Psalms of Victory

Something to always keep in mind about the Psalms is they are not spontaneous cries for help; they are intricate cries for help or praise. Not written for singular use but carefully crafted for typical human needs and worship.

Psalm 108 Form, Structure, and Setting Psalm 108 is an unusually structured communal lament. As an ancient musical mashup, it splices together parts of Psalms 57 and 60, both of which are laments. This combination of previously composed songs is comparable to 1 Chronicles 16, which details a worship celebration that used parts of Psalms 105; 96; and 106 in a new liturgical context. In its structure, Psalm 108 begins with praise in vv. 1–5[2–6], which is unusual for a lament. The psalmist’s petition is expressed in v. 6[7], and then a divine oracle is uttered in vv. 7–9[8–10]. The psalmist in v. 10[11] is joined by the people in v. 11[12], and together they state their complaint and make their petition to the Lord in v. 12[13]. The psalm concludes with their confession of trust in God (v. 13[14]). The divine oracle in vv. 7–9[8–10] seems to look back to a time during the united monarchy under David or Solomon. By contrast, vv. 10–11[11–12] may indicate a setting in the exilic or postexilic period, when Edom was a major threat to the people of Judah. Goldingay concludes cautiously, “While as usual we cannot be sure of the exact period it belongs to, the kind of period it implies is clear, one when people are aware that there are divine promises (specifically concerning their possession of the land and their relationship with surrounding peoples) that stand over their life yet are not fulfilled at present.”

