“Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.”
The psalmist presses the crisis deeper: "Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?" Now the questions touch the divine character itself: has God's fundamental disposition changed? The image of God shutting up compassion like closing a door suggests that God's merciful nature—previously thought infinite and inexhaustible—has been sealed away by anger. This verse represents the nadir of the psalm's spiritual crisis, where the psalmist entertains the possibility that the God known through covenant tradition has become essentially different, transformed by anger into something other than the source of grace.
Church Fathers on Psalms 77:9
1. This Psalm's lintel is thus inscribed: “Unto the end, for Idithun, a Psalm to Asaph himself.” What “Unto the end” is, you know. Idithun is interpreted “leaping over those men,” Asaph is interpreted “a congregation.” Here therefore there is speaking “a congregation that leaps over,” in order that it may reach the End, which is Christ Jesus.. .. 2. “With my voice,” he says, “to the Lord I have cried” Psalm 76:1. But many men cry unto the Lord for the sake of getting riches…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
Publish a reflection on this verse
No reflections on this verse yet. Be the first to write one!