Ps. 94.10a-11 (perceiving limitation)

The one who teaches humankind knowledge
Yhwh knows / human intentions
that they amount / to nothing. 

The psalmist now shifts his perspective to the sovereignty of Yhwh in relation to human knowledge, wisdom and intentions. And, the same principal holds. Before man thinks, Yhwh has thought. Before man becomes wise, Yhwh is wisdom. And, before man formulates a plan, Yhwh is present. Nothing originates, purely, from man in the realm of knowledge and wisdom. Just as Yhwh ‘always already’ is prior to man in seeing an hearing (because he is their creator), and just as he is the boundary of all social and political power (because he is King or World-Judge), so too is he the primal source of all knowledge and wisdom. There is not, in other words, wisdom-and-Yhwh, like two powers. Rather, there is Yhwh, and then there is wisdom/knowledge (just as there is Yhwh, and then creation). It flows from him. 

But, why does the psalmist put this profession here? The reason is because of how it directly counters the wicked’s assertion that Yhwh is limited in his ability to perceive their machinations. The wicked believe their designs evade Yhwh’s gaze and ability to understand. For them, Yhwh is a ‘being among other beings’ (or, a god among other gods) and, as such, is confined and limited; he is tribal, as ‘Jacob’s god’. However, what the psalmist is showing is that their designs occur within, not outside, of Yhwh’s ‘designs’. And, within that sphere, they ‘amount to nothing’. They are futile, empty and vain. They do not, ultimately, accomplish their goal. 

This is rather profound: within Yhwh’s sovereignty over human wisdom and knowledge there is an ‘empty space’. He provides for this ‘empty wind’ to blow through humankind in their rebellion against him. This ‘emptiness’ is, at a deep level, a type of sickness. We must recall that for the psalmist, the wicked’s perception of God is not simply ‘flawed’. It is utterly stupid and against what is manifestly obvious. So their ‘wisdom’ has become ‘infected’ by the emptiness they live it. Their wickedness feeds into a vision of god that consumes them in a profound error. 

It is perhaps futile to ask, except to see how the answers interpenetrate each other: did their wickedness generate a false perception of God such that they thought there was a realm of freedom outside of Yhwh, or did they have a false view of God which led to their wickedness (would a belief in the absence of divine sovereignty lead to exploitation and wickedness, a ‘realm of invisibility’ too tempting to avoid)? Does wickedness create the idol, or does the idol create wickedness? In the end, once one is in the ‘realm’ of the wicked, they feed upon each other, creating an ever deeper and more profound stupidity and blindness (See, Romans 1…). Within this realm things “do not meet their goal”, everything is “vain” and “empty”. 

However, those in that realm do not even know that—this perception of man’s futile intentions is something that resides within Yhwh’s sovereign perception. He knows it; the wicked do not. Which is ironic—they have boasted of Yhwh’s limitation only to now, be revaled, as the one’s limited. They accused Yhwh of a type of imbecility, and yet they are idiots. This ‘wicked realm’ operates like a boa constrictor, with an ever-more tightening around the wicked, limiting their perception and their ability to accomplish their goals and, simultaneously, limiting their ability to even perceive of their limitations.