Psalm 92 - trusting Yhwh enough to rest

Continuing through the Exodus psalms, Psalm 92 is a psalm rich with parallelism. Most verses are prime examples of synonymous parallelism, with the same idea repeated in each half of the verse except with different vocabulary. 

If you are reading through different translations you may notice that v3 has either two (NIV) or three (ESV) instruments. This goes back to a difference between the Hebrew and Greek versions of this psalm. The Hebrew says something like "upon the ten[-stringed instrument], and upon the lyre, and upon the melody with the harp." The Greek version however combines the first two, saying "on the ten-stringed lyre, with melody on the harp." The changes suggested in light of the Greek (see BHS) match a little more the style of the psalm, of having two matching stichs per verse and a matching number of words.

The Greek has also not repeated the opening phrase of v9, as that also breaks the pattern. There are very few translations brave enough (the NJB one notable exception) to delete "Yhwh" and the opening phrase to match the Greek:

Look how your enemies perish,

How all evil-doers are scattered. (NJB)

Most other translations follow the Hebrew by repeating the opening phrase and Yhwh: "Look how your enemies perish Yhwh, look how your enemies perish." One potential explanation could be that the repeated phrase is supposed to match the terse v8, 

8 you are exalted forever, Yhwh.

9a [but] look how your enemies perish, Yhwh.

If that were the intent I would expect an alternative for "Yhwh" such as "God" or the other alternate names for God in Psalm 91. I guess my default is to read it as is - which in this case would mean keeping the MT - but I'd need to think some more about exactly what to do.

The alternative of course is read v8 as belonging to 7c, which means suggesting vv7-8 are divided at the wrong point, with 7a-b belonging together, and 7c-8 making a good pair.

7a as the wicked bud like grass

7b and all doers of evil flourish

7c they shall be destroyed without end

8 but you are exalted forever, Yhwh.

There is a contrast between the two things that go on forever: the destruction of the wicked, yet the exaltation of Yhwh. I think this is a pretty good solution, but would also mean removing 9aa as dittography.

As far as reading this as an Exodus psalm, there are a few potential points of connection:

"Declaring in the morning your steadfast love

and your faithfulness in the night." (v2)

The Israelites were reminded of God's faithfulness and steadfast love in the morning and throughout the day by the smoke to lead them, and at night by the fire. He led them through the wilderness with a constant reminder of his presence. Furthermore, when they cried out for food, he answered that prayer with manna in the morning and quail in the evening. Despite their grumbling Yhwh remained their faithful provider.

"For look - your enemies will be destroyed,

All doers of evil shall be scattered." (v9, cf LXX)

At the beginning of the exodus, there were two instances where God scattered the enemies of his people. The first was in ch14, as the armies of Pharaoh were washed away in the Reed Sea. But the second time, which perhaps bears more similarities, was in chapter 17, as the Amalekites attacked Israel, seemingly out of nowhere, and were defeated in front of their eyes and ears (Ps 92:11). 

"The righteous like a palm shall flourish,

like a cedar in Lebanon shall they grow." (v13)

The psalm looks forward to a day when Israel will no longer be wandering the wilderness, but will be planted in a home, have time to mature and grow. The exodus was not just a "way out of" as the name suggests, but was importantly a "way to"--to get to the promised land and receive their inheritance.

"Declaring that Yhwh is upright, my rock,

and there is no iniquity in him." (v16)

While we are in the early chapters of Exodus (the teens), I can't help but think of the water provided for the people in chapter 17 as they grumbled at Horeb. Moses struck the rock, and Yhwh was again the bounteous provider for his unworthy people. They grumbled, and asked "Is Yhwh among us or not?", but Yhwh was faithful, patient, long-suffering, and gracious. 

For this reason, and coming back to the heading of the psalm, it is worth remembering that this is "A psalm. A song for the Sabbath day." (91:0) The reason Israel could have a Sabbath (Ex 20:9-11) is because Yhwh works. Throughout the psalm Yhwh is the one who is faithful and the provider, and indeed in v4-5 Yhwh is explicitly praised for "your deeds," for "what your hands have done," because "How great are your works, Yhwh!" We are reminded throughout the scriptures that people who do not entrust their own work to Yhwh can never rest. Their concern is for the work of their own hands, forgetting that the work that lasts, that is praiseworthy into eternity, is the work done by Yhwh.

