Ps. 75.7 (quoting God)

For God / is the one / who judges
he / puts one down / and raises up another. 

We argued in our previous reflection that the negative emphasis of verse 6 had to be understood as the ‘denuding’ of worldly powers as they relate to the wicked; there is no power for them to ‘raise’ their horns, other than that power found in God. It was, in that sense, the negative implication of verse 2. Here, that observation is confirmed. What the previous verse says negatively, this verse says positively. There, the ‘power to raise’ was denied throughout the whole earth and from the wilderness. Now, that ‘power’ is understood as residing, importantly, in God’s judgment. This is very important as it points to the thematic center of the psalm: to be ‘raised up’ is to be ‘judged’ by God. This was the initial statement made by God: “When I choose a set time I will indeed judge with equity.” It is from that primal power to ‘discern with equity’ that man is either ‘raised up’ or ‘put down’. ‘Power’ is judgment/equity and originates from no other source. In other words, the vitality of creation coincides with the judgment of God; power is not ‘prior’ to the equity and justice of God. It is the justice of God. Creation ‘rises and falls’ in so far as it is attuned to the judgment of God. That is why we must point out the following in regard to this verse: the power displayed by God’s judgment in ‘raising’ and ‘putting down’ is not an arbitrary expression of his power. It is not, in other words, the case that God’s ‘putting down’ or ‘raising up’ is simply his ‘choice’. Rather, it is his ‘judgment of equity’. Every instance of being ‘put down’ in this psalm relates to the putting down of the wicked and their boasting. One way of putting this is that the psalm is clearly concerned with showing how all power is concentrated in God. However, the psalm understands this power in a qualitative manner—it is not just ‘power’, but the ‘power of judgment’. Arguably, the wicked and boastful do not understand this. They believe there is a ‘power’ that exists outside (or, prior to) the realm of ‘equity’ (whether in magic or in a ‘will to power’). And, perhaps, in the time prior to the “set time”, such appears to be the case (that equity and power are distinguishable). But this is the point, and this is why the psalm “quotes God” in revealing that the present has not yet met the time determined by God when he will judge. Yes, in the present the wicked can ‘raise their horns’ but, under the shadow of the “set time” this is nothing but vanity; it is only their own raising, not a raising by any ‘power’. In this way, the (seeming) dissonance in the present between ‘power’ and ‘equity’ is, in reality, the interaction between the patience of God and vanity. When the “set time” comes, then what is now being held in abeyance will be made manifest in concrete judgment: the horns of the wicked will be cut off, while the righteous horns will be raised. “He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly.”