Ps. 57.2-3 (God Most High)

I call to God / the Most High One
to the God / who will fulfill / his purposes for me
he will / send forth from heaven / and save me
he will / challenge / whoever hounds me
God will / send forth / his loyal-love and faithfulness. 

This is the prayer that emerges from beneath the shadow of the wings of the cherubim in the Temple (God’s wings). It is important to note how he has described himself as, in vs. 1, beneath God’s wings whereas now he calls to God and understands that prayer as entering heaven. God, therefore, seems to be fully present in both places at the same time—on earth, in the ‘wings of the cherubim’, and in heaven. The prayer, in fact, is now directed to “God, the Most High One”, his ‘height’ pointing not only to his authority over all but to his locating high in the heavens (these two being synonymous it seems). This geographical duality is a rather poignant way of describing the Temple itself—as the meeting place of heaven and earth. In the Temple, the ‘heaven’ that God dwells in is understood to, also, dwell on earth.  One of the important things to grasp about this is that the ‘higher’ God dwells in the heavens the more power the psalmist can expect by his help. His distance is not one of alienation, but of regal power over all other powers. It is precisely because of this reality that the Temple can be the “refuge” of verse 1—because God is the “Most High” , his ‘wings’ in the Temple can be and are the refuge that will protect the psalmist from ‘Destruction’ passing by. In a sense, the higher God is understood to dwell in the heavens, the more powerful is the Temple understood to be a source of protection and life. This is why the shift between verses 1 (Temple) and 2-3 (heaven) is not paradoxical at all and why it can be so fluid. With this in mind we can see more clearly how the language in these verses work: in Temple, he calls out to God Most High – the answer to his call is described as 1) a ‘sending forth’ and 2) as coming ‘from heaven’. It is also, to now shift focus, described as an act of aggression on God’s part against those who ‘hound’ the psalmist. Heaven is now at war and is ‘sending forth’ its army: God’s loyal-love and faithfulness. It is important to see this literarily: send forth from heaven – challenge those who hound me – send forth his loyal-love/faithfulness. The ‘sending-forth’ is to be understood as the ‘challenge’. It is, of course, important that what God ‘sends forth’ is his covenantal power (loving-kindness and faithfulness). I wonder if in God’s ‘fulfilling his purposes for me’ we are to hear the words of the king, the one who, in particular, God would have a special attention for and for whom he would have particular ‘plans/purposes’. If so, then this would place the psalm in a much more militaristic context. And, it would make this petition/demand to be the portal through which these qualities of God descend to the earth in order to rectify and protect his anointed.