Ps. 40.9a (the publicity of the king)

“I have declared / glad tidings / of righteousness – in the great congregation.” I only want to focus on the first half of this verse in order to orient us some important points that will emerge in the next two verses and how important they are to understanding the king of Yhwh. The first thing to note is that this line, in and of itself, is not unique. We have encountered similar public pronouncements before. Indeed, the ‘great congregation’ has made an appearance in other psalms. It would seem to indicate the presence of Israel at a liturgical celebration. That said, when we understand that the king is making this joyful declaration and we place it in the context of the psalm we begin to see something important about the nature of kingship. The psalm began with what we called a progression (or ascending movement) from deliverance to strengthening and, finally, to praise. We noted, there, how the ‘new song’ was the ‘goal’ of deliverance and not merely restoration. Here, that goal is enacted by the king as he stands in the midst of his people and publicly declares to them Yhwh’s righteousness. The king is, then, functioning something like an orchestra master. By being Israel’s representative, his song is Israel’s song, but focused into the particular person of the king. Which leads to the further strand we have been tracing: the king, as exhibiting an Adam-like readiness to do Yhwh’s will is here inclusive of his ability to offer praise within the congregation of Israel to Yhwh. This is not merely liturgy, but kingly liturgy and his ability to offer this to Yhwh is part-and-parcel to his readiness to accept Yhwh’s instruction (or, Torah). Again, this praise must be understood not as the ‘remainder’ after faithfulness is enacted. Rather, it is the pinnacle of faithfulness. As we will see, this will become much more clear later when we see how this kingly liturgy is understood to be that which ignites Yhwh’s care and concern for Israel. It flows in a continuous circle: deliverance, strengthening, praise, deliverance, strengthening, etc… Without praise, everything stops. And, in particular, without the messiah’s praise. Lastly, this praise as public praise points, once again, to the fact that, unique to the king, he is, in his mission, a public person. Just as he is to appropriate Yhwh’s instruction perfectly in order to activate it for all of Israel, so too is his entire person to be appropriated, publicly, for Yhwh’s chosen people. In short, for the king (uniquely) to hold back in reserve a portion of what he has been given would be violate the very core of his identity as the adopted son of Yhwh (Ps. 2). One cannot help but picture here the sin of Adam as he attempts to keep for himself, privately, a portion of what Yhwh had afforded him. The king must, always-already and forever, pour himself out…like a sacrifice. This is not vanity; it is mission.