Ps. 75.6 (nothing but nothing)

For neither / the east / nor the west
nor from the wilderness / is there such power / for lifting up. 

This verse, framed in the negative, is the mirror of verses 2-3. We will unpack this as we proceed. Initially, however, we must see this as the concluding words addressed to the “boastful” and the “wicked”. The wording suggests this as it closes with “lifting up” while verse 5 spoke of “lifting up your horns high”. The meaning, then, is that the act of ‘boasting’ and ‘wickedness’ is not actually one that is imbued with (any) power. It is, in other words, absurd or comical; a farce. Here, we begin to back into our opening claim. The verse is framed in the negative. The first line spans the entirety of the earth (“from east to west”). Its compass is absolute. In this regard, it points back to verse 2 and the fact that the “entire earth” is stabilized by no-one other than God. The second line is more difficult. It refers to the “wilderness”. In one sense this may be a reference to the haunt of demons. If so, God is saying that the demonic powers of the wilderness do not afford any source for boasting; they are ‘powerless’. It may, however, also refer to that place in which the Name was given to Israel. That Name, however, no longer manifests itself in the wilderness but, rather, is housed in the Temple (vs. 1). Either way we understand it, the geographical “east and west” is here complimented by the utter lack of power flowing from that place of ‘divine’ habitation (demonic or Yhwhistic). Nothing in the cosmos can truly ‘lift up your horn’ (vs. 5). By denuding these sources of power, God is revealing, by way of negation, what verses 2-3 say in a positive fashion: only the divine “I” of God is the source of power. Everything else is not merely relativized; it is negated. There is nothing that stands in the way of God’s “choosing a set time” nor of “making firm” the pillars of the earth. Although the wicked and the boastful seem to be imbued with power, it is, in the end, mere vanity. They are only lifting up their own horns, and are backed by no further power or authority (vs. 5). Anything that is truly ‘raised’ is raised only by God (vs. 7). The only deeds that are ‘wondrous’ are those performed by God (vs. 1). One cannot but help here recall the first commandment: You shall have no other gods beside/before me. Finally, we should note that this note of ‘negation’ finds its context in words addressed to the ‘boastful’ and the ‘wicked’. It is in specific response to their (absurd) attempts to boast in the presence of God. It seems important that this ‘negation’ comes by way of this address, rather than one made to the righteous as such. For them, they are the receivers of God’s abundant power; for the wicked, they find nothing but nothing.