Here’s another post in my continuing series on our Psalms for All Seasons Sunday school class. (Previous posts focused on Psalm 121 and Psalm 122.)
The Revised Common Lectionary gives a choice of either Psalm 2 or 99 for Transfiguration Sunday during Year A. Neither psalm has many settings in CRC hymnals so we took up both of them in our Psalms for All Seasons class on Dec. 1.
The first two psalms set up themes that run throughout the Psalter. Psalm 1 is about the two paths of righteousness and wickedness and the consequences of choosing each path (“The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked is doomed”). Psalm 2 is about the Davidic king as God’s representative.
Psalm 2, which has four stanzas, was likely used in coronation ceremonies. The first stanza reports on the nations and their kings conspiring against the new Davidic king . (Royal succession would have been a dangerous time when plots were hatched against the new king and his nation.) The second stanza shows God’s perspective on their plans: he laughs at them with derision. The third stanza is spoken by the king: “I will tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to me, ‘You are my son; today I have begotten you.’” The fourth stanza is a warning to the kings of the earth to serve the LORD and his king.
These four parts are brought out clearly in “A Dramatized Reading” (PFAS #2B) of the psalm taken from Calvin Seerveld’s book Voicing God’s Psalms. The four stanzas are read by (1) “the wise cantor,” (2) “another liturgete, perhaps a priest,” (3) “princely ruler taking official part in the liturgy,” and (4) “wise cantor, again.” The final verse is read by the “congregated chorus.” The reading was well-liked by our class.
The responsorial setting for Psalm 2 in Psalms for All Seasons is “You Are My Son; This Day I have Begotten You” (PFAS #2D). That line is recommended to be sung for Transfiguration Sunday. The alternate text is “The LORD is King; with trembling bow in worship.”
PFAS has only two other song settings for Psalm 2: “Why Do the Nations Rage” (PFAS #2A) and “Why This Dark Conspiracy” (PFAS #2C/LUYH #214), which is the only Psalm 2 setting in Lift Up Your Hearts. “Why This Dark Conspiracy” has a confusing structure: A—B—choral line (X4)—B— choral line (X1).
The setting for Psalm 2 in both the 1957 & 1987 Psalter Hymnals is “Wherefore Do the Nations Rage” (PH87 #2/PH57 #3), which has lyrics from the 1912 Psalter (updated for the gray Psalter Hymnal). The tune (MONSEY CHAPEL) is more upbeat and easier to sing than the darker settings in PFAS; the lyrics also stay closer to the text of the psalm. (I don’t believe our class sang it though.)
Psalms for All Seasons also contains “A Litany for Responsible Exercise of Authority” (PFAS #2E) by John Witvliet that would be good for use in worship near an election. It calls for “all those in authority,” “rulers of the nations,” “our own elected officials,” and “all citizens” to “submit and take refuge in God.”
Psalm 99 is a hymn of praise to God’s righteous rule. Like much of Book 4 of the Psalms it looks back to Israel’s experience in the wilderness as evidence of God’s power and ability to keep his promises.
Marvin Tate (2000) sums up the implications of Psalm 99 thusly:
The monarchs of Israel are dead and their kingdoms are no more, fallen as all human kingdoms are destined to do, but the Great King above all gods reigns in power and glory, though the full measure of that glory is not yet perceived by the peoples of the world. Nevertheless, it is a time of trembling, of shouting, of singing, and proclaiming.
The Psalm 99 responsorial in Psalms for All Seasons is “The LORD is King; With Trembling Bow in Worship” (PFAS #99B).
The only hymn based on Psalm 99 in Psalms for All Seasons is “The LORD Is King, Enthroned In Might” (PFAS #99A/LUYH #726), which we liked better than any of the Psalm 2 settings. It’s set to the tune ELLACOMBE, which I recognize as the Palm Sunday hymn “Hosanna, Loud Hosanna” (LUYH #145), but which also appears three other times in Lift Up Your Hearts: “Fill Thou My Life, O LORD, My God” (LUYH #356); “For Freedom Christ Has Set Us Free” (LUYH #679); and a Psalm 33 setting, “Rejoice You Righteous in the Lord” (LUYH #22/PFAS #33B).
ELLACOMBE’s five appearances in LUYH put it in a three-way tie with CONSOLATION/MORNING SONG/KENTUCKY HARMONY (AKA “the tune so nice, they named it thrice”) and LASST UNS ERFREUEN (“All Creatures of our God and King”) as the most popular tunes in the new hymnal.
ELLACOMBE is also used in the 1957 Psalter Hymnal for one of the Psalm 99 settings (with lyrics from the 1912 Psalter), but the tune was changed to NONE BUT CHRIST (another upbeat tune) for the 1987 Psalter Hymnal and the title changed from “Jehovah Reigns in Majesty” to “The LORD God Reigns in Majesty” (PH87 #99/PH57 #194). The blue Psalter Hymnal also contains another Psalm 99 setting, “God Jehovah Reigns” (PH57 #193).
Our favorite song from the collection of Psalm 2 and Psalm 99 settings was “The LORD Is King, Enthroned In Might.” However, some class members thought that Psalm 2, with its explicit reference to Sonship, was more appropriate for Transfiguration Sunday. While Psalm 99 is a joyful celebration of God’s rule, Psalm 2 contains a dark current of opposition to this rule, make it appropriate for a holy day about both the revealing of Jesus’ glory and the road forward to the cross.