Ps 138 (Time between promise and fulfillment)

I give thanks / with all my heart

                Before the gods / I celebrate you with music

I prostrate myself / toward your holy temple

                And give thanks / to your name

                For your loyal love / and your faithfulness

Because you have made your name / and promise

                To surpass all else.

At the time I called / you answered me

                And made me exultant / putting strength within me

The psalmist is within the Temple’s courts, prostrate toward the Temple’s center. He is in the presence of holiness. And within that space he speaks with his own heart of thanksgiving, as if this “all heart” is a type of sacrifice to be presented to Yhwh. The theme of thanks pervades the psalm.

For the psalmist, his thanks begins in Yhwh’s “making his name and promise surpass all else.” The psalmist called and Yhwh answered him, making him an exultant, putting Yhwh’s strength within him. The closing of the psalmist provides more detail—the psalmist was in trouble but into that trouble Yhwh granted him life in the face of his enemies fury. Yhwh acted as his avenger. Yhwh stretched out his right hand to him and helped him.

The psalmist gives thanks to Yhwh’s name for this because in it he sees a power that lifts Yhwh’s name above everything. The psalmist also sees Yhwh making his promise “surpass all else.” This act of ‘surpassing’ refers to Yhwh’s accomplishment of his promises. The psalmist sees how Yhwh cannot be deterred when he makes a promise, that no power can stand in the way of his fulfilling the promise. This is key—the time between the promise and the fulfillment is the space wherein Yhwh’s name will be raised up. For Yhwh to promise and then act, rather than simply acting, shows that Yhwh is faithful and it also shows Yhwh’s authority. Until the promise is fulfilled there is the sense that Yhwh may either change his mind or he will be thwarted in carrying it out. When it is accomplished, though, Yhwh is shown both faithful to his intent and that no circumstance or power can circumvent him. His faithfulness and his power are always greater, as if the time between promise and fulfillment are always-already within his control.

The power/glory that shines out from this promise and fulfillment is public—it goes out to the Cosmos. That is why the psalmist now says for “all the kings in the world give you thanks in reaction to hearing of the promises of your mouth.”

It is important to see that in the first portion of the psalm the psalmist thanks Yhwh “before the gods (of the nations”). Here, he implores the “kings in the world” to give Yhwh thanks. Heaven and earth are here giving witness to Yhwh’s power and faithfulness in carrying out his promises. These “gods and kings” are those who could, potentially, attempt to thwart Yhwh. They are the ones who inhabit the realm of power. And yet in this psalm, they are peaceably turned toward Yhwh in thanks. And Yhwh’s fulfillment of his promises is the soil from which this thanks springs. As Yhwh speaks his promises from his mouth, they sing back to him thanksgiving from theirs.

The kings in the world, in response to this promise-and-fulfillment, turn their gaze toward Yhwh. They do not turn from him, nor do they grow jealous or possessive over their own glory. Instead, they “sing of Yhhw’s ways, and that Yhhw’s glory is so great.” Here, the great sing to the Great.

Let all the kings in the world / give you thanks

                In reaction to hearing of the promises / of your mouth

And let them sing / of Yhwh’s ways

                That Yhwh’s glory / is so great

For high as Yhwh is/ he looks upon the lowly

                But from afar he takes cognizance / of the proud

One of the signs of Yhwh’s greatness is not simply that he can make a promise and bring it to its fulfillment but that he looks upon the lowly and sees the proud “from afar”. This is not only an expression of Yhwh’s mercy. It is, primarily, an expression of his authority and his justice. Yhwh stands so far above the ‘great’ that what directs his gaze is often a type of inversion of the way man and the gods see. For them, often, the lowly are low because they lack divine aid and assistance, while the proud are high because they have been, as the psalmist has, strengthened by god(s). In other words, the social structure reflects the divine aid and valuation.

But Yhwh stands so high above both man and god(s) that the social structure almost has no ‘high and low’. Rather, something else directs his gaze. For him, the proud are things to be ignored as the “lowly” are ignored by man and gods, while the lowly are to be “looked upon”. In other words, he comes close to what man and gods stand apart from, and stands apart from those whom man and the gods stand close to.

When I walk / amid trouble

                You grant me life / in face of my enemies’ fury

You stretch out / your hand

                Your right hand / helps me

Yhwh acts as avenger / on my behalf

                Yhwh / your loyal love is everlasting

                Do not abandon / the product of your hands.

It is because Yhwh stands so far removed from the gaze of man and gods that provides the psalmist with such assurance. His lowly stature is something that Yhwh has regard for. Yhwh, in a sense, can ‘haunt’ behind the gaze of man and gods, lifting up those who are ignored and bringing low those who are endowed with attention and privilege.