Peter Williams: The Pertinent Poetry of the Psalms

Peter Williams recently published an article entitled "The Pertinent Poetry of the Psalms" in Tyndale House's Ink journal. Here's an excerpt from some of this thoughts on Psalm 37:

"The key word, occurring 13 times in this Psalm, is 'wicked' or rāshāʿ (רָשָׁע), beginning with the letter R or resh (ר). As we read through the Psalm we come to verses 34–36, where 15 words in a row contain the letter resh, as seen highlighted below.

Here are the same words with underlining added to the ESV:

34 Wait for the LORD and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on bwhen the wicked are cut off. 35 I have seen a wicked, ruthless man, spreading himself like a green laurel tree. 36 But he passed away, and behold, he was no more; though I sought him, he could not be found. 

Although there are just 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, the likelihood that the letter resh (only the sixth of seventh most common letter) would randomly occur in 15 short words is low. Since Psalm 37 is an alphabetic Psalm we already know that the poet is thinking about the letters of the alphabet. Our suspicion that the use of resh is deliberate is confirmed when we look at the content. Beginning with the word 'keep' in verse 34, which can also mean 'watch', the addressee is invited to observe God's ways carefully. The attentive addressee can also observe that, from this point on, the letter resh is being used in each word. Verse 34 says 'you will look on when the wicked are cut off'. It sounds simple and positive; the wicked should be gone soon. But that's where verse 35 surprises us by taking a more negative turn as the Psalmist says 'I have seen a wicked, ruthless man, spreading himself like a green laurel tree.' The first word 'I have seen' begins with the letter resh and is prominent because it is the resh at the beginning of the verse which carries forward the alphabetic structure of the Psalm. We look at his vision and are dismayed to see that the wicked, who begin with the letter resh, are spreading like a green tree. Surely this should not be happening! The contrast is even greater because the Hebrew word order in verse 34 had made that verse end on the verb 'you will look on', which is the same word as begins verse 35 'I have seen'. The contrast between what was announced in verse 34 and the reality of verse 35 is stark.

Verse 36 resolves this tension with one Hebrew word: 'and he passed away'. The last letter of this word is the last resh we see till the end of the verse. The wicked man passes away and so does the letter which was connected with him. The verse continues: 'and behold he was no more' (no wicked and no letter resh) and then 'though I sought him (or it), he could not be found'. The thing that is true of the wicked is also true of the letter resh. This is how the language of the poem and the message of the poem go together. The whole Psalm is about not worrying when evildoers prosper. It says wait for God, even if the wicked seem to be doing well for a while. Like the letter resh, the wicked won’t last."