Tag Archives: Book of Psalms

Psalm 106 Confessing the Unfaithfulness of the People of God

2 Replies
Grigory Mekheev, Exodus (2000) artist shared work under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

Psalm 106

1Praise the LORD! O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever.
 2Who can utter the mighty doings of the LORD, or declare all his praise?
 3Happy are those who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times.
 4Remember me, O LORD, when you show favor to your people; help me when you deliver them;
 5that I may see the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation, that I may glory in your heritage.
 6Both we and our ancestors have sinned; we have committed iniquity, have done wickedly.
 7Our ancestors, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wonderful works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled against the Most High at the Red Sea.
 8Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, so that he might make known his mighty power.
 9He rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry; he led them through the deep as through a desert.
 10So he saved them from the hand of the foe, and delivered them from the hand of the enemy.
 11The waters covered their adversaries; not one of them was left.
 12Then they believed his words; they sang his praise.
 13But they soon forgot his works; they did not wait for his counsel.
 14But they had a wanton craving in the wilderness, and put God to the test in the desert;
 15he gave them what they asked, but sent a wasting disease among them.
 16They were jealous of Moses in the camp, and of Aaron, the holy one of the LORD.
 17The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the faction of Abiram.
 18Fire also broke out in their company; the flame burned up the wicked.
 19They made a calf at Horeb and worshiped a cast image.
 20They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass.
 21They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,
 22wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
 23Therefore he said he would destroy them — had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath from destroying them.
 24Then they despised the pleasant land, having no faith in his promise.
 25They grumbled in their tents, and did not obey the voice of the LORD.

 26Therefore he raised his hand and swore to them that he would make them fall in the wilderness,
 27and would disperse their descendants among the nations, scattering them over the lands.
 28Then they attached themselves to the Baal of Peor, and ate sacrifices offered to the dead;
 29they provoked the LORD to anger with their deeds, and a plague broke out among them.
 30Then Phinehas stood up and interceded, and the plague was stopped.
 31And that has been reckoned to him as righteousness from generation to generation forever.
 32They angered the LORD at the waters of Meribah, and it went ill with Moses on their account;
 33for they made his spirit bitter, and he spoke words that were rash.
 34They did not destroy the peoples, as the LORD commanded them,
 35but they mingled with the nations and learned to do as they did.
 36They served their idols, which became a snare to them.
 37They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons;
 38they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood.
 39Thus they became unclean by their acts, and prostituted themselves in their doings.
 40Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people, and he abhorred his heritage;
 41he gave them into the hand of the nations, so that those who hated them ruled over them.
 42Their enemies oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their power.
 43Many times he delivered them, but they were rebellious in their purposes, and were brought low through their iniquity.
 44Nevertheless he regarded their distress when he heard their cry.
 45For their sake he remembered his covenant, and showed compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
 46He caused them to be pitied by all who held them captive.
 47Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise.
 48Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. And let all the people say, “Amen.” Praise the LORD!

Psalms 105 and 106 form two complementary but very different lenses to examine the history of God and God’s people. Like the yin and yang in Chinese philosophy represents two opposite but connected forces, these two psalms are connected by an understanding of God’s steadfast love operating throughout the story of Israel, but where Psalm 105 is a psalm which accentuates the positive aspect of the relationship Psalm 106 eliminates the positive aspects of the relationship from the side of Israel. (Nancy deClaisse-Walford, 2014, p. 796) God has remained faithful despite Israel’s history of unfaithfulness. Psalm 106 reminds us that any telling of the story of God’s people is a story of a people who are disobedient and unworthy of the steadfast love they have received, and the psalmist cries out to God not because they are worthy but because the LORD is a God nature is to be a God who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. (Exodus 34:6)

The confession of Psalm 106 emphasizes the unworthiness of God’s people of receiving the gracious actions of God on their behalf. It echoes the sentiment of Isaiah standing before God stating, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” (Isaiah 6:5) For the psalmist, the LORD is good, and God’s steadfast love endures forever but in contrast none of the people of God can utter the mighty works of God without the realization that they are a people of unclean lips and actions. Yet, this psalmist joins himself to the people in need of rescue and God’s unmerited provision and protection. Happy/blessed[1] are those who observe justice is “an ironic beatitude”[2] (Nancy deClaisse-Walford, 2014, p. 801) since the remainder of the psalm will demonstrate how the people have failed to observe justice and maintain righteousness throughout their journey with God. The psalmist longs to enjoy the prosperity of God’s chosen ones, the gladness of the people of God, and the glory of God’s heritage but they also know that they and their ancestors have fallen short of their calling as the people of God. Instead of living in justice they have lived in iniquity, instead of righteousness they have produced wickedness. The psalmist’s words of confession place them before God needing forgiveness and redemption. Unworthy of grace but longing for it. This is an act of remembering what has been forgotten that they may learn from the mistakes of their ancestors and live into their calling under the covenant.

Even in Egypt, surrounded by the fearful power of God’s signs and wonders to bring this enslaved people out of their bondage to Pharoah, the people take God’s actions on their behalf for granted. Once they arrive at the Red Sea, they fail to trust in the God who delivered them from Egypt and again God acts for their deliverance, but early in this telling God is acting for the sake of God’s name. These mighty acts in Egypt and at the Red Sea bring a momentary faithfulness and trust in the LORD, but quickly the people resort to grumbling against both God and God’s emissaries. The psalm narrates in quick succession the rebellions of Israel articulated in Numbers 11-17 and the creation of the Golden Calf in Exodus 32. All of Israel’s rebellions are tied to their forgetfulness of the mighty works God had done on their behalf to bring them out of Egypt and to sustain them in the wilderness. Moses stands in the breach for the people and intercedes with God on their behalf, calling God back to God’s self-articulated identity in Exodus 34:6-7 and God continues to bring them to the promised land.

On arriving in the promised land, the people continue to forget what their God has done to bring them out of Egypt and through the wilderness and ‘they despised the pleasant land’ which leads to the generation falling in the wilderness prior to the entry into the promised land. They intermarry with women of Moab and begin to adopt the practices of the Moabites, including the worship of Baal of Peor (Numbers 25) when Aaron’s son Phineas zealously fights against the idolatrous actions of the people and turns aside God’s wrath. Even Moses is made bitter and claims to bring forth the waters at Meribah instead of continuing to point to God’s action of provision (Numbers 20).

Even when the people occupy the promised land under Joshua, they fail to carry out the LORD’s instructions for their claiming of the land. They do not drive the people out and they eventually intermarry with the residents of the land and adopt their practices. This brief retelling of the people’s history of unfaithfulness only alludes to the cyclical nature of disobedience and rescue articulated in Judges when it indicates that ‘Many times he delivered them.’ Throughout this narrative poem the people’s unrighteousness has been contrasted with God’s continuing actions of faithfulness to come to the people’s deliverance in their time of disaster and need.

