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).