A timeline of getting a book published

In a couple of months there should be a book by me on the structure of Ecclesiastes that you can buy. It will have the same title as my Masters thesis:

Seeing what Qohelet Saw: 

the structure of Ecclesiastes as alternating panels of observation and wisdom.

I was thinking about how to explain the process of going from zero book to book. In some ways it could go back to my undergrad B.Div (2008-2011) at Moore Theological College, and the foundation that gave me in critical thinking and biblical languages. But I remember before that hearing the book preached at church, and reading Barry Webb's Five Festal Garments, where he works through the megillot, including Ecclesiastes. I remember really enjoying it as my first biblical studies book.

Fast forward to 2016 where I preached through the book at church. As with every series, the first thing I needed to get clear was the structure, and realising (a) that no one agreed on a structure of the book, and (b) that I thought I had seen something no one else had identified, pursuing this for a MTh seemed like a thing to do.

My initial proposal looked nothing like what it ended up as; initially it was looking at the different genres present in Ecclesiastes as revealed by my structure (narrative, poetry, wisdom, the frame narrator) and allowing figures from the past to shape our reading of the book (Lacoque/Ricoeur, Alter, Kierkegaard, Aristotle). The thought was I'd quickly knock the structure out, and then spend more time doing thinking and interacting. It didn't take too long before the structure alone would be more than enough to keep me busy for three years.

Anyway, I applied, was accepted, and started pretty much straight away. I worked very sporadically on it for the first year and a half, which included my supervisor having his long service leave and sabbatical, with another supervisor taking over during that time. So after about a year's break we met again and then I realised I needed to crack on. Rather than occasional days here and there, I asked for and was assigned a desk at college, and spent a day per week getting it done.

Towards the end of the second year, there was a Fellowship of Biblical Studies conference, which I presented my findings at, in a "panel from hell" - a PhD student also presenting on structure, and another author who I'd read and disagreed with. I was a bit worried about how it would go, but in the end it was actually a great experience. The PhD student was actually focussed on another area in Ecclesiastes; structure was just a side project. And after we'd both presented it was fairly evident that he didn't have that much invested in that part of it. The other speaker was actually really nice in person (even though he can be quite acerbic in writing!), and was only encouraging.

It was during the conference that I was again asked to consider converting the Masters to a Doctorate (both supervisors had suggested as much), but after a chat with the USyd head of department (who was very keen), I did some thinking and decided I just didn't have that much left in the topic beyond the 40,000 words required, to double it to PhD length. So at that point I pretty much drove hard to the end, and submitted before the beginning of the 2019 academic year, mostly so that I wouldn't have to pay for a 6th semester!

I had two examiners. One loved it, but seemed to want a little more convincing. The other had pages of things to be fixed (90% because he was used to a different footnoting style; nothing substantial), but nonetheless was very positive about my conclusions. So that was all good - graduation next year!

The next question was what to do with it now. I asked my supervisor which journal to submit to, and he thought for a minute, and then said, "nah, I reckon you should do a book." His point was to cut a 40,000 word argument down to 8,000 or so for a journal would lose a lot. But it would be fine for a smaller book, and would be perfect for people trying to think seriously through the structure of Ecclesiastes.

With his commendation attached, I emailed two publishers in June, 2019. It probably took 8 weeks to get responses (late August). One (Bloomsbury, for their LHBSOT series) wanted PhD level or above, but Wipf & Stock were happy to get on board, I think mostly due to their different publishing model and ability to do small print runs which means they don't risk quite as much as some other publishers. As the author you have to bear some of the costs before it gets to print. There are a lot of surveys to fill out (with both of them), mostly with regards to marketing and potential endorsements. They're as much for me as for them, to ensure that I know what needs to happen if I ever want it to go somewhere.

As we speak (November 2019), the book has been copyedited, and is being typeset, after which I will have to go through the proofs and then it can be printed and hopefully come to a bookshelf and/or library near you. The day when I can actually hold my book in my hand still a ways off, but it's been mostly a good process (although the wait after submission is always stressful). It hasn't been cheap, costing me more than $10 a page, and I doubt I'll ever make that back, but if libraries pick it up then at least people will be able to use it and benefit from it.

Ultimately my prayer is that people who want to think through the structure of Ecclesiastes will find my book accessible and useful. I do hope they will agree with me, but at the very least I hope they see the possibilities in my structure, and might try reading Ecclesiastes afresh according to my structure.

