Ps. 71.7-8 (I have been a mystery)

I have been / a mystery for many
though you / have been my strong refuge.
And my mouth / has been filled / with your praise
with your renown / all day long. 

The first verse is difficult to understand. It appears to contrast the two statements—I have been a mystery – you have been my refuge—indicating that the ‘mystery’ the psalmist is to others is not entirely positive. This, in fact, is one of the common usages for the term ‘mystery’ as used here; it is something like a trouble-sign, a curse, etc… It is something that evokes a type of dreaded awe. Conversely, though, at times it has positive connotations and can be associated with God’s delivering hand, as in the exodus. We have seen, along these more ‘positive’ lines, a sense in the psalmist of an ever-present trust in Yhwh that has been clear since his birth. Perhaps the verse means something to this effect: that Yhwh’s care and concern for the psalmist has evoked a response of challenge throughout his life, much as it is now. In this sense he has been a ‘mystery’ to many in that he has been a scandal and object of hate. However, throughout his life, he has been marked by the delivering hand of God, much as in the Exodus God’s acts of deliverance were ‘mysteries’. What this points to is important when understanding the ‘aging with God’ the psalmist describes—it has been one of a continuous oscillation between communal rejection and God’s deliverance. His sign as a ‘mystery’ is both this negative and positive aspect. However, that said, he has not, in some sense, grown acquainted with the negative. He is still, as always, asking to be redeemed and for his enemies to be shamed by their aggression toward him. It is something profound to realize that one’s nature is this ‘mystery’, to see in one’s relationship with God the creating of this almost ambivalent existence. It is, however, from within that complexity that what emerges is so much more revealing: the mysterious nature of his existence has not quenched his continuous praise of God. Indeed, his mouth has been “filled” with praise and his renown “all day long”. Even though his being is one of dark and light, the darkness has not succeeded in diminishing the psalmist’s praise. He is adamant that it has not slackened as the images are clearly meant to convey the sense of completion. This is not, though, simply an interior state of strength: his praise has not slackened because God has always remained close to him and delivered him. It is God’s being his ‘refuge’ and his ‘renown’ (a type authorial, or regal, power) that ‘fills his praise’—these are images of deliverance and care. The ‘ever’ sense of his praise is relational, covenantal—not individual and withdrawn from history and the world. It is the ‘ever’ sense of relational ‘hope’.

Ps. 71.5-6 (grown old with Yhwh)

Yes / you are my hope
O Lord Yhwh,
my trust / from my youth.
I have relied on you / since I was born
from my mother’s womb / you have been my sustainer
continually the subject / of my praise. 

There are several converging lines of thought in these two verses. First, this is where we have an indication that the psalmist is man of age. His trust in Yhwh has been ‘from my youth’, and even “from my mother’s womb” Yhwh has “been my sustainer.” The psalmist’s entire life has been on grounded on hope, trust and reliance on Yhwh. He was, in a sense, born into this arena of covenantal relationship with Yhwh. And it has been his constant companion. This is not, however, a statement merely regarding the psalmist’s position vis-à-vis God. God has, also, “been my sustainer” from the womb. The psalmist has known of Yhwh’s concern for him. All of this, however, leads up to the concluding line—‘continually the subject of my praise’. This line can make us recall Ps. 70.4: “…and may those who love your saving help say continually, “God is great!”’. The point in our psalm, however, is that this ‘continuity’ of praise, embedded in verses that speak of life-long (‘continuous’) commitment of God for the psalmist and the psalmist for God, highlights this fact: that praise of God is just as much an emblem of this relationship as the “trust, hope and reliance”. It is not secondary or a residue or a byproduct of this relationship. Rather, it, along with these other virtues, stands at the heart of their covenantal relationship. Praise expresses the covenant as much as anything else. It is, in fact, what reveals the covenantal relationship to be one founded in the love and desire of one for the other, rather than it being a mere contract for services. In this way, it ‘fills out’ the other virtues, orienting them correctly. It is within this ‘sate-of-affairs’ that the psalmist has lived ‘continuously’ his whole life. He has grown old with God. 

Ps. 71.2-4 (power of righteousness)

In your righteousness / rescue me / and set me free
turn your ear / toward me / and deliver me.
Be for me / a rock of refuge
for going to continually -/ decreed for my deliverance.
Yes, / you are my rock / and my stronghold.
O my God / set me free / from the hand of the wicked
from the grasp / of the unjust and ruthless. 

