Psalm 68[1]
1 Let God rise up, let his enemies be scattered;
let those who hate him flee before him.
2 As smoke is driven away, so drive them away;
as wax melts before the fire, let the wicked perish before God.
3 But let the righteous be joyful;
let them exult before God; let them be jubilant with joy.
4 Sing to God, sing praises to his name;
lift up a song to him who rides upon the clouds —
his name is the Lord—be exultant before him.
5 Father of orphans and protector of widows
is God in his holy habitation.
6 God gives the desolate a home to live in;
he leads out the prisoners to prosperity,
but the rebellious live in a parched land.
7 O God, when you went out before your people,
when you marched through the wilderness, Selah
8 the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain
at the presence of God, the God of Sinai,
at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
9 Rain in abundance, O God, you showered abroad;
you restored your heritage when it languished;
10 your flock found a dwelling in it;
in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.
11 The Lord gives the command;
great is the company of those who bore the tidings:
12 ‘The kings of the armies, they flee, they flee!’
The women at home divide the spoil,
13 though they stay among the sheepfolds—
the wings of a dove covered with silver, its pinions with green gold.
14 When the Almighty scattered kings there, snow fell on Zalmon.
15 O mighty mountain, mountain of Bashan;
O many-peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan!
16 Why do you look with envy, O many-peaked mountain,
at the mount that God desired for his abode,
where the Lord will reside for ever?
17 With mighty chariotry, twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands,
the Lord came from Sinai into the holy place.
18 You ascended the high mount, leading captives in your train
and receiving gifts from people,
even from those who rebel against the Lord God’s abiding there.
19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. Selah
20 Our God is a God of salvation, and to God, the Lord,
belongs escape from death.
21 But God will shatter the heads of his enemies,
the hairy crown of those who walk in their guilty ways.
22 The Lord said, ‘I will bring them back from Bashan,
I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,
23 so that you may bathe your feet in blood,
so that the tongues of your dogs may have their share from the foe.’
24 Your solemn processions are seen, O God,
the processions of my God, my King, into the sanctuary—
25 the singers in front, the musicians last,
between them girls playing tambourines:
26 ‘Bless God in the great congregation,
the Lord, O you who are of Israel’s fountain!’
27 There is Benjamin, the least of them, in the lead,
the princes of Judah in a body,
the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.
28 Summon your might, O God;
show your strength, O God, as you have done for us before.
29 Because of your temple at Jerusalem
kings bear gifts to you.
30 Rebuke the wild animals that live among the reeds,
the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples.
Trample under foot those who lust after tribute;
scatter the peoples who delight in war.
31 Let bronze be brought from Egypt;
let Ethiopia hasten to stretch out its hands to God.
32 Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth; sing praises to the Lord, Selah
33 O rider in the heavens, the ancient heavens;
listen, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice.
34 Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over Israel;
and whose power is in the skies.
35 Awesome is God in his sanctuary, the God of Israel;
he gives power and strength to his people.
As I begin to write it is a warm Saturday afternoon. The doors are open on to the garden and I can hear, in the distance, chanting voices rising from Lightwoods Park, a little over half a mile away as the crow flies. They sound like voices on the move. There is call and response phrasing. I can clearly hear ‘No justice!’ ‘No peace.’ It seems to be a protest procession for Black Lives Matter. Photos streaming on the Bearwood Page on Facebook confirm a large gathering (socially distanced!). People on their knees. Then people on the move. It feels like momentum is beginning for a justice and peace movement to counter the long history of shameful racism in Britain. And what is making a difference is the number of white people joining black and brown people in making this stand. But there is a long way to go and there is opposition too.
