Annotations for Psalms

Annotations for Psalms

Annotations for Psalms

Some of the earliest examples of sacred music, from Sumer (third millennium BC), are recorded with notations for musical accompaniment. Some songs contain instructions concerning the ritual actions that accompany the performance. Similarly, the text of a song with musical notation from the site of Ugarit (c. 1300 BC) contains a colophon (scribal conclusion) naming the type of song and the scribe’s name. It is no surprise, then, that titles would accompany Biblical psalms. Unfortunately, many of the terms in the psalm titles are no longer clearly understood.

The custom of attaching a title to songs in Israel is illustrated in ; ; , . This last example is particularly interesting in that it includes an introductory title as well as a conclusion. In the Psalter, all information was eventually placed at the beginning. Regardless of our ability to discern the meaning of the technical terms in the titles, they complemented the indications of authorship for grouping the psalms together in the final form of the Psalter. ◆

Oldest known music notation, Babylonian, 2000 to 1700 BC.

The Schøyen Collection, Oslo and London, MS 5105, www.schoyencollection.com

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a tree planted by streams. In lands without abundant rainfall, vegetation flourished only where there were natural streams or man-made canals. Along the Nile River in Egypt and the two rivers of Mesopotamia, the fertile soils produced abundantly. Trees in particular were planted closest to the bank, where their roots could reach the supply of water. Paintings from Egypt depict thriving palms beside the river.

assembly of the righteous. The “assembly” is a formal judicial body, just as the assembly of the sons of El was in the Ugaritic texts. This phrase is similar to an idea in , where God functions in relation to a judicial council as cases are decided. In the heavenly realm, there was a divine council that served this function (see the article “

the way of the righteous . . . the way of the wicked. Ancient Near Eastern wisdom maintained that in life there are two destinies for people: Those who live according to the will of the gods experience a long and fruitful life, but those who live as though there is no god come to an early end. shares in the general truth of this wisdom tradition. See the article “

Changes in kingship created political instability. When a change in kingship occurred in a powerful nation, the rulers of lesser nations under its control might take the opportunity to rebel against their new overlord. Frequently, they formed an alliance to rebel together. The Assyrian king Sennacherib, e.g., faced rebellions after his accession to the throne, including an alliance involving Hezekiah, king of Judah, and Marduk-Baladan of Babylonia. In another case, Esarhaddon forced vassal kings to swear allegiance to his son, Ashurbanipal, and promise not to rebel when Ashurbanipal succeeded him.

celebrates the coronation of a new king in Israel. It warns all the kings of the earth, who ideally are subordinate to Yahweh’s king in Israel, not to rebel against him. If such action is folly when plotted against a king such as Sennacherib, how much more foolish is rebellion against the king of David’s line who represents the God of all the earth? The poetic style of asking rhetorical questions (v. ) and citing the words of vassal kings who are wavering on the brink of rebellion (v. ) is an important theme in Assyrian prophetic oracles that support the Assyrian king’s rule over his vassals.

his anointed. See note on .

