Suffering king

Suffering king April 4, 2012

The “kings of the earth” who rebel against Yahweh are mentioned at the beginning of the Psalms, and Yahweh’s response is to install His own king on Zion (Psalm 2:2, 6). Then Yahweh’s king drops out of the picture for awhile. Yahweh is identified as King (Psalm 5:2; 10:16) but the Davidic king does not.

When the king reappears in Psalm 18:50, he’s in trouble, surrounded by enemies, and has to be rescued by Yahweh. Psalms 20-21 speak of the king and the Lord’s faithfulness in saving him. But then the Lord abandon him (Psalm 22), and the king disappears again for a time.

The long and short of it is that in the Psalms the Davidic king appears in the Psalter as a suffering king. Suffering is what Yahweh’s king does.


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