The Lord of Vengeance - Psalm 94

[Mendalla]

Psalm 94 is one of those Bible passages that really goes all in with the idea of God as a powerful, judgemental force against the "wicked". And the wicked here seems to generally mean the enemies of God's people, though I note later that "wicked rulers" seem to come in for some of the smiting, too. Here's the Psalm. Give it a read and then let us know your thoughts.

Bible Gateway passage: Psalm 94 - New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Psalm 94 God the Avenger of the Righteous - O LORD, you God of vengeance, you God of vengeance, shine forth! Rise up, O judge of the earth; give to the proud what they deserve! O LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult? They pour out their arrogant words; all the...

www.biblegateway.com

The opening stanzas definitely give us that classic portrayal of a vengeful God ready to smite the wicked. And these, indeed, quite wicked people as described in the early verses.

4 They pour out their arrogant words;
all the evildoers boast.
5 They crush your people, O Lord,
and afflict your heritage.
6 They kill the widow and the stranger;
they murder the orphan,
7 and they say, “The Lord does not see;
the God of Jacob does not perceive.”

But, of course, the God of Jacob does perceive. Here we get a bit of the omniscience of God.

Understand, O dullest of the people;
fools, when will you be wise?
9 He who planted the ear, does he not hear?
He who formed the eye, does he not see?
10 He who disciplines the nations,
he who teaches knowledge to humankind,
does he not chastise?
11 The Lord knows our thoughts,[a]
that they are but an empty breath.

And then the psalm moves into a more positive direction, talking about those who live in the law are happy and how the Lord does not forsake them. The Lord is praised as the protector of God's people and the one who crushes the wicked who come against them.

20-21 seems like an interesting dig at leaders who abuse their power (contrive mischief by statute).

20 Can wicked rulers be allied with you,
those who contrive mischief by statute?
21 They band together against the life of the righteous
and condemn the innocent to death.

But The Lord will protect the righteous and destroy their enemies including said "wicked rulers", or so it appears in the conclusion

22 But the Lord has become my stronghold
and my God the rock of my refuge.
23 He will repay them for their iniquity
and wipe them out for their wickedness;
the Lord our God will wipe them out.

So there's my musings on Psalm 94. It is pretty strong stuff giving us a God of righteous power and even anger "wiping out" (in the words of the NRSV, not sure what other translations use) the wicked to protect God's people.

Is there more we can pull out of this? Is it a hopeful psalm (in that God triumphs over the wicked)? Is this portrayal of God as a force for vengeance and protector of the righteous one you agree with or believe in? What do you see in Psalm 94 that speaks to you?

 

[Mendalla]

And I commented to the other hosts when I told them I was doing this one that this does seem to be where verse 35 of Psalm 104 belongs, or at least it is more like this one in tone.

Each psalm seems to reflect on a different aspect of God. This one is a more tribal or national aspect, with God as the protector of the people and foe of their enemies. 104 is a more "positive" (for lack of a better term) reflection on God as a force for Creation and Source of Life. To some degree, you can have both in the same God, I think. A God who is both the Source of Life and defender of those oppressed by the "wicked".

Here the thread on Psalm 104 for reference.

 

[Luce NDs]

And I commented to the other hosts when I told them I was doing this one that this does seem to be where verse 35 of Psalm 104 belongs, or at least it is more like this one in tone.

Each psalm seems to reflect on a different aspect of God. This one is a more tribal or national aspect, with God as the protector of the people and foe of their enemies. 104 is a more "positive" (for lack of a better term) reflection on God as a force for Creation and Source of Life. To some degree, you can have both in the same God, I think. A God who is both the Source of Life and defender of those oppressed by the "wicked".

Here the thread on Psalm 104 for reference.

Imagine a diabolical duality to screw up the one-way scheme ... schemes being a type of conspirator in composition! In literary failure thus a logical fallacy!

How many different ways could we observe this situation from a scattered perspective?

 

[paradox3]

This psalm presents a classic view of a God who rewards the righteous and punishes the evildoers.

As such, it has a certain appeal, doesn't it? Good triumphs over evil. The righteous are vindicated and God takes care of all the details.

It's not hard to poke holes into this theology though. Can all of us be so simply classified as good or evil? Is God some kind of cosmic scorekeeper? Where does forgiveness come into play?

What about a timeframe? Is this to happen here on earth or at some future date? End times, perhaps?

Rather than a theological statement, could this psalm be a lament? A cry from the heart for justice under oppressive circumstances?

 

[Redbaron]

I like the idea of lament. To me this psalm could be on the lips of slaves in Egypt , or exiled in Babylon, waiting to be freed or restored.

 

[Mendalla]

I think that's exactly what it is. A call for The Lord to stand up for their people. And that fits in the historical context of the Psalms, too. That said, there's an implied theological statement that The Lord does, in fact, stick up for The Lord's people, a God of justice and not a sweet "oh, don't do that you bad people" one, either. However, I don't think the Psalm is intended to be theological beyond that implication. It's someone crying out for justice.

