Psalms 1-3; 2 Samuel (2 Kingdoms)15-18
In the first session of this series on the Psalms, we began with Psalm 103/104, the first Psalm recited for Saturday Great Vespers, seeing ourselves in that blessed place with God as, resting, He surveys and is pleased with all that He has created. The next selection from the Psalter in Great Vespers is taken from what is called the “first kathisma,” literally, “the first sitting.” It has been the practice in monasteries for one of the monastics to read the first 8 Psalms while the brothers or sisters sit and listen attentively, and the Psalter is divided into such “sittings” so that it can be recited in its entirety throughout the week. There is a further division of each kathisma into “staseis” or smaller groupings, so called because at the end of each stasis, the monastics stand up for the recitation of “Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit….” The first stasis of the first kathisma comprises Psalms 1-3, and in most parish practice, we only hear the highlights of these three psalms, beginning with “Blessed is the Man,” and ending with “Thy Blessing be upon Thy People.” In this way, these selections from the first kathisma underscore our blessed state as children of God. Ambrose remarks, “What a delightfully apt beginning!” (Commentary on Twelve Psalms 1.13, ACTP 7). And St. Basil the Great explains why: “[The Psalmist] … showed first the happy end, that in the hope of the blessings reserved for us we might endure without grief the sufferings of this life.” Homilies on the Psalms 10.3 (FC 46.154)
Let’s look carefully at both the selections from this first stasis, and then at the whole of Psalms 1 through 3.
The verses sung in most parishes, from the first kathisma are Psalm 1:1a and 6, next Psalm 2:11 and 12b, and then Psalm 3:7 and 8. These verses highlight the progression of the three Psalms taken as a whole, beginning with assurance of blessedness for the one who cleaves to God, the LORD who knows the way of the righteous, moving on to an injunction regarding the fear and worship of the LORD and repeating an assurance of blessing for those who look to Him for help, and then concluding with a cry for God’s help, and a final confirmation of blessing for the people of God as a whole:
Blessed is the Man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, Alleluia!
For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish, Alleluia!
Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice in Him with trembling, Alleluia!
Blessed are all who take refuge in Him, Alleluia!
Arise, arise, O LORD, save me, O my God! Alleluia!
Salvation belongs to the LORD, Thy blessing be upon Thy people, Alleluia!
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit… Alleluia!
Glory to Thee, O God, Glory to Thee!
The three Psalms, then, move from the particular –the righteous and blessed Man— to the whole body of Christ, God’s blessed people. Though we begin and end with a blessing; however, this kathisma is entirely realistic about human life. Blessing may be the first and last word, but we hear also of the trials of God’s people, and of rebellion against God in this fallen world. Our worship promises us the blessing of God, but also does not pretend that things have been entirely fulfilled, or resolved. Thus, the goodness of creation, declared in the first Psalm of the Great Vespers, is now complicated by awareness in these three Psalms of those who are wicked, of those who defy the good Creator, and the One whom He has anointed, and the necessity for salvation against God’s enemies. After celebrating the restful evening of the sixth day, we are now led into a sober reflection of how that creation has been marred by the Fall, while also receiving comfort that God will rescue us from this dilemma.
Let’s take our cue from the selections of this stasis (blessing, injunction to turn to God, the call for help, and the hope for blessed salvation) and fill in these moments in by reference to the three Psalms as a whole. Psalm 1 actually sets the perspective or “viewpoint” of the entire Psalter. During its chanting, the priest or deacon stands before the icon of Christ, signaling that the Psalm is a meditation not just upon ANY human being, but upon the true Man, the one who alone is blessed and completely reflects the glory of the Father. The blessed state of Adam is only seen, and indeed fulfilled in this second Adam, our Lord Jesus. As both St. Augustine and Eusebius the Historian assert, He is the One who never sits, stands, or walks in the manner of sinners; He is the One who knows intimately the ways of God, as shown in the Law, and fulfilled in the Gospel, and who knew God’s word so as to resist temptation of every sort; He is the One who is planted like a tree for us, producing all manner of good fruit, and whose righteousness is recognized by the Father. We see this fruitful tree in the cross, and in the luminous tree of the New Jerusalem that brings forth leaves and fruit for healing and sustenance:
Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on His law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
Indeed, the shining presence of this perfect Man shows up the darkness and unreality of everyone else: “the wicked are not so,” but are unsubstantial like chaff in the wind. There is a judgment coming, in which the wicked will not stand, and the solid presence of the true righteous One makes that future moment more certain. In contrast with His light and secure standing, the darkness of everything else becomes apparent. How sad that our shallow age, with its fixation upon matter having to do with gender, has caused this strong and challenging Psalm to become a mere comment upon “those who are righteous,” and missed the primary focus of Psalm 1 upon Jesus, the new Adam, and the true Israel who fulfils creation and the law of God. In trying to be relevant, contemporary translators have turned a Psalm that proclaims Him into a trite and moralistic contrast of piety and evil, a “scriptural” version of “Santa Claus is coming to town”— don’t be on the “naughty” list but “be good, for goodness’ sake!” This use of the Psalter assumes that the Psalms are all about us, and forgets Jesus’ instruction on the road to Emmaus and the Upper Room, that the Law, Prophets, and Psalms speak of Him.