Commentary 1. Praise (108:1–5[2–6]) A song. A psalm of David. 1 My heart is confident, God; I will sing; I will sing praises with the whole of my being. 2 Wake up, harp and lyre! I will wake up the dawn. 3 I will praise you, Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations. 4 For your faithful love is higher than the heavens, and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. 5 God, be exalted above the heavens, and let your glory be over the whole earth. 108:1[2] The praise that opens Psalm 108 is unusual for a lament psalm, but it is not unprecedented (see Psalms 44 and 89). Drawing from Ps 57:7–11[8–12], the psalmist addresses his praise to God, specified in v. 3[4] as Yahweh. His heart is confident (or secure, steadfast, determined, certain) in God (cf. Ps 112:7, with “trusting in the Lord”; the opposite is to be “unfaithful to his covenant” in Ps 78:37), and that causes the psalmist to sing wholeheartedly to him. Though the psalm will detail the distress he faces, his steadfastness of heart enables him to transcend his painful experience and to praise the Lord from the depths of his being. His emphatic affirmation, “I will sing” (a cohortative), is likely a performative speech act by which he actually sings in praise to the Lord rather than being a vow of future praise. 108:2[108:3] The psalmist has been living in the darkness of distress, but he envisions the dawn of God’s intervention. In the OT the dawn is often depicted as the time when God intervenes to deliver his people (cf. Exod 14:27; 2 Kgs 19:35; Ps 30:5[6]). The psalmist resolves to awaken the dawn, for he is eager to begin praising, even when it is still dark in his experience. 108:3[108:4] Usually a song of thanksgiving accompanied a thank offering at the temple, but the psalmist does not limit himself to that typical liturgical context. Instead, he is totally open and unashamed as he thanks the Lord publicly, reaching out beyond Israel to address the peoples and the nations of the earth (cf. Ps 117:1). He wants everybody to hear about what the Lord has done. He wants all the world to hear about the greatness and goodness of the Lord who has delivered him. 108:4[108:5] The conjunction kȋ (“for”) introduces the reason why the psalmist praises the Lord. It is the character of the Lord that enables the psalmist to praise him in the context of his crisis, because the Lord’s ḥesed (“faithful love”) and ʾĕmet (“faithfulness”) are beyond measure (cf. Exod 34:6; Ps 103:1). All of creation is touched by the Lord’s character that transcends even the heavens, so no one and nothing can thwart the Lord from accomplishing his good purposes on behalf of his people. 108:5[108:6] As he praises, the psalmist endeavors to direct the attention of the world to the God who towers over all of creation. With his kābôd (v. 1[2]) the psalmist by his words extols the glory (kābôd) of the Lord (cf. Exod 15:2; Ps 99:5, 9). The connection to his following petition in v. 6[7] suggests that the psalmist’s exaltation of the Lord includes his exercise of authority over all the earth. 2. Petition (108:6[7]) 6 Save with your right hand and answer me so that those you love may be rescued. 108:6[7] Unexpectedly, the psalmist shifts in v. 6[7] from praise to petition, as vv. 6–13[7–14] provide the backstory for the praise he has uttered in the initial section of the psalm. The psalmist regards himself as one who is loved (yādîd, cf. Deut 33:12; Pss 60:5[7]; 127:2) by God. He calls upon the Lord who loves him to answer his petition by delivering him from his distress (cf. Ps 118:5). The verb rendered as “rescued” is ḥālaṣ, which has the nuance of pulling out from a dangerous situation (cf. Prov 11:8–9). He himself is powerless, so he needs the Lord’s strong right hand to rescue him (cf. Exod 15:6, 12; Ps 118:15–16). 3. Divine Oracle (108:7–9[8–10]) 7 God has spoken in his sanctuary: “I will celebrate! I will divide up Shechem. I will apportion the Valley of Succoth. 8 Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine, and Ephraim is my helmet; Judah is my scepter. 9 Moab is my washbasin; I throw my sandal on Edom. I shout in triumph over Philistia.” 108:7[8] As he entreats the Lord (v. 6[7]), he remembers the Lord’s previous oath to allocate the land to Israel. By speaking in his sanctuary the Lord swears by his exalted status as the holy God as he makes an ironclad commitment (cf. Gen 22:16). With the exultant voice of the victorious divine warrior, the Lord divides the territory that he has gained by conquest. Hossfeld and Zenger note that the oracle in vv. 7–9[8–10] “evokes the image of a great king who, after his victory, redistributes the territory of his empire and assigns particular positions and functions to individual regions within it.” Shechem was a key city west of the Jordan, and Succoth was east of the Jordan, so these two sites taken together represent the territory controlled by David and Solomon during the golden days of the united monarchy. 108:8[9] Viewing the land more specifically, the region of Gilead in the east, the tribes of Manasseh in the north, Ephraim in the center, and Judah in the south all belong to the Lord. All of the tribes of Israel are his possession, and they serve his varied purposes, with Judah being the place where the Davidic king ruled as the royal representative of the Lord and wielded his scepter (cf. Gen 49:10). 