Ps. 38.19-22 (conclusion: sickness, enemies and intervention)

“My enemies / without cause / are numerous – and those who hate me / for no reason / are countless. – And those / who repay evil / for good – are my adversaries / in my pursuit of the good.” Our reflections thus far have shown twin deteriorations due to sin: bodily (vs. 3-8) and social (vs. 10-14). In this third section of the psalm, where the psalmist recounts his experience and his response to it, we find him moving back and forth between these two deteriorating conditions of his. In our immediately preceding reflection we saw how the psalmist was ‘concerned about his sin’ and sought confession (presumably by way of sacrifice) and yet was willing to accept the ongoing ramifications of his sin in and through his sickness (I am ‘prepared for limping’). That focus seemed to be on his bodily ailments. Here, in these verses, he now turns his attention to the enemies that have ‘smelled blood’ and are circling him. Interestingly, as we noted before, the party’s that he love are not mentioned. A question is why these men follow the confession? Why didn’t the psalmist lump this category in with his physical ailments and then make confession? I think there is an important point in this: the psalmist’s physical sickness, although a manifestation of his sin, did not contain a ‘will of its own’. We saw that in our initial reflection on the aim and purpose of sickness. By contrast, as the psalms make abundantly clear, the wicked willingly seek destruction of the righteous. The point is this: confession can, potentially, have an effect on sickness but, by contrast, it could only heighten the attack of enemies. In order to take care of his enemies he does not necessarily need to confess (or, better, he also needs to) as much as he needs Yhwh to intervene and deliver him, which is precisely what the following (and concluding verses) ask for—“Do not abandon me / O Yhwh – O my God / do not be / far from me. – Come quickly / to my aid – O Yhwh / my Victory.” This interpretation makes sense of a puzzlement. The opening of the psalm shows the psalmist almost asking Yhwh to be distant from him (because he saw him as causing his sickness, in some manner), whereas the conclusion is of the psalmist asking Yhwh to come close. If our interpretation is correct, the reason for the contrast is that, here, at the end, he is focused on his enemies and the need for Yhwh to intervene.