an obligation to repay and do not, the righteous, on some level, do not have an obligation to give but do. One cannot help but recall, at this point, Jesus warning about those who ‘store up wrath’ for themselves. The wicked, because of their injustice, are making themselves objects of Yhwh’s curse, the effect of which will be the complete reversal and undoing of their actions: “they will be cut off”. In essence, as previous verses make clear, the curse of Yhwh is his robbery of them. This is a clear instance of the principle of justice we have identified elsewhere: the punishment will in many ways mirror the injustice (eye for an eye; here: robbery for robbery). The righteous, those who give, will be ‘given more’. And this is a principle that has been hidden until now: that for those who steal, everything will be taken, but to those who give, more will be given. It is precisely in the handing over that one will be gifted the permanence of the land. What we find is that possessing Yhwh’s goods (here, ‘the land’), is only had by way of mirroring that giving to others. Just as Yhwh’s punishment will mirror the injustice, so will his blessing mirror the righteousness of ‘the righteous’. Finally, notice how this section is acrostic, beginning with the wicked and ending with their demise:

A: The wicked borrow and do not repay

B: but the righteous are generous and give.

B1: Surely those whom he blesses shall inherit the land

A1: but those whom he curses shall be cut off.

Ps. 37.21-22 (a wicked holocaust)

“But / the wicked / shall perish – Yhwh’s enemies too – they are consumed / like the beast / of the pasture; - they are consumed / in smoke.” This section connects to the previous by way of the word “But”. The wicked’s destruction (their ‘perishing’) is contrasted to the fact that the righteous are ‘provided for in days of famine’. As we will see, the fact that these verses are connected will help begin go decipher exactly what is happening to the wicked in these verses. Which brings us to the focus of these verses: the manner in which the wicked are destroyed. Up to this point the wicked’s ‘end’ has been described as ‘grass withering’, as green sprouts that ‘die quickly’, as their being ‘cut off’ and as their being stabbed in their own heart (by their own swords). All of this, as we have seen, hints at the natural destructive power of evil to boomerang back on those who commit it. Whether this is understood as something that happens to the wicked (grass withered by sun), or as something that is portrayed as a type of suicide (stabbing themselves in their own heart), the mystery of evil’s destruction is total. Here, this image is carried forward into a picture of animals being consumed by a raging fire (perhaps, as they search for food). Unlike the swords, this image is completely that of ‘suffering their destruction’. Why this phrase ‘beasts of the pasture’? The word ‘pasture’ has occurred before. In vs. 3 the righteous are described as finding ‘safe pasture’. I think the contrast is deliberate: whereas the righteous find pasture that is lush and green and ‘safe’, the wicked graze in a pasture that is subject to ravishing of famine and fire. This coheres with the overriding theme we have developed: that the teacher is encouraging the student to remain with Yhwh because only Yhwh can provide the ‘land’ (here, the ‘pasture’) that is safe and perpetual. Those who don’t wait on Yhwh will suffer the ‘natural’ cycles of famine and flame. Their ‘goods’ will be taken from them, not by any necessary act of Yhwh but by the fact that their grasping carries with it its own destruction (this is why their ‘end’ can be portrayed either passively (as something that happens to them) or actively (as something they do to themselves)). We shouldn’t pass over the impact of this image in our abstractions. What we find here, as an image of the wicked’s destruction, is twofold: first, the wicked are deemed to be beasts; they are probably, in this way, like animals caught within a pasture, not fully aware of the flames (and famine) that is about to beset them. They are both unaware and unable to avoid their impending destruction. This points, as we have argued, to the fact that the wicked, unlike Yhwh and the righteous, do not ‘see their end’. It is a brutal image. Second, the fact that ‘flames’ are never mentioned but only the animals being ‘consumed in smoke’ leaves to the reader’s imagination this mock sacrifice of burning animals and the flames that would devour them in a wicked holocaust. Whereas in a true sacrifice, the animals are offered by man to god, here, they are, in a very real sense, igniting themselves on fire, and they are burning to the ‘god of vanity’.

