As we saw in our examination of Psalm 3, the mountain of the Lord is envisaged as the source of divine help and the source of all divine blessing. After such clarity of expression in the preceding psalm, Psalm 4 presents to us certain interpretative difficulties. This song combines thanksgiving and lament in a very awkward way, and unlike the preceding songs, it shows none of the clear orientation towards Zion and its holy Temple that we are used to seeing. Nevertheless, the same surety of being heard in time of prayer is present in this psalm as well. Just as Psalm 3 said confidently, "I cry aloud to the Lord. He answers from His holy mountain," this psalm says with equal confidence, "In the time that I called upon Thee, O God of my righteousness, Thou didst hearken to me; in mine afflictions Thou didst enlarge me."
This psalm is a good reminder to us that the way that God answers our prayers is not always a way that satisfies us. Indeed, in this case, how does God answer David's prayer? By scolding him for being slow of heart, vain and self-seeking. No, rather, David is told to put his attention elsewhere. "Know also that the Lord made wonderful His Holy One." It is important for us to realize at this point that the term "the Holy Ones" in Old Testament language is a technical term. The Holy Ones is the blanket term for the angelic beings who were created before the foundation of the world. According to biblical and extra-biblical Israelite tradition God Most High divided up the world and assigned every nation and part to the care of one or another of the Holy Ones. Special among these "Holy Ones" was "the Holy One of Israel," the same Person we now know as the Son. It is very possible that we are dealing here with one of the many mutilated texts in the Old Testament. Just as Psalm 109 bears witness to the Lord begetting Someone Else, Who is also the Lord (the Lord said to my Lord, "Sit Thou at my right hand until I make Your enemies Your footstool... with Thee is the sovereignty in the day of Thy power, in the splendor of Thy Holy Ones, from the womb before the morning star did I beget Thee.), this psalm seems originally to have made a similar point. The Septuagint text reads: "Know also that the Lord made wonderful His Holy One. The Lord Himself will hearken to me when I cry out to Him." In other words, the Holy One, Whom the Lord made wonderful, is also, mysteriously, the Lord. In the Hebrew text this truth is utterly effaced, for it reads banally, "the Lord has set apart the godly for Himself."
The psalm's expression of confidence and hope, "The Lord Himself [the Holy One Whom the Lord has made wondrous] will hearken to me when I cry out to Him," is followed immediately by the Lord's saying. He says to His suppliants, "Be ye angry, and sin not; for that which ye say in your hearts, feel compunction upon your beds. Sacrifice a sacrifice of righteousness and hope upon the Lord." Thus, the Lord clearly tells His people what they should be concerned about. Another way to make the point would be, "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and everything else will be given to you besides." The sacred author is at pains to point out that it is vain to hanker after material goods when "the light of Thy countenance, O Lord, was signed upon us." No, the psalm ends with a reiteration of the point made forcefully in the previous psalm: the Lord is the only source of abundance. Hankering after wheat, wine and oil is the very essence of vanity, but all of those things will come in sufficiency to those who "sacrifice the sacrifice of righteousness and hope upon the Lord." Again, as we saw in the previous psalm, sacrifice must be offered ONLY at the exclusive dwelling place of the Lord's Name. The last verse in the Septuagint version reads: "In peace, in the same place, I shall lay me down and sleep; for Thou, O Lord, alone didst cause me to dwell in hope." Once again, in the Hebrew, "in the same place" has been completely removed. What place is the psalm referring to? It is the only place that is at all important in the Psalter, the dwelling place of the Holy One of Israel.
The central message of this psalm is at its center: Sacrifice a sacrifice of righteousness and trust in the Lord. Just do that. Everything else will follow on that. Our sacrifice is in and with Mary, the exclusive Temple, the dwelling place of God. "In the same place" we can also rest.
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