The final verses of the poem indicate a time where they are in exile among the nations, and yet even in this exile away from the land God has caused them to be pitied by their captors. They long for a time when God acts to gather them from among the nations and bring them home, not because they have earned God’s favor but due to God’s gracious and forgiving nature. The final verse closes both this psalm and book four of the psalter. Psalms 105 and 106 belong together as two narrations of the history of God and God’s people and it is worth noting that while the psalm in 1 Chronicles 16 appointed by David begins with Psalm 105: 1-11 it ends with Psalm 106:35-36. These two narratives which close book four demonstrate that praise and the confession are two halves of the songs and stories of the people of God. God is a gracious God of steadfast love and faithfulness and yet the people and their ancestors have sinned and fallen short of their calling as the people of God.  

The scriptures that both Christians and our Jewish ancestors have inherited are a deeply varied collection of works that attempt to make sense of the encounter between the people of God, the world around them, and the God who has called them. The reality that our scriptures include a narration of Israel’s story that does not attempt to hide their history of unfaithfulness is exceptional because many ancient histories[3] attempt to hide the stories that paints a nation in an unflattering light. Confession is a part of the life of the people of Go and I believe that in a world that attempts to conceal or deny any foolishness, wickedness, or unfaithfulness it is essential for people of faith to begin with the reality that we have fallen short of God’s vision for our lives. We have failed to fear, love, and trust God above all things and that has led us not to love our neighbors as ourselves. Yet, the God of the scriptures is a God who is merciful and gracious who often responds not as we deserve but out of the abundance of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness.

[1] The Hebrew ‘asre is typically an indication of wisdom literature contrasting the way of the good/just/righteous/wise with the bad/unjust/evil/foolish. Is often translated ‘happy’ in the Old Testament. In Greek it is translated as markarios which is rendered ‘blessed’ in the New Testament (see for example the Sermon on the Mount).

[2] Rolf A. Jacobson captures this term insightfully since ‘beatitude’ comes from ‘blessed’ which is what ‘asre points to.

[3] This is not exclusive to ancient retellings of history as the ongoing debate about how to teach history in my own country shows. History can easily fall into propaganda and all true historical narratives have both heroic and tragic elements. Yet, history is often closely tied to identity and in an age of bespoke realities, to use a phrase I learned from studying social media, we often shape our historical remembrances to fit our preferred view of our group. We, like the ancient Israelites, also stand in need of narratives of confession.

Psalm 105 Give Thanks to the Faithful God of Our Story

2 Replies
Grigory Mekheev, Exodus (2000) artist shared work under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

Psalm 105 

1O give thanks to the LORD, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples.
 2Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wonderful works.
 3Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
 4Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually.
 5Remember the wonderful works he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he has uttered,
 6O offspring of his servant Abraham, children of Jacob, his chosen ones.
 7He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth.
 8He is mindful of his covenant forever, of the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,
 9the covenant that he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac,
 10which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant,
 11saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan as your portion for an inheritance.”
 12When they were few in number, of little account, and strangers in it,
 13wandering from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people,
 14he allowed no one to oppress them; he rebuked kings on their account,
 15saying, “Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm.”
 16When he summoned famine against the land, and broke every staff of bread,
 17he had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
 18His feet were hurt with fetters, his neck was put in a collar of iron;
 19until what he had said came to pass, the word of the LORD kept testing him.
 20The king sent and released him; the ruler of the peoples set him free.
 21He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his possessions,
 22to instruct his officials at his pleasure, and to teach his elders wisdom.
 23Then Israel came to Egypt; Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham.
 24And the LORD made his people very fruitful, and made them stronger than their foes,
 25whose hearts he then turned to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants.
 26He sent his servant Moses, and Aaron whom he had chosen.
 27They performed his signs among them, and miracles in the land of Ham.
 28He sent darkness, and made the land dark; they rebelled against his words.
 29He turned their waters into blood, and caused their fish to die.
 30Their land swarmed with frogs, even in the chambers of their kings.
 31He spoke, and there came swarms of flies, and gnats throughout their country.
 32He gave them hail for rain, and lightning that flashed through their land.
 33He struck their vines and fig trees, and shattered the trees of their country.
 34He spoke, and the locusts came, and young locusts without number;
 35they devoured all the vegetation in their land, and ate up the fruit of their ground.
 36He struck down all the firstborn in their land, the first issue of all their strength.
 37Then he brought Israel out with silver and gold, and there was no one among their tribes who stumbled.
 38Egypt was glad when they departed, for dread of them had fallen upon it.
 39He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light by night.
 40They asked, and he brought quails, and gave them food from heaven in abundance.
 41He opened the rock, and water gushed out; it flowed through the desert like a river.
 42For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham, his servant.
 43So he brought his people out with joy, his chosen ones with singing.
 44He gave them the lands of the nations, and they took possession of the wealth of the peoples,
 45that they might keep his statutes and observe his laws. Praise the LORD!

Although there is no superscript to introduce Psalm 105, verses 1-15 of this psalm appear in the mouth of King David in 1 Chronicles 16: 8-22 combined with several other psalms. This quote of this psalm at the arrival of the ark of the covenant in the tent David set up for it in Jerusalem is one possible background for the composition of this psalm narrating God’s gracious actions on behalf of the covenant people. Within book four of the psalter this psalm pairs with Psalm 106 which closes book four as well as Psalm 103 and 104 which preceded it. Psalm 103 gives thanks to the LORD because God is good (hesed), Psalm 104 gives thanks to the God who is great in relation to the creation, and now Psalm 105 celebrates the covenant faithfulness of God to God’s people in a narration of their history. Psalm 105 and Psalm 106 form complementary narrations of the history of God’s faithfulness. Throughout Psalm 105 there is no mention of the faithless moments in Israel’s history with the LORD the God of Israel, nor is there any moment of reflection upon God’s reaction to those moments of faithlessness. Unlike the other historical psalms[1] that is not the purpose of this psalm. Psalm 106 will contrast the faithfulness of God with the faithlessness of the people.

Once again, the people are summoned to give thanks and praise the LORD for the things that God has done and to remember the works, miracles, and judgments. The covenant throughout this Psalm appears to be the covenant with Abraham in relation to God giving the people the land of Canaan. Even though the second half of the psalm will deal with God’s mighty works in the Exodus narrative the Sinai covenant is never mentioned. Instead the focal point of the promise is the covenant with Abraham confirmed with Jacob (aka Israel) and the statute here and everlasting covenant is one sided. God promises protection and the land as an inheritance for this family set aside by God.

