Week 31 Psalm 67
The OT is normally Israel-centric. So when the writer begins this psalm by asking the Lord to bless Israel – he says ‘us’ three times – it’s no real surprise. But his request isn’t for a national blessing-for-blessing’s-sake. There’s a different (or maybe additional) reason: then those living on earth will know what you are like .
The idea is that the Lord is gracious to Israel and so Israel is blessed. But the spillover effect is that other nations see this happen and they (somehow) figure-out something about the Lord. Foreign people will know what you are like.
[The version I’m reading adds a technical linguistic footnote saying that the language expresses purpose/result. When God demonstrates his favor to his people, all nations will recognize his character. They say that another way to express the idea is that the other nations will know your way (but ‘way’ – they say – refers to God’s character.]
Anyway i know that I need to keep the basic notion in mind. The easy default for a bible reader is that the OT’s only concern is Israel. But 67 says it isn’t exclusively about Israel (for-Israel’s-sake). It’s about Israel-for-everybody-else’s-sake too.
Israel lived out it’s own introspective & self-interested life. But it was also a test case. A prototype. A real-life first-case experiment that outsiders could evaluate for functionality. Workability. Utility. Desirability. Preferability. An inaugural experiment in state-building based on a specific set of religious norms. And outsiders got to assess it.
Note: quote from Psalm 67:2 (NET)