As we indicated yesterday, this psalm emerges from within the context of a long life lived “with Yhwh”. Perhaps here it behooves us to point out that the opening verse speaks of God as a place where the psalmist has ‘taken refuge’. Here, images of God as a ‘rock of refuge’ emerge where he “goes to continually”. Further, God is here portrayed as a military “stronghold”. When these images are combined we see God as a place, a refuge, a rock and a building. It is not difficult to suggest then that this psalmist is making his prayer to Yhwh from within Yhwh’s Temple. The Temple was founded on a ‘rock’, it is a ‘place of refuge’ and it is understood as a ‘stronghold’. The fact that this older man describes God as a rock of refuge that he has gone to “continuously” adds to our original insight in this manner: he is intimately familiar with God’s home, his Temple. Just as God has been for him, throughout his life, a ‘place of refuge’, so should we understand here that that intimate sense of God has been fed by his continuous return to the Temple and his continuous offering of praise and liturgy to God from within Yhwh’s own home. In this way, he has been “continuously” a ‘guest’ in God’s home, with God as his host. In this light, it is important to note how he here appeals to God’s ‘righteousness’—his covenantal power of assurance and protection. Just as he is “with Yhwh” so is he now appeal to God to move toward him “in your righteousness”. He asks him to unleash that power that re-orients everything around God’s purposes; it rectifies, delivers, redeems and justifies. Here, this power “sets free” and “delivers”. Specifically, it rips (delivers) the psalmist out of the ‘hands’ and ‘grip’ of his enemies. This is a power the psalmist knows, has experienced and has returned to from his birth until now. He has ‘walked’ in this power. Here, as it seems to lag toward the end of his life, he asks that God re-initiate it on his behalf, to place him, once again, within the sphere of God’s abundance. In summary, God’s righteousness is that power which confronts those forces that attempt to disrupt the joyful communion of praise and liturgy between himself and his righteous ones. And, here, it flows ‘from the Temple’, that place where heaven and earth intersect forming a ‘house of God’, a ‘temple of God’, and an Eden.

Ps. 71.1 (age and shame)

With you / O Yhwh / I have taken refuge
may I never / be put to shame. 

The note struck by this psalm is unique. It is clearly a psalm of a man in danger asking for deliverance (or, here, ‘refuge’). And there is an urgency to it. Yet, it is of a different order than that contained in other psalms. Perhaps it is due to his age (he is an old(er) man). The psalmist emphasizes throughout the psalm how his life has been one, from the beginning, rooted in God’s protection. Perhaps that lends to this psalm a serene-urgency. It seems fitting to read this through the experience of David or Jeremiah in their old age. With that in mind, these opening lines, although formulaic, take on a depth that otherwise would be lacking. The psalmist’s reference to being “with Yhwh” and having found in him “refuge” directs us to a long life of relational intimacy between Yhwh and himself. This psalm, in other words, is probably the summation of his life; it is one he has repeated, in various form and various places, throughout his life. He is well-practiced at appealing to God and is intimately aware of God’s concern for him. Important as well is the fact that, like nearly every other psalmist, his concern remains the same: deliverance from shame. In his old age his prayer hasn’t changed. He has relied upon Yhwh from birth to protect him from and to beat back the forces of shame. He has not ‘matured’ beyond that desire and petition. The final verse reads: “Then my tongue would tell of your righteousness all day long. How put to shame, how disgraced, will be those who seek my hurt.” Crucially, though, as we have emphasized over-and-over: this request to “not be put to shame” is penultimate to the final goal of his appeal for deliverance—praise and liturgy to God. The guarding from shame is not so that he can be merely made secure in his own well-being. It is so he can “sing to the Holy One of Israel” (vs. 22). This desire is clearly the driving force of his petition as it flows in and out of nearly every section of the psalm. His deliverance is always marked by a transition to praise (beginning in verse. 14 until the end).  That said, it seems important to make this observation: to be “with Yhwh” is to be “without shame”. There is a very deep and firm conviction that to be in sphere of Yhwh’s concern is to be within a realm where the public reality of redemption is clear to all. Indeed, as we saw, the final line transfers ‘shame’ to those who seek the psalmist’s life. Here, ‘shame’ is that realm wherein one exists in opposition to Yhwh and his righteous ones. In other words, it is hell, that perpetual state of Adam and Eve immediately following their disobedience to God—“they were ashamed” (not ‘guilty’; they were publicly exposed and ashamed). Hell is that place wherein one is perpetually exposed to ridicule and shame (because one is in rebellion to he who is not shame: Yhwh). Query: whether it might be more appropriate to describe ‘original sin’ as the ‘shame’ of Adam and Even rather than their ‘guilt’?

