Ps 4

When I call / answer me / O god of my righteousness

                When in distress / give me room

                Be gracious to me / and hear my prayer.

The psalm begins with the psalmist “calling for an answer”. The psalmist is “in distress” and his reputation is “a reproach”.

For the psalmist, if Yhwh hears him it is the same as him answering him. And that hearing-and-answering is deliverance and Yhwh’s graciousness. It is something that the psalmist, at the end, is confident will arrive, so confident, in fact, that he can sleep soundly in the hope and certainty of its arrival. He knows that he has been “set aside” for Yhwh and that this special position is one that guarantees him being heard by Yhwh.

It is important to see that while the psalm begins in petition it does not remain there but quickly moves into a position of confidence and assurance, a position that will not abate before the psalm’s end. This is unlike many psalms that attempt to call Yhwh to attention by emphasizing, and re-emphasizing, the injustices that the psalmist is suffering under. One might say that this psalmist’s confidence and trust is itself his petition. It is, itself, what calls Yhwh to attention, what makes him “hear-and-answer”.

***One could read this psalm as the one that David prayed in Psalm 3, especially in light of how the psalm concludes with the psalmist going to sleep in the assurance of Yhwh’s deliverance***

O sons of man

                How long / is my reputation / to be a reproach

                How long / will you love vanity

                How long / will you seek falsehood.

The psalmist first addressed Yhwh and now he turns and addresses his accusers, who he addresses as “sons of man”. This designation should stand in stark contrast to the psalmist first conversation partner—Yhwh. For the psalmist, Yhwh is the source of power and deliverance. When he then turns to these “sons of man” his tone is derisive and mocking, much like the psalmist, and Yhwh, in Psalm 2 when they address the nations. This tone is an expression of the psalmist’s confidence in Yhwh hearing him, in his confidence that Yhwh has “set him aside”, and that Yhwh will deliver him.

How long: Importantly, this question of “how long” is, in the psalms, usually posed to Yhwh, asking him how long he will continue to permit injustice. It is, in that sense, a type of accusation, intended to wake Yhwh up and cause him to act. Here, though, the question is posed to the “sons of man”, and, as such, it takes on a completely different meaning. It is mocking. The psalmist knows there will be an end to the ascendency of the sons of man. He knows that Yhwh will turn the world upside-down and that they will be brought low. And so when he addresses the sons of man from this position of confidence, he is asking them how long their injustice will continue (as the psalmists typically do with Yhwh) but as if they should clearly see how absurd they are.

Reputation: the sons of man are slandering the psalmist within the community, making his reputation a reproach. The redemptive aspect of this is that at some point this time of reproach will end and his reputation will be redeemed. His name within the community will be cleansed and lifted up. It is toward this time that the psalmist looks. It is his assurance in this beginning that allows him to live, now, within the reproach and even to fall asleep.

Vanity: the sons of man “love vanity”. But like the psalmist’s reputation, there will come a time when this will no longer be the case. What these “sons of men” love will be revealed for what it is—vanity—just as his tarnished reputation will be revealed for what it is—one of the godly, whose god is Yhwh. This end-of-vanity is something that Paul looks forward to in Romans 8 where he sees the entire world as being subjected to vanity. Interestingly, there it is the “revelation of the sons of god”, not the “sons of man”, that will mark the end of vanity’s reign.

Falsehood: the sons of man “seek falsehood”. This is likely in reference to their degrading the psalmist’s reputation. Knowing that what they say is slander and false, the psalmist understands this as a “seeking falsehood”. This should also be understood in connection with their love of vanity. A love of vanity is a love of things that do not obtain their intended purpose. It is often described as “empty vanity”. In this way, vanity is similar to falsehood in that vain things are a type of lie or false-things. They express themselves one way but cannot deliver on what they express (wealth, for example, promises security but it cannot guarantee it. And so to “love wealth” is a love of vanity and also a seeking of falsehood.).

But know / that Yhwh / has set aside / the godly for himself

                Yhwh will hear / when I call to him

From his derisive litany of “how long” the psalmist now speaks directly to the sons of man and provides them with the reason for his hostility—this time that they now enjoy is simply the time of Yhwh’s “setting aside” the godly for himself. The godly, then, are in a sense hidden for a time—that is why they are able to make the psalmist’s reputation a reproach, to love vanity and to seek falsehood.

But through the psalmist this time of hiding is now revealed. As such, the psalmist is also showing that it is a time of mercy, a time for the sons of man to change their ways, to stop persecuting the psalmist, turn from vanity and seek truth rather than falsehood. This theme of mercy is prevalent in Psalm 2 as well, where the shattering of the nations is present but only in order to give them pause so they can align themselves with Yhwh’s messiah. The goal is not their destruction but their conversion.