The people in the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob wander this land as strangers (Hebrew gerim) who are reliant upon the LORD for protection. Abraham would claim before the Hittites that he was a “stranger and alien residing among them”[2] and this reality of the patriarchs and the people in Egypt being ‘strangers’ forms the ethical reaction to ‘strangers’ in Deuteronomy: “You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”[3] Yet here the focus of the narrative is not upon the ethical responsibility of the people, but the gracious protection of God. God does not allow the settled nations to touch his anointed people or to harm the prophets.[4]

The backstory of the psalm continues through the narrative of Genesis, arriving to the story of Joseph who is sent ahead by God to Egypt to provide bread for the people in a time of famine. Even here, although Joseph is sold as a slave, the mention of the role of the brothers of Joseph in his sojourn in Egypt is obscured. Instead, it is the LORD who tests him through these ordeals. Joseph becomes a heroic figure who endures slavery and imprisonment only to rise to become the lord of the house of Pharoah. Yet, even at the end of this brief retelling of the Joseph story Jacob/Israel is an alien in the land of Ham.[5]

At the midpoint of the psalm the narrative shifts from the stories of Genesis to the stories of Exodus. Exodus remembers the duration of the sojourn of the people in Egypt as four hundred thirty years[6] and during this time they had not only been protected by God but prospered, emerging as a people great in number and feared by their Egyptian overlords. Moses and Aaron are sent to be God’s voice to the people and to Pharoah. The number and order of the plagues are different from the narration of Exodus 7-12 and Psalm 78:44-51. It is possible that this is a separate tradition recounting the Exodus narrative, but I believe it is also likely that the constraints of the poetic form of this psalm are responsible for the truncated nature of this retelling.

Yet, the truncated nature of the retelling of the signs and miracles performed in Egypt are extravagant compared to the narration of the journey from Egypt to the promised land. As mentioned above, the giving of the covenant at Sinai as well as the disobedience of the people is omitted. The forty years of wandering in the wilderness is reduced to eight verses or one stanza of the psalm and as throughout the psalm the focus is on God’s presence, protection, and provision for the people. God provided protection by the cloud and the fire, provided mana from heaven, quails for the camp, and water from the rock, and brought them to the long-promised land of the covenant.

Songs can play a crucial role in helping people to remember their story, and this Psalm helps to remind the people where they come from. Throughout this psalm they are sustained by protection and provision of the LORD through works, miracles, and judgments which demonstrate the faithfulness of the LORD to the people. Any narration of a story makes choices about what to include and what to exclude based upon the intent of the story, or in this case poem or song. The focus upon God’s continual faithfulness and provision may choose to exclude the faithless moments of the people, and yet this psalm stands within a collection of psalms and narratives which reinforce, strengthen, and complete its narration. Yet, the focal imagery of the past three psalms of God being a God of goodness and steadfast love, God being a God of greatness in relation to the creation, and finally God being a God of steadfast love and greatness towards the covenant people mutually reinforce each other.

[1] Psalm 78, 106, 136.

[2] Genesis 23:4.

[3] Deuteronomy 10:19.

[4] Presumably for the purpose of the Psalm the patriarchs are the prophets.

[5] The tradition of Egypt coming from Noah’s son Ham is traced back to Genesis 10:6 where Cush (Ethiopia), Egypt, Put, and Canaan trace their lineage to this survivor of the ark in the Hebrew telling of their history.

[6] Exodus 12:40.

Psalm 104 Praise the Great God of Creation

2 Replies
Sun over Lake Hawea in New Zealand By Michal Klajban – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=78855569

Psalm 104

 1Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, you are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty,
 2wrapped in light as with a garment. You stretch out the heavens like a tent,
 3you set the beams of your chambers on the waters, you make the clouds your chariot, you ride on the wings of the wind,
 4you make the winds your messengers, fire and flame your ministers.
 5You set the earth on its foundations, so that it shall never be shaken.
 6You cover it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.
 7At your rebuke they flee; at the sound of your thunder they take to flight.
 8They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys to the place that you appointed for them.
 9You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth.
 10You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills,
 11giving drink to every wild animal; the wild asses quench their thirst.
 12By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation; they sing among the branches.
 13From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
 14You cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for people to use, to bring forth food from the earth,
 15and wine to gladden the human heart, oil to make the face shine, and bread to strengthen the human heart.
 16The trees of the LORD are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
 17In them the birds build their nests; the stork has its home in the fir trees.
 18The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the coneys.
 19You have made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting.
 20You make darkness, and it is night, when all the animals of the forest come creeping out.
 21The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God.
 22When the sun rises, they withdraw and lie down in their dens.
 23People go out to their work and to their labor until the evening.
 24O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
 25Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great.
 26There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.
 27These all look to you to give them their food in due season;
 28when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
 29When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die
 and return to their dust.
 30When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.
 31May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works —
 32who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke.
 33I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
 34May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD.
 35Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless the LORD, O my soul. Praise the LORD!

This psalm and its predecessor are linked by their common opening and closing, “Bless the LORD, O my soul (nephesh).”  The pairing of these psalms reminds me of a table prayer that I taught my children as they were growing up, “God is great, God is good, and we thank God for our food.”  As Rolf A. Jacobson can state,

Whereas the central theological witness of Psalm 103 is that God is good (that is, the Lord is a God of hesed), the driving witness of Psalm 104 is that God is great. (Nancy deClaisse-Walford, 2014, p. 774)

This psalm looks in doxological wonder at the beauty, majesty, and order of God’s creation and exuberantly pours out praise at the greatness of the God who created the heavens and the earth. Like earlier psalms that marveled in the intricate connections and scale of creation, the psalmist joins their voice as a humble offering amidst the chorus of creation.

When modern people talk of creation our typical mode of thought is scientific and explanatory. The debate between creationists who try to limit God’s creation to the seven days of Genesis 1 and evolutionists arguing for a natural evolution of the universe are both framed by the language of modernity, a language which would be foreign to the scriptures. The biblical way of approaching the creation is the language of poetry and praise, wonder and curiosity. The entire direction of both the biblical narratives of creation in Genesis 1-2 and the places where the bible poetically wonders at the creation is oriented on giving praise, honor, glory, and majesty to the God of creation. This poem shares the characteristic joyfulness of the faithful ones throughout the scriptures reflecting on God’s own joy at the good creation.

Both Psalm 104 and the Genesis narratives utilize and subvert the mythological language found in the creation myths throughout the Middle East. While the Lord’s chambers are established upon the waters, an image of chaos throughout the Middle Eastern mythologies, both Genesis and the Psalms have the LORD bringing order out of chaos in a non-violent manner. Light and heavens, waters and wind, fires and flames, clouds and earth all become ordered to form the dominion of God and all the elements are brought together to build and serve the order of God. The waters rise up like a garment and though they can cover the mountains they flee at God’s rebuke and are bound and contained. The chaotic waters that threatened to flood the earth become the lifegiving seas and waters which provide for the plants of the earth and the animals of the field.

The psalmist delight’s in “God’s superabundant liberality”[1] and imagines God looking with delight upon the majestic creation. The lens of the psalmist begins his reflection on the works[2] of God’s hands with agricultural images that would likely be closest to their daily experience. God causes grass to grow for cattle, and plants that people harvest that bring forth the food that people eat. God is great and God is good, and they thank God for the food that God provides. God provide for the necessities of life but also for the joyous things: wine to gladden the human heart, oil for the human face, and bread to strengthen the heart.[3] Yet, the reflection on the works of God do not end with the immediate benefits for human society. God provides for the trees and the birds that live in them, wild goats and rabbits. There is a time for everything, daytime and nighttime for humanity and the creatures of the forest, days marked by the sun and seasons marked by the moon. The lion, the representative great beast of the forest, humanity works in the city and fields, and Leviathan the great beast of the sea all joins in the noise of creation calling out to God. Leviathan, the great chaos monster that was a threat to the gods in other societies, is now merely a plaything of the LORD. The great lion of the forest and the dragon of the sea have been tamed by the creating LORD upon whom both depend.  Lion, humanity, and Leviathan all know that God is great, and God is good, and it is the LORD who they thank for the food that God provides in due season.

