Ps 115 (The Descent of Blessing)

Heaven is Yhwh’s heaven 

but the earth / he has entrusted to mankind

The dead / cannot praise Yah

nor any / who go down to Silence

But we / will bless Yhwh

from now on / and for evermore.

Heaven, earth, under the earth. Heaven is Yhwh’s, the earth is man’s, under the earth is the dead’s. Heaven is under the authority of Yhwh. Earth has been placed under the authority of man. Sheol, interestingly, is not a place of authority—there is no ‘king’ or ‘magistrate’ that is described here. It is a place of absence in that regard.

Heaven is the place where all glory and praise is received. Earth is the place where all praise and glory is given. Sheol is the place where no praise or glory can be given. 

There are other hierarchies as well. Heaven is the place of Life. Earth is the place of life-lived. Sheol is the place of Death. Heaven is the place of Liturgy. Earth is the place of Praise. Sheol is the place of Silence. 

The concluding lines show that the Earth is the place where a perpetual praise to Yhwh can be given. Whereas before Yhwh is the one who ‘blesses” Israel, Aaron and those who revere Yhwh, now “we” will bless Yhwh in the same that “we” did not retain glory but consigned it all over to Yhwh. This ‘handing over’ and ‘blessing’ is what it means to have earth ‘entrusted to mankind’. The nations pervert this, however. They ‘bless’ idols, making themselves into unworthy rulers and images of Yhwh. Only in Israel is blessing and glory given to Yhwh. Only in Israel is the earth property lifted up to heaven. And only in Israel is the bond between Heaven and Earth made perpetual because only in Israel is the covenant opened to them such that they can abide within the Forever of Yhwh. Their “from now and forevermore” is but a participation within the Forevermore that is Yhwh.