your face from me, your servant; answer me without delay, for I am in dire straits (Ps 69:17);
You are awesome, Lord; . . . who can stand in your presence? (Ps 76:7);
God of Hosts, restore us, and make your face shine on us, that we may be saved (Ps 80:3,7, 19);
Worship יהוה in gladness; enter [his] presence with joyful songs (Ps 100:2);
יהוה, hear my prayer and let my cry for help come to you. Do not hide your face from me when I am in dire straits (Ps 102:1,2);
Look to יהוה and be strong; at all times seek [his] presence (Ps 105:4);
Earth, dance at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob (Ps 114:7);
Let your face shine on your servant and teach me your statutes (Ps 119:135);
Where can I escape from your spirit, where flee from your presence? (Ps 139:7);
Do not hide your face from me or I shall be like those who go down to the abyss (Ps 143: 7).
Nine, it is moving to reflect on how this astounding confidence and trust of which we are speaking co-exists with a tragic realism. The psalmists are profoundly aware of the precariousness and transience of human existence. The parameters of human life and existence are strikingly apparent when the poets speak of human mortality–which they do often. Here are but a few examples–
All our days pass under your wrath; our years die away like a murmur (Ps 90:9);
I know you have made my days a mere span long, and my whole life is as nothing in your sight. A human being, however firm [he] stands, is but a puff of wind (Ps 39:5).
[He] remembered that they were but mortal, a breath of air which passes by and does not return (Ps 78:39);
Remember how fleeting is our life! Have you created all [mankind] to no purpose? (Ps 89:47).
And the endless blackness of death’s pit is never far away—
What profit is there in my death, is my going down to the pit? Can the dust praise you? Can it proclaim your truth? (Ps 30:9);
Will it be for the dead you work wonders? Or can the shades rise up and give you praise? Will they speak in the grave of your love, of your faithfulness in the tomb? (Ps 88: 10, 11);
Who can live and not see death? Who can save [himself] from the power of Sheol? (Ps 89:49).
Even so, confidence in יהוה is so remarkably expressive that commentators are often uncertain whether some of these psalms are looking forward to something more than simply knowing the joy of God’s presence in the temple worship. They take us to the threshold of the Christian gospel when they insist–
For you will not abandon me to Sheol or suffer your faithful one to see the pit (Ps 16:10);
For you have rescued me from death and my feet from stumbling, to walk in the presence of God, in the light of life (Ps 56:13);
But God will ransom my life and take me from the power of Sheol (Ps 49:15);
Yet I am always with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me by your counsel and afterwards you will receive me in/to/with glory (Ps 73:23, 24).
Ten, there is a vibrant social conscience exhibited throughout the Psalter. The covenant experience gives rise to derivative themes which have an important place in the Psalms’ confession of faith: the challenge brought to the plan of God by the abuse of human freedom, and the tangible ways in which God’s presence is mediated in the midst of Israel. Israel’s life is undermined when the unjust and the powerful oppress those who are defenseless. The true faith of Israel is learned from the God who intervenes in their history as the champion of the oppressed. יהוה is the Just One who demands justice for the weak and the powerless. It is in her living that this faith is reaffirmed and deepened.—
יהוה hears the cry of the poor; They crush your people, יהוה, and oppress your chosen nation; they murder the widow and the stranger and put the fatherless to death (Ps 94:5f.);
‘Now I will arise,’ says יהוה, ‘ for the poor are plundered, the needy groan; I shall place them in the safety for which they long.’ (Ps 12:5);
When the righteous cry for help, יהוה hears them and sets them free from all their troubles (Ps 34:17);
For יהוה crowns the lowly with victory (Ps 149:4);
יהוה lifts the weak out of the dust and raises the poor from the rubbish heap (Ps 113:7).
The Psalms reflect both the blessings of the temple and the bitter lessons of national defeat and subsequent forced exile—
By the rivers of Babylon, we sat down and wept as we remembered Zion (Ps 137:1);
I shall say to God, my Rock, ‘Why have you forgotten me?’ Why must I go like a mourner because my foes oppress me? (Ps 42:9);
Restore now what has been altogether ruined, all the destruction that the foe has brought on your sanctuary (Ps 74:3).
With humility, the Psalms recognize that opposition to God’s designs come also from the depths of Israel’s own sinful heart. This recognition of culpability and accountability before יהוה—by Israel’s ancient poets–is acute, even uncanny. 8
יהוה, do not rebuke me in your anger, do not punish me in your wrath (Ps 6:1);
Who is aware of his unwitting sins? Cleanse me of any secret fault. (Ps 19:12);
Test me, יהוה, and try me, putting my heart and mind to the proof; (Ps 26:2);
. . . for my iniquities tower above my head; they are a heavier load than I can bear (Ps 38:4);
God, be gracious to me in your faithful love; in the fullness of your mercy blot out my misdeeds (Ps 51:1).
Eleven, it has been noted that there is no parallel in ancient world literature to the Hebrew Scripture’s acknowledgment of national apostasy and communal failure. Through its regression and failure to honor the dictates of the covenant, and its struggles to live in fidelity and trustful obedience, Israel came to the profound knowledge of God’s mercy and forgiveness which is often echoed in the confession of the psalms–
When I acknowledged my sin to you, when I no longer concealed my guilt, but said, ‘I shall confess my offense to יהוה’ then you for your part remitted the penalty of my sin (Ps 32:5);
God, be gracious to me in your faithful love; in the fullness of your mercy blot out my misdeeds. Wash . . . away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin (Ps 51:1);
יהוה is righteous in all [he] does . . . יהוה is compassionate and gracious, long-suffering and ever faithful . . . As far as the east is from the west, so far from us has [he] put away our offenses (Ps 103:8, 12).
Twelve, symbols and imagery play an indispensable function in human existence. It is not surprising then that these too have a place in Israel’s confession of faith. God’s presence came to be mediated in the life of the nation in different ways:
