The Psalm sings to us from an ancient world steeped in Hermetic philosophy.

December 10, 2023

The Psalm sings to us from an ancient world steeped in Hermetic philosophy. First, all “that which is above” sings praise to the one God:

Praise the LORD.

Praise the LORD from the heavens;

Praise him in the heights above. – Ps 148:1 (REB)

All spirits and celestial elements begin to sing, voices rising upward through each sphere of the Ptolemaic cosmos: first the angelic host governing our sublunary realm, then the wandering planets nearest to mortals (sun and moon), ascending through the zodiac (stars and light), finally reaching beyond the very firmament of fixed stars beneath God's feet (all ye heavens, and ye waters that are above the heavens).

No silent, impartial sky, this. For the psalmist, life unites every layer of the visible universe under God and sets it all in blessed motion.

He established them for ever and ever by an ordinance which will never pass away. – Ps 148:6 (REB)

Then, since “that which is below is from that which is above,” all created forms on earth echo the celestial hymn:

Praise the LORD from the earth, you sea monsters and ocean depths…. – Ps 148:7 (REB)

It spreads down through the elemental worlds (fire, snow, wind) into mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms (mountains, cedars, cattle, fowls). All human institutions and cultures reflect this Wisdom (kings, peoples), and every individual regardless of status or gender (young, old, men, maidens, children). Simply by existing, every one and every thing silently sings to the Lord beyond the sky. Last of all, the “people close to him.” (148:14)

Advent comes in the darkness approaching the Winter solstice to remind us this union of Heaven and Earth is incomplete. What is must pass away before the marriage can be consummated.

I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had vanished, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband. – Rev. 21:1-2 (REB)

The very reality we cling to, “made fast for ever and ever,” is only a reflection of its final form. We await its birth with the coming of the Christ.