108:9[10] God now turns from speaking about the people of Israel (vv. 7–8[8–9]) to talk about the foreign nations around Israel. Moab, Edom, and Philistia were long-term antagonists of the people of Israel, but these countries that made Israel miserable are all under God’s control. He regards Moab as his washbasin, an image of humiliation and servitude. Edom often appears in the prophetic books as a special target of divine judgment (cf. Isa 34:5–15). Under David and Solomon all three of these nations were subjugated, evidencing that they are no real threat to the people of the Lord. 4. Complaint (108:10–11[11–12]) 10 Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom? 11 God, haven’t you rejected us? God, you do not march out with our armies. 108:10[11] The recollection of the Lord’s past oracle in vv. 7–9[8–10] is an encouragement, but the present situation facing the people of Israel is threatening. At the present time Edom is a major obstacle, and its capital city Bozrah is fortified and too formidable for Israel. When Jerusalem fell in 586 BC to the Babylonians, the Edomites rejoiced and took advantage of Judah’s plight to enrich themselves (cf. Ps 137:7; Ezek 25:2; 35:5), and in the intertestamental period the province of Idumea became a long-term antagonist of the Jews. In v. 10[11] the psalmist asks rhetorically who would lead the nation in triumph over Edom at this difficult time. 108:11[108:12] In v. 11[12] either the psalmist speaks for the nation or the community joins with the psalmist in directing their questions to God. Their queries imply that God has spurned them, and likely that they are under divine judgment (cf. Pss 74:1; 77:7[8]; 88:14[15]). In leaving the Lord, Israel has left his protection (cf. 1 Chr 28:9). Consequently, it seems as though their divine warrior is sitting in his tent rather than leading them to victory on the battlefield (cf. Ps 44:9[10]). For victory, they will need to have God actively fighting for them (cf. 1 Sam 17:47). 5. Petition (108:12[13]) 12 Give us aid against the foe, for human help is worthless. 108:12[13] The people are well aware that the human resource of their armies is insufficient for their challenge (cf. Ps 20:7–8) and that they need God if they are to have hope for victory, so they call on God to help them against their adversary (cf. Ps 64:1). Although human allies may seem substantial, in reality they are ineffective (cf. Pss 118:8–9; 146:3); and to depend on human strength alone is to invite defeat, so they appeal for God to provide the aid and help they need. 6. Confession of Trust (108:13[14]) 13 With God we will perform valiantly; he will trample our foes. 108:13[14] In their final resounding declaration the people confess that their confidence is in God, not in themselves or in anyone else; and this confidence enables them to conclude the psalm on a note of hope that is reflected in the opening tone of praise in vv. 1–5[2–6]. They trust that God will answer their petition for aid in v. 12[13], as he leads them to victory in their present distress as he has in the past. God will provide the power for victory, but Israel will be involved in the battle as they perform valiantly empowered by God, as he tramples their foes in total triumph. Psalm 108 was a prayer that is answered convincingly by the Lord, because in Isa 63:1–6 he is portrayed as returning from trampling down Edom in battle. Theme In Psalm 108 the psalmist, joined by the people of Israel, calls upon God to exercise his sovereignty over the nations by once again delivering Israel from its adversary Edom; and they rejoice in confidence that he will answer their petition by leading them to victory. Intertextuality Psalm 108 is marked by its combination of Pss 57:7–11[8–12] and 60:5–12[7–14] into a new lament focused on the present distress facing Israel. Botha observes that “the lament part of Psalm 60 was removed and replaced by a declaration of confidence and hymnic praise from Ps 57, which subsequently assumed the quality of a song of praise in its new context at the beginning of Ps 108.” More broadly, it recalls the complaint in Psalm 44 that God has rejected his people and does not function as their divine warrior. There are no clear NT references to the psalm, although the psalm does anticipate the return of Jesus, who as the King of kings and the Lord of lords strikes down the nations in Rev 19:11–16. Theology Both the transcendence and the immanence of God are in view in Psalm 108. God is extolled for his faithful love and faithfulness (v. 4[5]), and his glory extends above the heavens and the earth (v. 5[6]). As the people appeal to God for his aid against Edom, they address him as the divine warrior who fights for and with them (vv. 10–13[11–14]). The God of Israel rules over all the nations, even the most formidable, so he is capable of delivering his people from any adversary they face. Response As the people of the Lord appropriate Psalm 108 in the dark times in their lives, they can find in it a pattern to awaken the dawn as the psalmist did (v. 2[3]). Like the psalmist, they need to thank God for his faithful love and faithfulness (v. 4[5]). They must realize that they are loved by the Lord and in that confidence call out to him to hear and help them (v. 6[7]). They can be encouraged by remembering the commitments God has made to them (vv. 7–9[8–10]. Admitting their own inadequacy (v. 12[13]), they must place their confidence in the Lord and trust him to provide for their need (v. 13[14]). Psal

Daniel J. Estes, Psalms 73–150, ed. E. Ray. Clendenen, vol. 13, New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2019), 323–330.

Daniel J. Estes, Psalms 73–150, ed. E. Ray. Clendenen, vol. 13, New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2019), 323.