Ps. 68.19-20 (Zion and escape from death)

Blessed be the Lord
who day by day / bears burdens for us
the God / who is our savior,
the God who is / our God of Deliverance!
through Yhwh / the Lord / there is escape / from death. 

There seems to be something of a progression in these verses: bearing of burdens – our savior – our deliverer – escape from death. As to the ‘bearing of burdens’, this has been made fairly clear in the psalm specifically by the fact that God is not merely a conquering Warrior, but also the one who becomes the ‘father to the fatherless’, the ‘defender of widows’, the releaser of prisoners and the one who prepares the land for their arrival. As we have seen, he does not merely destroy the head of the enemy, but also works to heal the damage left by the void created in the enemy’s absence. And he does so extravagantly. Further, he does so “day-by-day”. It is not only a once-off binding up, but a continuous bearing, a shouldering, of the people’s burdens. As they are in his ‘domain’, he is the host. Further, unlike nearly every other god who saw man as bearing the burdens of the gods, he looks to them not as servants, but he, himself, as being a gracious host for them. It is a rather striking contrast to the previous verse where all of the world-gifts were pouring into Zion (but none were flowing out). Here, that same enthroned Zion-King is portrayed as almost servant like in his concern for his people. There is an external, public display of honor and an internal display of compassion and care. As to God being savior and Deliverer, it is clear that he performs these works as the Divine Warrior. As in the exodus, he will actually reach into the realm of another and pull out for himself his own people. In the context of the psalm, it would apparently be an act of deliverance from enemies that are currently threatening his people. Finally comes the great enemy: Death itself (or Mot). From Death (or, Mot), God provides ‘escape’. It may be that here the psalmist is playing off of other ancient myths whereby Baal conquered Mot (Death) and established order and life. The ‘escape’ is clearly through Yhwh’s act of conquering mastery. How interesting that the Divine Name should appear here, at the point of greatest strife and struggle. At the point where the most powerful and destructive enemy (Death) comes on the scene the divine Zion-King’s name is fully revealed (much as it was when Pharaoh was at hand…) as if only this Name could provide the requisite ‘escape’, or, as if, in this enemy, God’s full power must be called forth in order to accomplish the victory of escape. Lastly, might we also saw this: that just as the pinnacle of the psalm is the ascent of God to Zion, so do we know see that in the ‘taking of Zion’ was Death itself also fought and destroyed. In other words, that the establishment of Zion ‘forever’ was the conquering of Death/Mot (that which is the antithesis of forever-covenant time).  Zion, from this perspective, is the forever-home of life; the place where death is destroyed (where its sting is taken away…).