the LORD’s decree. From earliest times in Mesopotamia, it was believed that the gods determined where and upon whom kingship would be placed. King Hammurapi of Babylon (c. 1750 BC) claimed that his kingship came from the council of the gods, and in one inscription he states that the god Shamash granted to him kingship and decreed his supremacy. Egyptian kings likewise received divine proclamation of their status, and some scholars have suggested that the “decree” in refers to a divine proclamation of privileges and duties similar to Egyptian coronations (see note on ). Perhaps closer in comparison is the covenant relationship set up between Assyrian kings and their gods. One of the Hebrew terms used for a royal covenant (edut in ; ; note another word for covenant, berit, in ) is related to the Assyrian word for the covenant between the Assyrian king and the gods (adu; see also ). Since the Hebrew word for “decree” in v.  is also associated with this covenant term in (cf. ), the idea of a royal covenant is probably in the background to . In terms of both theme and structure, is similar to one Assyrian prophetic oracle in particular that affirms the sonship and world dominion of the king. You are my son. A parent-child relationship between the gods and the king was common imagery in the ancient world. Such imagery supported the authority of the king and portrayed his role as mediator between the divine realm and the world in which he was to maintain order (for “messianic” expectations in the ancient Near East, see note on ). In Egypt and for a few kings in early Mesopotamia, this relationship was portrayed in terms of a semidivine king. The Egyptian king manifested divinity in his human form in the embodiment of a deified office, and the physical conception of the king might be associated with the seed of a god. In a coronation inscription of Horemheb, the god Amun-Re identifies the king as his son, his heir, and even one who came from his body. Although the king in Mesopotamia was figuratively portrayed as being born, nurtured and nursed by goddesses, the metaphor of relationship was understood in terms of election and decree to kingship. The Assyrian king Esarhaddon is told that the goddess Ishtar is both his father and his mother. In similar fashion, Ashurbanipal declares that he was raised by his goddess, who gave him kingship and ordained eternal life for him. But Assyrian kings were never described with divine titles or worshiped as in Egypt. Kings in David’s genealogical line also held their kingship by divine adoption, celebrated on the coronation day in . The adoption metaphor in Israel was rooted in the special covenant relationship between Yahweh and the Davidic kings, which used terminology similar to that found in other ancient Near Eastern treaties (cf. , ; ). The great king was designated as “father,” and the vassal king was his “son.” In this way of thinking, the Davidic king was the “son” of the great King, Yahweh, who was the “father” (see note on ). All of this, and much other evidence that will be seen throughout the notes, demonstrates that the Israelites thought about kingship in many of the same ways that their neighbors did, and that they used the same rhetoric when talking about kingship. This places Israel firmly within the conceptual world of the ancient Near East. Even though Yahweh is revealing himself as distinct from the other gods, that revelation is configured in terms familiar to anyone in the ancient Near East.

break them with a rod of iron. See . Defeating enemies with a scepter, originally a club-like weapon of war, was a common image for ancient Near Eastern kings. dash them to pieces like pottery. Egyptian kings attempted to extend control over foreign kings beyond their normal sphere of military control by inscribing their names with curses on pottery jars and then smashing the jars as an invocation of curse. This exact ritual is unknown in Israel, but the breaking of earthen pottery as a symbol of destroying enemies was understood across the ancient Near East. That said, the metaphor is sufficiently facile and transparent.

Assyrian panel depicts archers with shields. See note on .

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shield. There is evidence for two basic types of shields used in the ancient Near East. (1) A large, body-length shield protected the entire body, but mobility was sacrificed. It was most suitable for infantry equipped with spears, approaching a fortress or units assigned to protect archers. (2) A round or torso-length shield was more common for infantry engaged in hand to hand combat with swords or spears. The materials were wicker or wood, and leather sometimes served as a cover. Because helmets and body armor were more difficult and expensive to make, the shield was the typical means of defense in combat, so it lends itself to common use as a metaphor of personal protection. Assyrian prophetic oracles (c. 680 BC) would use the image of a shield, along with other military metaphors, to assure the king of the deity’s promise of protection. lifts my head. See note on .

holy mountain. See note on .

people. The same Hebrew word is translated “highborn” in (see note there).

light of your face. This is probably a metaphor of the sun, the radiance of which was associated with light and warmth (see notes on , , ; ). There are several parallels to this imagery in ancient Near Eastern texts. In a letter from Ugarit, a man assures his mother of the king’s favor upon him asserting that the face of the king shone on him

house . . . temple. The temple was viewed as God’s residence, a visible manifestation of his presence on earth (see note on ; see also the article “Hymn to Holy Cities”). Consequently, it was reasonable for an ancient Israelite to look, either physically or figuratively, “toward” Jerusalem and its temple in order to seek the Lord. The underlying premise was that the temple was God’s base of operations; therefore, help would come from it.

