Psalm Of The King (part 2)

It came to be understood that, in the Resurrection, the Creator God’s kingdom on earth was inaugurated.  Accordingly, as Jesus is said to have prayed, His will would begin to be done on earth as it is in heaven, specifically by and through those who would be equipped by their God for service to His glory.  Though all those so equipped would continue to meet with the corruption that comes with living in this world that still awaits the return of the Christ and the final consummation of the kingdom of heaven, and though they would still go to their deaths, they would be able to live that life while gripping on to the implied promise that just as Jesus was raised up from the grave with a new body and a new life here in the midst of the covenant God’s creation, having been raised with Resurrection power that serves to push back the forces of evil here in this world, so too would they, one day, be raised up from the grave, with a new body and a new life, here in the God of Israel’s fully restored and renewed creation.   

Jesus, above all things, is presented as one who sought to do the will of the Father as He understood it.  He sought to be the One through Whom the Creator God would fulfill the covenant with Abraham, and in so doing bless the world.  He is presented as one who sought to be the second Adam---to be the first truly human being, and therefore rightly bearing the image of His Creator---that would set all things right, regaining the dominion over the created order that had been given to Adam.  This would include reversing the curse, through His own faithfulness together with the faithfulness of the covenant God, that had been brought into creation by what was understood to be Adam’s faithlessness. 

He is presented as the who sought to be the light for the world that had been His God’s intention for His chosen people Israel, of which He was, of course, a part.  With such intentions, according to the way that He is said to have presented Himself to the world and the way that He is presented in the stories about Him, Jesus could certainly have been emboldened by the Psalmist’s declaration in regards to Israel’s king that “You grant him his heart’s desire; You do not refuse his request” (21:2).   

Continuing through these verses of the twenty-first Psalm, one finds the third verse saying: “For You bring him rich blessings; You place a golden crown on his head” (Psalm 21:3).  Whenever this mention of “blessings” is found, it is imperative to keep the word in a context that would have been comprehensible and applicable to those that would have been reading these writings, namely Israel in general and members of the covenant people more specifically.  Rather than just thinking of “blessings” in vague generalities of the Creator God’s goodness and generosity towards His people, one is obliged to more appropriately think of blessings in terms of the Abrahamic covenant, in which the covenant God promised to cause Abraham to exemplify divine blessing, to bless those who blessed Abraham, and to bless all the peoples of the world through Abraham and his descendants (Genesis 12:2-3). 

Now, because the use of “blessings” in the Abrahamic covenant could be considered to be vague, to find a more specific statement of the “blessings” of the Hebrew/Jewish mindset of the author of the Psalm, one would need to take into consideration the potential blessings of their God that are directed to Israel in the first fourteen verses of the twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy (this passage expounds on what is found in Leviticus 26).  The blessings include Israel’s elevation above all the nations of the earth (28:1), their blessings in the city and the field (28:3), blessings for children (28:4), blessings on the produce of the soil, livestock, herds, and flocks (28:4), blessings on basket and mixing bowl (28:5), the blessing of enemies being struck down (28:7), blessings of the respect of the people of the earth (28:10), blessings of rain (28:12), and blessings of being able to lend to all while being free from debt (28:12). 

This consideration demands to be made, and readers must connect the use of “blessings” in the Psalms with the specific ideas that were held concerning the Creator God’s blessings, with this owing to what needs to be understood and always recognized as the continuous, narrative structure of the Scriptures.  Failing to do so reduces the ability to understand the message of what is taken to be God’s Word and the role of Jesus.