Ps. 38.13 (approaching enemies, approaching Yhwh)

“And they / who sought my life / set traps – and they / who looked for my downfall / spoke of destruction – and they / muttered deceptions / all day long.” In this final ‘grouping’ there is an important shift in approach to the psalmist. Before, due to his impotence, he was distanced from his wife; then, due to his ‘plague’, his friends, companions and ‘loved ones’ stood at a distance. What is common is the fact that he is suffering from distance. He will not be (or, cannot be) approached. Here, by contrast, he is actively sought except this time “for his life” and his “downfall.” The one party that will actually move toward him are those who are attempting to destroy him. Whereas those who could offer him succor stand at a distance, those who look for his end are close at hand. There are some interesting insights in this movement: it would seem as if his loved ones are properly standing away from him so as to avoid his corruption whereas the wicked are unconcerned (or, indifferent) to it. Furthermore, whereas the ‘loved ones’ do not want to involve themselves with the destruction of the psalmist, his enemies are, in effect, acting like his sickness itself by seeking his destruction. In this way, they are a form of his plague and, thereby, are a manifestation of his sinful destruction. This is a rather disturbing image of sin in rebellion with itself; one might say that sin is cannibalistic (or, parasitic) as it seeks the destruction of the host it inhabits. Furthermore, it seems to court those who are “like it” (like is attracted to like) to join in the feeding frenzy of destruction. I think there is something else important that emerges here as to the relationship between these ‘mutterings’ and the psalmist’s sickness. As is clear, both of these find their origin, in some manner, within the psalmist sinfulness. When we were looking at his bodily ailments, we remarked about how his body is in rebellion with himself. He is, in some ways, separated from himself. Here, the ‘mutterings’ are described as ‘deceptions’. They appear one way, but their intent is different. They are, in this way, lies—in rebellion with themselves. And herein lies the connection—sickness and these mutterings are forms of bodily and verbal lies, they tear asunder what should be unified. As the serpent makes abundantly clear in Genesis: lying (as corruption of creation) stands at the root of man’s death (and, hence, man’s sickness). And yet, furthering on what we said in our previous reflection: although these men will cross the ‘crater’ of man’s existence to seek his destruction, so too will Yhwh cross this same boundary, but he will do it in an act of miraculous healing and deliverance. The ‘characters’ in the psalm are crucial in this regard, and where they stand, geographically, is where they stand theologically: the psalmist, his friends/lover/loved-ones, his enemies, Yhwh…