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’.