Ps. 70 (the last made first)

Hasten / O God / to rescue me

O Yhwh / for my help / hurry! 

Urgency forms the bookends of this psalm; its beginning and end. The last line concludes, “O Yhwh, do not delay.” It is not even a call for God to “hear” or “answer”. Rather, it is that God-Yhwh hasten to help. Time is short. Whatever window is closing, it is about to be shut completely. It is due to this that we can surmise that the psalmist is already in the midst of an extreme persecution. War is not on the verge of outbreak. It is, rather, on the verge of being over with the psalmist being trampled underfoot. Further, the psalmist is not apparently alone in his plight. We read in verse 4 of “those who seek you” and of “those who love your saving help”. It would appear, then, that this psalmist is likely a representative of this group; perhaps he is the king, or, perhaps he is some other leader. This war that is on the verge of being lost is not personal, but a communal battle. These are camps battling each other. 

May those / who seek my life 

be brought / to shame and disgrace

may those who are pleased / by my misfortune

be turned back / and humiliated

may they / turn back in retreat / because of their shame

those who say / “Aha! Aha!” 

Here is the enemy. And the signature of their deeds bears three marks: 1) seek the psalmist’s life; 2) pleased by his misfortune; and 3) say “Aha! Aha!” (they gloat). Importantly, none of these actions reveal what the enemies’ goal is other than the psalmist’s destruction. It seems that all they are seeking is his death and removal. There is no other good mentioned (for example, his wealth, his kingdom, etc…). All they want is (his) death. The psalmist, himself (and his group), is their war. What then does the psalmist represent that has become to them such an object of hate that all they seek is his removal? We may come to find an answer to this later. Now, we turn to the psalmist’s answer to the wicked, and it is entirely focused on public recognition of their failure: shame, disgrace, and humiliation. The psalmist wants their “plans to fail”, for them to ‘retreat’ but, more importantly, he wants their defeat to result in their bearing of the public recognition of their failure. God’s covenantal power and truth years for public recognition—for publicity. And, in that revelation, which is an act of war, defeat is, necessarily, shame, humiliation and disgrace. This is truth-battle as not privatized but public. If it was privatized he would pray for ‘guilt’ (something the psalmists almost never speak of); if it is public-communal he prays for ‘shame’. The more catholic the truth-battle is understood as seeking the more this element of publicity must move to center.

May all those / who seek you / be glad / and rejoice in you

and may those / who love your saving help / say continually, “God is great!” 

These lines are expertly crafted in how this group’s redemption counter-points the wicked. First, the wicked “seek my life”. This group, “seek you”. Second, the wicked were “pleased by my misfortune”. This group, “loves your saving help”. Finally, the wicked said in gloat, “Aha! Aha!”. This group says continuously, “God is great!”. There are at least two layers of importance to this. On one level, this begins to frame an answer as to the manner in which the wicked were presented as solely focused on the psalmist’s destruction. What we see here is that the psalmist is showing how, unlike the group at odds with him, he and his followers are focused entirely on God, his ‘saving works’ and of giving praise. This is not only a sharp rebuke. It functions to give warrant to God’s ‘hurrying’. The psalmist and his group are the righteous. On another level, in contrast to the public humiliation of the wicked, we see here ‘rejoicing’ and saying continually ‘God is great’. In other words, the public acclimation of the righteous is in liturgy and praise to God. As we have stressed before, if this promise of continuous praise is the ‘enticement’ to God’s hurrying, then the humiliation and shame of the wicked are secondary, a necessary consequence to this ultimate goal of public praise. God will be acknowledged and praised in the open. (We can even say this: Hell is the realm of shame and humiliation necessitated by the public character of God’s liturgy and praise. It is the residue of human freedom and rebellion against this publicity of God’s glory.) 

I am poor / and needy
O God / hasten to me!
You are my help / and my deliverer,
O Yhwh / do not delay. 

The psalmist’s poverty and neediness are those situations he is asking God to deliver him from. Currently, he suffers from the embarrassment of misfortune (vs. 2) and the gloating of those opposed to him (vs. 3). The goal of this deliverance, though, is not simply being put into well-being, but being filled so as to “say continually, “God is great!”” (vs. 4). This is the act by which the ‘last will be first, and the first last’.