Ps. 74.18 (memory and accusation)

Remember this:
An enemy / has taunted you / O Yhwh;
a fool-people / have scorned your name! 

Immediately following the psalmist recounting of God’s ability to utterly destroy his foes and to end the ‘how long’ of the present injustice, he moves in direct petition. He has lain all of the groundwork possible: from recounting (in shameful terms) the actions of the foes, to describing in detail the clear ability of God to end the present scandal. Interestingly, the psalmist again asks god to “remember”, as in verse 2. Except, that in verse 2 the call for God to remember involved not the remembrance of enemies but the remembrance of his acquiring and redemptive act of Israel and the establishment of Zion. Here, the focus of remembrance is entirely different: taunt and scorn of enemies. There is an interesting way in which this remembrance is positioned. It stands as the initiation of God’s movement. Verse 2 asked God to ‘remember’ and then, following, called upon God to perform an act: “stride forth”. Here, God is called upon to remember and then is issued 7 (or 8) directives. Importantly, the final two consist of “remembering that you are taunted” (vs. 22) and “not forgetting the clamor of your foes” (vs. 23). Likewise, he implores God “forget not completely the life of your poor ones.” (vs. 19). This ending is saturated with a call to remember, to ‘call to mind’. This seemingly ‘mental’ aspect is something that will, in fact, carry throughout this third section of the psalm: “forget not completely” (vs. 19); “consider the covenant” (vs. 20); “defend your cause” (vs. 22); “remember that you are taunted” (vs. 22); “do not forget the clamor of your foes” (vs. 23). This reveals, in fact, the entire structure of the psalm (something I have only just now realized). This final portion is set in the ‘court-case’ context. This act of ‘remembrance’ is likened to God “defending his cause”. This is why the final section is the call upon God to ‘render judgment’. The first section, verses 1-9, present the facts of the tragedy; verses 10-17 present the case for God’s clear ability to rectify the situation (his negligence); verses 18-23 is the call for judgment. Importantly, God is actually ‘in the dock’. He is called up on to ‘defend’ (vs. 22) himself against the charges that have been lain against him. Presumably, having ‘found himself’ guilty, by the terms of the covenant (vs. 20), he will “draw forth his right hand” (vs. 11) and enact what he has the power to do: destroy the foe (vs. 13-15) and end this time of no-time (vs. 16-17). It is within this ‘court-case’ context that we can see why this final section begins with ‘remembrance’ and persists with these images of a primarily mental/argumentative nature and not a militaristic one. In short, the ‘call to remember’ is the call for God to ‘accuse himself’, to present in front of himself the wrong he must rectify, once he sees (vs. 3).