Ps 144

Blessed be Yhwh , / my rock

                Who has trained / my hands for war

                My fingers for battle

My loyal help / and fortress

                My stronghold / and deliverer for me

My shield / and the one with whom / I find shelter

                Who subdues peoples / beneath me

This seems to be the king who is blessing Yhwh for his war-training—for training his hands and fingers for battle; for being his loyal help and fortress; his stronghold and deliverer; his shield, his shelter and the one who subdues his enemies beneath him. In all of these we have a vision of the messiah-anointed, the Adam-king of Yhwh. And it is one of fervent devotion enabling him to establish order through war, enabling him to bring peace and stability. Yhwh both strengthens him in his offensive capacities—training his hands and fingers—but also protects him in his defensive posture—his shield and shelter. The goal of both is the “subduing of peoples beneath me”. In this we understand that the goal is not simply establishing the anointed in power but, rather, training him and protecting him so that he can “subdue” the chaos of “the peoples”.

Yhwh / what is man / that you notice him

                A human being / that you take thought of him

Man is like a movement of air

                His lifetime / like a passing shadow.

From the perspective of the divinely empowered king for whom Yhwh “subdues people beneath him”, we now see the reverse of that image—that of man as so insignificant as to be almost beyond notice. Man is nothing but a movement of air, and his entire life only a passing shadow. On first glance it may appear that the psalmist-king is referring to himself as the “man that you notice.” But, I think what the psalmist is really saying is why would Yhwh involve himself at all with man? In other words, why would he both establish the king and why would he subdue the “peoples”? It is the entire drama that the psalmist is appealing to—why does Yhwh care about human beings at all, who are so insignificant in comparison with Yhwh?

Yhwh / spread apart your heavens / and come down

                Touch the mountains / so that they smoke

Flash lightning / and scatter them

                Send your arrows / and rout them

Stretch out your hand / from on high

                Rescue me / and deliver me

From deep water

                From the power / of foreigners

Whose mouths / speak lies

                And whose right hands / are perjured hands

The psalmist asks Yhwh to pull back the barrier between himself and earth. In light of the previous psalms, the psalmist is asking Yhwh here to “take notice” and bring his realm of utter superiority close to earth—to “come down”. It is actually more than that. The psalmist asks Yhwh to “touch the mountains”. He wants Yhwh to completely close the gap between himself and man who is only a movement of air and a passing shadow, for Yhwh to involve himself utterly within the workings of man. This is more than taking “notice”. He wants Yhwh himself to “come down”.

This “coming down” and “touching the mountains”—this utter involvement of Yhwh on behalf of his people—is the act of redemption, of drawing the messiah out of the chaos-waters of the nations, and of setting him on Yhwh’s own mountain (Adam like and like the messiah of Psalm 2).

We should see in this the renting apart of the heavens in the beginning of the Gospel of Mark—as the Father now “comes down” on behalf of his messiah son. The remainder of Christ’s life will be a steady ‘drawing forth’ of Christ from the deep water of chaos until the point at which the Father’s right hand will ultimately sit Christ “at his right”. In other words—the renting of the heavens is the beginning of a battle for the messiah. And, in so far as the messiah is redeemed and drawn forth from the chaos-nations, so too are all those who are joined and baptized into him drawn up “in him” to sit at the Father’s right hand. 

O God / I will sing a new song / to you

                Upon a ten-stringed lute / will I play to you

Who have given / victory to kings

                Who rescued your servant David

From the baneful sword / rescue me

                And deliver me / from the power of foreigners

Whose mouths / speak lies

                And whose right hands /are perjured hands

This portion in some ways restates the previous. Here the messiah promises that the will sing to Yhwh a new song on a ten-stringed lute. This victory song of joy is sung to the Yhwh-who-saves-his-David, which the psalmist is. He is the now-David, and therefore he stands within and can appeal to the Davidic promise and redemption.

Just as Yhwh did for David before him, now he will rescue the psalmist-David from the baneful sword, and deliver him from foreigners, whose mouths and hands are profane and profane everything they contact. Importantly, this resuce of the psalmist-David is not simply the rescue of an everyman servant of Yhwh. It is the rescue of Yhwh’s messiah-king and son, whose identity is as the leader of Yhwh’s people. In other words, the redemption of David is the redemption of Yhwh’s people; it is their redemption from foreigners and their mouths and perjured hands.

When our sons / are like plants

                Full grown / in their youth

Our daughters / like corner pillars carved

                For the structure / of a palace

Our garners are full / providing

                Food of every kind

Our sheep / produce thousands

                Ten thousand / in our fields

Our cattle are in fine fettle

                There is no plague / nor abortion

                Nor bellowing / in our broad meadows

How fortunate / are the people for whom this is so

                How fortunate / the people whose God is Yhwh

It is a beautiful concluding image as the psalmist looks forward to a time when Yhwh has redeemed him, placed him as the righteous leader of Yhwh’s people and the people and land respond with tremendous abundance and virility and inhabit a realm removed from the chaos and entropy that the nations move within.

This is the unencumbered and unhindered blessing-power of Yhwh. It is, appropriately, and should be seen as, astonishing, as transgressing every natural expectation and entering into the prodigal outpouring of Yhwh. It is festive beyond measure. And in this we see the goal of Yhwh’s people and the Land—to enter into and to replicate this blessing of Yhwh. In other words, the people and the Land are most themselves when they are brought this far beyond themselves and this far within themselves. They realize their own potential and are brought infinitely beyond that potential. This the Forever of Yhwh now made present in creation.