Ps. 63.4-5 (the feast of God)

So I will bless you / as long as I live
and in your name / lift up my hands
As with the food / of a feast / my soul is satisfied
and with my joyful lips / my mouth praises you. 

From within the sphere of God’s ‘loving-kindness’ that is “greater than life itself”, the psalmist now turns to “bless God as long as I live.” That ‘sphere’ is here said to be “in your name”. It seems important that we have now moved from “beholding” God’s glory and strength—of “seeing him”—to now blessing him in his name. It may be that what we see here is that the “Name” came to dwell in the Temple and so to bless God and “in your name lift up my hands” is a liturgical act that takes place in the Temple. This would cohere with the longing expressed in the opening verse—that to be separated from God’s presence in the Temple is now juxtaposed to “lifting up my hands” “in your name”.  The following verse would only add to this, as the psalmist partakes of a sacrificial meal in the Temple at which time “my soul is satisfied”. That statement—“my soul is satisfied”—is the antithesis of the opening longing of verse 1 and perhaps the central statement of the entire psalm. The psalmist has reached his destination in the sacrificial meal, except now the “thirst” of verse 1 is transformed into the food of verse 5. This dynamic of eating and presence should be highlighted. The opening verse explored the sense of bodily longing the psalmist felt when he was apart from God in the Temple. It became analogized to sensory deprivation, specifically of thirst. The psalm then shifts to a past experience of seeing God in the Temple, of meditating on the power of his “loyal-love” and now, here, it culminates in a sacrificial meal. It is at this point that the psalmist is “satisfied” for it is at this point that he simultaneously is fed and partakes of the presence of God—for the sacrificial meal was eaten in the Temple, in the presence of God, who was a type of host. This seems profoundly important in that a shared meal (with God) is that which “satisfies”. This is not simply an ‘embrace of the physical’ (although it is that). It is much more than a ‘meal’—it is the real celebratory experience of feasting. The eating is twinned to “joyful lips” and follows the perpetual “blessing” (“as long as I live”). We might say it is the pinnacle of the covenant experience as well as that of the experience of Zion—both covenant (in that the covenant partners are celebrating together in light of God’s enacting his “loving-kindness”) and Zion (they are in God’s “house”, where he is hosting this meal in his presence…as on Sinai). At this point “God as object to be delighted in” is transcended (or, included) by God as participant in the celebration feast. It is in the drama of feasting (of, communion) that satisfaction is achieved and the psalmist finds his ‘rest’ (it is, in this way, the Sabbath to his exile). Finally, we must (must) emphasize that this experience points to a real, not a ‘spiritual’, historical experience. The psalmist’s ‘satisfaction’ originates from a concrete, historical event of celebratory feasting (it is sacramental, not metaphorical—it doesn’t’ “point”; it is).