Praise God and Take Up the Sword

Psalm 149 ...

Who knows what the writer intended, when it comes to two-edged swords, vengeance and punishment.

It’s accurate, I suppose, to think that the author had literal swords in mind, given the bloody history of Israel and Judah and Jerusalem. 

Yet, to read it literally today would clearly violate the spirit and intent of Jesus who eschewed the way of the sword and made clear that his followers do the same.

Nevertheless, and you knew that was coming, can it be read metaphorically? Or should it not be read at all?

Well, it’s part of the the Psalter, and we’re stuck with it.

Perhaps a literal reading at least reminds of us how easily human beings take up the sword in “righteous causes” linked to faith and the gods. Ever since Cain killed Abel, we’ve been killing our brothers and sisters at a horrendous pace - in personal crimes against one another and with state-sanction killing - capital punishment and war. Protest as much we do, our killing of one another is not about to end. 

Which perhaps reveals the importance of a metaphorical reading of the Psalm.

1) The praise of God always is linked to political behavior (v. 5). Whether it be the monk in his cell or the average pew-sitting Presbyterian, what’s offered up to God ends up being offered horizontally to the world, for good or for ill, and likely some tragic mix of both. But like it or not, this is how it is.

2) The “sword” is wielded to restrain the power of kings and their nobles, and is there a king anywhere who doesn’t need to be retrained? And what of all their nobles, sycophants mostly, singing their praises, inflating the king’s ego? It’s a deadly system that needs to be constantly challenged, for such power, as kings accrue, and their nobles bless, is charged with obsession and cruelty. Left unchecked, such power always ends badly, for everyone, including the innocent, i.e. the people, or specifically, the biblical triad of need: the widow, the orphan and the alien.

As for the original intent, it’s safe to say, “literal.”

But a metaphorical reading reminds the reader of the link between spirituality (praising God) and political ethics (striving to restrain the power of the powerful on behalf of justice). 

It is this linkage, then, that is “glory for all the faithful ones” (v.9b).

And one last thing: it’s a messy world in which we live, and the lines of “good and evil” are rarely clear. Which is to say, that no one has the option of opting out of the world - to praise God without a political link is no praise at all, but a cursing of God, a rejection of God’s world, and God’s commitment to the world. and all of its mess, and a forthright abandonment of our covenantal commitment to the “widow, the orphan and the alien” and the concomitant responsibility of restraining power.

So, indeed, praise God.

And then take up the sword (metaphorically speaking) ... on behalf of those who have no sword of their own, and as a favor to the powerful, who are likely to strangle themselves on power, lest other powers give them the gift of restraint. It’s messy, for sure, but necessary.

Praise God and take up the sword.