Ps. 112 (World Severed From Yhwh)

The wicked person sees it with anger

He gnashes his teeth and fades away

The desires of the wicked come to nothing

When the righteous man stands within Yhwh’s sphere, he stands within a divine power that sustains his generations forever in a type of resurrection. That power, however, does not simply maintain his descendants. It flowers in them, and they come to be, themselves, carriers of divine power in the Land. And not only that, but the righteous man himself shines with divine blessing as his home is filled with riches. What finds expression in his descendants (power) begins with him (riches). Crucially, though, these righteous ones participate in Yhwh’s own divine act of giving and blessing—they lend and give generously to the poor. Again, acts that visible, evident, and shine with divine benevolence and concern. These visible acts give expression to their interior hearts and mind. They are ‘steady’. They do not ‘fear’. They are firm. They are constant. They establish peace and justce.

But here, in this concluding verse, we come to see what happens to those who stand outside of Yhwh’s sphere. They see all of this, from the top to the bottom, and they are angry. This is a world that is not simply outside of Yhwh’s sphere—it hates it; it opposes it; it gnashes its teeth at it. The wicked despise the righteous man’s descendants and their powerful stability. They hate the righteous man’s wealth. But, more than that, they also see their prodigality to the poor. They hate their lending and their giving to the poor. Perhaps they are undeserving, he thinks. Perhaps they are only being enabled. For whatever reason, the glory of wealth should only serve as a light to those in power, not those on the bottom. They hate that the righteous man does not hoard his wealth as a protection against misfortune.

Where the righteous man’s interior life is marked by calm stability, the wicked’s is one of fearful commotion and anger. Where the righteous man’s posterity is also firm and where his wealth is assured, the wicked man “fades away”, becoming the instability he is. And whereas the righteous man “delights in [Yhwh’s] commands”, the desires of the wicked come to nothing. The righteous man feeds on food (Yhwh’s commands) that enables him to become the blessing. The evil man feeds on food that brings him nothing.

This is the world severed from Yhwh. A world spiraling in its own vanity, and inability to find the stable, and prodigal perpetuity that is man’s desire.