Psalm 149 — The Yeti Version
Hallelujah #4 — Awe and Retributive Justice
The fourth of five hallelujah psalms, this one is half praise and half an intense call to action. To go from singing happy bedtime songs to God to “executing vengeance on nations” (as the English Standard Version says in verse 5 and 7) is kind of jarring. That said, an impractical lovey-dovey theology is worthless. Or, at the very least, very lacking in the face of the world’s depravity! I definitely rounded out the edges of the psalm, which you can argue deviates from the author’s intention, but I believe I capture the essence in a understandable way. Verse four is particularly beautiful though — it took me some time to think about what it means to “adorn the humble with salvation.”
Hallelujah! It’s time to sing songs to God together!
We should be thankful to our creator and our authority.
We should dance and play all sorts of instruments!
Why? Because Jesus doesn’t just see us, he enjoys our company! When we are teachable and acknowledge who he is (or at least some reverent attempt), he doesn’t just rescue us from stuff, he makes us better through the process!
People who wrestle with God should just take a moment, wherever they are at, and celebrate how epic and awesome and enormous and significant Jesus is!
We all should (in our own way) say “Wow!”. We all should (in our own way) embody and experience his fire.
And a large component of this is retributive justice, particularly against corrupt and violent groups of people.
Politicians and other members of the ruling class are not above the law! Hold them accountable to their actions. That means putting a lot of them in jail.
But bottom line, enforce the law on everyone, especially the elites. This will actually actually reward integrity in society. Hallelujah!