And I think that's generally true of the psalms, though some are clearly more theologically leaning. 104 from a couple weeks ago, for instance. It is mostly a hymn of praise honouring God rather than a statement about God even if, again, it implies certain things about the nature of God (Creator and Sustainer of the world).

 

[paradox3]

I like the idea of lament. To me this psalm could be on the lips of slaves in Egypt , or exiled in Babylon, waiting to be freed or restored.

Definitely. I can easily imagine such a lament being cried out at other points in history, too.

 

[BetteTheRed]

I can easily imagine such a lament being cried out at other points in history, too.

Like now, maybe, by those of us who recognize the climate that we have left our children? And grandchildren?

 

[Mendalla]

Like now, maybe, by those of us who recognize the climate that we have left our children? And grandchildren?

Who are the wicked that we are calling on The Lord to punish for that one, though? Ourselves?

 

[paradox3]

Who are the wicked that we are calling on The Lord to punish for that one, though? Ourselves?

Maybe God can figure it out.

 

[BetteTheRed]

Who are the wicked that we are calling on The Lord to punish for that one, though? Ourselves?

Well, yes. It's the circle of life thing, we've done it to ourselves, and no entity is either purely good nor purely evil, right?

 

[paradox3]

Well, yes. It's the circle of life thing, we've done it to ourselves, and no entity is either purely good nor purely evil, right?

There are so many complex questions that don't really work with a simple dichotomy of good and evil.

 

[BetteTheRed]

There are so many complex questions that don't really work with a simple dichotomy of good and evil.

Nor left and right, nor even four quadrants. I think the word intersectionality is very meaningful. If you're white, but from an economically disadvantaged birth family, female, but not cis-gender, not straight, neurodiverse, possibly ill, physically or mentally, visibly or invisibly, ugly, short, fat, etc., your place in life is very different.

 

[Luce NDs]

There are so many complex questions that don't really work with a simple dichotomy of good and evil.

Yes! But so many of those definitely seized on the matter of simplicity ... hate complexity thus causing much to be rendered senseless! Anti empath!

There are sectors that find this make no sense ...

 

[Mendalla]

There are so many complex questions that don't really work with a simple dichotomy of good and evil.

I don't actually think this Psalm presents an image of absolute good and evil, though. At least I don't see it that way. The "wicked" are the oppressors as seen by the oppressed. White slavers as seen by black slaves. Nazis as seen by Jews. And so on. So it is definitely more relative than absolute wickedness. Likely, this refers to the Persians or other empires that conquered Israel and Judah and is the psalmist calling on God for help in that conflict.

 

[Luce NDs]

I don't actually think this Psalm presents an image of absolute good and evil, though. At least I don't see it that way. The "wicked" are the oppressors as seen by the oppressed. White slavers as seen by black slaves. Nazis as seen by Jews. And so on. So it is definitely more relative than absolute wickedness. Likely, this refers to the Persians or other empires that conquered Israel and Judah and is the psalmist calling on God for help in that conflict.

Like differentiating (the old divining trick) the right/left, positive/negative, up/down of the abstract portion that si said to be difficult to position (Einstein) as we cannot relate or deal with relativity of moving function like energy, time, momentum, mass and weird alchemy of vegetative essences like alcohol and opioids that mess up perspectives even in natural endogenous creep across membranes (visceral glands as the Lymph's) that can shift emotional-intellectual balances, etc, Hopefully in a Zero Sum State when you come TU an understanding of why things are a mystery! Thus the Du' and other metaphors for the same unknowns ... Caduceus let us escape ... thus temporal perspective of irrationality ...

 

[paradox3]

I don't actually think this Psalm presents an image of absolute good and evil, though. At least I don't see it that way. The "wicked" are the oppressors as seen by the oppressed. White slavers as seen by black slaves. Nazis as seen by Jews. And so on. So it is definitely more relative than absolute wickedness. Likely, this refers to the Persians or other empires that conquered Israel and Judah and is the psalmist calling on God for help in that conflict.

Yes I agree this psalm is written in the context of oppression.

I am not sure what to say about absolute good and evil. People seldom fit into such a simple dichotomy.

I wonder about evil ideologies though. There is such a thing, right?

 

[Mendalla]

I wonder about evil ideologies though. There is such a thing, right?

Well, fascism for a start. Using racism and genocide in the name of national unity is about as evil as it gets and I am pretty sure more than a few European Jews were looking to Psalm 94 in those dark days. The thing to recognize is that few humans are outright, absolutely evil, even when they subscribe to an evil ideology like fascism. Many of Hitler's supporters (the general public who voted for or sided with him that is, his inner circle like Himmler and Eichmann are another story) were more frustrated than outright evil so embraced his othering of Jews, LGBTQ, Romany, etc. out of that frustration. And we see that with a certain segment of the US population right now who are supporting Trump and other extreme right-wing Republicans who are othering LGBTQ and have an undercurrent of racism as well.

 

[paradox3]

To complicate this even further, we can think of cultures of the past and present.

 

[Luce NDs]

Then what if ideologies are just part of the state of mind as something damned to a period of non-logic?

Thus many say the psyche is damned trouble to their desires to do as they will! Troublesome willies as coyotes?