Ecclesiastes is a difficult book to understand, but it need not be impenetrable due to a lack of structure. With my structure, it opens itself up in a new way, such that people can consider its contents and message afresh. Well, that's my hope at least. Stay tuned for the day when you can actually get your hands on it too!

Psalm 91 - Yhwh the protector

Exodus Context

There's lots going on in Psalm 91. It's the second of the Exodus psalms, and, seen from that perspective, could be said to describe the experience of living through the ten plagues (Ex 7-12). The emotion is that of living between the darkness of the experience but the hope of the promise. As such, after a summary introduction (91:1) this psalm is mostly the words of the faithful believer (91:2) encouraging their people (91:3-13) to believe in the promises of Yhwh (91:14-16).

Structural Fun

The psalm itself is quite intricate, with chiasms and gapping a plenty.

The first instance of chiasm is in the first verse: with an abcbca structure:

The one who dwells in the tent of the Most Highin the shadow of Shaddai shall lodge,

Similar structures can be found throughout the psalm, with an interesting one in v13, this time with a abccab structure:

Upon the lion and adder you shall tread,
you shall trample the cub and the serpent

91:15 provides a unique structure with two verbs, a SNC, and then two verbs again:

He will call to me
      and I will answer
           With him am I in distress
      I will protect him
and I will honour him

Gapping, or ellipsis, is where words are presented in one stich and inferred in another. The easiest examples come in vv5-6 and v7. V5 provides the verb: "(do not) fear", which is then implied in the following three stichs as follows:

5 Do not be afraid of terror at night
[do not be afraid] of the arrow which flies in the day
6 [do not be afraid] of the pestilence which comes in darkness
[do not be afraid] of destruction which devastates at noon.

Verse 7 similarly provides the verb in the first stich and then elides it in the second. There is perhaps even an antithetical chiasm going on, with people falling in 7a-b and the cause of their falling not approaching in 7c (I've left the English clunky to make the point.):

Should fall 1000 at your side,
[should fall] 10,000 on your right
To you it shall not approach.

Perhaps the most complicated verse is v9, which is hard to work out what is happening. It seems from the first stich that Yhwh is the addressee: "For you Yhwh are my refuge", with the verb "to be" implied. But the second stich is not addressing Yhwh but the one who has Yhwh as their refuge: "The Most High you have set as your shelter." I think Goldingay is probably correct here (in his BOTWP commentary) when he suggests, if I've got him right, that there is gapping from in both stichs which make sense only with reference to each other. 

When you have Yhwh [set] as “my refuge”
[when you have] the Most High set as your shelter

This solution makes most sense of the first-person suffix on "my refuge" in 9a; the alternative would be for 9a to be an interjection, which is possible, but unlikely. Rather, the כי־אתא from 9a is carried over into 9b, and the שמת in 9b is assumed by 9a.

The Name of God

It is also interesting that there are four terms for God in this psalm. 

1a, 9b עֶלְיוֹן (Elyon/Most High)
1b שַׁדַּי (Shaddai/Almighty)
2a, 9a יְהוָה (Yhwh)
2b אֱלֹהִים (God)

That there are four names/titles for God is in itself quite unique; the only other chapter in the Bible where all four terms occur is with Balaam in Numbers 24, where even a fifth, אֵל (the short version of אֱלֹהִים), is used. There is however an additional import of using these four titles in Psalm 91, as 14b-15a explain the importance of knowing God's name:

I will protect him/for he knows my name.
He will call to me/and I will answer

Only the one who knows the name(s!) of God may call to him, and that is certainly the case for the supplicant in this psalm. They know his name, will call to him, and can rely on him to answer.

Macro structure

In terms of the psalm as a whole, it could be that there is a concentric pattern encompassing and giving shape to the bulk of the psalm (91:3-13). On the margins, vv4-6 and 11-12 have more or less the same structure: God will deliver you, you will be safe, so you need not fear. At the centre vv7-8 and 10 declare that evil may befall others but not you, and the reason for this is the key verse, v9, echoing vv1-2, that Yhwh/Elyon is your dwelling place and refuge.

