Ps. 73.27-28 (priest as living sign)

Behold / those far from you / will perish
and you destroy / all those / who are faithless
But for me / the nearness of God / is my good
I have made the Lord / Yhwh / my refuge
telling / of all your works. 

These concluding lines summarize the entire psalm. Verse 27 summarizes, and largely condemns, the first half of the psalm, while verse 28 speaks to the ‘resolution’ of the dilemma posed by the opening ‘proverb’ in light of the abiding presence of God in the Temple. As to verse 27, it begins with a word that we have considered elsewhere, “Behold”. In the other contexts, specifically in verse __, it described the state of wicked in their ascendency at pain caused by their apparent blessedness. Everything that was ‘beheld’ seemed to utterly contradict the opening proverb that God is good to Israel and the pure in heart. Rather, it seemed that he was aloof and all the blessing of life were instead being imparted to those in open rebellion to him—the impure in heart. Now, however, the psalm has entered into the Temple, and received his “medicine of immortality” and, therein, he has come to see that the wicked will, in fact, perish. They will be cut off from the ‘forever’ time of the Temple and left to disintegrate in the time of vanity. That ‘time’ is time “far from God”, far from the “forever” of Gods presence as experienced in the Temple. The former “behold” of the wicked is now reversed and judged in light of God’s presence. Now, it is “behold, those far from you will perish.” This verse, likewise, tracks to ‘turn’ after the Temple entrance. Verses 18-20 described the action of God against the wicked when he “rouses himself’ (vs. 20). They will become like a forgotten dream. They will be “destroyed and completely swept away” (vs. 19). That same ‘destruction’ is here referred to again. This is the ‘outward’ expression of God’s judgment upon his ‘rousing’. The ‘inner’ expression of compassion, as expressed in verses 23-25, is restated here as well. It is at this point that we need to draw out more fully how the proverb of opening line, the reality of the wicked, and the experience of Temple interrelate. The opening psalm speaks of God’s “goodness” to Israel. The experience of the wicked is that they, in fact, have all the “goods” (the prosperity and the authority). The Temple experience, however, complicates the issue. The temple is the “goodness of God to Israel”. And yet, it is also a pledge of future, fulfilled goodness. It is both ‘already-but-not-yet’ the reality of Creation as Temple. Standing square in this dual reality are the Levitical priests. Unlike the rest of Israel their ‘portion’ is not land, but God himself (the Temple). And yet, they are required to live in the present time of wicked prosperity. In this way they become the human emblem of the Temple itself. They are “Adam-like”. And, like the Temple, they therefore come to represent, in their person, a type of “already-but-not-yet” experience. They are, like the Temple, oaths of the future completion of the Temple in Creation. This is why, in this concluding verse, the “goodness” of the opening verse is aligned not with “prosperity” but with “nearness to God” (the Temple-Presence). The levitical priest “already” has God’s presence as his “portion” but that presence has “not-yet” been fully ‘roused’ so as to cover all creation. It is then that the true foundation of ‘prosperity’ will be established, such that the ‘dream’ that now exists will be dispelled in the light of God’s awakening (vs. 20); then the psalmist will be “received in glory” (vs. 24). At that point, the ‘pure heart’ will be total (Jeremiah) and all of creation will dwell in the Temple (Ezekiel). Torah (heart) and Temple (God’s presence) will no longer be localized but will coincide with God’s people and creation. Until then, however, some of God’s people are specifically designated as priests to more fully anticipate that reality by making God their current “portion”. They are ‘living signs’ of the future. Finally, these priests accomplish this abiding-future-sign through liturgy in the Temple: “I have made the Lord / Yhwh / my refuge (Temple) – telling / of all your works (liturgy)”.