Monday, February 2, 2009

Reflections on Psalm 75

Psalm 75 (Contemporary English Version)
  1. Our God, we thank you for being so near to us! Everyone celebrates your wonderful deeds.
  2. You have set a time to judge with fairness.
  3. The earth trembles, and its people shake; you alone keep its foundations firm.
  4. You tell every bragger, "Stop bragging!" And to the wicked you say, "Don't boast of your power!
  5. Stop bragging! Quit telling me how great you are."
  6. Our LORD and our God, victory doesn't come from the east or the west or from the desert.
  7. You are the one who judges. You can take away power and give it to others.
  8. You hold in your hand a cup filled with wine, strong and foaming. You will pour out some for every sinful person on this earth, and they will have to drink until it is gone.
  9. But I will always tell about you, the God of Jacob, and I will sing your praise.
  10. Our Lord, you will destroy the power of evil people, but you will give strength to those who are good.



The psalmist takes his stand to proclaim God's greatness forever. If we accept that God is the creator and is above all that He has made, and we also accept that he is a loving and merciful God and that His main purpose is to redeem man and reconcile him to Himself, then we will trust that He is a good and righteous judge. If we accept all this and trust Him, then, when things happen we don't understand or we read things in scripture that don't fit our sense of justice, we accept it as our lack of understanding rather than God's injustice. We trust that God is not only just but that He sets the standard for justice and our understanding is incomplete.

Psalm 75 is not clearly tied to a known historical event or occasion. It is said to be a psalm of Asaph, but some suppose that it is so agreeable to the circumstances of David coming to the throne after the death of Saul that they imagine it was either written by Asaph as David's poet-laureat, or that David wrote it himself. This involves more conjecture than I am comfortable with so I accept it as a psalm written to give praise and thanks to God for His wonderful works. And I interpret verses 2-5 as God's response promising to judge righteously and rebuke the proud. It then states that exaltation, or authority, doesn't come from anywhere on earth, "not from the east, the west, or the desert," but from God who is the judge.

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