Yet, the creation is dependent upon God’s continual attention and sustainment. Hebrew thought has no conception of the modern image of a god who created the universe as a clockmaker creates a clock, winds it up and then departs. The creation remains dependent upon God’s face being turned towards it and God’s breath[4] residing within and animating the creature. Humanity and all creation are completely dependent upon the continued provision of the LORD which animates the creatures and renews the face of the ground. The face of the ground looks up in adoration at the face of the LORD which provides for it. The earth trembles at the attention of the LORD and the touch of God’s finger upon the mountain causes them to smoke.

The psalmist sings his song amid the majesty of creation as an offering to the LORD. The penultimate line where the psalmist asks for “sinners to be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be not more” may seem like a discordant note to end the psalm with, but within the ordered world of creation and God’s justice and righteousness there is no space for those who undermine the order of creation. Hebrew wisdom does separate good from evil, righteous from sinners, wise from foolish, and the faithful from the wicked. Yet, the LORD is both good and great, providing life, food, and joy for all of creation, and the psalmists humble meditation tries to with their humble offering of praise to bring a little joy to the creator. Their whole life[5] is involved with blessing and praising the good and great God of creation.

Cecil Alexander’s joyous song “All Things Bright and Beautiful” echoes the emotion and orientation of this psalm:

All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all.

And in the final verse of this song, after reflecting on creation from the smallness of flowers to the majesty of the mountains, Cecil Alexander’s words come back to the human standing amid the wonders of God’s works:

God gave us eyes to see them, and lips that we might tell how great is God Almighty, who has made all things well.

Or in the words of the psalmist, Bless the LORD, O my soul (nephesh). Praise the LORD. May our eyes, lips, and entire being continually live in wonder at the greatness of the creation that God’s hands formed, at the faithfulness of God continuing to look upon the face of the earth and sending forth the ruach (wind, spirit, breath) which continues to animate and sustain the creation and to respond in praise.

[1] John Calvin’s term. (Bellinger, 2014, p. 446)

[2] Works, Hebrew ‘asa, is an important concept in the poem which is sometimes translated make (s)/made (v. 4, 19, 24b) and other times as works (v. 13, 31). (NIB VI: 1096)

[3] Worth noting that the heart in Hebrew is not the instrument of emotion but of will and decision.

[4] This is the Hebrew ruach which can also mean spirit or wind. All creation in both Genesis 1 and Psalm 104 is dependent upon the ruach which originates in God. English translates ruach as breath and spirit in successive verses obscuring this connection.

[5] Hebrew nephesh is not simple the Greek concept of soul but encompasses all of life.

Psalm 103 A Meditation on the Steadfast Love of God

3 Replies
A Frosty Morning By USFWS Mountain-Prairie – A Frosty Morning, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=110781726

Psalm 103

Of David.
 1Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
 2Bless the LORD, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits —
 3who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,
 4who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
 5who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
 6The LORD works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed.
 7He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel.
 8The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
 9He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger forever.
 10He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
 11For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
 12as far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us.
 13As a father has compassion for his children, so the LORD has compassion for those who fear him.
 14For he knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust.
 15As for mortals, their days are like grass; they flourish like a flower of the field;
 16for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.
 17But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children,
 18to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.
 19The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.
 20Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, obedient to his spoken word.
 21Bless the LORD, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will.
 22Bless the LORD, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the LORD, O my soul.

This poem of blessing and praise attempts to capture the fulness of God’s steadfast love and compassion from the experience of the individual, the community of the faithful, and all of creation. This psalm is not an acrostic[1] but like an acrostic poem it is twenty-two lines long and it is likely that the author is using form to denote a whole or complete treatment of the steadfast love and compassion of God. In twenty-two lines the poet covers a remarkable breath of issues. Rolf A. Jacobson can state,

Psalm 103 is a wide-reaching hymn of praise that reaches out and touches most of the great theological issues of life and faith—sin and forgiveness, sickness and health, oppression and vindication, God’s election of Israel and the gift of the law, God’s transcendence and God’s mercy, human mortality and divine immortality, and the reign of God. (Nancy deClaisse-Walford, 2014, p. 759)

This psalmist joins its voice with the hosts of heaven and the works of God’s creation in lifting their humble blessing on the God of steadfast love and compassion.

This is a psalm where a little knowledge of Hebrew can bring a lot of richness to one’s reading because translations restrict the meaning of some key Hebrew ideas. “Bless,” Hebrew barak, originally meant to bow in homage to one’s king or lord and it does not have the connotation of providing a gift or benefit that the English bless/blessing has. This poem or praise or worship is framed by “bless” and the imperative to “bless” begins with the psalmist and then extends to the heavens and earth joined by the psalmist’s “soul.” “Soul” in Hebrew thought, Hebrew nephesh, is not the Greek idea of a soul which is different from the body but instead is the essence of life and the totality of oneself. It is not only the spiritual Greek “soul” which is to praise God but the center of one’s life and everything else that is a part of the psalmist joined in the action of praising God’s name.

Martin Luther’s contemporary Philip Melanchthon once stated memorably in his Loci Communes, “that to know Christ is to know his benefits.” (Melanchthon, 2014, p. 24) Now this psalm attributed to David[2] reflects on several of the primary characteristics of God and their benefits for the psalmist and all of creation. The thirteen attributes articulated in Exodus 34: 6-7 provide the language for much of reflection on God’s characteristics throughout the scriptures. In the aftermath of the golden calf, God has chosen not to destroy the people of Israel and declares to Moses:

The LORD passed before him, and proclaimed,

“The LORD, the LORD,

a God merciful and gracious,

slow to anger,

and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,

7 keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation,

 forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,

yet by no means clearing the guilty,

but visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children

and the children’s children,

to the third and the fourth generation.”

The psalmist begins with the LORD’s action of forgiving iniquity which is linked to the healing of diseases. The word for diseases can refer to illness, weakness, or pains that come from hunger, famine, disease, or old age (Nancy deClaisse-Walford, 2014, p. 763) and the cause of  ‘disease’ is often a punishment for iniquity in Hebrew thought.[3] Yet, it is the forgiveness of the LORD which brings about the rescue from death for this poet. The rescue from the Pit may be a time when their life was at death’s door or it may be a metaphor for God’s rescue from a time of urgency, but regardless the psalmist has benefited from the forgiving nature of the LORD for the LORD’s servant and the poet understands the benefits they have received from their God.

