Ps. 54.6-7 (the ultimate aim of freedom)

Freely / would I sacrifice / to you, 
thankfully / praise your name / O Yhwh / for it is good.
It delivers me / from all disasters
and my eye / looks in triumph / over my foes.

The psalm opened with a plea for deliverance, for God to provide the psalmist space and room. There has been, as in nearly every lament that contemplates enemies, the sense of overwhelming and building pressure being exerted on the psalmist from without; this finds expression in the manifest sense of anxiety that pervades the psalm. The ‘release’ from this pressure is the deliverance provided by God: his ‘salvation’ and ‘defense’ (vs. 1); his ‘hearing’ and ‘giving ear’ (vs. 2); his attention (vs. 4); his allowing the wicked’s actions to boomerang back upon them (vs. 5); and his faithfulness (vs. 5). Verse 1 summarizes all of these in the psalmist’s appeal for God to save him “by your name”. It is this ‘name’, housed in the Temple, which pushes back at the forces (of death) aligned against the psalmist. It is in this verse that we come to see the aftermath of God’s conquering name—it results in freedom and thanksgiving. The constricting pressure has been destroyed and the psalmist is now permitted the expanse of freedom. And, importantly, a freedom that comes about by the saving power of God’s name. In this we witness something crucial: there is an inherent delight and goodness (“your name O Yhwh, for it is good”) in God’s name and power. It is not merely ‘power’ but persuasive and delectable. It establishes the psalmist in such a way that he is not simply ‘freed’, as in a hindrance being removed. His freedom is liturgical (“sacrifice and thanksgiving”). The removal of enemies is not the ultimate aim but the penultimate aim. The real goal is empowering the psalmist to become rooted, once again, in praise of God. Liturgy is the final result of freedom (as in the Exodus—the objective of freedom from Pharaoh was worship of Yhwh).