Ps.37.18-19 (a taste of the final meal)

“Yhwh knows / the days / of the blameless – and their inheritance / shall be forever. – They shall not / be ashamed / in an evil time – and they shall be / provided for / in days of famine.” There are two aspects to this section I want to focus on: 1) Yhwh’s knowledge  “of days” during the ‘hiatus’ and 2) the phrasing of “shall not” and “shall”. As to Yhwh’s knowledge: up to this point the action of Yhwh has been limited to the ‘end point’, that time when the righteous will be provided for (the poor will be made rich and the rich made poor). For example—and he will give you your heart’s desires”; “trust in him and he will do it”; “he will make your righteousness come forth…”; “they that hope in Yhwh will inherit the land”; “Yhwh laughs at them for  he has seen their time has come”. On the other hand, the student is to cultivate an attitude of patience and trust in Yhwh; he is to be ‘quiet’ in front of him during this time. What we see, then, is that, in a sense, the student is to be ‘active’ (in cultivating patience, trust and quiet) until the time of Yhwh’s great activity of deliverance. Here, however, we find that Yhwh has not been idle as to the righteous during the time of ‘patience and trust’. Rather, “Yhwh knows the days of the blameless”. This strikes a ‘passive’ note: as if Yhwh is merely aware of their ‘days’. That, clearly, is not the case. As we have seen throughout, during the ‘hiatus’ of injustice Yhwh’s knowledge (or, seeing) and Yhwh’s action, are in tension. The goal (the ‘end-point’) is when that gap is closed. The point, however, is that Yhwh’s ‘knowledge’ or ‘seeing’ carries with it the real potential and guarantee of his ‘acting’. No where do we find that this ‘hiatus’ is caused because Yhwh is unable to close the gap (when one looks closely at the wicked’s interpretation of these times it is, in fact, they who claim Yhwh can’t act).  Therefore, for Yhwh to “know the days of the blameless” is for them to have an assurance that a final day will come when Yhwh acts on their behalf. But there is more: the entire psalm only refers to ‘days’ twice, and they are both in this section. They are the “days of the blameless” and the “days of famine”. By seeing this connection we deepen the insight above: for Yhwh to “know the days of the blameless” is for Yhwh to “provide for them in days of famine”. When the ‘hiatus’ occurs then (when patience, trust and quiet are required) Yhwh’s ‘knowledge’ will become one that will sustain his people. We might say, “manna will be provided during his people’s dessert wanderings”. This provision is that ‘real potential’ and ‘guarantee’ spoken about above—it is both sustenance and promise, a taste of the final meal. (Side-note: in the context of this psalm, the implications of this are rather far reaching. It would mean that any provision now given, as coming from Yhwh’s ‘knowing the days of the blameless’, is the beginning of that final provision we have spoken of: the land being provided in safety and perpetuity. One cannot help, then, thinking of Johns’ gospel when Jesus says the people ‘ate the manna but still died’ where he is the ‘bread of life’ that, if you eat, you ‘will never die’. In effect, the OT, in this context, is this ‘manna’ that was the foretaste, the ‘real potential’ ‘guarantee’ and ‘sustenance’, of Christ, the ‘bread of life’. In Christ, eternal life is provided, precisely that form of giving we have indicated is the goal of this psalm.) As to the second point: the conclusion to this section juxtaposes the protection and the provision of Yhwh as he ‘knows of the days of the blameless.’ “They shall not be ashamed in an evil time”: a natural question is why would they be ashamed? We have seen before that the emphasis on shame in these psalms points to the fact that, for biblical man, his public face is just as important as any ‘interior face’. For him, if Yhwh is the true protector and deliverer, then his public face will be just as much of a concern to Yhwh as any interior state. For that reason, when evil comes, if Yhwh is in fact who he says he is, then his ‘provision’ for them during that time will be by way of their not experiencing ‘shame’—presumably the shame associated with a god who cannot (or does not) bestow care on his own. So, publicly they will not be ridiculed. Likewise, “in days of famine” they “shall be” provided for. In many ways these could be read as parallel: to ‘not be ashamed’ in evil times is to ‘shall be provided for in days of famine’.

“The little / the righteous have / is better – than the abundant wealth / of the wicked persons – for the arms / of the wicked / shall be broken – but Yhwh / is watching over / the righteous.” This section is acrostic:

A The little the righteous have is better

B than the abundant wealth of the wicked.

B1 for the arms of the wicked shall be broken

    A1 but Yhwh is watching over the righteous.

