Psalm 50:1-6

           

Psalm 50:1-6 (NRSV)

¹ The mighty one, God the Lord,

speaks and summons the earth

from the rising of the sun to its setting.

² Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,

God shines forth.

³ Our God comes and does not keep silence,
before him is a devouring fire,

and a mighty tempest all around him.

⁴ He calls to the heavens above

and to the earth, that he may judge his people:

⁵ “Gather to me my faithful ones,

who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”

⁶ The heavens declare his righteousness,
for God himself is judge.      Selah

            Psalm 50 is difficult to classify due to its close connection to prophetic literature. Its focus on divine righteousness and judgment provide an opportunity for me to discuss forgiveness. I will want to explore whether not forgiving is ever an option. The Psalm is part of the Elohistic Psalter. The psalm may have been part of a prophetic liturgy. The psalm was part of the covenant festival that celebrated the appearance of the Lord. The essence of worship was not external sacrifice and ritual borrowed from Canaanite practice. Rather, the essence of worship was praise offered by the community and obedience to God. In its inscription, Psalm 50 is A Psalm of Asaph, a collection of 12 psalms (Psalms 50, 73-83) linked to a prominent musician in David's court (see I Chronicles 6:39; 15:17; 16:5-7). The attribution may indicate authorship, editorship or simply the authority conferred by a well-known name to an otherwise anonymous composition. Both this psalm and the collection in general date from the very latest stages of the Psalter. Scholars see this dating indicated by several common features. (a) Didactic concerns drive an understanding of history; (b) a heavily spiritualized conception of God; (c) an extensive use of vivid imagery drawn from nature; (d) an emphasis on the role of divine providence in the life of the individual; and (e) an elevated (or inflated) literary style. Priestly leaders during the exile in Babylonia made the collection, which originally stood independent of the psalter, since the preponderant divine name in these psalms - "Elohim" (as distinct from Yahweh) - was the preferred designation for the deity in Babylonia. 

Psalm 50:1-6, are an introductory hymn describing the appearance of God. ¹ The mighty one ('avir, with the root meaning of "be strong") and is ordinarily part of the set formulas "Mighty One of Jacob" (Genesis 49:24; Psalm 132:2, 5; Isaiah 49:26; 60:16) or "Mighty One of Israel" (Isaiah 1:24), epithets found exclusively in archaic (or archaizing) poetry. God the Lord, "El," the name the original "God of the fathers" of the patriarchal narratives (e.g., Genesis 14:19-20, 22; 16:13; 17:1; Exodus 6:2). El was the head of the Canaanite pantheon, and Israelite religion incorporated the deity, with varying degrees of alteration, into itself over an extended period. Although the revelation of the divine name to Moses at the burning bush explicitly identified El with Yahweh, the national God of Israel, the older form never completely disappeared from Israelite religion, and both archaic and archaizing texts (as here) invoked El freely to lend gravity and solemnity to religious utterances. This God speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.[1] ² Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, a designation of Zion once widespread, but now only here and Lamentations 2:15, where we see an ironic contrast to the sorry state of the destroyed capital of biblical religion. Beauty is a soft image of God, for beauty gets our attention and attracts us. The beauty of God shines forth.  From the seat in the temple (see Isaiah 6:1), God "shines forth," a verb used nowhere else to describe the emanation of the divine from Mt. Zion. ³ Our God comes and does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire, (symbol of divine presence) and a mighty tempest all around God. Yes, God comes toward us and is not silent. This would be comforting except for the next phrase, that God comes as a devouring fire. The impression is a miraculous experience, similar to Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel. This introduction to the psalm clearly describes a theophany, an encounter with the living God that shocks and dazzles Israel. The entourage attending the divine theophany - “a devouring fire” before him and “a mighty tempest” all around him - is the natural elements commonly associated with the manifestation of the divine. The classic expression of the appearance of the divine warrior and judge is the hymn to Yahweh in Habakkuk 3, in which pestilence and plague accompany him, the earthquakes at his movement, mountains shatter and split, oceanic and subterranean waters roil, and celestial bodies stand still in awestruck terror. Although the divine appearance, in both Psalm 50 and Habakkuk 3, is for saving the chosen people, judgment precedes salvation, while making a full accounting of those who profess allegiance to the divine sovereign.  ⁴ God calls to the heavens above and to the earth. In the poetic tradition of Deuteronomy 32:1-2, Isaiah 1:2 and Micah 6:2a, the natural elements "the earth" and "the heavens above" (v. 4) are the personified witnesses to the lawsuit El/Yahweh is bringing against his misguided devotees and opponents, both within Israel. Thus, God calls to them as witness, so thatGod may judge the people of God. The psalmist extols God as the judge of the earth. The image of the psalm is a trial in the heavenly courtroom, to which the supreme judge of both heaven and earth summons those with whom he has a case to prosecute and those who shall bear witness to the proceedings. The heavens declare the righteousness of God, for God is judge. ⁵ “Gather to me my faithful ones (hasidim)[2], which likely refers to the founding of the original covenant with Yahweh. Such an interpretation is consistent with the forensic context of the psalm. Thus, it identifies them as those who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!” Ancient luminaries as Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Joshua would be the obvious witnesses with the natural elements of Israel's departure from the covenantal relationship they had helped to establish between God and the people (see Genesis 8:20-22; 15; Exodus 24:5; Joshua 8:30-35). They are a call to renew the covenant between the people of Israel and their God, a God who shows divine righteousness in both judgment against those who break faith with the covenant and salvation of those who remain true to its obligations. ⁶ The heavens declare divine righteousness, for God is judge.      Selah  

We may need to reconceive not forgiving. Not forgiving is not an avoidance of forgiveness or a retreat into paranoia, but a legitimate action in itself, with its own progression, motivation and justification. We need to consider the possibility that in many circumstances, the proper and most emotionally authentic course of action is not to forgive. Let us take a minute to slip into the possibility of not forgiving, and see if it fits. What could it mean to be a "moral unforgiver," a truth-teller who finds that the most moral of stances is to refuse to pardon? Perhaps we will see that in some situations, forgiveness really flops and we would do well to avoid the temptation to rush to reconciliation. Such a stand would say: Excuse me, but I will not reconcile with you until you acknowledge that you have abused me. You say: Thank you very much but I will not forgive you unless accompanied by the confession and repentance that I John 1:8-10 commends. Easy forgiveness makes for hard justice. Justice, in fact, will not happen through the path of easy forgiveness. When people persist in mouthing empty phrases and despising discipline, justice cannot happen. Thus, we may need to consider that forgiveness and unforgiveness are not polar opposites but points on a continuum. The same internal processes can lead to emotionally authentic resolutions in either direction. Anyone who has gone through the profound and punishing process of conscious forgiving or not forgiving emerges more self-aware, more related to others, and less burdened by the past. A famous saying is "Tout comprendre rend très-indulgent," commonly translated as "To know all is to forgive all."[3] This is not quite right. Understanding need not lead to forgiveness, but it can lead to wisdom.[4]

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[1] Thus, “the earth” may refer to the totality of the inhabited world (as in Psalm 113:3; Malachi 1:11). As we shall see, however, in this psalm that interpretation is unlikely.

[2] Faithful ones” may refer to pious Israelites (least likely), the people as a whole (more likely), or the founding fathers who established the original covenant with Yahweh "by sacrifice" (most likely).

[3] Madame de Stael, Corinne, Book 18, Chapter 5.

[4] Jeanne Safer, Must You Forgive, Psychology Today, 1999.