Ps 11 - a pilgrimage psalm

In Yhwh / I have sought refuge

This opening grounds the psalm because, as we will see, the psalmist moves between poles of fear and confidence.

How can you say to me:

                Flutter like a bird / to the mountain

For look / the wicked are bending the bow

                They have fitted their arrow / onto the bowstring

                To shoot in the dark / at the upright in heart

It is not clear who is telling the psalmist to fly “to the mountain”. It may be a friend, the psalmist speaking to himself or, even, an enemy. Regardless of who the speaker is, the psalmist is perplexed by the advice because the wicked are already prepared to shoot him down. The speaker wants the psalmist to make himself vulnerable by taking flight and leaving the ground, thereby making himself visible to those who are hunting him. While the ‘mountain’ may appear to afford him protection, getting there would almost certainly result in his death.

The height of the mountain is important because it will play a role later in the psalm. Mountains are not simply high places, but places that are nearer to heaven and therefore the divine. Yhwh routinely meets his servants on high mountains. The psalmist’s escape is then not simply a naturalistic “getting away” but also a “going toward”—toward divine sacred/aid. It may be that the speaker, therefore, is telling the psalmist to flee Yhwh and go toward another divinity that will be more able to protect him; a type of idolatry.

The psalmist’s response, seen from that perspective, is a bit different, or deeper. The “wicked” are not, I think, simply wicked men. They are men who are embedded within a divine framework, and would therefore be operating with a type of divine backing or aid. Their “arrows shot in the dark” would be guided not simply by ‘natural’ trajectory but by divine aim and assistance. So, on the one hand, the instigator is telling the psalmist to fly to the mountain-of-divine-aid, while the psalmist responds that his enemies are themselves ready to attack him with divine aid and assistance. Between these two poles, he is simply caught in a type of divine contest, with no certainty as to the outcome. This uncertainty is what flows in the following lines where the “foundations are being torn down”. As we will see, though, there is a ‘third option’ that assures the psalmist safety while not being tossed between the two poles of a divine game.

The foundations are indeed / being torn down

                What has the righteous done

This statement and question are essentially where the psalmist finds himself when confronted with the option to ‘fly’. Between the two poles of competing divine forces, it appears as if the foundations of the world are themselves being torn down—if there is no sure exit from the dilemma then that lack of exit also points to the fact that the foundations of the cosmos is itself unstable, is itself caught between the same divine forces that the psalmist is caught between. Within this realm, righteousness itself is no guarantee of success or safety.

Yhwh is in his holy temple

                Yhwh’s throne / is in the heavens

This statement is what turns the psalm, and the psalmist. It transforms the psalmist from a position of despair to one of hope. And, it simply states “where” Yhwh “is”—but that geography is key, as we have seen.

We mentioned before that geography played a crucial role—the ‘mountain’ is not simply a high place, but a place of divine meeting. The ground is inhabited by the wicked, is also a place of divine assistance. Because the cosmos is contained within this divine sphere from the top-to-the-bottom, the psalmist sees no real escape from his dilemma.

Until he focuses on Yhwh, who is both entirely immanent—inhabiting the earth—in his “holy temple” and entirely transcendent—above the earth and mountains—“throne in the heavens”. In Yhwh there are no two competing forces but the One who encases the all, who stands before and after the two poles of divine competition that the psalmist originally saw himself contained within. In Yhwh, the entire cosmos is cast in a different light. No longer does it oscillate between competing divinities. Rather, it exists within the One. No longer are its foundations understood as “being torn down”. But, because it exists within the One, and because Yhwh both dwells within and above it, its foundations are secure. We could put it this way—when the psalmist originally contemplated his position as one that could not escape competing divine forces, that competition itself revealed that the foundations of the cosmic order are in the same position as the psalmist himself. However, all of that is, in a sense, ‘rewritten’ when seen in Yhwh’s shadow—now that the One is understood as single, governing authority, so too is the foundation of the cosmic order revealed as secure because grounded in this One, this Yhwh. It is ‘one’ as he is ‘One’.

But there is more to this than that. Before, the psalmist contemplated escape to a “high mountain” but could not begin that journey because other competing divine forces. Now, however, he understands that there is a “high mountain” that is secure—Zion, where Yhwh is in his temple. And, because Yhwh is not ‘simply’ in his temple but also sits on his throne in heaven, Yhwh will protect him in his travel to the Temple. There is a place, not a metaphorical place, not a mountain without a name, not simply a ‘high place’—but a sacramental place where Yhwh is. And this is a real, secure place, unlike what he previously could imagine. All of those other places were never substantial because the divine reality that imbued it could not guarantee its perpetuity and security. Because the divine reality was limited, the place was never really a place. But, in the Temple, this “place” is a real sacramental place because Yhwh is the heavenly king as well. It is that dual reality of Yhwh (or the extreme Oneness of Yhwh) that makes the Temple the real “place” on earth. We might say that that is why we have two eyes, both enabling us to see a single object. In order to see the Temple, we have to also see Yhwh on his heavenly throne. And, in order to see Yhwh on his heavenly throne, we have to see the Temple. It is seeing both that enables us to see each one.