The psalm as a whole ends up looking something like this:

1-2 Claim: there is safety in Yhwh
      3-13 Encouragement: In the midst of trials Yhwh will protect the one who makes Yhwh their refuge
14-16 Response: Yhwh will protect those those call to him

The structure of the body (3-13) is perhaps an abcdedabc structure as follows:

a he will deliver you
       b you will be safe
             c so you need not fear
                   d others will fall but not you
                           e for Yhwh/Elyon is your dwelling place and refuge
                   d evil/plague won’t hit you
a he will deliver you
       b you will be safe
            c so you need not fear

In sum, this psalm is a great encouragement to put your trust in Yhwh as your protector and redeemer, to call out to him in hope and in faith, trusting that he hears and will answer - indeed he has heard and has answered - and will respond with long days and salvation, even if, as Jesus discovered, that comes on the other side of death.

The tumult of Psalm 124

Psalm 124 could in many ways be seen as the second half to Psalm 123.

123.1-2 Recognition of Yhwh
    123.3 Call for help
        123.4 Description of the danger
        124.1-5 What would've happened
    124.6-7 Response of rescue
124.8 Praise of the creator

But the psalm also tells a story on its own, and it does so through some clear repetition.

Verses 1-2 both begin with identical phrases, setting up an hypothetical negative, which is where Yhwh was not interested in Israel. The speaker is "us" - Israel - and the passage reuses the first-person plural ending a whopping twelve times in only eight verses.

Verses 3-5 then explain what would have happened, with each verse beginning with אזי - "then". It seems to use imagery from the escape from Egypt through the Reed Sea, where the anger of the Pharaoh forced them to flee through the waters, which would have otherwise have engulfed Israel, had Yhwh not protected them.

The last verses (6-8) form a little concentric structure with something of a chiasm in v7:

6a Blessed be Yhwh
    6b He did not give us as prey for their teeth:
        7a Our soul like a bird escaped the ensnarer's trap
        7b The trap is broken and we have escaped
8 Our help is in Yhwh

Here's v7 in Hebrew for those with eyes to see, with the same mark-ups as the English:

נַפְשֵׁנוּ כְּצִפּוֹר נִמְלְטָה מִפַּח יוֹקְשִׁים
הַפַּח נִשְׁבָּר וַאֲנַחְנוּ נִמְלָטְנוּ׃

In v7 the parallels are our soul/we, escaped/escaped, trap/trap, where two of the three are more-or-less exact parallels and the second part of the first (our soul/we) introduces an unnecessary pronoun to reinforce the parallelism.

There are some similarities to Psalm 114, as part of the Egyptian Hallel psalms there, which are used here to remind those pilgrims en route to Jerusalem of Yhwh's past faithfulness and the implication that the Yhwh who was for them then is certainly for them still.

Psalm 128 - A song of blessing

Continuing my walk through the psalms of ascent (see 127, 123, with others to follow), I was struck by how many times this short psalm focuses on blessing. There are three different lexemes which can all mean "blessing" at various places in the Bible depending on their context.

The first is אשׁרי (ashrei), in verses 1 and 2, but you would also know it as the first word of the psalter: blessed is the one who...

The second is טוב (tob), which just means "good", but can mean anything from a gift, prosperity, wellness, the best, etc. It's there in 128:2 (and goodness is yours) and also v5 (see the prosperity), where, in both cases, the word "blessing", understood as a gift from God, would fit just as well.

The third is the verb ברך (barak), to bless, which we know from its Arabic cognate in names like Barak and Mubarak. It's there as a passive in v4 (shall be blessed) and actively in v5 (Yhwh will bless).

Those are the formal blessings we see in this psalm, but there are also some images of blessing too.

Interestingly the first word of v3 is אשׁה (wife), so while we have v1 אשׁרי, v2 אשׁרי, then v3 אשׁתך (your wife). This similar sound leads us to the images of a family as a blessing (continuing the theme of Ps 127), with a wife like a fruitful vine inside the house, and children like shoots of olive trees around the table.

Finally the last verse also has an image which is well known as blessing (although cf Eccl 6!), the hope of seeing future descendants, with v6, see the children of your children!

With the formal language of blessing as well as the rich imagery of blessing, Psalm 128 in each verse points to Yhwh as the one who brings blessing to those who look to him (ראה) and fear him (ירא) and walk in his paths.

And as a psalm of ascent, where does that blessing come from? Although we already know it, v5 reminds us: Yhwh will bless from Zion.