Give ear / to my words / O Yhwh
Consider
my murmuring
Give attention / to the sound of my plea
My King
/ and my God
For it
is to you / that I pray.
In this introduction to the psalm, the psalmist seeks Yhwh’s
attention through his “words”, “murmuring” and the “sound of my plea”. He wants
Yhwh to “give ear”, “consider” and “give attention” to his voice. For the
psalmist, his vocal prayer to Yhwh is something heard by Yhwh. His including
the phrase “my king and my god” is a type of shorthand for the covenant—“You
will be my people and I will be your god”. As such, this is not simply an
individual petitioning Yhwh but Yhwh’s own covenant partner—a covenant that
Yhwh himself initiated. In this way there is a type of double-claim on Yhwh’s
attention. First, as the covenant partner who presumably has lived according to
the covenant stipulations, he has held up his end of the bargain and can now
look to Yhwh to act on his behalf in faithfulness to the covenant. Second,
because the covenant was initiated by Yhwh, and not by man, it actually puts
Yhwh, in a sense, more in the position of redeemer—because it began with him it
must also be maintained by him.
O Yhwh / in the morning / hear my voice
In the
morning / I make preparations for you / and watch
Perhaps we could say that this is a second introduction. The
first is generic in that its images and word choices are used in many different
psalms. Here, though, the psalmist shows that this psalm is particular because
it is spoken in “the morning”. That is when the psalmist wants Yhwh to “hear my
voice”.
I believe there is something important about the dawn and
the prayer emerging together. I points to a coincidence between the cosmos and
the psalmist, with the psalmist being the one who enters into this time and
syncs his voice with that of the dawn. There is a sense here of utter
faithfulness on his part, of a type of whole-life giving over to Yhwh and
obedience to Yhwh. Just as the dawn comes every day and brings light to the
world, so too does the psalmist bring his petitions to Yhwh.
This insight leads to another—the sun rises and pours itself
over the earth, bringing life and light. The psalmist, however, does the
opposite. He actively petitions Yhwh but then, after his preparations, he
“watches”. For the psalmist, his deliverance, his ‘sun’, is going to Yhwh. Yhwh
will be the one who pours life and light over him, and dispel the darkness of
the “workers of iniquity”. The remainder of the psalm will be about how Yhwh,
as ‘light’ separates the darkness. But key—this ‘light of Yhwh’ is in response
to the psalmist’s voice.
For you are not / a god who takes pleasure in wickedness
Evil
may not sojourn / with you
Boasters may not / set themselves before your eyes
You
hate all workers of iniquity
You shall destroy / those who seek falsehood
You
loathe bloodthirsty / and deceitful men / o Yhwh
The psalmist here catalogues the darkness that Yhwh
despises. A few of them are important in that they describe the physical
proximity of the evildoers—“evil may not sojourn” with Yhwh and “boasters may
not set themselves before your eyes.” As we will see later, these are not mere
metaphors but literal descriptions. These men cannot be in the physical
presence of Yhwh, unlike the psalmist who is admitted to Yhwh’s
Temple-Presence. The evil men are anti-pilgrims; anti-Presence people.
The two verses work like this—Yhwh’s desire – Presence –
Presence – Yhwh’s desire. Then, destruction and loathing. The point here is
that Yhwh’s disdain for wickedness, evil, boasters and “workers of iniquity” is
a total response on his part. Yhwh’s “heart” takes no pleasure in it and hates
it. And for that reason, these men cannot physically be with Yhwh.
It is not, however, that they simply cannot be in Yhwh’s
Presence. Yhwh will “destroy those who seek falsehood”. Yhwh does not seek to
simply identify evil, nor to demonstrate his disdain for it. Yhwh desires it
destruction. Of course, if Yhwh did not desire its destruction he could not be
a god to hope in.
To be in Yhwh’s Presence is to be in his pleasure. This is
one purpose of the covenant and its stipulations—the stipulations communicate
Yhwh’s pleasure such that the people can be in the Presence which stands at the
center in the Temple.
