Deus misereatur nostri

The propers for Holy Thursday (Missa Nos Autem) feature Psalm 67 as the introit psalm. This is not exactly the most obvious choice at first glance. But at deeper reflection, there are some very interesting aspects to this.

1 God be merciful to us and bless us,
And cause His face to shine upon us, Selah
____2 That Your way may be known on earth,
______Your salvation among all nations.
_________3 Let the peoples praise You, O God;
___________Let all the peoples praise You.
________________4 Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy!
_____________________For You shall judge the people righteously,
_________________And govern the nations on earth. Selah
__________5 Let the peoples praise You, O God;
____________Let all the peoples praise You.
______6 Then the earth shall yield her increase;
God, our own God, shall bless us.
7 God shall bless us,
And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.

The first verse of the Psalm is strikingly reminiscent of the Aaronic Benediction. But it is from the receptive point of view, which is interesting. The Aaronic Benediction is priestly in character and has interesting ties to the sacrificial cult. At the same time, it was given during the 40 years in the wilderness which ties it to the exodus and passover.

The Psalm itself forms a chiasm as I tried to show in the formatting (Eat your heart out Rev. Dr. Just). Verses 3 and 5 are identical and bracket verse 4 which speaks of Divine vindication and justification.

There are several references to the land (which NKJV renders "earth"). This Psalm really strikes me as a psalm of pilgrimage. That pilgrimage is ultimately fulfilled in the Body of Christ. ("Land" is simply the place were a people dwell, as Christians we dwell in Christ.

In the Chiasm, verse 2 is parallel to 6a "Then the earth (eretz) shall yield her increase;" (I don't know if I agree with the future tense of this translation--I'll have to give this some thought). But now consider verse 6a with Ezekiel 34:

23 I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them—My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 And I, the LORD, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken. 25 “I will make a covenant of peace with them, and cause wild beasts to cease from the land; and they will dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. 26 I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing. 27 Then the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase. They shall be safe in their land; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them.

Interesting, eh? If the Land is Jesus, the harvest yielded is His Body and Blood.

Of course, the idiot (let the reader understand) who lengthened the introits for LSB left this verse out and it's the best one. Argh! Why am I so stupid!

Well, tonight my friends, we enter into our promised Land, the pilgrimage is over. This is why our Lord washes the disciples' feet. You don't wash your feet in the midst of a pilgrimage, but only after you have arrived.

I wish I had more time to explore all this. There is a lot here.