Tremble / but don’t sin

                Speak within yourselves

                But be still on your bed

As with Psalm 2, the psalmist is attempting to create a space, we might say a space of mercy, and now tells the sons of men how to repent before it’s too late—before Yhwh “hears him when calls” and destroys them. He tells them to refrain from their pursuits, to stay within themselves and to not let their motivations result in action. He wants them to “be still” and to “speak within yourselves”, not speak out loud against him further destroying his reputation. Just as the nations were reorient themselves towards Yhwh’s messiah and to “kiss to son” in an act of obedience, so too are these sons of men begin the process of reorientation by restraint.

The reference to being “still on your bed” could be important given the concluding lines where the psalmist “lies down and sleeps” in the confidence of Yhwh’s governance. Just as he will lie down secure, so too are the sons of man to be “still on your bed”. If they cannot fully reorient themselves, they should at least remain still, mimicking his confidence as he sleeps.

Sacrifice sacrifices of righteousness

                And trust in Yhwh

Just as in Psalm 2, where the nations are called to perform an act showing their loyalty to Yhwh’s messiah, so too here are the sons of men now told to perform acts to show their turn toward and trust in Yhwh—their (re)orientation toward him.

We have to see this movement, as in Psalm 2—first the psalmist displays incredulity at their rebellion, he then makes a pronouncement that is to disorient them, and then commands them to make a positive movement, intended to reorient them. The entire movement, as said before, is one of mercy, of attempting to bring the sons of men out from judgment and into trust in Yhwh. But the mercy requires this painful disorientation/reorientation.

In Psalm 2, this positive movement was an act of fealty to Yhwh’s messiah. The act of kissing the son by the nations was an act intended to address their rebellion. Just as their voices were used to speak words of rebellion in the opening, so now are their mouths us to show communion with the messiah. It is an act particularly well suited to the leaders of the nations. Here, the act is likewise directed to the “sons of men”—sacrifices. These sons of men have “loved vanity” and “sought falsehood”. They have been enamored with things but not as they are intended. Here, the psalmist encourages them to address that false approach through sacrifice, through offering things to Yhwh. This dynamic of giving over to Yhwh is meant to be a healing process for their vanity and falsehood; it is intended to orient them towards things of substance and to truth. In other words, the act of sacrifice itself is an antidote to vanity and falsehood. But the psalmists includes more to it. They are not simply to engage in sacrifices but sacrifices “of righteousness”. These sacrifices begin the process of turning the sons of men toward trust in Yhwh, which is the psalmist’s position. This is confirmed by the opening lines where the psalmist describes Yhwh as the “god of my righteousness.” The psalmist wants these sons of men to become like him—to find Yhwh to be their “god of righteousness” and, therefore, to be “set aside” by Yhwh. And the way they do this is, again, through sacrifices, through an inner and outer offering to Yhwh, not only of material offered, which is essential, but also through sacrifices of the heart and the reorientation of trust in Yhwh.

Many people say / Who will show us good

                Lift up the light of your countenance upon us / o Yhwh

The psalmist now turns to an almost philosophical reflection. He recognizes that people wonder who can “show us good”. I believe that implicit in this is what god has the power to bless, to infuse vitality and life into the community and cosmos. It is important to recognize that the psalmist poses this question immediately after calling upon the sons of men to “offer sacrifice”. What he is doing is showing that the “good” that people expect from the divine realm can only be fully lived within if one first offers sacrifices of righteousness to Yhwh. In other words, there must be a dynamic of giving and receiving. If the question is simply who will “give” or “show us the good” without already being oriented to sacrifice, then Yhwh’s “countenance” will not be fully understood. However, if the person engages in sacrifice to Yhwh then we find the answer to the people’s question—it is the “light of Yhwh’s countenance” that will be lifted up upon them.

Put more joy in my heart

                Than when their corn and new wine abound

Once the dynamic of sacrifice has begun then the objects sacrificed, corn and wine for example, will be oriented to Yhwh. As such, the astonishing joy that they can provide to people will be surpassed by the joy given by Yhwh that is “put in the heart”. This is a seed that comes from heaven, and it produces a plant of joy that surpasses anything that the cosmos can provide. For those who are oriented solely to cord and wine, even the abundance of corn and wine, they will be limited in their joy, and will fail to experience a realm of being that surpasses the cosmos. We see here how sacrifice, far from representing a loss, actually produces and an abundance—and, importantly, an abundance more than anything experienced in the cosmos itself.

In peace / I will both lie down and sleep

                For you alone are Yhwh (the lord?)

                You make me dwell / in safety.

It is within this supernatural joy, this realm that surpasses the cosmos, that the psalmist now dwells in. And, for that reason, he lives “in peace” and “dwell’s in safety”.

These are also the words of Christ as he “lies down to sleep” on the cross. He looks solely to his father, as his father, David, did, and can now rest in  peace because of the assurance and trust the he will “dwell in safety”. This psalm, then, is a resurrection psalm, and it takes on an incredible depth when it spoken by Christ.

