Ps 9 undying hope

I will praise / Yhwh / with all my heart

                I will recount / all your wonderful works

I will rejoice / and I will exult in you;

                I will sing the praise / of your name / O Most High

The psalmist begins with his own call to praise. His “all” is going to mirror Yhwh’s “all”—his heart for Yhwh’s works. There is here a deep sense of awe; a sense that the pslamist’s entire being is being called into this praise. He is throwing himself toward Yhwh—he praises with all his heart; he recounts wonderful works; he rejoices; he exults; he sings praise of the Name. This is the response to glory—to the manifestation of divine beauty—and the outpouring that such a response entails. In the presence of glory, the person is turned inside out, the person is in ecstasy, outside of themselves; they want to give more than their entirety, which is the nature of ecstasy.

What is notable here is that this revelation of divine glory, this ecstasy, is rooted in Yhwh’s “wonderful works”. These are the object of ecstasy and draw the psalmist out of himself. They are the revelations of divine glory. Because in these ‘works’ the psalmist witnesses the Name, and from within these works—from the joy that these works evoke—the psalmist’s enters the praise-of-the-Name.

When my enemies turn back

                They shall be thrown down / and shall perish before you

For you have undertaken my judgment / and my cause

                You have sat upon the throne / judging righteously

You have rebuked the nations / you have made the wicked perish

                You have wiped out / their name forever and ever

The enemy are finished / perpetual ruins

                And you have uprooted cities / their memory has perished

The psalmist began the psalm saying he would praise Yhwh’s “wonderful works”. Yet here, after the introduction, the psalmist immediately turns toward the future, where he sees not just his enemies failure but their utter destruction. They will be “thrown down” and “perish”. And this will occur “before you”—Yhwh himself is going to fight the psalmist’s fight against his enemies. Yhwh himself will take up the pslamist’s cause.

This certainty as to the future, though, is grounded in the past. The psalmist knows his enemies will be destroyed and will perish because in the past Yhwh has “rebuked the nations and made them perish”. By using the same word—“perish”—the psalmist is showing that his certain future will mirror Yhwh’s past actions. And in  this we see how Yhwh’s past “works of wonder” are not praised as some static act done in the past. Rather, the past acts are prophetic, pointing forward to what Yhwh will do, again, in the future. That is, ultimately, the basis for the use of the same word, perish. It is not merely a literary technique, but a literary technique grounded in a theological conviction that Yhwh-of-the-past is Yhwh-of-the-future—he was, is, and will be.

This is ultimately grounded not simply in Yhwh’s ever-living, or undying nature, but in Yhwh’s ‘character’ or his ‘Name’, or ‘who he is’. There is what we might call a moral dimension to this. The acts in the past are not simply expressions of power, but expressions of righteous judgment. When Yhwh acts, his acts are ‘good’.  And it is because they are “good” that one can look with hope to the future. If Yhwh’s acts were simply expressions of power then there could be no continuity between them. They would not, in other words, be prophetic. However, because Yhwh’s acts are always-already good, then a judgment in the past means that when a time comes that things have devolved to the level they did in the past, Yhwh will act in the same way to right the wrong.

The terror of the past. When the psalmist turns his gaze to the past, he narrows his focus down to a particular time—the exodus and invasion of the Land. During that time, several nations rebelled against Israel and they were not simply routed for their actions, but they were utterly annihilated. They died. Their very names were ‘wiped out’ forever and ever. In other words, no remnant remained. They fell into oblivion. A question is why this moment, why this utter destruction? Why does the psalmist look here rather than to other moments.

I think the answer is rooted, in fact, not in the past but in the future. Later in the psalm, the psalmist will say that the “hope of the afflicted will not perish forever”. What we see here is that the psalmist is showing the basis for a permanent hope, an assured hope. Just as total and absolute was the destruction in the past is the hope for the future judgment. Yhwh’s total and definitive act in the past, in judgment, is the reason why their hope is, in fact, immortal. It cannot be destroyed because it is rooted in the undying and righteous Yhwh. There is, then, a very close relationship between judgment and hope, the one forming a basis, or even mirror, of the other. For those who live between the two poles—between times of judgment in the past and judgment in the future—they live in the ‘time of hope’, but not hope as in optimism, but a hope that is assured. As dead as those nations are is as alive as their hope—total and absolute.

Memory, name and destruction. To wipe out a people’s ‘name’ implies a total destruction of the people, including their posterity. They will never rise again because they have been utterly destroyed. To wipe out their memory implies their loss within the surrounding peoples. It is a more total and devastating destruction than even the destruction of the ‘name’ because now even their presence within the memory of others is gone—erased, never to be re-born. They are as if they had never been.

