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.
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