Thankfully Delayed

How many are the days of Your servant? When will You execute judgment on those who persecute me?  Psalm 119:84  NASB

When – The great question of theology isn’t “Why is there evil?”  Yes, that’s a big one, but it’s resolution doesn’t really change our circumstances.  We live in a broken world no matter what.  The real question is “When?”  “When, O Lord, will You bring justice to this broken world?”  “When will You judge those who persecute us and dishonor Your name?” “When . . . when . . . when?”  That’s the real question—the personally affecting question.  And it’s been the truly human question since Genesis 4.

mātay writes the poet.  In this case, it does not appear with the preposition (ʿad mātay), a combination that accounts for nearly half of its occurrences.  TWOT notes, “Preponderantly, however, the word (or phrase) is used in a rhetorical question urging appropriate action by the addressee: (1) by God himself, I Sam 16:1; Ps 82:2; (2) by man addressed to God, Ps 6:3 [H 4]; 42:2 [H 3]; 74:10; 82:2; 90:13; 94:3; 101:2; 119:82, 84; (3) by man to his fellow man, Gen 30:30; I Kgs 18:21, inter alia. Comparable in the [New Testament] is the phrase heōs pote (Mt 17:17; Jn 10:24; Rev 6:10).”^[1]  The connection to the Greek phrase is important.  It helps us realize that the question has not gone away, even over the course of the thousand years between David and Yeshua.  It seems the same interrogative is still hanging around today.

What are we to say about this delayed response?  It takes only a moment’s reflection to connect with the poet’s exasperation.  David faced persecution.  His enemies sought to harm him even after he became king.  In fact, his own family turned against him.  Palace intrigue was a familiar menu.  We might not be kings or queens.  We might not live in a palace.  But we certainly know what it means to feel the furor and anger of opponents.  The question, “When,” doesn’t make much sense if we deserve such punishment, but when we know we don’t, then mātay is more than a rhetorical ejaculation.  It’s the ultimate expression of personal frustration.  It’s the summation of injustice.  Jump forward a thousand years or more and listen to those shouting in John’s apocalyptic revelation: “and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’” (Revelation 6:10).  Even at the end, the question remains.

Perhaps we should opt for the rabbinic response.  God delays His judgment in order that humanity has the maximum opportunity to repent.  That’s sobering—because it is also personally affecting.  I’m not sure I want God to respond to mātay with the answer, “Now!”  I’m not so confident that I could stand the inquisition.  In the end, mātay is inherently paradoxical.  As much as we wish for justice, if it should arrive on holy wings we might discover that we too are in peril.  Delay is a blessing, not a curse.  So, yes Lord, bring justice—but give me time to confess before You do.

Topical Index: mātay, when, heōs pote, how long, justice, Revelation 6:10, Psalm 119:84

^[1] Harris, R. L., Archer, G. L., Jr., & Waltke, B. K., eds. (1999). In Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 536). Moody Press.