Ps. 57.5 (Part II: rising glory, rising sun)

There is a level to this verse I forgot to include in the previous reflection. We noted there the effect of God’s ‘rising’ and how far from signaling God’s distance from earth it rather pointed to his ever greater intimacy with the earth—his rising above the heavens only signaled his ‘glory’ washing over all the earth. There is, however, in the context of this psalm another meaning to God’s ‘rising’ and that applies to the chronological theme we have pointed to. The psalmist, as we have seen, is in the Temple at night. He is currently ‘lying down’ in the midst of his enemies and his hopeful that in the morning a positive word will be given as to his innocence. Currently, though, he is shrouded in darkness (perhaps the potential darkness of creation as in Genesis…). With this image, we come to see that God’s ‘rising’ also related to the rising of the sun, which provides an apt metaphor for God’s rising ‘above the heavens’ and how that rising only increases the ‘glory over the earth’—just as the sun ‘rises’ in the heavens gaining an ever greater mastery over the earth until its pinnacle at which time its power is at its zenith (hence, at its highest it is most powerful on earth) so too is God’s rising in the heavens to be understood in the same manner. When the morning comes and the sun rises, so too will God’s glory begin to bathe the earth, beginning with the psalmist being declared innocent. This is confirmed by the use of the word ‘glory’. It is used three times in the psalm: here (vs. 5) and then again in verse 8 where it says, “Awake, O my glory! Awake, with the lute and harp I am ready to wake up (the) Dawn.” Here, the rising sun is matched with the ‘awakening’ of ‘my glory’. The psalm then concludes with a repetition of vs. 5. I do not think this is merely metaphoric: the psalmist, in the Temple, understands the sun’s rising as a type of sacramental reality: in its rising God’s glory (by way of proclamation of justice) will spread; his ‘loving-kindness and faithfulness’ will be dispatched in order to “challenge” those who persecute the psalmist. The sun’s ‘rising’ then embodies the battle waged by God against darkness as he creates a ‘new day’ for the psalmist. One cannot help but think of the words of Zechariah: “The dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.”.