Untitled Sermon (8)
We should perhaps imagine a liturgist dramatically instructing a congregation to be patient under social threats.
The question closing the psalm’s first half, “What can the righteous do?,” is answered, not by an act they should perform but by the LORD, who is the grammatical subject throughout
It is the supreme image of stability and order. Habakkuk 2:20 and Zechariah 2:13 help us to see that this statement does not merely locate God’s presence; rather, it affirms that he has assumed his role as universal Judge and is about to exercise that role
In the minds of the ancients the earthly temple was the immanent symbol participating in the transcendent reality
Instead, the opposite of God’s “hating” someone is his “examining” someone
The point is this: the righteous matter to God. The person he loves is the one he cares to examine and know
Yahweh is fundamentally a God of order and fairness (cf. Jer. 9:23–24)
the result of upright behavior is spelled out, not in terms of tangible rewards, but in terms of personal encounter with God’s presence at the temple.