Ps. 106 - The glory drama

What is the psalmist looking forward to? He anticipates a time when Yhwh’s loyal-love is again expressed in a mighty act of deliverance. More specifically, it will be a time of a great ‘gathering’. In the exodus, he ‘redeemed his people’ from their adversaries. He removed them from Egypt. Then, as a result of their willful forgetfulness, they are dispersed back into the nations. “Case out” like some great seed throwing.

Here, he will “gather us from among the nations”. The psalmist and his people are currently enmeshed within the nations, and he looks forward to Yhwh extricating them, gathering them, and bringing them back to the Land. The reason for this great gathering, is “so that we may give thanks to your holy name, and tell proudly of your praiseworthiness.” The psalmist himself wants to see this happen. He doesn’t just want Yhwh to perform this act at some point in the future. He wants to experience it, be caught up within the ground swell of the gathering. He wants to “witness the good enjoyed by your chosen ones”. He wants to “join in your nations joy and proudly praise together with your people.”

It must be emphasized that this great act of gathering has as its purpose not simply the freedom from bondage to the nations. While that is implied, the focus is on liturgical praise of Yhwh. There is a clear sense that Yhwh cannot be fully praised until this gathering occurs, that in some sense so long as his people are in exile, not only can the people not fully praise Yhwh, but, perhaps more importantly, Yhwh cannot himself receive the praise that is his due. This latches onto an important aspect throughout the psalm. The initial act of ‘redemption’ in the exodus was “for the sake of his name, to reveal his greatness” (v 8). Conversely, when the people rebel against  Yhwh’s designated representatives (Moses and Aaron), the earth swallows them up (v. 17). Although not stated, when Moses “stands in the breach” and diverts Yhwh’s wrath, he does so by appealing to Yhwh’s reputation among the nations. Perhaps one of the main problems with idolatry is that it denigrates Yhwh’s reputation among the people. It ‘robs him’ of his glory. This act of liturgical glorification being somewhat like a ‘thing’ that is transferred or given over, not simply an interior non-consequential act. It has real depth to it. There is, in a way, a ‘transfer’ occurring here. And the people, and Yhwh, want this transfer to be as full and pure and holy as possible. When it is whole, united and holy, it is a thing of immense joy. (v. 5). Yhwh’s people are literally entering into his, Yhwh’s, glory and glorification.

The point is that when the people are “gathered from the nations”, they will return to Yhwh what is his due. They will, in their own way, ‘redeem’ Yhwh’s reputation. Perhaps stated more appropriately—Yhwh will redeem his own reputation when he gathers the people and they praise him. In this regard, liturgy plays a role that is not generally understood (at least by me)—that of Yhwh redeeming his own name within the world, of him glorifying himself through his people, of his acts of faithful devotion being visible and clearly understood.

This ‘drama of glorification’ is what the psalmist wants to see healed. That is why the psalm begins and ends with it. Sin, the willful forgetfulness that has plagued Yhwh’s people from their beginning (their ‘original sin’), is here understood as a disruption of that drama, that giving and receiving of glory. When that process is disrupted, and when it is disrupted for long enough, it results in ‘wrath’. How that wrath is diverted or overcome, thereby re-establishing the drama of glory, is various. Sometimes Yhwh does it on his own initiative, like at the Red Sea. Sometimes an individual does it—Moses or Phineas. What is important to note though, although not surprising, is that Yhwh himself desires for this breach to be healed. He wants the drama restored.

Ps. 106--Phineas, zeal, and consigning everything to judgment

Consigning everything to judgment

There are times when it is appropriate to consign everything to judgment, to place everything beneath the burden of sin. David does it in Psalm 51—he brutally accepts, identifies with and claims his sinfulness. The more he adopts the position as an object of wrath, the more he makes of himself an object of mercy. That same logic, I think, is at work in this psalm.

The psalmist, rather ruthlessly, focuses entirely on Israel’s collective sinfulness. From beginning to end Israel is portrayed as a willfully forgetful and unfaithful covenant partner. That is—for the most part.

There are three moments of sunlight shining through the gloom. The first is, curiously enough, unnamed. It is a collective group and they are referred to right at the outset in verse 3. “How fortunate are those who maintain justice, who do what is right all the time.” Like the psalm itself, this statement appears somewhat at odds with the remainder of the psalm that paints such a dire picture of unfaithfulness. The second is Moses, Yhwh’s “chosen one” (v. 23). Importantly, this term “chosen” is used only one other time in the psalm. In verse 5, the psalmist looks forward to a time, after Yhwh has delivered him and the rest of His people, that he is allowed to “witness the good enjoyed by your chosen ones.” As we can see, the term is used to describe those who stand within the pleasure of Yhwh’s gaze—be it during the process of deliverance or those who rejoice in being delivered. That is important in this psalm, as we will see later. The third ‘righteous’ person in this psalm is Phineas, in verse 30. Like Moses, he is responsible for diverting, or ending, an outburst of Yhwh’s wrath. Moses “stands in the breach”, while Phineas “stood up in mediation.”

