Psalm 8:2b

"that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger."

This is a strange verse to me. The a part to the verse seems to make clear that the enemy being spoken of is the enemy of God. No one specific, just those who oppose him. Fair enough. And the psalmist praises God for "still"ing the enemy. Fine. Even were we to think that the enemy were the enemy of the psalmist, that would still make sense. But "still...the avenger"? That doesn't seem right somehow. Wouldn't the avenger in his case (whichever way we see the "enemy") be God himself?

And, even that would be fine. After all, once God has put down the rebellion and vanquished the enemy, He would be still, no? But that part isn't mentioned in the poem. (There is reference to words of power coming from the mouths of babes and sucklings, but no swift retribution that I can see.)

The fact that he has to still himself seems to suggest a God with a divided mind, one where he needs to restrain himself from carrying out an impulse. Perhaps this was the poet's conception of God. Obviously many of the OT writers anthropomorphized God, giving him qualities that the strict theologian might have trouble attributing to a perfect God. That's all well and good.

But how if we see it another way? Perhaps the avenger being stilled is not God at all. Instead, say it were a person (hard to imagine) who decided to take the cause of protecting God from enemies onto his or her self. Kill the infidel!! kind of thing. Perhaps that is the person God would restrain. Perhaps God is pointing out here that He is big enough to fight His own battles. He doesn't need us to go a-slaughtering in His name.

Imagine that.