Instead of crowning the psalmist with gold or silver they are crowned with steadfast love and mercy. Steadfast love and mercy are traits associated with God and God has reached into the divine character to place these traits upon the servant of the LORD. Steadfast love, Hebrew hesed, is the central feature attributed to God and hesed is the root of the New Testament concept of the grace of God. Hesed is a relational love and within this psalm God’s hesed is for those who fear him. Hebrew thought is covenantal in nature and the steadfast love of God is tied to the fear, honor, and respect of God’s people. Transgressions can be removed but the mercy of God is only known in relationship with the LORD. Frequently in the psalms hesed is paired with faithfulness, but in this psalm and other psalms relating to human sin and divine anger resolved by faithfulness it may instead be paired with compassion/mercy. [4](Mays, 1994, p. 328) The psalmist trusts that God’s hesed and mercy/compassion will prevail over any anger at the transgressions of either the psalmist or the people.

The dimensions of the “steadfast love”/hesed of God and the forgiveness of God are measured by the vastness of the heavens. The vertical distance between the heavens and the earth are used metaphorically to speak of the unmeasurable hesed of God. Yet, although English translations obscure this, the length of the heavens is used to envision God’s forgiveness of transgressions. The Hebrew behind “as far as the east is from the west,” is literally rendered as distant as the sunrise (rising) is from the sunset (setting). The compassion/mercy of the LORD is compared to the compassion of a father for their child. God’s steadfast love and forgiveness are as vast as can be comprehended and yet God’s compassion is as tender and intimate as what one hopes to experience within the family.

The immeasurability of the steadfast love of God and the forgiveness of God is contrasted by the impermanence of God’s human servants. The psalm picks up the play on words of Genesis 3:18 “you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”[5] The impermanence of humanity is poetically rendered by the metaphors of dust and grass, flowers and wind. In contrast to the impermanence of humanity is the permanence of the hesed of God which lasts from everlasting to everlasting to those who live in faithfulness to the covenant and obedience to the commandments. The steadfast love of God in Hebrew is a relational concept and the gracious, eternal, and forgiving love of God is tied to the fear, respect, obedience, and faithfulness of the servant.

The psalm ends where it begins, in ‘blessing’ the LORD. The blessings begin with the angels and the hosts and ministers of the LORD and then extends to all the works of God’s hands (the creation of God) and finally resides in the voice of this poet praising God in harmony with all creation. The psalmist has seen the way God has crowned their life with the attributes of God, and they have come to celebrate the benefits of living in a relational covenant of steadfast love and compassion/mercy with their God. Martin Luther would later echo the sentiment of the psalmist in reflecting on God’s act of creation when he stated, “For all this I owe it to God to thank and praise, serve and obey him. This is most certainly true.” (Luther, 1978, p. 25) Like the psalmist we can reflect upon the benefits of this life lived in blessing and praise of God, we can marvel at the immeasurable depth of God’s steadfast love and forgiveness, and we can strive to live in faithful obedience to the God whose love and compassion shape our lives.

[1] In an acrostic poem each line begins with a successive letter in the alphabet. In Hebrew there are twenty-two letters and a multiple of twenty-two is often a clue that a psalm or other Hebrew poetry is acrostic. Acrostic poetry tends to denote dealing with a topic in a complete manner.

[2] Some scholars attribute this psalm to a post-monarchical period and point to the reference to Moses instead of a king as evidence of this reaching back to a pre-Davidic period for a foundation for their faith. Although this historical reconstruction is possible, it is also possible that a psalm written by David, particularly before he is king, would refer back to the last common leader of the people of Israel and the creator of the law.

[3] Although this is not absolute. Within Deuteronomic thought suffering and illness is linked to iniquity, but there are significant counter voices like Job which challenge this linkage.

[4] Psalm 51:1; 77: 7-10.

[5] The name Adam in Genesis 3 is taken from the Hebrew word for soil/ground adamah. In both the psalm and Genesis 3 the word for dust is aphar, but even though the Hebrew utilizes two words in the wordplay the connection between the two words is clear in Genesis 3.

Psalm 102 The Song of One Suffering in Solitude

Leave a reply
Job (oil on canvas) by Bonnat, Leon Joseph Florentin (1833-1922)

Psalm 102

A prayer of one afflicted, when faint and pleading before the LORD.
 1Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry come to you.
 2Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call.
 3For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace.
 4My heart is stricken and withered like grass; I am too wasted to eat my bread.
 5Because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my skin.
 6I am like an owl of the wilderness, like a little owl of the waste places.
 7I lie awake; I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.
 8All day long my enemies taunt me; those who deride me use my name for a curse.
 9For I eat ashes like bread, and mingle tears with my drink,
 10because of your indignation and anger; for you have lifted me up and thrown me aside.
 11My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass.
 12But you, O LORD, are enthroned forever; your name endures to all generations.
 13You will rise up and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to favor it; the appointed time has come.
 14For your servants hold its stones dear, and have pity on its dust.
 15The nations will fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth your glory.
 16For the LORD will build up Zion; he will appear in his glory.
 17He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and will not despise their prayer.
 18Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet unborn may praise the LORD:
 19that he looked down from his holy height, from heaven the LORD looked at the earth,
 20to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die;
 21so that the name of the LORD may be declared in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem,
 22when peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the LORD.
 23He has broken my strength in midcourse; he has shortened my days.
 24“O my God,” I say, “do not take me away at the midpoint of my life, you whose years endure throughout all generations.”
 25Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
 26They will perish, but you endure; they will all wear out like a garment. You change them like clothing, and they pass away;
 27but you are the same, and your years have no end.

 28The children of your servants shall live secure; their offspring shall be established in your presence.

Psalm 102 is described in its superscription as a prayer of one afflicted, when faint and pleading before the LORD. This type of description is unusual among the psalms. It doesn’t indicate an author to attribute the psalm to, nor does it give instructions for its performance or a reference to a scriptural story that the psalm comes from. This psalm of a suffering one who is alienated from their body, from society, and ultimately from God may have been intended as a psalm that any suffering individual could recite at times where their situation seemed hopeless, and God’s help seemed far away. Imagery of impermanence, loneliness, pain, and shame permeate the complaint of the psalm, but like many psalms of complaint there is a turn towards hope. The psalmist intuits that the answer, “to human finitude and mortality is divine infinitude and immortality.” (Nancy deClaisse-Walford, 2014, p. 754)

The opening language of the psalm resonates with appeals throughout the psalter as Rolf A. Jacobson notes:

The opening appeal to be heard employs language quite typical of these entreaties—hear my prayer, let my cry come unto you (39:12), do not hide your face (27:9; 143:7), turn your ear towards me (31:2; 71:2), make haste to answer me (69:17; 143:7) (Nancy deClaisse-Walford, 2014, p. 751)

Although Rolf Jacobson attributes this to intentionally creating a generic composition for use in the community, the use of familiar language may also reflect a person shaped in the communal worship which utilizes these psalms. The language of prayer and faith is shaped in the worshipping community which shaped the psalmist’s faith and life. Yet, now in a time when the author is alienated from their own physical body, from the community, and from God, they turn to the words that shaped their life when they were physically, socially, and religiously whole.