But, of course, the psalm is also about those who are in Christ, whether male or female. In the wisdom of St. Basil, we hear a query that might well come from our own day: “Why, you say, does the prophet single out only man and proclaim him happy? Does he not exclude women from happiness? By no means. For the virtue of man and woman is the same, since creation is equally honored in both; therefore, there is the same reward for both. Listen to Genesis: ‘God created humankind,’ it says, ‘In the image of God he created him. Male and female he created them.’ They whose nature is alike have the same reward” (Homilies on the Psalms 10.3; FC 46:155-156).
So, then, for any who are in Christ, there is no male or female, but each of us participates in this righteous Man, who is the true Human Being. The first Psalm points to Jesus, as we prepare for the Day of the LORD, but also gives us instruction regarding how to live in Christ. He is both our head, and our pattern.
Psalm 2 has a similar double focus. It is, of course, about rebellion against the LORD and against His anointed Christ—and it is also about the troubles that inevitably will come against us, for we are “little anointed ones.” In this Psalm, though, we are assured of God’s sovereignty, and His ability to bring even the rebellious kings of the earth to worship Him. The Psalm does not mince words, but is frank about the danger of human rebellion, and about the role of God as Judge. His anger, of course, is neither capricious nor passionate, but it is an apt expression against anything that would seek to destroy the ordered and good creation, and that would pretend to replace Him as the only true God. Human beings are brought up short by God not because He is afraid of their plotting, but because of His love—both for those who rebel, and those who are harmed by such rebellion. As the selection that we chant in Great Vespers puts it, human beings are made to “serve the LORD with fear (or reverence), and rejoice in Him with trembling.” In the words of Lewis’s Tirian: “He is not a tame Lion, but He is good!”
All the devastation of human rebellion before God, all the impiety of those who sought to kill the Holy One comes before us in this Psalm, as does God’s majesty and ability to quell the rebellion. The lesson learned by us is that to remain blessed, we must reckon both with His goodness and His power—and continue to not walk in the ways of the wicked, with willing hearts. As the theologian Theodore of Mopsuestia reminds us, “He wants devotion, not coercion . . . because to obey is more sublime than to yield simply to duty” (Commentary on Psalms 2.11, CCL 88a.17). This is underscored by the ancient Christian text entitled Apostolic Constitutions: “Even your very rejoicings therefore ought to be done with fear and trembling” (AC 5.2.10; ANF 7:442). Psalm 2 brings a note of realism to our worship, reminding us of the Fall, the human tendency to resist God since that Fall, and the blasphemy committed on Holy Friday, but bringing us also through that into a recognition of God as Victor. “Understand, all ye nations (and everyone who hears!) and submit yourselves (in joy!) for God is with us!”
Yet even the beloved of the LORD who rejoice in Him have times of great trial, as Psalm 3 reminds us, with David’s response when he had to flee from before the face of his son Absalom. The story is recounted in 2 Samuel (2 Kingdoms) chapters 15-18, and presents the grief of a father insulted and harmed by his own son, just as God was insulted by the very creature that bears His name. The Psalm is heart breaking: not just the son is against the father, but there are many foes, so that it looks that all has been lost. Yet the LORD protects the poor besieged one, and even gives that one repose. The poor one can be bold to cry out, “Arise! Save me!” and will eventually rejoice to say, “Salvation belongs to the LORD! Your blessing be upon Your people.” For when David was reinstated, the people of God were indeed blessed.
As Eusebius of Caesaria reminds us, the same God who saved David in the wilderness is the one who has rescued all the dead from Hades, including King David himself. Eusebius rejoices: “I have trusted my defender, the victor over death, who, after the bronze gates were torn down and the iron bolts thoroughly broken, opened the gates of death that had been closed for ages, and with those people known to him, from which number was David, he prepared for the resurrection life” (Commentary on the Psalms 3.7; PG 23.97) We know what the king only glimpsed—that salvation is eternal, and not simply temporal, and that God saves all for His final kingdom, not simply David for Israel. The teeth, or power, of God’s adversaries are finally broken on the morning of the resurrection, which we are liturgically anticipating in Great Vespers. Because of what Christ has accomplished for us on the cross, in Hades, and on the Eighth Day, we know what it is to say “Your blessing be upon Your people.” As the commentator Theodore of Mopsuestia declares, “What is this blessing of the Lord? Without a doubt it is peace” (Commentary on the Psalms 3.9; CCL 88A: 20-21).
We end our recitation of the first Kathisma, then, with the peace of the LORD. We began Great Vespers joining into God’s great Sabbath rest, and retain this peace through the singing of these Psalms that recognize clearly the turmoil that is found in this world, but turn to the LORD for His instant help. For “He himself is our peace, who has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility” (Eph 2:14)—that barrier that humans erect between Him and us, and between each other. We, who call out to Christ, are most blessed! Ours is the healing Tree by the waters, ours is the worship of the true God, our is His rescue and continued blessing.
Edith M. Humphrey 