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.
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