Ketef Hinnom tombs dated to the seventh to sixth century BC. The roof of the tomb has been quarried away, but the slabs where multiple bodies were laid can be seen. It was a common practice in Israel to use natural or rock-cut caves as tombs (see note on ).

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open grave. Embalming was not practiced in Israel as it was in Egypt, so signs of bodily decay commenced within days of death, and burial was immediate, even for criminals (). Natural or rock-cut caves were used as tombs (; ). If circumstances dictated, earthen graves were also used, which was probably the custom for the common people (, ; ; ). Sometimes the body was left permanently at rest. In other instances, after decomposition of the body, the bones were moved to a central repository in the tomb, and the bench upon which the body was originally laid could be reused. Except for the temporary offset from burial spices, the odor of decomposition was potent, and an open grave is a graphic image of the “rot” issuing forth from the mouth (vocal cords and tongue) of the wicked.

discipline me in your wrath. When the worshiper senses that perhaps something is amiss in his or her relationship with God, the possibility of divine discipline enters the mind. A similar question plagued worshipers in Mesopotamia, illustrated in a prayer to the god Nabu, who is recognized as disciplining the worshiper who requests his favor.

how long? This is the natural outcry of one who is suffering, and it finds expression in Mesopotamian laments as well. A Sumerian worshiper whose body is racked with illness complains to his god: “How long will you not care for me, will you not look after me?” In a prayer to the god Nabu, another Mesopotamian worshiper who is ill cries: “How long, a whole year, must I keep on waiting.” These are good examples of how the rhetoric of the psalmists is similar to that of Babylonian or Canaanite psalmists. This does not mean that one tradition is borrowing language from another; it is merely indicative that common literary traditions prevailed across the ancient world.

Who praises you from the grave? See note on .

flood my bed with weeping. The poetical metaphor of crying on one’s bed is also found in Ugaritic literature: “His tears are poured forth like shekels upon the ground, like pieces-of-five upon the bed.” bed. Beds in ancient Israel were most likely like those represented iconographically in the Near East. They were in essence reclining couches and high beds. The poor probably slept on flat mats on the floor, while the average person used a cot.

if I have done this. In some psalms, the psalmist is aware that sin has resulted in divine discipline (e.g., ; ; ); however, frequently this is not the case, and the psalmist, like Job, protests his or her innocence. Declaration of innocence by one who is suffering is also a feature of Mesopotamian thought. While some texts preserving lament seem to presume guilt on the part of the worshiper, even if unknown, others complain that the worshiper is innocent.

probes minds and hearts. See note on .

flaming arrows. The OT never uses the Hebrew word for arrows to describe the flaming arrows used by human armies (see where it is “firebrands” in Hebrew). In Akkadian, there are a few references to the use of flaming arrows that kings rain down on the enemy. These arrows were presumably dipped in a type of oil or pitch and set on fire before shooting them. When Yahweh is said to shoot arrows, they are usually considered to be bolts of lightning (see and its parallel passage in ). Lightning would fit well with the concept of flaming arrows in that it is sometimes just called fire. In the divine warrior motif, the deity is fighting the battles and defeating the deities of the enemy (see the article “

your glory in the heavens. In Egyptian cosmology, the sky-goddess Nut was pictured arching over the earth, bearing the stars and heavenly lights on her body (see the

stars . . . set in place. In Akkadian literature, the various levels of heaven are made of various types of stone. The lower heavens were considered to be made of jasper, upon which Marduk, the chief god of Babylon, was reported to have drawn (etched) the constellations. The verb “set in place” is used when pictures or reliefs are being made. In Enuma Elish, Marduk draws the boundary lines for the year in the heavens. This refers to his setting the courses of the stars. The second half of v.  indicates that this psalm also has the heavenly bodies in mind. God elsewhere inscribes with his finger (; ), but fingers can also be used parallel to hands with regard to handiwork ().

