As a kid, I grew up watching the Emmy-winning TV show All in the Family. In it, the family patriarch Archie Bunker attempts to rule his household during the late 1960s and early 1970s era where his conservative values are eroding to his great dismay.
The symbol of Archie’s rule is his chair. It is his throne. Occasionally, some other character will attempt to sit in Archie’s chair and will suffer his wrath. Not only does he like the comfort of his chair, he recognizes that attempts to sit in it are attempts to usurp his leadership within the household.
Thrones are symbols of authority. A monarch in response upon the throne is leisurely while everyone else stands in attendance, listening and responding to whatever the enthroned might say.
The image behind Genesis 1 is of God sitting on his throne. From there, he speaks and what he says happens. His word is both law and reality. He doesn’t lift a finger. He doesn’t raise a drop of sweat. This is in contrast to the creation stories of surrounding ancient Near East peoples which were dominated by battles between competing gods. Where other gods struggle, the God of Israel alone has true authority, simply speaking his creation into being.
But the throne of Yahweh doesn’t just represent his rule and reign. It also is his symbol of judgment and justice — judgment against those who stand against his reign and who accost the vulnerable and justice for those who are trampled by the powerful.
Psalm 9 is dominated by the Throne.
But before considering what’s wrong in the world and the need for God to use the power of his throne, David our psalmist promises future worship and witness.
I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart;
I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
I will be glad and rejoice in you;
I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High (Ps. 9:1-2).
Having made his promise, the psalmist turns to what is wrong. Here, the throne of God is equated with his righteous judgment in favor of the oppressed and against the wicked.
My enemies turn back;
they stumble and perish before you.
For you have upheld my right and my cause,
sitting enthroned as the righteous judge (Ps. 9:3-4, emphasis added).
When it comes, God’s judgment is strong and definite. While the name of Yahweh remains, those who stand against his rule have their names blotted out forever. Those who sought to crush God’s people have themselves been crushed. The language of judgment sounds harsh, but so was the reality of the evil that required it.
You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.
Endless ruin has overtaken my enemies,
you have uprooted their cities;
even the memory of them has perished (Ps. 9:5-6).
While we like the idea of a rehabilitated Darth Vader, tyrannical evil almost always requires destruction of some sort.
This is salvation by amputation.
When a doctor determines (i.e., judges) that a part of the body will cause death to the whole body if it’s not removed, amputation is necessary — destruction to avoid destruction. It’s a painful decision and when it comes down to human lives and nations, it’s a decision only the Judge King can make.
But such a deadly decision always has life as its goal. And so the psalm shifts from the amputation of evil to the life of the righteous.
Here, finally, is a judge who will judge truly. The Judge King rules justly. He judges without taking a bribe or ruling in favor of the wealthy. His throne is a refuge for the weak to hide behind.
The LORD reigns forever;
he has established his throne for judgment.
He rules the world in righteousness
and judges the peoples with equity.
The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
Those who know your name trust in you,
for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you (Ps. 9:7-10).
Where the names of the wicked will be blotted out forever (v. 5), Yahweh’s name (v. 10) is known and trusted by those who have experienced his just judgments. Because of those judgments in favor of the meek, they know God as a refuge and a stronghold. His justice has protected them.
The righting of wrongs leads to songs and exclamations of praise. Joy bursts from the rescued.
Sing the praises of the LORD, enthroned in Zion;
proclaim among the nations what he has done.
For he who avenges blood remembers;
he does not ignore the cries of the afflicted.
LORD, see how my enemies persecute me!
Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death,
that I may declare your praises
in the gates of Daughter Zion,
and there rejoice in your salvation (Ps. 9:11-14, emphasis added).
Past praises based on what God has done before cause David to look forward to future praises because of what God will do to rectify the current situation.
This recalls a Hebrew practice of erecting stone memorials wherever battles were fought and won so that future generations would be reminded of them. As they passed by a pile of rocks, children would ask their parents, “What is that for?” And parents would tell the story of how God saved his people.
