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.