But I will enter your house / in the abundance / of your
lovingkindness
I will
worship / toward your holy temple / in reverence of you
The psalmist, unlike the wicked, is able to “enter your
house”. We saw before that the psalmist has already “made preparations”,
perhaps referring to the required morning sacrifices. If so, then the
“abundance of your lovingkindness” that grants him entrance to Yhwh’s Presence is not abstract but
concrete—in the covenant Yhwh provided the psalmist with the instructions
necessary to be a pleasing object to Yhwh.
This verse is, then, a type of thanksgiving to Yhwh for revealing his
heaven-desire.
The psalmist then says he will worship “toward your holy
temple”. Perhaps what we see here is that in the previous verse he entered the
outer gate to stand in the courtyard and now positions himself, facing the
holy-of-holies (what he say here is “the temple”).
O Yhwh / guide me in your righteousness / because of those
lying in watch for me
Make
straight / your way before me
The psalmist said earlier that “evil may not sojourn with
you” and “boasters may not set themselves before your eyes”. But here the
psalmist implores Yhwh to allow just that for him—to guide him and make
straight Yhwh’s path before him. In other words, to guide the psalmist to Yhwh
and in Yhwh’s ways—unlike the wicked who must remain far off.
It is instructive that this request comes after the psalmist
has expressed his delight in Yhwh’s Presence—that is the real goal and purpose
of his request. Because of that, and because he lives in a world inhabited by
the wicked, he now asks Yhwh to be his divine guide. It is not simply
protection that he wants—he wants to be protected so that he can achieve and
maintain Yhwh’s Presence.
The psalmist also makes an important point about the nature
of the wicked—they are known and hidden, revealed and concealed. He knows they
exist, he knows that they seek his destruction, but he cannot fully reveal or
perceive their designs. As we will see below, at least part of the reason is
because what they express and what they intend to accomplish are different
things. They “speak flattery” but it is all a lie, coming from an inner-man
that is “corruption” and a corpse. It is because of their hidden motives and
their hiding that he needs Yhwh as his divine guide—only the divine has the
ability to fully perceive the wicked’s location, their plans and their intent.
And so only the divine can guide him through their traps. Only Yhwh can make
Yhwh’s own path straight. Psalm 119 will speak of this dual nature of Yhwh as
both providing the “way” and being the “guide”. Yhwh does not simply instruct
but also accompanies his people. This accompaniment will be expressed below in
the request for their destruction.
Because there is no truth / in their mouth
Their
inner-man is corruption
Their throat / is an open grave
With
their tongue / they speak flattery
Destroy them / O god
Let
them fall / because of their plans.
Thrust them out / because of the multitude of their
transgressions
For they have been rebellious
against you
For the psalmist, the wicked men are utterly profane—they
are walking corpses, which are the most unclean things in the Scriptures. Even
the taint of death is not allowed inside the Temple. If a priest touches a
corpse he must cleanse himself for a period of time before he can resume his
priestly temple-duties. The deep significance of this is that Yhwh’s Presence
is anti-death. To be in Yhwh’s presence is not to be in the presence of a
living god, but to be in the presence of life-itself. That is why death cannot
be permitted anywhere close to the Presence.
It is for this reason that the images that the psalmist uses
to describe the evil men is so terrible—he makes them into anti-Presence
people. They are unclean and must be forcefully withheld from Yhwh. That is why
they must be “destroyed” and why they must be “exiled” or “thrust out”.
The dynamic between Yhwh “thrusting” them out and
“destroying them” with Yhwh also “letting them fall because of their plans” is
important to reflect on. It seems as if Yhwh destroys them and thrusts them out
by simply letting their plans fail—in other words, by refraining from saving
them from their failures. They are already falling, it seems. And Yhwh prevents
them from falling to their destruction. But now, the psalmist pleads, let them
fall. Let them be destroyed. Let these walking dead die. That being said, the
psalmist is asking Yhwh to take
action, not to simply refrain from acting. He wants Yhwh to purify the land—to
“thrust them out”, to exile them, because of their transgressions. They have
defiled the land, and perhaps the Temple, and the psalmist wants Yhwh to
restore its holiness and integrity.