His eyes see

                His eyelids scrutinize / the sons of man

Yhwh tests / the righteous

                But the wicked / and the one loving violence –

                His soul hates

Yhwh’s eyes—it is not simply that Yhwh is present both on the earth in his Temple and beyond the heavens on his throne. Yhwh is also the measure of all of being.

Before, the psalmist saw the measure of all being as the competition between divine forces; there was, in that sense, no stability, no real measure. Nothing could ultimately test the entirety of being, from the top to the bottom, from the most intimate to the most epic. The only thing that could be said was that there was struggle and appeasement. But, in Yhwh, that is all entirely different. Yhwh’s gaze is the one, single measure. He is the standard. His immanence and his transcendence enable him to also be the standard, the scrutinizer of all.

And the ‘tester’ of the righteous and the hater of the wicked. Before, the cosmos could not be ultimately seen and judged; it did not stand underneath an absolute gaze, but only the gaze of competing deities. As such, it could only be a place of competition, of disclosure and concealment. But, in Yhwh, the world can become a place of true testing and hatred, of righteousness and wickedness, because Yhwh does place the world under his absolute gaze. Nothing can be concealed from him.

He rains down on the wicked / coals, fire and brimstone

                And a burning hot wind / is the portion of their cup

But Yhwh is righteous / he loves righteous deeds

                The upright / shall see his face.

So Yhwh’s gaze is absolute and he sees all. His seeing is also always-already an act of testing, of separating the wicked from the righteous. The world now falls under his ‘love’ or his ‘wrath’. Here, we find the effect, or consequence, or ‘portion’, of his testing.

For the wicked it is coal, fire, brimstone and a burning hot wind. For the righteous, it is “seeing his face”.

Note how the psalm began with the wicked bending their bow to shoot arrows up, at the righteous as he flew to the mountain. In the middle of the psalm, we saw how the world is overtaken by Yhwh and removed from the divine competing powers, including those that back the wicked. Here, instead of the wicked’s actions rising into the air, coal, fire and brimstone “rain down” on them. Yhwh dwells in a sovereign realm of authority far above the divine powers that back the wicked. As such, his judgement comes “down” upon them, implicitly judging (or overcoming) the divine powers that back the wicked. And, more importantly, giving the psalmist reason to have confidence in Yhwh, rather than to listen to the voices that tell him there is no real escape for him. Yhwh is and can be a true and absolute refuge, because it is from him that an absolute judgement falls upon the wicked and the righteous.

The effect on the wicked is profound. This is not merely the boomerang effect of evil, but, in a way, heaven being weaponized against the wicked. We have to see this dramatic nature of their punishment in order to understand that the blessing given to the righteous cannot be less profound than what the wicked receive. But it could be missed because of the way the psalmist describes these two judgments. For the wicked, the psalmist deploys three images of total destruction and describes their judgment as what they must ‘drink’. It is a ‘full’ description. But, for the righteous, the psalmist offers a single reward—they will “see his face”. The starkness of this reward when compared with the overwhelming judgment on the wicked is key. And here is the reason—for Scriptural man, nothing more needs to be said than this. It is the ultimate blessing. Nothing can surpass it and it is what every psalmist desires more than anything. For that reasons, it also the most daring of things to seek for and desire. We might even say this—that it is in fact more dangerous of a reality than the judgment that falls on the wicked. For a person who is not clean and righteous to enter into the presence of the Face, means complete and total annihilation. But, for the pure and righteous, it means more than the fulfillment of all desire. It means being in the presence of Him who exceeds absolutely every longing or anticipation of blessedness.

This directs us to another important aspect of these concluding lines. If they wicked are overtaken from above, the righteous are treated somewhat differently. Instead of describing their blessing as ‘coming down’ upon them ‘like rain’, or something else, they are described as eventually coming to “see his face”. The righteous live their lives in pilgrimage to the Temple, where they will see Yhwh’s face. They, and their righteous deeds, will be rewarded by Yhwh, who himself is righteous. This the image coming to see its model, the image coming to see its king. And it is key that the psalm ends with “the face”. The psalm itself is, in a way, in pilgrimage to the face just as the righteous are.