The small word “for” is the crux of the section, the pivot for the acrostic (so to speak). And it emphasis, yet again, that this psalm is not attempting to inaugurate its student into detachment from worldly goods but, rather, that one should not envy the goods the wicked have because they will soon be destroyed. The reference to the arms being ‘broken’ should call to mind the fact that in the previous section the bows of the wicked will soon be ‘broken’. One should be wary of wanting to be in the wicked’s camp when their destruction is so close. Better to stay with ‘the little’ than the ‘abundance’ of the wicked. One important addition this section provides is that Yhwh is “watching over the righteous”. Interestingly, Yhwh is only described as ‘seeing’ two things in this psalm: that the end of the wicked is soon (vs. 13) and that he is ‘watching over the righteous’ (vs. 17). This is not by accident, as it points to the fact that Yhwh sees everything. However, the difference in the two is that whereas he sees the end of the wicked and does nothing, his ‘watching over the righteous’ is a protective gaze. He will shield them while the arms of the wicked are broken. Likewise, whereas when Yhwh sees the wicked they are subject to his derisive laughter, the righteous are portrayed as special objects of his affection.

Ps. 37.14-15(the devouring worm)

“Wicked persons / drew their sword – and bent the bow – to bring down / the weak / and the poor – to slaughter / honest wayfarers. – Their sword / will enter / their own heart – and their bows / will be broken.” From the heavenly laughter of Yhwh we now descend to earth. What takes place in these verses is, arguably, the working out on the earthly level what occurred in the heavenly realm. In other words, I think this section may be describing the same thing as the previous section but from a different perspective. Here, we find what we have called the ‘boomerang’ effect of evil: evil has a destructive principle within it; it brings about its own downfall and those who enact it end up bringing the destruction down on their own heads (for example: they dig a pit for the righteous, but fall in it themselves; they aim arrows at the righteous, but they only come back upon their own heads; they utter curses, only to find themselves cursed). Yhwh does not, himself, need to do anything in particular in these matters, except to do nothing and allow evil to self-destruct. This is why we can see these verses as re-enacting the previous section. There, Yhwh laughed because “he has seen that their time has come.” Here, evil is seen to fulfilling its ‘boomerang’ effect—the wicked are, in these verses, “coming to an end” but it is by way of evil’s own destructive power. That is why in the previous section Yhwh was seen to be merely laughing; he didn’t actually do anything other than be an observer. In effect, Yhwh was doing what the teacher has been imploring of the student: waiting.

There is an important development here: the teacher has not indicated prior to now that the ‘boomerang’ effect of evil was one of the reasons why their ‘time was short’. In fact, we were never sure exactly why the wicked’s possessions would not endure. One of our ideas was that goods cannot endure unless they are given by Yhwh. If they are obtained simply by ‘grasping’ for them, they can certainly be held for a time; and, in fact, long enough to create envy and strife. However, they cannot be held in perpetuity. Here, we find a deepening of that insight: goods that are obtained by ‘grasping’ are, at root, unjust and therefore wicked. Their ‘end’, then, is not simply due to some neutral principle of the ‘impermanence of all things’ or ‘the vanity of all things’. I think that is true but it is not complete: their end is also due to an underlying destructive power in them. It is this ‘devouring worm’ that Yhwh perceives from heaven. And, because it is seen from a heavenly perspective it is seen purely by Yhwh as an inescapable conclusion. He sees the worm eating at the wicked and their goods. He knows it cannot be warded off because the wicked are blind to it. Even up to the eve of their downfall they are ‘drawing swords’ and ‘bending their arrows’. The disconnect is complete and it is this disconnect that is so (disturbingly) funny to Yhwh. One wonders whether the final line would have been read as humorous: “Their sword will enter their own heart…”.  

One final thought: this idea of Yhwh as able to perceive the end of the wicked because he knows the inevitability of the worm’s power. Is this something that, once it is fully internalized in the ‘student’, becomes a source for apocalyptic literature? The idea is that once one is convinced that wicked ‘grasping’ has an ‘end-point’, and once one is convinced of the full ripening of the wicked fruit, wouldn’t one (as in this psalm) come to see the earth from a heavenly perspective and see the works as being played out in an apocalyptic manner? Wouldn’t it be the case that this could easily lend itself to predicting when, precisely, the ‘end’ would come? And, wouldn’t this lend itself to searching for signs much like a farmer reads the signs of the sky? Couldn’t apocalyptic be seen as a form of “Yhwh’s laughter”?