Day 162. Psalms 43-48

Psalm 43
Remember--this is the second part of Psalm 42. Together they form a longer psalm which laments the psalmist's isolation from the community of worship. In a place distant from Jerusalem, the psalmist returns to a recurrent theme—the oppression of enemies. If we wonder why this theme is so prevalent in the Book of Psalms, we need to remember that the world of the Old Testament was much smaller and less populous than our own. People were thrust together with same people all the time in small traditional communities. In that world you would, of necessity, have to interact with the same people day after day for a lifetime. The independence and anonymity of modern society were impossible. The system of justice relied heavily upon vengeance and vendetta for satisfaction. Whatever the reason for his isolation, the psalmist finds himself among people he considers "deceitful and unjust" (43:2)—perhaps they are pagans. And he longs for the larger society
of Jerusalem and for the worship of the temple. He prays for the LORD's "light" and "truth," to bring him to God's "holy hill"—the city of Jerusalem—and his "dwelling"—the temple (43:3)., where he will go to the "altar of God" with "exceeding joy." There he will praise the LORD "with the harp" (43:4), taking part in the worship of the temple, the singing of psalms with musical accompaniment. The refrain—verse 5—again underlines his dejection and isolation, and his hope that God will soon reunite him with the worshipping community.
Psalm 44
We do not—as usual—know the exact nature of the crisis that lies behind this psalm, but is a national and not a personal danger. The first voice to be heard—the voice of the people—recalls the great acts the LORD did for their ancestors, how God "in their days" rescued them, bringing the children of Israel out of bondage in Egypt to "set them free," and then driving out "the nations" to plant them in the Land of Promise. It was not the strength of human beings that did this, but the power of God. And remembering all this, the voice of the people anticipates the LORD's deliverance in the present (44:1-3). Then in verses 4-8 another voice speaks, this time a representative of the people—a king perhaps—expressing his conviction that it is not "in his bow" that he trusts, nor in his "sword"—only the LORD to "command victories for Jacob." But Israel is not victorious. The king laments that things are not going well on
the national front—the LORD has made his people "sheep for slaughter" (44:11). (Remember that in Judah the king is often pictured as a royal shepherd—like David.) Foreigners "taunt" them—all day the king says that his "disgrace" is before him. He does not say it in so many words, but the disgrace of Israel and its king is shared by Israel's God. The LORD is being called upon to restore his honor. The calamities that have befallen the nation have occurred because of sin, because the people have "been false " to their covenant with God (44:17). They have "spread out" their hands to "a strange god" in worship (44:20)—probably Baal. But having acknowledged the corporate failure of the nation to keep the covenant, the king nevertheless calls upon the LORD to "rouse" himself and remember that Israel is his chosen people. See our abject condition, the king says: restore our fortunes. God is called upon to "rise up"
and help his people, not so much because they are deserving of it, but "for the sake of [his] steadfast love" (44:26)--because he is a God who keeps his promises.
Psalm 45
This is a psalm composed for a royal wedding and sung as part of the ceremony, perhaps by a chorus the young women. It addressed directly to the Davidic king and his new queen, and is a mixture of political and sensual language. The king, "the most handsome of men," rides on victoriously "for the cause of truth and to defend the right" (45:4). He goes forth into the world like a knight errant to defend justice. "Your royal scepter is a scepter of equity," the people sing; "you love righteousness and hate wickedness" (45:6-7). Whether this is really the case—there were some pretty wicked kings David's dynasty--does not matter so much. What matters is that the people express the hope that it will be so. This psalm is intended to remind the king on his wedding day what he should be as God's anointed one (45:7). But the voice addresses the queen as well. "Hear, oh daughter, consider and incline your ear," they sing. "Forget your
people and your father's house" (45:10)—rejoice in your new role as queen. The glamour of a royal wedding procession is fully described, but the purpose of all the pageantry is not forgotten. The king and his new queen are called upon to "have sons" to carry forward the line of David. It is for the continuity of that line and for the fulfillment of his promises that God is praised. (This psalm, particularly verses 7-8a are used in our worship on the Feast of the Baptism of Our LORD.) A royal psalm like this one was sung and remembered long after the royal house of David had ceased to rule because the people continued to hope that God would one day send a perfect king, the Messiah, his anointed one, who would indeed fight "for the cause of truth and defend the right."
Psalm 46
This is a hymn of praise to the God who remains constant in the midst of violent changes; "though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea" (46:2), he is always the same. Therefore even in the midst of chaos and dissolution "we will not fear" because God is trustworthy. Then the psalmist turns from the faithfulness of God to the stability of God's holy city, Jerusalem—for Jews of every time "the navel of the universe." Jerusalem also "shall not be moved," because God dwells there in a special way in the temple among his people. That is the meaning of the refrain in verse 7 and 11—"The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob us our refuge." It is God who gives permanence to the city—"He breaks the bow, and shatters the spear: he burns the shields with fire" (46:9). He destroys the weapons of war. Above all the noise and confusion of history, he "is exulted" (46:10), and the true and
eternal king not only of Israel but of the whole earth.
Psalm 47
It seems to me that those very traditional Lutherans who object so strongly to applause in the church—oh, yes, there are such people, beloved—should read this psalm and be reminded that clapping was part of the temple worship in Jerusalem long before there were Lutherans (47:1). This psalm is hymn of unmixed praise in which God's role as the creator of Israel is celebrated. He chose for himself a people and established them in the Land of Promise. This psalm was used in temple worship, perhaps when the Ark of the Covenant, the throne upon which God was thought to sit, was bought into the sanctuary. So in a sense this is an enthronement psalm—God is enthroned as the king "of all the earth" (47:7), and of his people Israel specifically. This psalm may also have been used at the enthronement of Israel's kings. God is the "king of the nations" (47:8), the Davidic king is God's viceroy on earth, through whom he reigns. The LORD is worthy
to be praised by the whole earth, but particularly as the "God of Abraham" (47:9) by Abraham's children. (This psalm, particularly verses 5-7, is used in our worship on the Feast of the Ascension.)
Psalm 48
This psalm celebrates the establishment of Jerusalem—Zion—as the place where God is enthroned. It is the point of contact between heaven and earth. God protects the city as his own, and he preserves the line of David that rules from Jerusalem. The response of kings and other earthly powers to the holy city "which God [has established] forever" (48:8), is—or at least should be—fear and trembling. It is not so much military power that distinguishes Jerusalem—Israel was never more than a minor power in the ancient Middle East—but rather the "the steadfast love" of God which preserves the city. It is his faithfulness to his promise that makes the LORD worthy of praise that extends from the temple to the "towns of Judah" to "the ends of the earth" (48:10). Jerusalem is the place where God is experienced on earth. "Walk about Zion," the psalmist invites us, and "consider well its ramparts." "This is God" (48:13), he
says-- God is identified with Zion more than any other place on earth. So far as those who worship him in his temple are concerned, the city of Jerusalem is heaven of earth—the place of God's nearer presence.