Psalm 68 is one of the longer psalms. I want to pick up on its sense of forward movement too. It tells in very edited highlights of the foundational journey of a slave people rescued by a God who scattered their enemies (vs1) but filled this oppressed people with joy (vs3). This is a God who becomes experienced as present in the praises of a singing liberated people (vs4). This is a God who protects those without parents, defends those who are vulnerable (like widows) and who gives the homeless somewhere to live (vs5-6). This same God gives those who are locked up a place of prosperity, but those who are rebellious against God’s ways of justice and freedom are left behind in a parched land. The psalm continues by speaking of that foundational 40-year wilderness journey with God’s presence being experienced in leadership, earthquakes and abundant rain (vs7-9).
The psalm mentions mountains of importance, three in all, as God journeyed with the people with a purpose and destination in mind. God did not make Sinai his home – that was for law-making and people forming (vs17). Nor did God make the mighty mountains of Bashan home either (15-16) – which could be a reference to the luxuriant desirability of Mount Hermon (on the border of modern Israel and Syria, where the Golan Heights are). No, the place where God wanted to dwell, Mount Zion (alluded to in vs 16c) is of course Jerusalem. This is where the sanctuary of God is (vs24), the place of great celebration and song – where all the tribes of Israel (vs27) who made that long journey from slavery to freedom find joy in gathering together.
The psalm concludes with a prayer asking God to once again show the kind of strength shown before (vs28), scatter people who delight in war (vs30) and to strengthen the people as they bless God (vs35).
Conversations this last week in the mainstream media and social media have been focusing a great deal on our nation’s past. This has centred on how statues of powerful politicians and benefactors – once seen as benign and even great forces of good for cities or nations – are now being seen as symbols of oppression, or even architects or defenders of slavery or founders of apartheid.
As I look at this psalm, it helps me see how important history is to a people who are seeking liberation. There are parts of this psalm that make me uncomfortable – particularly vs23. This verse seems to glory in violence. Even worse, it puts into the speech of God an invitation for an oppressed people to ‘bathe their feet’ in the blood of the enemy. But is this militant and victorious view true of the whole psalm? I don’t believe so. This song as a whole belongs to the lowly not the dictatorial. This song belongs to a slave people not an enslaving people.
This song of along ago speaks afresh to this generation as people in a park in 2020 give voice to a yearning for a world where slavery, oppression, racism and all that dehumanises another human being is removed from our way of life. And it is in song that the people of God must open themselves up to a God of justice and not warfare, a God of peace and not oppression. But there cannot be one without the other. ‘No justice, no peace.’ May this not be an empty slogan but something that is worked out in workplaces, in social gatherings, in schools and universities, in homes and churches and all places of worship,
[1] New Revised
Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA) New Revised Standard Version
Bible: Anglicised Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 the Division of Christian
Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United
States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
This psalm gives a vivid description of a festal procession, with worshippers entering the Temple, proclaiming the victory of God over opposing kings and armies. There are great songs of praise and rejoicing. There is no doubt that God is triumphant and his power awesome. Yet God’s power is never oppressive and does not trample down or restrain people with a knee on a neck. It is the power of a “father of the fatherless”, “defender of widows”. It “gives the solitary a home”, welcomes prisoners and provides for those who are poor. God’s power led the people through the wilderness and watered the earth to refresh the weary. It is a power and strength which “bears our burdens day by day”. God’s mighty power is compassion and grace and always on the side of the weakest and overlooked.
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday was Trinity Sunday when we worshipped the mystery of the triune God. Our worship included singing the traditional hymn setting to St Patrick’s breastplate. The opening line is “I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity”. The hymn continues to describe God’s power and in the final verse we sing:
I bind unto myself the name,
The strong name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.
By whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord.
The strength of God’s salvation is for all people and all of creation. Back in May the President of the World Bank warned that 60 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty due to coronavirus. We need the psalm’s reminder of God’s powerful care for the most needy, for those kept in poverty, and pray for governments to bind themselves, not to exploitative, oppressive power, but to the strong name of God the Holy Trinity. While there is hunger and poverty, while inequalities exist because of race or gender, there is “no justice, no peace.”