For Christ to pray to his father that he “put more joy in my heart than when their corn and new wine abound” offers us a glimpse into their relationship. As Christ moves toward, and hangs upon the cross, he has experienced the utter devastation of his reputation. The cross itself is the ultimate and final form of that disgrace and he hangs, in public—its goal and its purpose is not simply to kill the person but for them to die in shame, exposed to cosmos. One could say that the cross does not shame the person but is shame itself, as it gathers to itself all of shames forms into a unity—death, disgrace through stripping, and exposure.

From this stance he looks out upon the “sons of men” and sees their time drawing to a close—the time of vanity and of seeking falsehood. That time is ending because his own life and disgrace are going to come to an end as well. This is important—Christ centers upon himself the epitome and concentration of all disgrace. He has been summed up in him such that his death will be the final moment of disgrace, the judgment of disgrace and shame, we might say. And so, if his disgrace and shame are redeemed—if Yhwh “hears him when he calls”—then the entire age will move forward into that redemption through him and in him. In other words, Christ’s resurrected body will be Yhwh’s “hearing”. It will be a perpetual and eternal “hearing” by Yhwh, the perpetual and eternal answered prayer for redemption from shame and disgrace. That is what his resurrected body will be, not simply in the past, but eternally and perpetually.

The resurrected Christ will also become the testimony to the sons of men that is intended to cause them to pause. As we said above, he becomes the time of mercy, in his resurrected state, because he becomes the testimony of the father’s redemption. It is his resurrection which should begin the process of the withdrawal of sin, the silencing of it, its remaining within the sons of men rather than being expressed. It is not so much, then, a vehicle for judgment as for mercy.

And by carrying the wounds in his resurrected body he shows to the world the true “vitality of being” as sacrifice. He is the resurrected-sacrifice. In this he literally shows to the sons of men what they seek, which is power and vitality and life, but which they can’t find. He shows them how to enter into the true ‘vitality of being’ by entering into him who is the “life of the World”—the very Logos of the Cosmos—but also the “Sacrifice”. The sons of men must pass into Yhwh through him, and therefore through sacrifice, through handing over what they seek to obtain. Here we see how the seeking of anything apart from Christ is, ultimately, vain and a searching for falsehood because it is only in him that one can literally see that which everyone seeks—the abiding and perpetual blessing-life. Christ was and gathered everything into himself and offered it as sacrifice, and, in so doing, was heard and was resurrected into eternal life.

In the words of this psalm, Christ is therefore the “good” that God shows us, the “good” that everyone seeks. And that is because we do not look past Christ but he literally is the countenance of the Father—that Face that entire biblical man searches for and sees as the ultimate blessing and reward is the Face of Christ. But more deeply still is that the resurrected Christ shows the Father’s face because he is the “lifted countenance of God”. He is the fulfillment, or, better, he is the Aaronic blessing in his resurrection. To look upon Christ’s resurrected body is to look upon the answer of God.

And here we can come to see how the resurrection becomes the joy “more than corn and new wine abundance”, because the resurrection surpasses any type of potential within the Cosmos—in Christ the Cosmos was taken into death in order to be reborn into an existence it was not only intended to have but an existence and blessing that even surpasses its original intent. In other words, even if the Cosmos has not been subjected to futility it would not have achieved the blessing existence it obtains in and through Christ. It is Yhwh’s mode of blessing—of deriving an even greater blessing from the effects of vanity and sin than would have been obtained otherwise. This is the true meaning of ‘supernatural’—it is not simply a ‘return’ or a ‘healing’. It is the infinitely surpassing of even its original goal and purpose. It is the infinite surprise. Christ’s resurrected body is that infinite surprise, what cannot be anticipated even by imagining.

And in this we see how Christ’s resurrected boy is not simply the abiding and perpetual “hearing of God”, the abiding and perpetual “answer”—but the abiding and perpetual joy of God. It is something “put into Christ’s heart”—and in so doing it is “put into” the Cosmos. To look upon the resurrected body of Christ is to literally see the joy of God, and man in god. A joy that has not been obtained and then moved beyond, but the abiding and perpetual joy.

Now comes the real mystery—that everything we have said above is actually the reason why Christ can sleep on the Cross. In other words, although everything we said above is something that occurs “after” the crucifixion, it is also the basis for Christ’s trust in his father and why he can ultimately sleep the death-of-the-cosmos. Time is not something that simply moves forward, but also something that moves backward. Things in the future can form the basis for things in the past and can be the soil in which the present grows. Christ was sacrificed before the foundations of the world. And, as such, he was, in a mysterious way, also resurrected. And this—this folding together of time—is what forms Christ’s trust and joy, and is the reality that we are baptized into when we are baptized into Christ’s death and into his Body.