Day 163. Psalms 49-54

Psalm 49
This psalm addresses all of human society—"both low and high, rich and poor together" (49:2)—all manner of men and women to impart wisdom to those who might worry about the "iniquity" of their wealthy and powerful "persecutors" (49:5). The psalmist testifies that the only thing of value any of us have—whether we are rich or poor-- is life, and life itself is so precious that "there is no price one can give God for it" (49:7). The wise die, and so do the stupid. Death is the great leveler. Those who are foolhardy enough to put their trust in riches also perish—"Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol; death will be their shepherd," the psalmist says. Death will take them there. (This is a remarkable twist of Psalm 23 which says--"The LORD is my shepherd.") So the point of the psalm is this—don't worry about those who become rich and try to lord it over you. "When they die they will carry nothing away" (49:17), the
psalmist says. It is a sober truth that the wealth and pomp of human beings does not outlast them—they die like animals and are forgotten. Dust to dust. . . . (The difference between the psalms and the hymns we sing in church is that the psalms are totally without sentimentality. They deal so frankly with the concrete problems of life that they are often disturbing, and at times shocking.)
Psalm 50
This psalm is composed and performed in the temple at one of Israel's three great festivals where sacrifices were made—the feast of unleavened bread—Passover, the festival of harvest—Pentecost—and the festival of ingathering—called Sukkot or the Festival of Booths. The psalm celebrates the God who suddenly breaks into the worship service to speak a rather unwelcome word of judgment to some of those who come to the temple bringing their sacrifices. He appears "out of Zion, the perfection of beauty" (50:2) as a "devouring fire" and "a mighty tempest" (50:3) shouting —"Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!'" (50:5). Blood sacrifice in the temple seals the agreement made between God and his people. But the people have not lived up to their end of the covenant. Therefore, God does not want their sacrifices. He has all the animals of the earth—he does not require their bulls and goats. He is
not hungry for meat. What he desires is to be thanked for his mercies and called upon "in the day of trouble" (50:15). People are coming who "hate [the] discipline" of the Law. They keep company with thieves and adulterers. They do not even treat their own families decently. "Mark this!" God says to the wicked--probably through the voice of a priest or worship leader--pay attention, "or I will tear you apart" (50:22) like the animals you bring for sacrifice. He means it. The LORD does not desire the blood of bulls and sheep, but rather that his people live a decent, righteous life by keeping the law. Those who do that will be saved; those who do not . . . well, the less said the better.
Psalm 51
This is a penitential psalm such as David might have spoken after he was rebuked by the prophet Nathan for his adultery with Bathsheba—the story is found in 2 Samuel 12:1-15. Often in the psalms the voice will plead his case with God on the basis of his own righteousness and innocence. There is no such self-justification here. The voice--the head-note suggests it is David himself —begs forgiveness entirely on the basis of God's mercy, and not on any merit of his own. Too well he recognizes his sinfulness—"I know my transgressions," he says, "and my sin is ever before me. (51:3). And he realizes that it is against God alone that he has sinned, so God is justified in any sentence he chooses to level. "I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me," (50:5) the voice confesses—and this is probably the closest the Old Testament comes to the Christian doctrine of original sin. But here it is not a theological statement, but an
existential one—the voice realizes how corrupt he is in his "inward being." He begs for forgiveness that will "purge him"-a very bodily image indeed!—and "wash him" that he may be "whiter than snow" (50:7). He desires more than anything else to start over—"Create in me a clean heart, O LORD," he prays. And he begs that God will not withdraw from him his "holy spirit"—the charisma that marks him as a Chosen One. He realizes that no amount of sacrifice will avail to set him right--what God desires from a sinner is not a "burnt offering," but rather "a broken spirit, and a broken and contrite heart." But honest confession and a sincere change of life is the sacrifice God "will not despise" (51:17). (Verses 18-19 are probably a later addition, tacked on by some pious and well-meaning soul who thought that perhaps all this about God not wanting blood sacrifice goes too far in undermining the sacrificial system of
the temple. "Right" sacrifices are still efficacious and necessary, and God accepts them if those who bring them "do good" to Jerusalem.)
Psalm 52
This psalm is unusual in that it is directed not to the LORD but to some influential but wicked person, "a worker of treachery" who has attacked the psalmist with slanderous words. The psalmist can give as good as he gets, that's for sure! He tells his enemy in no uncertain terms that God "will uproot [him or her] from the land of the living" (50:5). "But I," the voice says, "am a green olive tree in the house of God" (50:8)—the temple. There he has found a refuge in the "steadfast love of God" (50:8)—in the promise the LORD has made to save those who pray to him in his house. And the psalm ends with the promise the voice makes to "proclaim" the LORD's name "in the presence of the faithful" (50:9)—to testify to his deliverance before those who worship in the temple.
Psalm 53
This psalm, except for very minor differences, is identical to psalm 14-- both speak of the dreadful fate of those who in their folly live their lives without reference to God.
Psalm 54
In the mist of "insolent" people the voice of the psalmist is confident that God will take his part against his enemies. And in thanksgiving for his certain and complete vindication he will sacrifice a "freewill offering" to the one who has "delivered [him] from very trouble" (54:7).