Ps. 94.10a (the boundary of power)

Does the one who disciplines the nations / not rebuke? 

We concluded the previous reflection with the image of Yhwh not being contained within any boundary but, instead, of himself being the boundary of authority and power. There, it related to the creation of the individual and his ‘ears and eyes’. Yhwh was ‘always-already’ the one who hears and the one who sees. Here, that reality is looked at from a different vantage point, that of the ‘nations’ and of ‘humankind’. This is the social and political order. And, here too Yhwh is the ‘boundary’ of that power. Every political and social power is contained within his power; he is not contained within it. Just as the ability to ‘hear’ comes from Yhwh’s creative design, so too do nations operate within the same sovereign framework. They are just as subject to Yhwh ‘always-already’ oversight and control as a person’s actions and words are ‘always-already’ seen and heard by Yhwh. In this verse, though, the emphasis turns to the image of ‘rebuke’ and ‘teaching’. Yhwh is not simply ‘present’ to the nations and humankind. He is their, so to speak, moral and wisdom-producing source and standard. And, he is active in this role. He ‘rebukes’ the nations and he ‘teaches’ humankind. This is his ‘enacted sovereignty’. Furthermore, Yhwh’s authority is not, as the wicked supposed, contained within the realm of ‘Jacob’s people’ (Israel). Yhwh is not a tribal deity. Rather, the scope of his authority is, again, the boundary of all national power and human wisdom. This is the folly of the wicked and what they fail to perceive. Even within the reign of nations, there is no ‘space’ that is without Yhwh; in the end, there are no absolute victims (like the widow and orphan), because there are no gaps in the social order that the wicked can exploit with abandon. Yhwh is, so to speak, ‘closer to the nations than they are to themselves.’