There are # participants/characters in Psalm 37:
Profile List
| David/Psalmist
|
| Concerned individual
|
| YHWH
|
| "the Lord" (v. 13)
|
| "the righteous person's God" (v. 31)
|
| "the fortress of the righteous" (v. 39)
|
| Wicked
|
| "those who act wickedly" (vv. 1, 9)
|
| "those who do wrong" (v. 1)
|
| "someone who makes his way successful" (v. 7)
|
| "a person carrying out schemes" (v. 7)
|
| "the wicked (person)" [singular] (vv. 10, 12, 21, 32, 35)
|
| "the wicked" [plural] (vv. 14, 16-17, 20, 28B, 34, 38, 40)
|
| "YHWH's enemies" (v. 20)
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| "those cursed by YHWH" (v. 22)
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| "wrong-doers" (v. 28B)
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| "those who rebel" (v. 38)
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| Children of the wicked (v. 28b)
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| Righteous people
|
| "those who hope in YHWH" (v. 9)
|
| "the humble" (v. 11)
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| "the righteous (person)" [singular] (vv. 12, 16, 21, 25, 30, 32)
|
| "the righteous" [plural] (vv. 17, 29, 39)
|
| "one who is afflicted and poor" (v. 14)
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| "those whose conduct is upright" (v. 14)
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| "the blameless" (v. 18)
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| "those blessed by YHWH" (v. 22)
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| "person" in whose way YHWH delights (v. 23)
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| "YHWH's loyal ones" (v. 28a)
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| "blameless one" (v. 37)
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| "upright one" (v. 37)
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| Children of the righteous (vv. 25-26)
|
Profile Notes
- The psalmist, identified in the superscription as "David" (v. 1), speaks throughout this psalm. At two points in the psalm he speaks in the first person and gives personal anecdotes (vv. 25, 35-36). The speaker is, apparently, an old man (v. 25) who has "seen it all" (note the verb רָאִיתִי in vv. 25, 35) and gives wisdom based on his experience.
- The concerned individual to whom the many second person singular forms refer (vv. 1-10, 27, 34, 37) is never explicitly described in the psalm. Nevertheless, based on the instruction given to him we can infer that this (idealized, hypothetical) addressee is a relatively young person (without the same lived experience as the speaker) who is deeply troubled by the apparent success of the wicked (see esp. vv. 1, 7-8, 10). We might imagine someone with the same attitude as that which Malachi describes: "You have said, 'It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape'" (Mal 3:14-15, ESV; cf. Ps 73).
- The righteous, according to Ps 37, are those who put their hope in YHWH (v. 9), i.e., who have sought shelter in him (v. 40). They have internalized YHWH's instruction (cf. v. 31), and so they live in a way that is blameless (v. 18) and upright (v. 14). Because living according to YHWH's instruction means being generous (cf. vv. 21, 26) and not joining the wicked in their quest for unjust gain, the righteous often become, in material terms, "afflicted and poor" (v. 14; cf. Ruiz 2009, 182-186). Even so, YHWH provides for them so that they always have enough (cf. v. 19).
- Also in view, at least peripherally, are the children of the righteous (vv. 25-26) and the children of the wicked (v. 28B, cf. v. 38b). Long life in the land implies descendants. For the righteous to possess the land and reside on it "forever" (v. 29, cf. v. 27), therefore, implies that they will have children and that their children will possess the land. Similarly, the utter destruction of the wicked and their removal from the land implies the cessation of their family line.