{"id":65886,"date":"2024-01-13T17:34:26","date_gmt":"2024-01-13T23:34:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?page_id=65886"},"modified":"2024-01-13T17:43:24","modified_gmt":"2024-01-13T23:43:24","slug":"he-will-judge-the-world-in-righteousness","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/some-thoughts-on-psalms\/he-will-judge-the-world-in-righteousness\/","title":{"rendered":"He Will Judge the World in Righteousness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

He Will Judge the World in Righteousness<\/h1>\n

In\u00a0the last lesson<\/a>, I drew a handful of connections between the first eight Psalms, using the first two Psalms as a framework for understanding. Psalms 1 and 2 established the contrast between the righteous and the wicked that pervades the book and the promise of an “Anointed One” who would execute God’s judgments on the conspiring nations. The two Psalms are bookended by the term “How blessed,” indicating that those who are righteous and those who take refuge in Yahweh would be “blessed.” (Psalms 1:1; 2:12).<\/p>\n

Psalms 3-7 are all similar, and thus should probably be grouped together, as they all portray the Psalmist’s complaint that the wicked seem to be doing the opposite of what was detailed in Psalms 1-2. The wicked are not being punished and the righteous are not being blessed. The Psalmist has “taken refuge<\/em>” (Psalms 7:1) in God, and he now calls for God to keep His former promises. In short, Psalms 3-7 are a collective call for God’s judgment to fulfill the former promises, namely that, “the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous<\/em>” (Psalms 1:5).<\/p>\n

I also mentioned that Psalm 8 was bookended not only by “O Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth<\/em>” (Psalms 8:1, 9), but also by similar calls to praise in Psalms 7:17 and Psalms 9:1. It may be possible then that there are either other parallels extending backward into Psalm 7 and forward into Psalm 9, or else there is an element that will change between Psalms 3-7 and between Psalms 9 and forward.<\/p>\n

First of all, Psalms 9 and 10 put together are actually a loose acrostic of the Hebrew alphabet. Granted the acrostic does not comprise the complete alphabet, as the letters\u00a0mem<\/em>\u00a0?,\u00a0nun<\/em>\u00a0?,\u00a0samekh<\/em>\u00a0?, and\u00a0tsadhe<\/em>\u00a0?, are all missing (They would normally be expected to appear in 10:2-6). This does not invalidate the acrostic of course, as there are several cases in the Psalms where an acrostic omits a letter, such as when Psalm 25 omits\u00a0qoph<\/em>\u00a0?, or when Psalm 34 omits\u00a0waw<\/em> ?. In fact, the Septuagint treats Psalms 9 and 10 as if they were one Psalm, thus creating a numbering misalignment between the LXX Psalms and the MT Psalms.<\/p>\n

It appears from an initial reading that Psalm 9 is basically the answer to Psalms 3-7. In the initial set, the Psalmist was calling upon God to defeat the enemies. However, in Psalm 9, the writer now rejoices and praises God for defeating the enemies. Consider Psalms 9:3-6:<\/p>\n

“When my enemies turn back,
\nThey stumble and perish before You.
\nFor You have maintained my just cause;
\nYou have sat on the throne judging righteously.
\nYou have rebuked the nations, You have destroyed the wicked;
\nYou have blotted out their name forever and ever.
\nThe enemy has come to an end in perpetual ruins,
\nAnd You have uprooted the cities;
\nThe very memory of them has perished.<\/em>“<\/blockquote>\n

Of particular interest is Psalms 9:5, which places the “nations” and the “wicked” in a synonymous parallel. This would be even further evidence of the tie between Psalms 1-2, as the writer is now calling on the promises of those two psalms to show them as fulfilled. The promised “judgment” of Psalms 1:5 is also a huge theme throughout Psalm 9.<\/p>\n