Later, the psalmist will use these three images in reverse—he will speak of Yhwh’s “name” of his “remembering “ and of his “reigning forever”. For the wicked, their name is “wiped out forever and ever”. Their ‘name’ does not protect them from Yhwh’s judgment. Moreover, it can be looked for but not be found because it is gone. For Yhwh, by contrast, his “name” is a refuge and it can be continuously sought and found. For the wicked, they will exist no longer, even in memory. For Yhwh, his Name is eternal and abiding. It can always be “known” and dwells beyond the power of death and destruction. More deeply still, though, is that to “forget God” is to court Sheol itself. For the nations, to be forgotten causes no damage because their names do not carry life nor any power at all. Yhwh’s “name” however is life and power—to forget his name, then, is not a neutral act; it is to turn away from life itself and therefore to turn to Sheol. Lastly, the nations reigned for a time but were then utterly destroyed. Their authority was not abiding and perpetual. Yhwh, on the other hand, “reigns forever” and he establishes his own “throne of judgment”. His judgment, contrary to the nations, is worldwide. He adjudicates all peoples.

Behold / Yhwh shall reign forever

                He has established his throne of judgment

And he shall judge the world / with righteousness

                He shall adjudicate / the peoples with equity

From the destruction of the nations the psalmist turns to Yhwh’s reigning in his divine throne room. Whereas he has “uprooted” entire cities, he has “established his throne”. The contrast is intentional. The nations are on earth, and Yhwh, like a divine gardener, can ‘uproot’ their cities from their soil. By contrast, Yhwh ‘establishes’—he builds or ‘plants’—his throne room in heaven. He tears down and he builds up.

Yhwh’s heaven-throne is total—it establishes Yhwh’s judgment over the entire world. What the psalmist sees here is that Yhwh’s act of judgment on his part is part of Yhwh’s judgment of the entire world. Yhwh’s authority is not localized, even though it will work locally for the psalmist. This reality serves a deeper purpose—Yhwh’s utter and total authority over the world reveals that when he acts on behalf of the psalmist, this entire, sovereign control is now being exercised on his behalf. This, again, is one reason why his hope is not optimism but assurance. Moreover, because the scope of Yhwh’s authority is absolute and total, the psalmist’s enemies cannot hide from Yhwh. His authority coincides with and extends beyond the earth’s boundary.

When Yhwh judges the world and the peoples he does so with righteousness and equity. This is key because it shows that the absolute destruction of the wicked was only done in service of righteousness and equity. It was a division of sorts, of separating out the wicked from the righteous, so that that which is good could be cleansed. It was not simply an act of destruction, per se, but in service to goodness. It was, as we have seen many times before, penultimate. This also shows that when he acts in the future, it will also be a simultaneous act of destruction and protection/healing. We saw this dynamic, for example, in a very dramatic way in the exodus when Israel was given ‘refuge’ directly within the midst of the plagues.  

And Yhwh shall be a refuge / for the oppressed

                And refuge for times of trouble

And the ones who know your name / shall trust in you

                For you have not forsaken those who seek you / O Yhwh

When Yhwh worked his wonders in Egypt, the wonders did not simply consist in the plagues that beset the Egyptians. There was, in a very real sense, an even greater wonder which is that the Israelites consistently inhabited a safe ‘zone’ within the plagues. This protection culminated in the Passover, when the Israelites sacrificed the Passover lamb and painted its blood on the lintel to their doors thereby warding off the angel of death. It is important to emphasize that this was, in its own way, the most amazing aspect of the wonders—because, as we have seen time and again, punishment is always penultimate to deliverance and re-incorporation and blessing. The Israelites were not simply being protected for their own good—Yhwh’s securing for them a refuge in the midst of the plagues was to be a sign, a ‘lamp to the nation’, that Israel stood within the protective embrace of Yhwh, that it, in fact, was a theophany of Yhwh’s protection. They were protected, in other words, for Egypt as much for themselves. Their refuge in Yhwh was not a secret and it was not be hidden.

Why is this important for our psalm—because when Yhwh sits upon his heaven throne and judges the entire cosmos, the act of judgment is manifested, or enacted, not simply through the overthrow of the wicked but, even more deeply, through his being a refuge for the oppressed in times of trouble. That for those who “who his name and trust in him”, they will inhabit this sphere of Yhwh-protection and refuge. They will manifest, in other words, Yhwh’s protective judgment, just as Israel manifested Yhwh’s protective judgment in Egypt.

Sing praises to Yhwh / the Enthroned of Zion

                Declare his deeds / among the peoples

For the Avenger of Blood / has remembered them

                He has not forgotten / the cry of the afflicted

The psalmist returns again to the call the praise, the same call that opened the psalm. Except here Yhwh’s identity has been more fully revealed. He is the “enthroned one of Zion”. Whereas before his throne was established in the heavens and revealed him to be the judge of the entire world, what we learn now is that his throne is more localized so to speak. Zion is where his throne sits. It is from Zion that his reign emerges and from Zion that his judgment (both his destructive and protective judgment) will emanate. And, as such, it is from Zion that the “declaration of his deeds” will be learned. All Yhwh-declaration will go forth from Zion. The beneficiaries of these declarations are “the peoples”.

