Ps. 98.1 (the battle ode)

Sing to Yhwh / a new song
for he has done / wondrous works
his right hand / has brought him victory
even as has / his holy arm. 

This psalm is a victory ode to Yhwh-the-Warrior-King. Its genesis and its shape emerge from a battle that is both fought by Yhwh and won by Yhwh. This is key—the joy of this psalm, the exuberant outpouring of the earth, is a cry to Yhwh’s victory. How this victory is achieved, who it is achieved for, and the effect of it will occupy the rest of the psalm. Initially, the psalm declares the victory to be “Yhwh’s”. He achieved it with “his right hand” and “his holy arm”—the images of kingly authority, strength and mastery. Importantly, then, this psalm places us within a realm of, so to speak, Yhwh’s redemption of himself. The battle that has been waged has been one that, although not stated, redeems Yhwh’s reputation within the world. The victory, so to speak, ‘cleanses (or, hallows) his name’. What we are going to witness later, though, is that this seemingly Yhwh-centered victory is accomplished through (or, by) his redemption of Israel, and through the enactment of his faithfulness toward them. In other words, Israel’s redemption and Yhwh’s redemption of his reputation are one-and-the-same. There is not a ‘Yhwh-victory’ and then an ‘Israel-victory’. Israel’s victory is Yhwh’s, and Yhwh’s victory is Israel’s.  This ‘victory’ is covenantal. 

A second point to note is that this victory is embodied in “wondrous deeds”.  Yhwh’s victory is not hidden and private; it does not operate out of the public eye. Rather, it inhabits the realm of display, honor and proclamation. When it occurs, it ‘shines’; it is ‘wondrous’; it is meant to be seen, and seen by all; it is, in its essence, an act of communication. The redemption of Yhwh’s reputation will be one that is visible to the outer boundaries of creation; its ‘visibility’ will penetrate every corner. Sing a new song.

All of these insights now are reflected in the ‘new song’. Just as the deeds are ‘public’ and ‘marvelous’ so too is the response to these deeds public and marvelous: a ‘new song’. In other words, the victory of Yhwh, in its totality, is somewhat circular. It goes forth, with Israel as its very core, expands to all of creation, and then is returned back to him in the ‘proclamation’ of liturgical praise. This ‘new song’ is, as such, a participating within the victory itself, as the victory itself was meant to inspire and engender praise to Yhwh. The more profoundly one enters into this ‘new song’, the more profoundly enacted is the primal victory of Yhwh.