The psalm moves between personal complaints about their own health and isolation, “I complaints” in Westermann’s terminology, complaints about the actions of isolation and persecution by those in the psalmist’s society, “they complaints”, and complaints about the way that God is treating the psalmist, “you complaints.”[1] The personal complaints begin with an image of transience that reminds me of Ecclesiastes frequently used term hebel (vanity, emptiness). Hebel literally means smoke, mist, or vapor but is often used metaphorically to refer to the emptiness of life.[2] Now for the psalmist their days pass away like smoke and their bones burn like a furnace. Their life down to their very bones is going up in smoke while their heart withers like grass and they are too far gone to even eat the bread that could give them strength.  Their songs have turned to groans and their body now is transforming into a (barely) living skeleton. We don’t know if they were suffering from an illness, but they attribute their suffering to God’s judgment upon them. Their suffering is also done in isolation, they are like an unclean owl of the wastelands or a lonely bird on a roof. These lonely images of birds heighten the feeling of the psalm, for the sufferer is not only weak but they are abandoned.

The social complaints are also sharply worded as the psalmist’s unnamed name is synonymous with a curse among their enemies. Their personal weakness and isolation are viewed in the society as a curse from God, and enemies have taken advantage of this weakness. The only nourishment left for this abandoned one is the bread of ashes and the drink of tears.  Yet, behind both the physical pain and suffering and the social isolation is the LORD. We are never told of any sin that this poet has committed, but they view their suffering because of God’s anger and distance. In the words of the psalm God has cast the suffering one aside and yet hope resides in God repenting from God’s attitude towards the psalmist, turning the face and hearing with the ear and responding with grace and healing.

In contrast to the evanescent position of the psalmist is the strength and might of the LORD. The psalmist now joins his fate to the action of God to have compassion on Zion. It is possible that this psalm originates in the time of the exile where there is hope for the rebuilding of Zion and rescue the people from the destitute position as exiles in a foreign land. Yet, even without the context of the Babylonian exile, the turn to hope is based on the faithfulness of God for the people and a belief that God’s anger lasts only a moment, but God’s favor is for a lifetime.[3] The poet’s strength may have been broken in the middle of their life by God’s action, but if God wills it will be renewed. The heavens and the earth which seem so permanent to humanity are like a garment that can easily be changed by the powerful and permanent God. God will continue to endure and only in God can this suffering one hope to find a renewed physical, social, and religious life. The psalmist claims their familial bond to the LORD the God of Israel and now awaits the parental turning of their God to the children of God’s servants.

[1] Rolf A. Jacobson notes this helpful pattern citing Westermann, The Psalms (54-57). (Nancy deClaisse-Walford, 2014, p. 752)

[2] Psalm102 does not use the term hebel but the combination of words of impermanence create a similar resonance for me as Ecclesiastes.

[3] Psalm 30:5.

Psalm 99 The Universal King Worshipped By A Particular People

Leave a reply

The Temple by Radojavor@deviantart.com

Psalm 99

1 The LORD is king; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
2 The LORD is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples.
3 Let them praise your great and awesome name. Holy is he!
4 Mighty King, lover of justice, you have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.
5 Extol the LORD our God; worship at his footstool. Holy is he!
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel also was among those who called on his name. They cried to the LORD, and he answered them.
7 He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; they kept his decrees, and the statutes that he gave them.
8 O LORD our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.
9 Extol the LORD our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the LORD our God is holy.

Psalm 8 can wonder, “what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?” and Psalm 99 can focus that wonder on a particular place and people through whom the world comes to know the ruler of the heavens and earth. The LORD is the one before whom all nations tremble and the earth shakes, but whose universal sovereignty is focused on a particular place: the temple in Zion. The description of God being enthroned above the cherubim almost always refers to the ark of the covenant (1 Samuel 4:4, 2 Samuel 6:2, Psalm 80:1) and the references to Zion and holy mountain indicate that the psalm is pointing to the temple in Jerusalem. Even the notation of God’s footstool also refers to the temple as a resting place for the ark (1 Chronicles 28:2, Psalm 132:7). God presence and power becomes known through a particular place.

At the same time the psalm links the knowledge of God to a holy place, it also becomes known through holy people. Book four of the psalter began with Psalm 90, the only psalm attributed to Moses, and it is likely intentional that the final enthronement psalm references Moses once again. Moses and Aaron are lifted up as priests of God, and they are responsible for the construction of the ark where God’s presence is met. Samuel is the other figure lifted up in the psalm, who also harkens back to pre-monarchic Israel. Samuel opposed the people’s request for a king because for Samuel only the LORD is king, a sentiment echoed by Psalm 99. It is possible that Psalm 99 comes from a time after the re-establishment of the temple in Jerusalem after the exile, a time when the line of Davidic kings seems to have ended.

The paradox of the psalmist’s faith is that the LORD the God of Israel is the universal king over all the earth and peoples who has revealed Godself through a particular place (the temple in Zion) and through particular people (Moses, Aaron, and Samuel in the psalm). Yet, the psalm yearns for a universal realization that transcends the particularity of Israel. Israel has the privileged position of being the people to whom the Mighty King revealed not only himself but also the vision of justice and righteousness that God’s kingdom would involve. So, in response to the universal wonder of Psalm 8, Psalm 99 can give the particular wonder of a people who says, “Who are we that the Mighty King, the lover of justice who establishes equity throughout the earth dwells in the temple on our holy mountain, and spoke to use through Moses, Aaron, and Samuel, Israel that you care for us?”

Psalm 97 The Righteous Reign of God

1 Reply

Supercell Thunderstorm over Chaparral, New Mexico on April 3, 2004

Psalm 97

1 The LORD is king! Let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!
2 Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
3 Fire goes before him, and consumes his adversaries on every side.
4 His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles.
5 The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth.
6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness; and all the peoples behold his glory.
7 All worshipers of images are put to shame, those who make their boast in worthless idols; all gods bow down before him.
8 Zion hears and is glad, and the towns of Judah rejoice, because of your judgments, O God.
9 For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.
10 The LORD loves those who hate evil; he guards the lives of his faithful; he rescues them from the hand of the wicked.
11 Light dawns for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart.
12 Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!

One of the losses of our modern, technology filled world is the patient hope of the psalmist and the prophets for the arrival of God’s kingdom. James L. Mays notes that Psalm 97 shares several key images and ideas with the portions of Isaiah most scholars attribute to Judah’s time in exile.[1] (Mays, 1994, p. 311) The psalmist’s proclamation of God’s reign causing the earth, Judah, and the righteous to rejoice were always contested claims. Israel and Judah lived in a world of multiple religious options and empires who exercised military, economic, and political might over Israel or Judah. Yet, the psalms and the prophets exhibit a persistent faith that despite the evidence to the contrary the God of Israel reigns over creation, is chief among the gods of the nations, and continues to sow joy and righteousness in the upright in heart. It is only through the eyes of faith that these poets can rejoice with the earth and the coastland because their vision has revealed to them that the LORD, the God of Israel and Judah, is king.

The vision of God in the psalms and the prophets may, as Brueggemann and Bellinger comment, retain the “remnants of a storm god.” (Brueggemann, 2014, p. 418) but as in Psalm 29 the use of the language of clouds and darkness, fire, lightning, and earthquake takes the primary language for the power of the Canaanite god Baal and now uses it to describe the power of the LORD the God of Israel. This imagery also resonates with the appearance of the LORD to the people at Mount Sinai in Exodus 19:16-19. The psalmist longs for the day for all the people to see what the eyes of faith trust: that the idols of the nations are worthless, that the kings of the earth and the gods of the nations are powerless before the LORD who is king, and that the power of the wicked over the faithful will end as God rescues them.

