Ps. 76.10 (converting rage)

For the rage / of humankind / will praise you;
when you gird on / the residue of their raging. 

These are very perplexing lines, perhaps the most difficult I have encountered. The reason is not so much in looking at these lines individually but in attempting to understand them together, for clearly the repeated emphasis on ‘rage’ means they should be seen together. Perhaps if we trace how these lines function within the thematic thrust of the psalm we can come to some (tentative) conclusions. The first thing we note is the ‘rage of humankind’.  Throughout the psalm we have emphasized the complete pacification of the wicked in the face of God. In contrast to ‘rage’, those who rebel against God are portrayed as utterly deprived of any power. They ‘sleep’, can’t move and are completely quiet. As we saw yesterday, though, this pacification is prelude to the “deliverance to all the oppressed of the land” (vs. 9). It is the silence that falls within a courtroom prior to a verdict being rendered (or, when a judge enters the room). With that in mind, this first line may make some sense as it progresses from ‘rage’ to ‘praise’. It tracks the movement up to verse 9, from silent humiliation, to the judge’s entrance, to the verdict being delivered. Upon justice being established, what was ‘rage’ is now turned into ‘praise’. This coheres well with the remainder of the psalm (and with other psalms, particularly psalm 2). After the judgment is rendered not only are the oppressed delivered but tribute flows “to the Fearsome One.” What we see here is, as in Psalm 2, the re-organization of world authorities underneath the dominion of Yhwh, the High King. This is important to grasp as a potential interpretation up to this point is that the oppressed will be redeemed—only—while the remainder are cast off. However, in these lines the ‘rage’ of rebellion is now turned into ‘praise’ just as those who were previously silenced now come to recognize and give tribute to the High King, Yhwh. In essence, the judgment effected a conversion of sorts. The “spirit of the princes” is ‘mortified’ (vs. 12), not destroyed. They are re-ordered according to the kingdom of God, rather than the kingdom(s) of earth. The second line is more difficult. The only interpretation I can offer is that God’s ‘girding on’ of the ‘residue of their anger’ refers to a point in time—his judgment—when the remaining raging of humankind (the ‘residue’) will be dealt with, not in conversion but in expulsion. These represent those who refuse to offer tribute, even after the liberation of the oppressed. They are like the Judas-kings of the world who refuse their mortification and restructuring within the kingdom of God.