Approaching the Sovereign Creator
The second section moves the passage from chaos and creation to morality[1] and immorality, thus establishing a connection between order and ethics.[2] It also serves as a movement from the larger setting of creation to particular sacred space and from the inhabitants of the earth to those who wish to approach Yahweh in worship.[3] It cannot be forgotten here that any conception of justice or morality derived from this psalm is connected with the ordered world of verse 1-2. This ordered world exists as such primarily because Yahweh has subdued the forces of chaos. Thus Torah obedience is intimately connected with creation theology.
Controlling this segment, primarily, is two questions, “Who may ascend to the hill of Yahweh?” and “Who may stand in His holy place?” Essentially, the questions stem from the first two verses; they desire to know the identity and characteristics of the creature who desires to be in the presence of the Creator. As the worshipers flock into the sacred space, the priests ask these questions to motivate repentant meditation.[4] They serve as a reminder of the otherness of the Creator and the following requirements serve as a reminder of the immorality of the creatures.
The requirements[5] of these worshippers who wish to enter Yahweh’s presence are four-fold[6] and communicated in chiastic fashion:
A. Clean Hands (External) B. Pure Heart (Internal)
B. Does Not Lift Soul to an Idol (Internal) A. Does Not Swear by What is False (External)
The first requirement is clean hands. The Hebrew yqin” means “innocent,” a term often associated in the OT with possessing hands that are free from having shed innocent blood. No innocent blood cries up to Yahweh from the ground against this person.
The second requirement is the internal compliment of the first: a pure heart. The one who approaches Yahweh must not only keep from outward sins, but he must also possess an internal character that is without flaw. His character must be rB; , reflecting the commandments of God (Ps. 19:9).
The third element brings with it the first verb of verse 4, afn . afn is a Qal, Experiential Perfect, which carries with it the idea of a present state of mind.[7] Thus, at the time in which the worshiper desires to stand in Yahweh’s presence, he must not be in a state of idolatry. The translation “soul” (NIV) is insufficient. The idea of vp,n< is “self” and in the present context involves the idea of lifting up one’s very life and personhood to a afn,[8] that is, offering one’s life and existence to the very gods (literally or figuratively) who have no claims of sovereignty (vs. 1-2), instead of the God who gives life and vp,n< (Ps. 25:1).[9]
The final moral requirement moves back to an external action – swearing deceitfully (hm’(r>mil. [B;äv.nI), that is, having taken an oath upon himself which he had no intent to execute.[10] The term is quite easily attached to the previous requirement of lifting one’s being to an idol. Only here, the subject has created his situation by virtue of verbal falsity. The Stative Niphal of [B;äv.nI describes a state produced by means of the verbal action[11] – the subject speaks falsehood into existence.
The person who meets these requirements will receive blessings from Yahweh. Instead of lifting (afn) his soul to an idol, this person will bear (afn) a blessing from God. The imperfect form of this verb (aF’äyI) indicates an enduring blessing and an enduring righteousness. The blessing and righteousness refer “to both the practice and consequence of participating in the worship of God in his place.” In other words, they are the ones worthy to ascend the hill of Yahweh and to stand in his holy place. They receive a public vindication (hq’d'c.)[12] of their character that originates in the will of the God of their salvation.[13]
Two shifts occur within the final verse of this section. First, there is a shift from a singular person to a generation of those who seek Yahweh’s face. Second, there is a shift from the third to the second person, whereby the psalm becomes a speech addressed to Yahweh for just a line.
There are two different words for “seeking” employed here: vrd and vqb.[14] The second, a Frequentive Piel participle (yve’q.b;m.), pluralizes the action of the first verb and implies a repeated, busy action – the seeking of God’s face[15] is an intentionally active and repeated event. Interestingly, Yahweh, the one whose face is sought, is merely called “Jacob.” The LXX assists us at this juncture with tou/ qeou/ Iakwb.[16]
[1] I choose “morality” intentionally here because the ideas of rB; and yqin” are not part of the purification texts of the OT, but are terms related to moral activity. Neither word appears in the context of purification rituals in Torah.
