The theme of restoration, which runs through the psalms for the first three Sundays of Advent, continues this week in Psalm 85. Once again it’s hard to determine the time and place of the creation of this song. The word “restore” shows up in verse 1 and verse 4 in two different tenses and modes. The first three verses look back to a time when God did restore His people, forgiving them, ceasing to be angry, and restoring their land. Yet the next verses are a call for another restoration, “Restore us again,” in verse 4.
So the psalm writer is looking back to a previous experience of God’s grace and restoration and asking for his people to experience that once again. Thus scholars guess a post-exilic context (after the Jewish people return from Babylon) when there has clearly been a restoration, but national prosperity and security remain unsettled. But it’s impossible to be sure.
The last section of the psalm, starting in verse 8, envisions what this second restoration will look like. One of the key elements is peace. “Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his people, to those who turn to him in their hearts.” Then we get the evocative image of the second part of verse 10, “righteousness and peace will kiss each other.”
Peace is God’s gift to those who are faithful and righteousness. Verses 10 and 11 are images of human response to God’s gifts of salvation. Our faithfulness springs up from the earth in verse 11, while God’s holy righteousness looks down with favor from heaven.
Yet our own righteousness in response to God is definitely in sight. The psalm ends in a verse which evokes the Gospel reading from Mark 1:1-8 about John the Baptist as the messenger Isaiah foretold who would go before the Lord to prepare His way. “Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps.” John called the people to prepare for Jesus by repentance and amending their lives toward righteousness.
The result is the gift of peace, beginning in peace with God. Verse 10’s images of love and faithfulness embracing, righteousness and peace kissing, indicate the divine and human reconciled, brought together in harmony, in peace. And from peace with God comes then the blessed gift of mundane peace, healing and harmony in our world.