But let all who take refuge in you rejoice
Let
them be jubilant forever
And over them / set a screen
That
they may exult in you
Those
who love your name
For you will bless the righteous / O Yhwh
Like a
large shield / you will surround them / with favor.
From the wicked, the psalmist then turns to “those who take
refuge in you”. The psalmist has just asked Yhwh to “thrust out” the wicked. He
knows looks at those who “take refuge in you”, in those who draw close to Yhwh
and find in him the source of their protection. These people, those who find
Yhwh to be their refuge, they are the ones permitted into his Presence. They
“love your name”. And, within this desire for protection and love, the psalmist
sees a forever jubilation. He sees Yhwh answering their desire for refuge by
placing “a screen over them”. Within that safe protection, freed from fear and
the wicked, they forever exult. They are surrounded and within that protection
they are blessed.
We see here a dynamic at work in many psalms between those
on the inside and those on the outside. Whether it is Jerusalem, Zion or the
Temple—the ‘face’ of Jerusalem/the Temple/Zion, to the wicked, is a thing of
horror and dread; to those inside, however, it is an abundant source of beauty
and blessing and festivity. It is, in this way, just like the ‘face of God’.
This dynamic is capture here by the twin forces of destruction and thrusting
out, and refuge and shielding. The psalmist asks Yhwh to banish the profane and
to place a shield over those who “love your name”. This is the movement of
redemption—it involves both an act of removal/destruction and a simultaneous
act of protection. The psalmist does not seem to envision that the wicked are
banished “forever” because he implores Yhwh to also protect and shield those
who love his name. Rather, what he sees occurring is an act of redemption that
is ongoing—the profane are banished; they are destroyed; but they do, also remain.
And, for that reason, Yhwh creates a realm of protection—a barrier between the
profanation and those who love his name. He does what he has already done in
the Temple itself—by creating a realm of holiness, that is supposed to ‘spread’
over the world, carrying with it its barrier of protection and, internally, the
realm of blessing. The holy of holies,
the courts, the walls of protection, and Jerusalem itself were all meant to
provide this dual action of protection and blessing.
The book of Revelation captures this entire dynamic very
eloquently at the end—when it envisions a Cosmos that has at its center a new
Jerusalem but one whose gates will never be closed. It goes on to describe how
the wicked will not be permitted to enter and how, from its rivers, will flow
the healing of the nations. The sea will be gone as will the night. It seems to
fluctuate between an image of protection-and-blessing and one that is simply
blessing, without remainder.
Within the context of the Scriptures this psalm can then
take on a deeply significant level of meaning—the psalm begins in the morning,
with the psalmist making his preparations and sacrifices and petitions, and
then his resting in hope that Yhwh will enact his redemption, both casting out
and destroying the wicked but, more importantly, bringing within his sphere of
blessing those who, like the psalmist, love his name. The psalm then moves
toward a time from a time---toward a time of redemption and from a time of
hope. As mentioned, the book of Revelation moves at this same pace—from a time
of hope and toward a time of redemption. And both the psalm and Revelation
envision the “time between” as one of judgment and protection. With Revelation,
the “time between” is marked by day and night (both protection and incredible
destruction). At the end, however, the day becomes perpetual. The night is no
longer and that is because the Christ has become the lamp/sun that establishes
the perpetual-Forever day. In other words, all of the Cosmos is involved in
this movement toward the final Day without end. There will come a time when the
morning does not pass into night. When this morning prayer—and what it looks
forward to—will be realized, without remainder, because there will be a time
when Christ becomes the sun itself. This psalm will, in other words, enter into
the sacred forever of God and become ‘eternalized’.