[2] “Human conduct that enacts justice is a counterpart to Yahweh’s own work of justice. For that reason, Israel’s worship life has an ethic of justice at its core and never imagines being in God’s presence except as those who have justice as their identifying agenda.” Walter Brueggemann, “Justice: The Earthly Form of God’s Holiness.” The Covenanted Self. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999), 56.
[3] Kraus rightly notes that this movement starts with the distinctive event of the promise of the land and the occupying of it, in which Israel came to know Yahweh’s right to a possession of the land of Canaan. The expansion to universal dimensions in creation theology is possible only because of the particular history of Israel in its land, the land of Yahweh. Hans-Joachim Kraus, Theology of the Psalms. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992), 62.
[4] Wilson identifies the congregation receiving the question as “exilic or post exilic pilgrims, reaching them end of their long journey through treacherous lands and over dangerous seas to arrive at this moment of communal worship with an international fellowship.” Wilson, 450. While this setting creates a strong connection between Yahweh’s defeat of the “natural” forces of chaos and the treacherous journey of these people through those forces, he may be reading too much into the actual evidence of the passage. If nothing else, the psalm indicates nothing in the way of journeying peoples or multi-national worship. This is not to say there is no pilgrimage aspect to the psalm, only that an international pilgrimage goes beyond the evidence within the text.
[5] Brueggemann notes here that when reading these moral requirements “it is important to recall that this spiritually reflects only the well-oriented community, on that has not yet addressed a theologically ambiguous or morally disruptive world.” Walter Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms. (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1984), 42. Brilliant as Brueggemann is, I think his suggestion is unfounded. First, strict Torah obedience as a religious requirement need not be restricted to well-oriented communities. Indeed, sociologically speaking, communities in ambiguous contexts may very well draw such sharp lines. Second, the evidence of the psalm suggests that this is not a well-oriented community. It is a community that has first hand struggles with the forces of chaos (1-2) and lives in a time of warfare (7-10), which always raises ethical questions regarding religion and conduct.
[6] This four-fold list is a shortened form of what is found in Psalm 15. Peter C. Cragie, “The Word Biblical Commentary.” Vol. 19. Psalm 1-50. (Waco: Word Books, 1983), 213.
[7] Arnold & Choi, 55.
[8] afn literally means “emptiness/vanity.” Connected with the verbal idiom “raised mind,” the idea here “implies an attitude of adoration and worship.” Cragie, 213.
[9] I wondered, as I worked through this passage, if in the larger context of this Psalm, the connection between afn and vp,n< and creation is a reflection of Genesis 1, even though the exact same words are not employed.
[10] Cassiodorus, quoted in Thomas C. Oden, “Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture.” Vol. VII. Psalms 1-50. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2008), 186.
[11] Arnold & Choi, 41.
[12] This is a legal term “that denotes a ruling by a judge regarding what should have occurred in a case under judgment…What one is declare saddiq, then one received sadaqah, a public acknowledgment of compliance with the expectations in the case.” Wilson, 452.
[13] Konrad Schaefer, Psalms. (Collegville: The Liturgical Press, 2001), 61.
[14] Kraus understands these two words to be associated with yearly pilgrimage to the sanctuary Hans-Joachim Kraus, Psalms 1-59. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993), 314.
[15] That Yahweh’s face is sought communicates that those who live holy lives are also seeking holiness. The face of God is unambiguously a reference to His holiness in the OT. Thus, it is reinforced that the means to God’s holiness is holy living.
[16] A similar use occurs in Ps. 75:10, only there is ~yhil{a/ present. This provides us with precedence to follow the LXX here.
Christian preaching finds its sole authority, foundation, and energy from the text of Scripture. The New York Times, the latest celebrity trend, and the next political agenda have a supplementary, but not preeminent, space within Christian preaching. In modern preaching these things have been reversed, making the latest trends the subject of preaching instead of Scripture.