Passing by these piles of stones was a daily occurrence and therefore a daily reminder of God’s tangible deeds to save his people. They brought the past into the present. And they pointed toward future acts of God which would lead to future praises and stone markers. May we all make such markers in our lives.
The passage above has a lovely play on the image of gates. God’s merciful action will take the psalmist from the gates of death to the gates of Daughter Zion. Zion is the mountain Jerusalem is built on, at the peak of which is where the temple would later be built. The sanctuary also contained the ark of the covenant which represented the throne of Yahweh, which is why v. 11 refers to God as enthroned in Zion.
So, David prays to be saved from the gates of death in order that he might enter the gates of Zion to worship God. It’s the ultimate reversal of fortunes.
Changing metaphors, David imagines the wicked nations as hunters who end up caught in their own traps. Another reversal of fortunes.
The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug;
their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.
The LORD is known by his acts of justice;
the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands
The wicked go down to the realm of the dead (Ps. 9:15-17a, emphasis added).
There is a chiastic structure to this section, where the first line corresponds to the fifth line (“fallen into the pit” is picked up by “go down” to death) and the second line corresponds to the fourth line (“caught in the net” is picked up by “ensnared”). And in the middle of the section is the line the whole section points to: Yahweh is know by his acts of justice.
It is God’s justice that causes the wicked to fall prey to their own traps. This isn’t just poetic irony, it’s the way God runs his world. The Judge King is the one who bends the effects of evil back on those who initiate it.
… all the nations that forget God.
But God will never forget the needy;
the hope of the afflicted will never perish (Ps. 9:17b-18).
And so we return to the theme of memory and forgetting that has been woven throughout the psalm. The wicked are those whom God has “blotted out their name forever and ever” (v. 5) and “even the memory of them has perished” (v. 6) are here the “nations that forget God” (v. 17). It’s because they have forgotten the Judge King that he blots them out, for their evil arises from not considering there is a Judge King who will stop them as he protects the meek. Likewise, “he who avenges blood remembers” (v. 12) and “will never forget the needy” (v. 18).
Where the wicked may forget him and eventually be forgotten themselves, God will never forget those who rely on him for justice.
And so we come to the final prayer of Psalm 9.
Arise, LORD, do not let mortals triumph;
let the nations be judged in your presence.
Strike them with terror, LORD;
let the nations know they are only mortal (Ps. 9:19-20).
There’s no repetition of praises at the end of Psalm 9 to match those that launched it. Instead, there’s a stark reminder of human mortality and of the throne of judgment.
A conclusion like this could easily inspire “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” imagery and theology. So, thankfully, this is just one psalm out of 150 and not the only one. Where elsewhere, we come across psalms that call the nations to gather in Zion, to be reborn there, to worship the God of Israel, here we have a psalm that ends with a warning.
If God is the Judge King, we must submit to his kingship and his judgments. If he sits on his throne, we stand before him and endure his scrutiny. There is no getting around these things.
But the thing about judges that has been evident throughout Psalm 9 is that they render judgments in favor of some, while rendering judgments against others. And it is the hope throughout the Scriptures that God will one day render judgment in our favor as his trampled upon people. We will be rescued. Our adversaries will cease their abuse. What has been taken from us will be restored, including those who have been taken from us.
It is because the Judge King will bring justice in the end that every tear can be wiped away. As C.S. Lewis wrote in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe:
Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,
At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,
When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death,
And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.
But with this positive judgment always comes a negative. And yes, it’s a good thing to tremble at it. Yes, it’s good to fear that the one on the throne may judge against us. For sometimes only fear can turn us away from our bad deeds.
Where other psalms end with a carrot, Psalm 9 ends with a stick. And unlike Archie Bunker, who could only growl and whine from his throne-like chair, he who sits on the throne has a big stick. But thankfully, he’d got an even bigger carrot.