Canter Bridge

Distance is not always what it seems.

The psalms have in common with the book of Isaiah a penchant for inverting the normal correspondences of distance and proximity. Employing the overlap between spatial and moral concepts of height, these voices of the biblical anthology claim that YHWH in his supreme elevation is paradoxically closer to those who are spiritually low than to those who exalt themselves.

For though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly;
but the haughty he perceives from far away. (Psalm 138:6 NRSV)

Pride consists in taking oneself high, near—one might suppose—to God. The psalmist will have nothing of the calculus that equates self-elevation (our English translations go for moral connotations via words like ‘haughtiness’, but the Hebrew text will not abandon the concrete notion of height or altitude) with achievement.

Do you want to be near to YHWH, the writer appears to ask his reader? Do you crave access to the Most High?

Then stay low. YHWH—very high—hangs with the humble.