PSALM 149

 PSALM I49 – THE JUDGEMENT ON THE GENTILES

This is one of the psalms called the “Hallelujah Psalms” because they start and end with the words “Praise the Lord!” (Hallelujah). It is a characteristic of the last five of the Psalms (Pss 146, 147, 148, 149, and 150).  This psalm bears all the conventional marks of a psalm, yet its development is unusual and offers a surprising emphasis.

This psalm, however, has from the fifth century AD up to the present, been interpreted as referring to Maccabean times. If you look carefully at its composition, it does not go beyond very general allusions which fit into every age. If you would like to know more about Maccabean times the books I and II Maccabees can be found in the Apocrypha.

1   O praise the Lord
and sing to the Lord a new song:
O praise him in the assembly of the faithful.

2   Let Israel rejoice in him that made him:
let the children of Zion be joyful in their king.

3   Let them praise him in the dance:
let them sing his praise with timbrel and with harp.

Like psalms 33v3 and 96v1 the psalm opens with a call to the festival congregation resting in the grounds of the Temple at Jerusalem to sing the praise of God who as their Maker and King has revealed his ‘name’ and has once more entered upon his reign at his feast. This song is to be sung as a “new song”, thus an enthronement motif in the psalm.

4   For the Lord takes delight - in his people:
he adorns the meek with his salvation.

5   Let his faithful ones exult in his glory:
let them sing for joy upon their beds.

6   Let the high praises of God be in their mouths:
and a two-edged sword in their hands,

The reasons for this call are given: God’s gracious good pleasure rests upon the members of the community and this fact inspires them with awe and humility, so that the worshippers are called ‘the meek’. But the members of the festal congregation are at the same time lifted by the salvation whereby God glorifies himself in them so that they reflect that ‘glory’ back to the divine Giver in their song of praise. This worship is a very noisy affair.

7   To execute vengeance on the nations.
and chastisement upon the peoples,

8   To bind their kings in chains:
and their nobles with fetters of iron,

9   To visit upon them the judgment that is decreed-
such honour belongs to all his faithful servants.
Praise the Lord.

This psalm issues a call to action based on praise. It is action that is powered by and grows out of the act of praise. The action that is urged is warlike action that concerns vengeance, chastisement, binding in chains, execution of judgment. I do not know what to make of this, for it is quite unexpected in the hymns. It is a statement of sobering historical realism. Praise of God is not flight from historical reality. In its songs Israel does not escape from either historical responsibility or historical temptation. One cannot tell whether this is responsibility (to fend off oppressors) or temptation (to gather imperial power). Either way, it is clear that Israel’s praise of Yahweh keeps one foot in and one eye firmly on historical reality. There is no liturgical or spiritual escape from the hardness of history. The liberation questions will not be siphoned off in song.

Thank you Fr Graham Alston for your weekly commentary on the psalms