Moreover, when the psalm is understood as spoken by Christ
to the Father, we come to see how this prayer becomes the light that enlightens
the New Jerusalem. Here we listen to the words of Yhwh’s messiah as he begins
his morning, placing himself in readiness and watchfulness for his father’s
movement toward redemption. He then realigns his heart with his father’s,
recounting the ways in which his father’s creation and governance are
threatened, and how much his father abhors those things that, cancer-like,
infect his reign and realm. It is key to see how Yhwh’s messiah must have this
mutual abhorrence for the things his father abhors. If he is to be his image within
the cosmos, he must also have his heart and his desire for protection of
goodness. This abhorrence is, then, an aspect of his loving concern and regard.
As the psalm makes clear towards the end—his father’s redemption will effect
this abhorrence through both a casting out and protection against these forces
of entropy and destruction. To hear these words spoken by Christ is
crucial—because here we see the Son placing himself within the readiness to
receive from the Father all that he is, to align himself with the Father, and
to make himself into the perfect image of his glory.
From this negative face of love, Christ-the-messiah then
turns his face toward the temple. He is the image and bearer of his Father’s
delight. As much as his Father abhorred the cancer of wickedness, does he see
in his Son, his “beloved one”. He is the perfect reflection of the Father. This
is why he will enter his Father’s house, why he will be permitted beyond the
barrier and screen that will shield out the wicked. This perfect reflection,
though, is not merely that. Within the reflection—within the return of the
Father’s image—is the love of the Son for the Father. He does not simply mirror
the Father back to him. Rather, that giving back is an utter giving of the Son
and his love. Just as the Father gives himself over to the Son in the Father’s
love, so too now does the Son give everything back to the Father in the Son’s
love—in full, and without remainder. This mutual Love, this mutual Gift—is the
Spirit. Here we enter into the burning heart of the psalm—the reverence of the
Son for the Father as he enters the Father’s house. The book of Hebrews will
explain this in wonderful detail as the Son’s entrance into heaven through the
veil of his flesh. The ‘barrier’ that protected the heavenly Holy-of-holies is
the flesh of Christ that, through his sacrifice, he now passes through into his
Father’s most intimate space—the entrance that will trigger everything, that
will cause the magnitude of heavenly expansion and explosion. Here, the Son turns toward that time, as he
makes his way to the Cross, where the veil will be parted through his death.
As he turns his face toward that time and toward that
journey he implores the Father to guide him in his Father’s ways. The Son, in
the flesh, was made to receive, in time, what he received eternally from the
Father. As such, in his incarnation he had to be led by the Father, through the
Spirit. The ‘way forward’ was something he would receive, something he would be
guided toward, something toward which he would be ‘made perfect’. This
petition, then, is not a sham, but the abiding and ever-present request of the
Son, as he receives, at every step, himself, which is also his mission, from
the Father.
The son’s request for the failure of the wicked and their
destruction as he moves toward the fulfillment of his journey and mission—the
entrance into the Temple—recapitulates the alignment of his heart with the
Father’s. The Son looks to the Father for this destruction. He looks to him to
remove the barriers to the fulfilment of his mission. And, accordingly, he
permits the Father to determine the contours and the way in which that mission
will be accomplished. And, in Christ, this request is granted but in an
astonishing fashion—through his death, his resurrection, and, more importantly,
his ascension above all powers to the throne of his Father. During his earthly
mission he was given all power on earth. Through his ascension he was given all
power in the heavens and earth. It was here, at its completion, that the
request if fully granted—it is then when everything is made subject to him. It
is now that everything is being made to bend the knee at his Name. That
banishment and destruction, then, entails a conquering that participates within
his Victory—which is the cruciform victory over evil. Meaning, it is ultimately
through the blood of martyrs that full power of heaven is unleashed and the
wicked are destroyed.
The ‘screen’ then becomes the Body of Christ. That which
protects the most is conformity to his crucified person—that is the protection
that cannot be overcome because his Body is itself the new Temple. As such, the
new Temple is the living sacrifice, made up of those who take up their cross,
those who die so that they will not die a second death. This is, ultimately,
why this psalm is a burning sun that enlivens the new Jerusalem. It is
eternally spoken by Christ, and his Body, and in so doing becomes an abiding,
perpetual, and enduring protection against death and the forces of death.
Romans 8 is another version of this psalm.
