Ps 149

Sing to Yhwh / a new song

                His praise / in the congregation / of recipients of loyal love

Let Israel rejoice / in their maker

                Let Zion’s sons / exult in their king

Let them praise / his name / with dancing

                Let them celebrate him / with music of timbrel and lyre

Because Yhwh / takes delight in his people

                Glorifying the oppressed / with saving victory

We saw in the previous psalm how the covenant between Yhwh and Israel lifts them into a glory that exceeds anything contained or reflected by heaven and earth. They are brought ‘out of the cosmos’ and into Yhwh’s own glory. From there, because they are allowed to participate within Yhwh’s glory, they themselves become objects of reverence.

In this psalm we are, in a sense, taken within that sphere, where Israel stands to praise Yhwh. This is, in other words, a supernatural liturgy—a liturgy given to Yhwh that cannot be given unless Yhwh raises his people beyond the Cosmos (beyond heaven and earth), beyond the created sphere, and into his own uncreated sphere. Yhwh raises them by making them into “the congregation of recipients of loyal love”—that is Israel. That is the source of their rejoicing. When the praise Yhwh as “their maker”, they are not reaching back to Adam but Abraham, the father of the covenant. It was through him and covenant forged with him, that they were raised into Yhwh’s uncreated sphere. That is when they were “made” into Israel, into the congregation of recipients of loyal love. It was then that they became “Zion’s sons”. It was then that Yhwh became “their king”.

Within this sphere of supernatural praise we find “dancing” and celebration with the music of timbrel and lyre. This is the people’s reveling in Yhwh, their king. It is exuberant and uncontained and unconstrained. But the reveling does not simply ascend to Yhwh, it also descends upon the people. Yhwh “takes delight” in his people. Notably, he “glorifies the oppressed with saving victory.” In other words, he raises them into a visible position of power and authority, taking from them their oppression and given them its opposite. If the people show their delight in Yhwh with reveling, Yhwh’s shows his delight in redeeming them, raising them up to glory, establishing them in power. 

Let the recipients of loyal love / jubilate in the triumph

                Let them shout / for joy/ where they lie prostrate

Let high praises / be in their throats

                And two-edged swords / in their hands,

For punishment / to be executed upon the nations

                Chastisement upon the peoples

For their kings / to be manacled with chains

                And their nobles / with iron fetters

For judgment to be executed upon them / as decreed

                That will mean honor / for all recipients / of his loyal love.

Here find the realization of the previous stanza. The people’s being brought into Yhwh’s sphere is now a cacophony of praise—they jubilate; they shout for joy; they lie prostrate; they have “high praises in their throats”. Again, we see here a praise that is without bounds, is wild with joy in Yhwh. And, again, this is because they are “recipients” of Yhwh’s loyal-love.

As they are raised into Yhwh’s sphere they are, crucially, also empowered. This is not simply a spiritual ascending. When the ascend to their King, they become kings on earth. They have “two-edged swords in their hands.” They have become the true rulers of the earth; the true Adams, meant to establish justice and peace against the forces of chaos. They have been raised above the Cosmos and, as such, stand over nations and people and, indeed, their kings. They have the authority to “bind them”, with manacles and iron fetters. They will issue judgment.

We see here how deeply the people stand within the authority and glory of Yhwh—as they stand within his sphere, they partake of his ruling authority. The Cosmos is set to right in Yhwh, through is vessels of “loyal love”.

This mixture of liturgy and ruling, of exuberant praise and redemption-into-power-and-authority marks the book of Revelation. Throughout, images of ruling are interspersed with heavenly praise.