Most of us
think of prophecy as something coming in the future. So in our Bibles, Old Testament prophecies are
translated in the future tense. What
else could they be? But the writers of
the Hebrew Bible had a different view of prophecy than we do. When they wrote prophecy, they used a verb
form most often used for past events.*
Why would they do that? It seems that the most important thing about
prophecy for them was not that it was coming in the future, as we think of it,
but that it was something completed, fixed and finished in the mind of God—God
said it, and that finishes it—even though the fulfillment might be far in the
future.
This is not
only a fascinating insight into the Bible, but also into the mind of God. Since he is not bound by time (after all, he
created time), the past and the future must be just as immediate to him as the
present is for us. Future events really
are already completed from God’s point of view.
But while that’s amazing to think about, for translators it can create a
huge problem. How can they know whether
a verse or a section of the Bible is talking about something that already
happened or something coming in the future?
Usually it’s quite clear from the context. But there are some places where it’s not so
clear. Psalm 97 is one of those places.
Most modern versions
translate the events in Psalm 97 as past and present, with no hint that this
psalm says anything at all about the future.
But this is not how the New Testament understands this Psalm. Hebrews 1:6 quotes Psalm 97:7 as referring to
the future return of Messiah (“But when he again brings the firstborn into the
world, he says, ‘And let all the angels of God prostrate themselves [in
worship] before him’”). Hebrews
understands Psalm 97 to be referring to the return of Jesus (the “firstborn”)
into the world, i.e. the Second Coming. In
other words, Hebrews understands this psalm as a prophecy of things to
come.
It’s not
only the New Testament that understands Psalm 97 this way. The Septuagint (LXX, the old Greek translation
of the Old Testament, made before the time of Christ) translates a couple of
its verses with the future tense. So for
example, vs. 3 is translated, “Fire will go out before him and will burn up his
enemies round about” (Psa. 97:3 LXX).
This verse is understood to be talking about the coming judgment. Vs. 10 is translated, “…He will deliver them
from the hand of sinners” (Psa. 97:10 LXX).
This, too, is taken as referring to the coming judgment. So the Septuagint also understands this psalm,
at least in part, to be pointing to the prophetic future.*
* The
Septuagint only translates the Hebrew imperfect forms in Psalm 97 into the
future tense. The Hebrew perfect it
translates with the past tense, as do most modern versions.
But the few
verses put by the Septuagint into the future tense are not enough to bring out
the Messianic understanding of this psalm that we see in the book of
Hebrews. Clearly, New Testament
believers were taking much more of the psalm as future. So what happens if we translate even more of
this psalm into the future tense (understanding the Hebrew perfects here to be
prophetic)?
Psa. 97:3 Fire will go before him and will set his
enemies ablaze round about.
4 His lightnings will light up the world; the
earth will see and will writhe (in fear).
5 Mountains will melt like wax before the LORD,
before the Lord of all the earth.
6 The heavens will declare his righteousness,
and all the peoples will see his glory.
7 All those serving idols will be ashamed,
those glorying in worthless things. Prostrate
yourselves (in worship) before him…
This makes it
much clearer that these verses are talking about the Second Coming. The book of Revelation also talks about fire
preceding the return of Messiah (vs. 3; Rev. 8:5,7), with lightning and a huge
earthquake (vs. 4; Rev. 6:12, 8:5, 11:19, 16:18). Both Jesus (Matt. 24:29) and the book of
Revelation (6:12,13) mention the signs in the heavens. As it says vs. 6: “the heavens will declare his righteousness.”
This means
that the presence of the LORD, before whom the mountains will melt (vs. 5) and
whose “glory” will appear to all peoples (vs. 6), must be talking about the
Messiah. This is how the writer of
Hebrews surely understood it. The “him” of
vs. 7, which Hebrews says is the Messiah, refers back to the “LORD” in vs. 5,
who must therefore also be the Messiah. In
this way, Hebrews identifies the Messiah as God. This is the whole point of
Hebrews 1: to show that Messiah, since
he is God, is far greater than the angels.
This is certainly
how early Syriac Christians understood this Psalm. The Syriac heading to this Psalm is: “A psalm of David, in which he predicts the
advent of Christ (i.e. in the flesh), and through it his last appearing (i.e.
to judgment).” This may also be the
meaning of the Septuagint heading, “For David, when his land is
established.” The verb “is established”
is in the Greek present tense, which hints that this event will be in the future. The “David” referred to then must be the
Messiah.*
* David is a
common name for the Messiah in prophecy.
But who is
it that Psa. 97:7 tells to worship Jesus?
The Hebrew says, “Prostrate
yourselves before him, all you gods.” But
the Septuagint and the book of Hebrews translate this as “angels” rather than “gods.” Why? This
reflects the New Testament understanding that the gods of the pagan peoples (also
called “sons of God” in the Old Testament [bene HaElohim], Gen. 6:2,4;
Job 1:6, 2:1) are actually angels. This verse tells us that they will all be required to submit themselves to Jesus when he returns.
Since the book
of Hebrews understands Psalm 97 as referring to the future, that’s how we
should interpret it (and translate it), too:
as a prophecy of the coming of the Messiah.
(For more on this topic, see the index category Prophecy.)
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(For more on this topic, see the index category Prophecy.)
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