Ps. 97.3 (Flame and light)

Fire / goes up / before him
and burns his foes / all around. 

This verse operates in a type of parallel with the previous verse. Like this: Clouds and darkness surround him – fire and goes up before him; righteousness and justice are the foundations of his throne – and burns his foes all around. What we see here is the ‘cloud and darkness’ have become a consuming flame, and the ‘righteousness and justice’ are enacted through the destruction (the burning up) of his foes. In a sense, verse 2 is a type of revelation of Yhwh, more of a ‘presentation’ so to speak. Verse 3 is that presence “in action”. Here, Yhwh is ‘on the move’, and as he comes to the earth, his ‘coming’ is an act of judgment, of “righteousness and justice” and ‘putting the world to right’. It is a battle with his ‘foes’, even though there is no real dilemma as in war; the ‘foes’ seem to be simply engulfed by his fire, unable to resist or fight. What is key is that Yhwh’s presence actively establishes a (his) moral order. This is the king coming to his kingdom who, upon his entrance, immediately, and without complication or much effort, masters his entire realm. The authority, and glory, of his person is absolute. And that authority is here portrayed as an all-consuming and absolutely powerful Flame. This is a divine, Yhwh-flame, whose fuel is the very presence of Yhwh himself in opposition to his foes. 

There is another, structural, point to this verse. It would seem that the psalm is arranged in something like a chiastic structure. The ‘mirror’ of this verse would be verse 11: “Light shines out for the righteous and rejoicing for the upright in heart”. It is a profound point—whereas ‘flames go up before Yhwh’, here it is a “light for the righteous”. And whereas the flame ‘burns up his foes’, this “light” causes rejoicing for the upright in heart. What see here is something reminiscent of the burning bush and of the flame in Daniel: Yhwh as flame that the righteous can ‘walk within’ and not be consumed, but that judges and ‘burns up’ his foes. In other words, the effect of Yhwh’s presence is conditioned on the one who is ‘before him’. For his foes, it consumes them; for the righteous, it is a light that one can dwell and rejoice within. “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”

Ps. 97.2b (foundations)

Righteousness and justice / are the foundations of his throne. 

In other psalms the earth is described as being established in (or, by) ‘righteousness and justice’. The world itself ‘exhibits’, ‘displays’ or ‘enacts’ these qualities. This is what both begins the world and what maintains it. It is the ‘right order’ of the world; what Genesis would call the ‘separation’ of different spheres of reality and their maintenance in those different spheres (earth/sky; water/land, etc..). In a sense, ‘at its root’ the world is not simply quantifiable, but a qualitative reality (or, we might say, the ‘qualitative’ display is perceived in the quantifiable; regardless, reality is perceived as exhibiting a moral component). Here, this ‘moral’/qualitative reality is what serves as the foundation of Yhwh’s throne. His rule, his reign, ‘at its roots’ is ‘righteousness and justice’. His very throne, the seat of his power, is, like the world, ‘founded’ upon these qualitative aspects. The ‘enactment of his reign’, like the ‘enactment of creation’, is ‘righteousness and justice’. They inhere in his every act; they are the ‘soil’ from which his acts grow. 

Finally, to carry forward the previous reflection, we should note that Yhwh is never described. We began in him ‘surrounded in darkness and cloud’. We now move ‘below’ to the throne. Next we will see fire “before him”. But, never him. What, so to speak, radiates from him, truly reveals him, but he is never fully revealed. At least, not yet.

Ps. 97.2--1 (divine darkness)

Clouds and darkness / surround him. 

It is an interesting question to ask why the psalmist begins the theophany (the appearance) of Yhwh in ‘clouds and darkness’ and not, as later, in flame and light. It is, abstractly considered, odd. Yhwh ‘appears’ in darkness. We need to pause over this. On a purely visceral level the appearing is terrifying. This is a ‘divine darkness’. Precisely to the degree that it conceals Yhwh’s presence does it simultaneously convey his utter superiority, power and transcendence. It does so because whatever resides within the darkness is clearly more potent and terrible than the darkness itself. The darkness, as frightening as it is in itself, is merely ‘pregnant’ with an ever-greater presence. There is, I think, another level to this ‘darkness’. Later in the psalm other ‘gods’ appear. When they ‘appear’ however, they are images and ‘mere idols’ (vs. 7). Their appearing is precisely the opposite of Yhwh’s. Whereas Yhwh ‘appears’ in a non-form (image) of darkness, they appear as ‘images’. And whereas Yhwh’s appearing by its nature prohibits it from being fashioned into an idol, the gods are ‘mere idols’. In other words, by beginning in ‘darkness’, Yhwh reveals that he cannot be made into an idol. He is vastly superior to the other gods; he is “exalted far above all the gods”. The ‘darkness’ then is a type of physical expression of the first commandment.   The psalm, then, by ‘beginning in darkness’, mirrors the appearance of Yhwh to the people—the listeners of the psalm and those who saw Yhwh’s appearing stand in the same position—as well as mirroring the commandments by being ‘first’. This also, intriguingly, is how creation itself starts in Genesis—it begins in a darkness that is charged with the presence of Yhwh. From this perspective we might read the opening of Genesis not as a description of a ‘place’ devoid of Yhwh but rather a place that is ‘clothed’ with the darkness that contains and surrounds Yhwh’s presence. 

