Psalm Chapter 85 - A Psalm for the sons of Korah

Psalm 85: The Kiss of Mercy and Truth

This psalm contains what may be the most beautiful single image in all of Hebrew poetry: "Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other." Four virtues that seem, in our broken world, to pull in opposite directions — mercy wants to forgive while truth insists on honesty, righteousness demands justice while peace seeks reconciliation — and here they embrace like old friends reunited after a long separation. It is a picture of what the world looks like when God sets things right. But notice the context: the psalm begins in memory, recalling a time when God forgave and restored, then pivots to lament — "Wilt thou be angry with us for ever?" — before arriving at this vision of cosmic reunion. And then comes an image even more striking: "Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven." As if truth were a seed buried in the ground, waiting to crack through the soil, while righteousness leans over the balcony of heaven, watching for the first green shoot. The sons of Korah saw, centuries before the incarnation, that heaven and earth were straining toward each other. One day they would meet.

00:00 Remembering God's Favor
01:00 Mercy and Truth Embrace