God’s righteousness and justice are the foundation of God’s throne, and they are also the foundation for the hopeful imagination of the psalmist. The heavens can proclaim God’s righteousness and the people of Judah can find reasons for rejoicing and gladness because of God’s judgments. Because God’s reign is based on righteousness it opens the possibility that people in Judah and beyond the borders of Judah can live as righteous ones rather than adopting the ways of the wicked. The response throughout the poem to the righteousness and justice of God is joy and gladness. The earth can rejoice, and the coastlands can be glad because the creation bears witness to the just reign of God. Zion can be glad, and the towns of Judah can rejoice because God judges with righteousness. The ones loving the LORD will hate evil[2] and God will guard their lives and sows[3] light and joy in these faithful ones of upright hearts. These righteous ones planted with light and joy in the rejoicing earth now join the earth’s joy at the celebration of God’s reign.

[1] See for example Isaiah 40: 5, 9-11; 42:17, and 52: 7-10

[2] In both the MT (Hebrew) and LXX (Greek translation) the direct translation is “The ones loving the LORD hate evil” as the NIV captures. The NRSV follows the translation of scholars who in their attempt to smooth our the translation change the subject to God, but there is no reason to make this change to the original text. (Nancy deClaisse-Walford, 2014, p. 724)

[3] Some change this word to a similar Hebrew word for ‘rise, shine’ (hence the NRSV translation) but the metaphor of sowing light fits with the imagination of the psalmist. (Nancy deClaisse-Walford, 2014, p. 724)

Psalm 96 A New Song of God’s Triumph

1 Reply

Psalm 96

1 O sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples.
4 For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be revered above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
6 Honor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
8 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts.
9 Worship the LORD in holy splendor; tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, “The LORD is king! The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity.”
11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
12 let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
13 before the LORD; for he is coming, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth.

Psalm 96 is an exultant song of God’s glory and reign over all gods, nations, and the creation itself. 1 Chronicles 16 places the majority of this psalm within the song of thanksgiving appointed by David (1 Chronicles 16: 23-33) which marks the placing the placing of the ark of God in the tent. This psalm might have its origin in the songs of David, and its placement in 1 Chronicles creates an event that would make sense for this song of God’s triumphant ascension. However, this psalm also articulates the defiant faith of the chosen people in their God as they attempt to remain faithful in a multireligious world where they are not dominant among the nations. This new song allows the singers and hearers to articulate a vision of a world already giving glory and praise to the LORD who is enthroned over all gods and kings.

Three times the hearers are commanded to sing to the LORD, and the hearers are not limited to Judah or Israel. All the earth is to join in this song of blessing to the God of salvation. The song proclaims the gospel[1] that God has triumphed over the forces that opposed God’s reign. God’s works and glory are to extend to all the nations as the LORD transcends all the gods of the nations. The gods of the nations are ‘idols’ (NRSV), ‘nobodies’ ( (Brueggemann, 2014, p. 415) or ‘ineffective and incompetent.’ (Mays, 1994, p. 308) The LORD is the creator of the heavens compared to all the ineffective and incompetent nobodies who the nations once gave their allegiance to. The peoples and families of the earth are to bear witness to the glory and strength that is due to God. The nations are to stream to Jerusalem to bring an offering before God as the prophets envision. (Isaiah 2: 2-3, Micah 4: 1-2, Zechariah 8:21-23) The temple of God in Zion now occupies the central place in the world where all the families of the peoples come together in awe filled worship and celebration of the God who reigns over all the heavens and the earth.

God’s reign over the earth is to be a reign of justice that brings joy to the peoples of the earth and to the creation. The heavens, the sea, and the land all join in this praise of the nations. Those who have reigned with injustice, whose actions have done violence to people and the earth are now removed so the nations, the land, the sea, and the sky can all heal. The psalm envisions God’s kingdom coming and God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven.

The faithful ones who worship God declare God does reign over the earth and then enter into the tension of a world where God’s reign is not realized. Injustice continues to occur. The heavens, sea, and the earth are polluted by those who improperly use the gifts of creation and the blood spilled in conflict and war. The nations continue to give their allegiance to idols that are ineffective nobodies who cannot deliver what they promise. This psalm may be easier to sing in moments of triumph, but the defiant faith of this psalm bears witness to the world of the reality faith allows them to see: that God’s kingdom is already present in the midst of the world and the time will come when the nations will all see, worship, and give glory to the God who reigns over the heavens and the earth.

[1] The Hebrew bissar is the verb “for the duty of the herald who precedes a victor to bring a report to those who await good news from the battle.” (Mays, 1994, p. 308) This verb is normally translated in the Septuagint as the Greek euangelion translated as gospel in the New Testament.

Psalm 95 Lifting Up Voices and Listening in Silence

1 Reply

Pieter de Grebber, Moses Striking the Rock (1630)

Psalm 95

1 O come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
3 For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it, and the dry land, which his hands have formed.
6 O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. O that today you would listen to his voice!
8 Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
9 when your ancestors tested me, and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they do not regard my ways.”
11 Therefore in my anger I swore, “They shall not enter my rest.”

Psalm 95 is a psalm which invites the hearer to move with the faithful into a noisy and jubilant time of worship which then is silenced so that God (or a prophet or priest speaking for God) can instruct the people in obedience. The life of worship and a life of obedience are linked here as it is frequently in the psalms and prophets. God in this psalm is the great God who reigns over all gods, is the master and creator of the earth and sea, and the one to whom the faithful owe their obedience. History and the memory of the disobedience of their ancestors becomes the invitation for the current generation to respond with obedience.

The first word of this psalm is the imperative form of the Hebrew halak[1] (to walk) and it impels the people to get moving to meet God in celebration and worship. Yet, within the command to move is also an allusion to a way of walking that is in accordance with God’s commandments and within the movement of the psalm is both the uplifted voices of the worshipping faithful but also the lives of obedience which listen to the voice of God. The invitation to ‘sing’ and ‘make a joyful noise’ while familiar in English are not as strong as the Hebrew verbs which they translate.[2] This is not a timid action of worship but instead is a community in full voice shouting and singing to their God and King. The praise of God echoes the sentiment of Psalm 24, where the earth is the LORD’s and all that is in it. The worldview of the psalms assumes the pluralistic world where the surrounding nations worship other gods, but the LORD is the sovereign over both the gods of the nations and the earth itself. The faithful come in jubilant acclamation to worship, bow down, and kneel before the God who is their maker, their king, and their shepherd who provides shelter and pasture for them. The movement and the noise climax in this acclamation and prepares the people for the time of silence that they may hear the words from their God (or God’s messenger).