What can we determine about these three? The first is unnamed. The second, Moses, while initially praised, is later described as “speaking with temerity” (33). Even Moses falls under judgment. That leaves Phineas. As brief as the episode is concerning Phineas there are some important things to note. The psalm opens by describing Yhwh’s loyal-love as “everlasting”. The unnamed righteous of verse 3 “do what is right all the time.” What we see here is that the righteous mirror Yhwh’s ‘everlastingness’ in their perpetual “doing what is right”. Something similar happens with Phineas. After he diverts the plague, the psalmist says his act “has been regarded by God as a virtuous act throughout all generations forever.” What could that mean? On the one hand, it would appear that Phineas is a shining example of the unnamed righteous in verse 3. But, perhaps more importantly, Phineas is the founder of the Zadokite priesthood, because of his acts. What the psalmist is saying, I believe, is that the establishment of the Zadokite priesthood, and its endurance, is the manifestation of Yhwh’s “regard” for Phineas’ act. In other words—the divine perpetuation of the Zadokite priesthood shows, or is, Yhwh’s recognition and, we might say, and expression of his “loyal-love”.

This is not a minor point within the context of the psalm. An initial reading could lead one to conclude that the witness of Israel is unremittingly negative. But that is not the case. While the psalmist clearly wishes to claim Israel’s sin in order to effectuate Yhwh’s act of mercy, he does lift up Moses (in part) and Phineas (without qualification). The inclusion of Moses and his sin is thematically important and devastating. It is as if the psalmist lifts up the greatest prophet only to show that even he is part and parcel of “our forefathers’ sin”. That makes Phineas more of a curiosity. The psalmist could have ignored him. Why didn’t he? On the one hand, I think there is an historical reason. It seems clear to me that the psalm was likely composed when Israel was in captivity and awaiting a new exodus, a new return to the land. What the psalmist may be saying is that even during their exile the priesthood remains—and that their presence is a sign of Yhwh’s abiding and perpetual loyalty (or loyal-love) to Israel.

But perhaps we should take a closer look at Phineas. During the exodus, at the instigation of Balaam, the Israelites were tempted into inter-marrying with Moabites and Midianites, thereby bringing down a plague on the camp due to its Torah violation. As a result, Phineas “consumed with zeal”, drove a spear through an Israelite man and Midianite woman while they were having sex. His act caused the plague to stop as well as reorienting Israel away from its idolatry to Baal of Peor. What is curious about this in relation to the psalm is that the psalm describes his act in a way closely analogous to Moses’—“Phineas stood up in mediation…”. How is his act of killing the Israelite and Midianite an act of “mediation”? I think what the psalmist means is that Phineas acted as a ‘true Israelite’ and, thus, acted in their stead. The story describes Phineas’ “zeal” as turning away Yhwh’s “zeal”, and thereby inaugurating a “covenant of peace”.

Phineas is the “one who maintains justice and does what is right all the time” (vs. 3). Here is where we find the particular virtue or quality that the psalmist is seeking to inculcate in his listeners, the quality that will tempt Yhwh out of heaven and act on their behalf. The overriding sin of the psalm is that of willful forgetfulness which, in turn, leads to idolatry. The psalm begins and ends with their ‘forefathers’ refusing to remember Yhwh and his great acts on their behalf. At what point does this lead into idolatry, or is idolatry simply one aspect of this forgetfulness, is not easy to determine. Regardless, when seen through the example of Phineas, the only one who is himself “remembered” by Yhwh, this forgetfulness is a lack of “zeal”. It is Phineas’ zeal which both removes the wickedness from the camp, reinvigorates allegiance to Torah, and removes idolatry. Note the verses that immediately follow the story of Phineas—it describes Israel’s entrance into the land and their “failure to destroy the people…but entered into partnership with the nations and learned to do as they did…” They are guilty of precisely the opposite of Phineas’ virtue. Where Phineas kills not just one of “the people” but an Israelite—they fail to the “destroy the people.” And, whereas Phineas kills the man and the woman because they were “becoming one”, Israel “enters into partnership with the nations”. The entire story is one of faithless harlotry.

What is important to see in all of this is how, once Israel is ‘consigned to sin’, and when that sin is characterized as willful forgetfulness, then “zeal” is characterized as the remedy. As with Phineas, there would have been other avenues, other virtues, other people to lift up. But, for this psalmist and for those who were in exile, zeal is understood to be engine that “stands in the breach” between Yhwh and his wrath. Zeal is what heals that breach, diverts Yhwh’s own “zeal” and establishes a “covenant of peace”. It participates in the “forever of Yhwh”, of his “enduring loyal-love”. This becomes a subterranean river, of sorts, flowing down into the future and shaping the lives of those who are surrounded by a world that is sold into idolatry.