Ps. 38.15 (pivot: covenant as source of silence and petition)

“But / I have waited / for you / O Yhwh – you will answer / O Yhwh / my God.” This is, arguably, the center of the psalm and its pivot. This is clear when we look at the previous and following verse. In the previous verse the psalmist ended on a note of desperation and of inability to speak. Here, we first encounter him ‘waiting’ and then asserting his assurance in being ‘heard’. This mixture of ‘waiting’, as a form of passivity, and then of ‘being heard’, as a form of active supplication, embraces this sense of his silence (passivity) before his enemies and yet also points out that he is not merely silent. Rather, within his silence is an un-vocalized word of prayer and hope (“you will answer”). And this shifts our attention to the following verse: “For I said: “Lest my enemies rejoice.””. On either side of this verse, then, we have silence in front of enemies (vs. 14) and petition to Yhwh (vs. 16). Verse 15, then, represents this tension of silence and petition, of waiting and of supplication. This is enhanced by the observation of his claiming “you will answer O Yhwh my God.” As we have noted in many other reflections, this is the classic formula for referring to the covenant between Yhwh and his people (“you will be my people, and I will be your god.”). Therefore, sitting beneath his silence and providing the very means for his supplication is this intimate and dynamic covenantal connection between the psalmist and Yhwh. It is an impressive bit of formal maneuvering on the part of the psalmist as well by placing this statement at the very heart and pivot of the psalm. It points to the fact that this dynamic and tension between his silence in the face of his enemies (and his sickness) and his petition to Yhwh is grounded and embraced by the prior covenantal act of Yhwh.