The second movement of the psalm begins in the second half of verse seven with the command to listen. The congregation is to move from full voice to silence and from motion to stillness. The command to listen is the Hebrew shema which is the critical verb at key points in the declaration of the law:

Now therefore, if you obey (shema) my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession our of all the peoples. Indeed the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.”  Exodus 19:5-6 (immediately before consecrating the people and receiving the commandments)

Hear (shema) O Israel: The LORD is our God , the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Deuteronomy 6: 4-5[3]

Hearing or listening in Hebrew is not merely listening to the words but also involves living in response to the words. Lifting up praise to God in full voice without hearing and obeying God’s commands is often condemned in the psalms and prophets[4] and here the actions of the people of Israel at Meribah and Massah (Exodus 17: 1-7; Numbers 20: 1-13) are used as an example of the high cost of disobedience. The inability of their ancestors to listen is remembered as the reason for the long journey in the wilderness and the inability of the first generation that left Egypt to enter their rest in the promised land. The relationship between God and the people of Israel is a covenantal relationship which requires obedience. If the people will listen and obey then God will provide for them in the land, but if they do not hear and obey then they may end up without God’s guidance and blessing.

The two parts of the psalm, the movement and raucous noise and the obedient silence and reverential hearing, belong together. The faithful should move to the place where they can praise God in full voice in a jubilant and joyful way, but we must also remember that God desires our obedience. As Beth Tanner can state truthfully, “In worship today, God can be seen as too friendly, too nice, and too forgiving. We can easily forget the great power of the King God.” (Nancy deClaisse-Walford, 2014, p. 718) The previous psalm reminded us, “Happy are those whom you discipline, O LORD, and whom you teach out of your law,” (Psalm 94: 12). Now Psalm 95 uses the story of the people of Israel as an illustration of the dangers when the people refuse to follow God’s way of walking. The life of the faithful is one of coming (walking, halak), hearing (shema), and living in obedience to the ways of God in both jubilant worship, silent listening, and faithful living.

[1] Halak is an important word in Hebrew. Halakha which derives from halak is the collective body of the Hebrew laws (both oral and written) and it means ‘the way of walking.’ This movement at the beginning of the psalm is both the physical motion to the place of worship and the way of walking in accordance with God’s will.

[2] Ranan and rua in the intensified piel form mean to “call loudly” and “lift up a war-cry or cry of alarm.” (Nancy deClaisse-Walford, 2014, p. 716)

[3] Deuteronomy 6: 4-5 has a central place in the practice of the Jewish people and this entire command is often called the shema because of the command to ‘hear.’

[4] See for example Psalm 50, 81, Isaiah 1, and Amos 5: 21-24

Psalm 94 Thy Kingdom Come

1 Reply

Marc Chagall, Solitude (1933)

Psalm 94

1 O LORD, you God of vengeance, you God of vengeance, shine forth!
2 Rise up, O judge of the earth; give to the proud what they deserve!
3 O LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult?
4 They pour out their arrogant words; all the evildoers boast.
5 They crush your people, O LORD, and afflict your heritage.
6 They kill the widow and the stranger, they murder the orphan,
7 and they say, “The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive.”
8 Understand, O dullest of the people; fools, when will you be wise?
9 He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see?
10 He who disciplines the nations, he who teaches knowledge to humankind, does he not chastise?
11 The LORD knows our thoughts, that they are but an empty breath.
12 Happy are those whom you discipline, O LORD, and whom you teach out of your law,
13 giving them respite from days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For the LORD will not forsake his people; he will not abandon his heritage;
15 for justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.
16 Who rises up for me against the wicked? Who stands up for me against evildoers?
17 If the LORD had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.
18 When I thought, “My foot is slipping,” your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up.
19 When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.
20 Can wicked rulers be allied with you, those who contrive mischief by statute?
21 They band together against the life of the righteous, and condemn the innocent to death.
22 But the LORD has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge.
23 He will repay them for their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness; the LORD our God will wipe them out.

James L. Mays begins his comments on this psalm by quoting a line from Maltbie D. Babcock’s song “This is my Father’s world”: “Though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.” (Mays, 1994, p. 302) The opening line of the psalm names God as the God of vengeance, and yet God’s vengeance is necessary to avenge the wrongs done to the vulnerable and powerless who suffer in an unjust society. Because of this beginning this is sometimes called a psalm of vengeance, yet it is important to realize this vengeance is an action to restore society and to undo the work of those who utilize their positions of power to oppose God’s justice on earth and to oppress the ones God promised to defend. Much as the petitions in the Lord’s Prayer call for “God’s kingdom to come and God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven,” this psalm calls on God to act in concrete and visible ways to repair a society that has become controlled by those who have abandoned the ways of the covenant righteousness.

The proud and wicked have prospered in the society the psalmist lives in and they have turned the dream of a just society on its head. They have killed and oppressed the widow, the stranger, and the orphan who God has promised to protect, and who the leaders who work on God’s behalf are to ensure justice for. These arrogant evildoers perceive that they are not bound by the requirements of the law for the God of Israel has not acted to judge them. In their view, “without God everything is possible.” (Brueggemann, 2014, p. 407) These wicked ones view the LORD the God of Israel as either unwilling or unable to respond to their actions which violate God’s command, oppress the vulnerable among God’s people, and threaten God’s own heritage.

The psalmist testifies to the tension of an unjust present and a life in hopeful expectation of God’s intervention in the world. In the present the wicked are prospering and crime does pay. (NIB IV: 1019) To challenge this honest observation of the present the psalmist relies on the language of the wisdom tradition in scripture. The proud, arrogant, wicked evildoers who profit by oppressing and murdering the vulnerable and believe that God does not see or hear about their actions are foolish. The wise are glad to be disciplined by God and God’s law, but the foolish will ultimately perish. They may prosper in the moment, but that moment is an empty breath.[1] Yet, even though their time in power may be short the threat to the vulnerable is acute and needs God’s intervention.

In the meantime, the psalmist also testifies to the ways God has continued to provide respite and protection for the faithful ones in the midst of injustice. In times where their feet were slipping, God held them fast. When their worries were great God provided consolation. Without God’s protection they would dwell in the silence of the dead. These actions of God may not have brought about the fullness of God’s kingdom for the psalmist, but they have been the necessary provision and protection in their time of waiting and the actions which renewed their hope for God’s intervention which they trust is coming.

For people of faith a part of the desire for God to reign as king comes from the experience of injustice in this world and the desire for the God of vengeance to bring God’s justice to those who exploit God’s people and God’s world. When wicked people sit in the positions of power and the laws and statutes that should provide protection have become warped and utilized to oppress, the faithful cry out for God’s reign and God’s vengeance to create a society where the vulnerable are protected and justice prevails. (Mays, 1994, p. 303) The work of the wicked is a concrete and visible reality in the world of the psalmist and the cry of the psalmist is not for some otherworldly deliverance from the toils of this earth. The psalmist demands the judge of the earth to rise up and cause justice to return to the righteous. The prayer is for God’s justice to be a concrete and visible reality which displaces the injustice of the world.

[1] This is the Hebrew hebel which is translated as vanity in Ecclesiastes. The word means ‘vapor, mist, or emptiness.’ It is an evanescent word which points to the impermanence of the object it describes.