The text: Psalm 9 – NRSV
We come now to an interesting feature of the psalter. You may remember when we discussed Psalm 34, we mentioned that the psalm was acrostic, meaning that each successive verse begins with the next letter in the Hebrew alphabet. It’s a fairly common pattern, and indeed we find this in Psalm 9, except that the pattern is not complete at the end of this psalm, but continues into Psalm 10. This is why many scholars conclude that originally Psalms 9-10 formed one poem, but were separated in the process of editing the psalter into its current form. Given that we’ve already encountered Psalm 10, this is an opportunity to read both of these together for the full effect. If you return to Psalm 10, we found that it was a cry of pain in response to the actions of the wicked, and that these actions primarily surrounded how people treat the poor. In reading Psalm 9, you may find that it’s the perfect setup for its companion psalm, because in Psalm 9 we see God enthroned over all the earth, establishing justice. Over and over the psalmist cycles between praising God and proclaiming the nature of God’s justice, so that this becomes the central question of this pair of psalms: what is God’s justice? What does the world look like when God gets God’s way? This becomes an exercise for the reader. When meditating on this, perhaps another question arises: If this is the nature of God’s justice, what then is the nature of God’s power? Or, how does God choose to act? What is our role as God’s disciples? I suspect this is a Lenten walk worth taking.
Curious about this series of posts? Read the initial post.
Want to catch up on any you missed? See them all by clicking on ‘Lenten Psalms” below.