And, this is why I wanted to actually put these verses out of order. Verse 1 says, “Yhwh reigns / let the earth / be jubilant – let the many islands / rejoice”. In light of the above reflections, what we find is that before his ‘appearing in darkness’ the psalm opens with a jubilant and joyful exclamation of Yhwh’s reign. In other words, the ‘darkness of his appearing’ is, in fact, secondary. Before his appearing he exists in this ‘light’ of joyful praise. We might say, his ‘appearing’ is but a ‘moment’ in his reign (just as, we might say, ‘creation’ is as well…). My point in reversing the order is that one can put too much emphasis on his ‘appearing’ and lose sight of the fact that the Yhwh that resides in the darkness is the ‘forever king’. 

Ps. 96.12 (the arrival)

He will judge the world / with righteousness
and its peoples / with his faithfulness. 

One thing I neglected to draw attention to in the previous reflection was how the ‘catholic’ (universal) impulse is on display. The verses emphasize, over and over again, that what is involved in this exuberant praise to Yhwh is not a portion “of heaven and earth”. Rather, “the sea and all within it” and “the fields and everything in them” and “all the trees of the forest.” Of this is summarized in the opening verse: “let the heavens rejoice and the earth…”. The entirety of the created order, without remainder and without qualification, has joined into praise of Yhwh. In other words, just as the all “the families of the peoples/‘nations’” have been rid of their idols and now acknowledge Yhwh, so too does all of creation now enter into this sphere of Yhwh’s reign. In heaven, Yhwh is the ‘high king’ over all the gods; however, ‘on earth’, that reign is not complete unless and until that same “all” is established in both the human and created realm (…and every knee shall bow…). In these verses, we begin to see this “all” of the earth entering into Yhwh’s reign. Which leads to today’s concluding verse of the psalm. Here, Yhwh is ‘exposed on earth’. Within the psalm, he has been portrayed ‘in heaven’; however, on earth he has only been the ‘one who is coming’. Now, he has arrived (although it is something he ‘will’ do). The reign has begun. And what we find is Yhwh himself, as king, “establishing equity” through righteousness and his faithfulness. In other words, the world has become saturated with his dominion and judgment. This is, now, heaven established on earth.

Ps. 96.11-12 (earth erupting)

Let the heavens / rejoice / and the earth / be jubilant

let the sea / and all within it / resound

let the fields / and everything in them / exult

let all the trees / of the forest / raise a shout

before Yhwh / for he is coming

he is coming / to judge the earth. 

There is no shadow in these verses. Instead, it is unadulterated, exuberant joy at Yhwh’s coming.  “Heaven and earth”, those twin realms that until now were not in unity (the earth was the realm of ‘idolatry’ while heaven was the realm of perfect praise) are contained within a single line, and in a single act of unified rejoicing at Yhwh’s coming. In a sense, what was divided and set apart (and against each other) after Adam and his sons, is here brought back together.  We should hear here an echo of the opening words of Genesis, where ‘heaven and earth’ are so close (literarily and literally). But first, we need to back-track and see why these verses appear here within the psalm. The previous verses ended with Yhwh establishing ‘equity’ among “the peoples”. Within the context of the psalm, as we saw, that includes the removal of idolatry such that Yhwh becomes the absolute center of the world’s liturgical attraction and desire. It necessitates, in other words, a judgment of sorts that contains within itself a proclamation of “guilty” (on idolatry and injustice). It is only in the wake of this that ‘heaven and earth’ can again be united. As Paul would say, creation ‘awaits the redemption of man’. It ‘groans for it’. Just as, in Genesis, the land is cursed following the curse on Adam, so too is the earth healed following the redemption of man. When this occurs, however, what follows is truly tremendous. Heaven and the earth itself enter into a profound and wild praise to Yhwh. Liturgy is not something restricted to man (the peoples and the nations), but something that ‘heaven and earth’ enact as well. We need to note that the most extravagant acts of praise in this psalm are not found in the human realm, but in ‘heaven and earth’, in ‘land and see’ and in ‘trees’. Again, we find here the psalmist pushing praise to the utter boundaries in a very shocking manner. As the psalm progresses, as the Yhwh’s reign gets closer, the cosmos begins to fall more and more under the sway of Yhwh’s reign. As it does this, the liturgical praise of Yhwh increases—from Israel, to the nations, and, now, to the earth. In Israel, there was ‘singing’ to Yhwh; but in the nations, they actually mirrored the heavenly liturgy; here, “heaven and earth” are “jubilant”, “resound”, “exult” and “raise a shout”. Something has been released, as it were, in creation; a barrier to its festival shout to Yhwh has been removed. Until this point, ‘heaven and earth’ have been contained. Yet, when it is freed, its expression is nothing short of an eruption.