Psalm 97: Reactions...

1 יְהוָה מָלָךְ תָּגֵל הָאָרֶץ יִשְׂמְחוּ אִיִּים רַבִּים׃
2 עָנָן וַעֲרָפֶל סְבִיבָיו צֶדֶק וּמִשְׁפָּט מְכוֹן כִּסְאוֹ׃
3 אֵשׁ לְפָנָיו תֵּלֵךְ וּתְלַהֵט סָבִיב צָרָיו׃
4 הֵאִירוּ בְרָקָיו תֵּבֵל רָאֲתָה וַתָּחֵל הָאָרֶץ׃
5 הָרִים כַּדּוֹנַג נָמַסּוּ מִלִּפְנֵי יְהוָה מִלִּפְנֵי אֲדוֹן כָּל־הָאָרֶץ׃
6 הִגִּידוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם צִדְקוֹ וְרָאוּ כָל־הָעַמִּים כְּבוֹדוֹ׃
7 יֵבֹשׁוּ כָּל־עֹבְדֵי פֶסֶל הַמִּתְהַלְלִים בָּאֱלִילִים
הִשְׁתַּחֲווּ־לוֹ כָּל־אֱלֹהִים׃
8 שָׁמְעָה וַתִּשְׂמַח צִיּוֹן וַתָּגֵלְנָה בְּנוֹת יְהוּדָה
לְמַעַן מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ יְהוָה׃
9 כִּי־אַתָּה יְהוָה עֶלְיוֹן עַל־כָּל־הָאָרֶץ
מְאֹד נַעֲלֵיתָ עַל־כָּל־אֱלֹהִים׃
10 אֹהֲבֵי יְהוָה שִׂנְאוּ־רָע
שֹׁמֵר נַפְשׁוֹת חֲסִידָיו מִיַּד רְשָׁעִים יַצִּילֵם׃
11 אוֹר זָרֻעַ לַצַּדִּיק וּלְיִשְׁרֵי־לֵב שִׂמְחָה׃
12 שִׂמְחוּ צַדִּיקִים בַּיהוָה וְהוֹדוּ לְזֵכֶר קָדְשׁוֹ׃


Psalm 97 depicts the ‘song’ alluded to by the psalmist in the previous one when he proposed for the entire land to sing to God a ‘new song’. This song begins with the words ‘Hashem melech”. It is about this phenomenon and really the reaction to this phenomenon that psalm 97 focuses.
What is our reaction to the revelation of God in the world? Do we even recognize it and feel the need to react? Or do we ignore the hand of God and continue with our lives as if nothing changed? Psalm 97 presents us with three reactions in a progression of importance yet also a progression of delayed reaction.
“Hashem melech—tagel haaretz” (God is the king, the land rejoices).
Nature is the first to react to the coronation of God as king. Humanity slumbers but nature arises and dances. The land rejoices, the islands are happy, clouds and smoke surround Him, fire shines all around Him, mountains melt and the heavens sing His righteousness.
The first five and a half verses describe an awakening to the presence of God by nature and though most of it is joyful, the land which begins with joy (tagel) concludes with fear and trembling (tachel) recognizing the contradictory emotions the presence of God evokes.

In the middle of verse 6 though a transition from the heavens to Man takes place as if to say that the heavens are nudging man to arise and realize the remarkable event of God’s presence. Man, however, is confused having been assured by his gods that they were in control of the world already. Those gods failed him at every turn but he was so invested in the business of manufacturing his own god industry, he could not step back and witness the true God appear.

The second half of the psalm focuses on man’s reaction which is slow at first, beginning with shame at having played the wrong hand for so long, but then slowly man turns away from these gods to GOD and exclaims ‘for you God are above all other gods, having risen above all the other deities’. This turning to God is clearly a positive step forward but saying that God is greater than all the other gods is still not an ideal state, after all—what other gods?

The final section though, reaches the pinnacle of God’s creation, though it seemed to have taken him the longest to arrive at the understanding that the heaven and earth had reached at the beginning. Nevertheless, their reaction is pure, focused, filled with passion for God and the fight against evil. They are the ‘lovers of God’, ‘chasidim’, ‘yishrei lev’ and ‘tzadikim’ and they call out to God and are ultimately protected by God from harm.

They are enshrined with light, joy, a great feeling of gratitude and thankfulness and happiness in the knowledge that God has appeared and all will be right in the world.

Note that these individuals have no origin, no clan, tribe or nation—simply ‘lovers of God’. This represents the universalistic song to God where the heavens and earth mountains and fields rejoice and where humanity must come to discern between truth and fake and finally where any individual who possesses the courage and conviction to love God and hate evil—they will be rewarded by God and continue to sing His praises in joy.

The universe feels God’s presence and slowly it trickles down to man and to righteous man to declare the greatness of God and rejoice in the impending holy presence of our creator.