And the substance of the praises is that this Enthroned one of Zion is also the Avenger of Blood. As exalted as he is, sitting on his regal and heavenly throne, he ex-presses his power most fully when he avenges the blood of the afflicted, when he hears their cry. And, in his hearing, their cry becomes the substance of praise because he comes to their deliverance. While the nations that stood against his people have been forgotten, Yhwh will not forget the cry of the afflicted. Yhwh will always already be there, ready to ‘activate’ his judgment over the world.

Be gracious to me / O Yhwh / look upon my affliction from those who hate me

                My guardian / from the gates of death

That I may recount all your praise / in the gates of the daughter of Zion

                I will rejoice / in your deliverance

Having recounted Yhwh’s history of protective judgment, and his concern for the afflicted, the psalmist asks Yhwh to act the same toward him. He asks Yhwh to be his guardian, and protect him from passing through the ‘gates of death’. For him, Yhwh’s gaze is redemptive life—it both casts down the enemy but also invigorates the afflicted with life. It robs this ‘city of death’ of its citizen and instead makes him again a citizen of “daughter Zion”.

The recurrence of Zion is key. Yhwh was previously described as the Enthroned of Zion. Now, when he redeems the afflicted, he makes them into citizens of Zion. We see the King and his subjects—we see, in other words, the kingdom of God and heaven. And its citizens consist of the afflicted who have been rescued by Yhwh from the gates of death so that they can sing Yhwh’s praises in the gates of Zion. Which sounds a lot like the church. 

Nations have sunk / into the pit they have made

                Their foot was caught / in the net which they hid

Yhwh has revealed himself / he has executed judgment

                By the action of hands / striking down the wicked

                HIGGAION. SELAH.

The psalmist here captures one of the most important dynamics of Yhwh’s judgment—that when Yhwh’s reveals himself and executes judgment it consists largely of the wicked being consumed by their own machinations. We see this repeatedly—that during the time before Yhwh executes judgment, when the wicked are in the ascendant, their plots seem to be working and moving toward fulfilment. The psalmist then prays for Yhwh to “hear him” and, when Yhwh does and manifests himself, Yhwh’s presence itself causes the wicked not only to fail in achieving its end, but, in fact, it turns on the ones who perpetrate it. The actors become acted upon. The evil they cast out into the world now boomerangs back onto themselves. They fall into the pit they dug; they become ensnared in the traps they hid. Just as they attempted to betray the righteous, now do they betray themselves. We have commented before on how Yhwh’s presence here does not simply operate as punishment but, rather, by turning the evil back on its perpetrators, the evil destroys the root it sprang from. It cuts off the source of its own life. Yhwh’s presence is not so much the punishment of the wicked as the eradication of wickedness itself.

The wicked shall return / to Sheol

                All nations that forget God

For the poor will not always / be forgotten

                Nor will the hope of the afflicted / perish forever

The psalmist says the wicked shall return to Sheol, indicating that their true home—where they came from—was this kingdom of death. That is where their true citizenry is, although they now plague the earth. And this realm, this kingdom, as we saw in Psalm 6, is the realm of forgetfulness of God—that, and death, are Sheol’s dominate identities. 

When they fall into the pit they dug, their ultimate destination will be the pit of Sheol.

The concluding two lines are some of the most important in the psalm because they sum up the themes. First, the focus on the ‘poor’, or ‘afflicted’. We have seen this already—they these afflicted ones are, in a sense, those of the present. The present is also the time of “being forgotten”. Importantly, though, the affliction of Yhwh’s people is also a sign of hope, a sign that the present will be judged and reversed. It points forward to the time of Yhwh’s ‘remembering’. This is why their hope will not “perish forever”.

Arise / O Yhwh / Don’t let humans prevail

                Let the nations be judged / before you

Put fear in them / O Yhwh

                Let the  nations know / they are only human. / SELAH.

The psalm concludes with the psalmist pleading that Yhwh “Arise”. The present time is one of human accomplishment, of human attainment. It is, in the words of Paul, the time of the flesh. It is, moreover, a time of deception—those who are in the ascendancy (the wicked), believe they are more than human, more than flesh. They believe their power is one that exceeds the human and stretches into the divine blessing. But when Yhwh ‘arises’, he will reveal himself to be the source of all divine power. He will be the one and only judge in the heavens. And, at that point, the lie the nations have lived within, will be revealed, and they will come to see that the source of their power is not divine, but only flesh. And it has worked, only because the present is a time of Yhwh’s waiting, of his patience and the time that prepares for the afflicted to become a revelation of Yhwh’s protective judgment.