02_VanWieringen_179_197 15/07/14 12:15 Pagina 193 PSALM 65 193 In the conceptual world of the ancient Near East, a temple is al- ways connected to life-giving water 25. Within the Psalter, this stand- ard idiom is most explicitly present in Psalm 46: “our God is like a firm stronghold in Jerusalem, in which a river gladdens the city” (v. 4). When, in the Book of Ezekiel, the new temple is constructed in chapters 40–42, and the altar is consecrated and the priests and Levites are able to perform their liturgical tasks once again, in chap- ter 47, a stream of water flows out of the sanctuary, which revives the entire region, even the once barren Arabah, with water for trees which will ensure a rich harvest every month 26. This combination of temple and water can be found in Psalm 65 as well. The “courts”, the “house” and the “temple” are used as de- sirable locations in verse 5, whereas the ‘water’ is present in the “canal of God”, the temple river, in verse 10. Elsewhere in the prophetic literature, the end of the exile is de- scribed by using words which occur in Psalm 65 as well. The image of the “sprout” (v. 11) is used in Isa 4,2 to indicate the remnant of Israel. In Isa 61,11, the word “sprout” is used again to describe God’s liberating activity of redemption from the exile: just as the sprout is brought forth by the earth, so does God redeem. The verb “to drip” (verses 12-13) occurs in prophecies as well as in descriptions of the end of the exile. In Isa 45,8 a shower from the heavens, God’s abode, is combined with words denoting vege- tation: the earth will bear the fruit of salvation and righteousness will sprout. What communication arises in Psalm 65(64) from this prophetic perspective in the Vulgate? The “I”-character becomes a prophetic “I”-character, in which Jeremiah and Ezekiel, the prophets men- tioned in the heading, converge. The “I”-character experiences the exile, both the beginning and the end, and, therefore, has gone through it in its entirety. As a consequence, the “we” that arises consists of the people of God and its prophets. Against this background, the expression “our transgressions” in verse 4 refers to the wicked behaviour which caused the decline and destruction of Jerusalem and its temple and, consequently, the deportation into exile. The nations in verse 8 refer to the foreign 25 Cf. KEEL, Bildsymbolik, 122. 26 Cf. also Revelation 21–22.