what is mankind . . . ? The dignity of human beings is stressed in this passage in a way unparalleled in the ancient Near East. According to Mesopotamian sources, men and women were created to relieve the workload on the lesser gods who were forced to cultivate land in order to feed the gods (see note on ). When the growing human population became too noisy, the gods thought to extinguish human existence through the great flood. As a result of the flood, food offerings to the gods were no longer forthcoming. Only then did the gods find that humans were nonexpendable after all. Although humanity survived the flood, the gods decreed certain afflictions to keep the population from ever growing out of control again. According to , far from being expendable slaves to the gods, human beings are the special objects of the Creator’s care in the vast universe.

angels. This Hebrew word (elohim) can also be translated “God.” Here it may refer to the entire class of those who inhabit the heavenly realm, also called the council of “divine beings,” which would include both God and those creatures commonly called “angels” (see notes on ; ; ; ; see also the article “

you put everything under their feet. God created humankind as guardians of creation. The concept of guardianship is illustrated by an inscription of a certain Azatiwata, who in about 700 BC was appointed by a greater king to rule over a district of what is modern Turkey. Azatiwata claims that he brought all things under his guardianship in peaceful and prosperous order: “I placed them under my feet.”

The categories of the animal kingdom over which humanity is charged finds a partial parallel in the Egyptian Great Hymn to Aten, who made “All peoples, herds and flocks; / All upon the earth that walk on legs, / All on high that fly on wings.”

I will give thanks. The first Hebrew letter of this psalm is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, beginning an “acrostic” (see the article “

reigns forever. For this phrase as well as its parallel in v.  (“enthroned in Zion”), see notes on ; .

he who avenges blood. See note on .

gates of death. See the articles “

Strike them with terror. The dread of a deity as a divine warrior was often believed to precede a powerful, successful army into battle. Egyptian and Assyrian texts and reliefs portray the god as a winged disk terrifying the enemy before the arrival of their own armies. Egyptian texts attribute this terror to Amun-Re in the inscriptions of Thutmose III; Hittite, Assyrian and Babylonian texts all have their divine warriors who strike terror into the hearts of the enemy. The concept of deity having an awesome, unapproachable appearance was not limited to Israelite theology, for in Mesopotamia the gods displayed their power through their melammu, their divine brilliance. The splendor or “glory” of God overwhelms the enemy. In the face of such divine magnificence, both the gods and the forces of other nations are utterly defeated and forced to submit to the supreme deity.

Why . . . ? This word begins with the Hebrew letter lamed, which continues the acrostic alphabet from , uniting the two psalms thematically (see the article “

villages. Most Israelites lived in unwalled villages clustered close to larger walled cities (“surrounding villages” is lit. the “daughter” of the city; cf. ). A walled city served as a place of refuge during times of war, provided a central market for villagers to buy and sell goods and produce, and offered important social services such as judicial resources. While traveling to and from cities and fields, people were exposed to danger from robbers lurking among rocks or trees, especially in the more rugged hill country and at night when returning from the fields.

King for ever. See notes on ; .

Bird hunter from Palace of Sargon II at Khorsabad, c. 725 BC. “Flee like a bird to your mountain. For look, the wicked bend their bows” ().

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bend their bows. Lit. “step on the bow.” In order to string a bow, a warrior or hunter would step on the midsection in order to draw the ends of the bow close enough to place the string. A psalmist might mention weapons in contexts alluding to a physical threat to life (cf. ; ); however, weapons might also be used as metaphors for a serious threat to one’s legal, economic or social well-being (; ).

foundations. This particular Hebrew word appears only here in the sense of social order, but the concept is found elsewhere in the OT (see note on ). In ancient Egypt, the concept of maat (see note on ) referred to the moral and social order of the universe, which was closely linked to the stable and effective rule of the king. Sumerians (third millennium BC) believed that political and social order was established by the gods, who issued decrees concerning civilization to establish controls called “mes.” Control of the mes was a matter of divine management. In the city laments (see the article “

fiery coals and burning sulfur. In Akkadian texts, sulfur burned on coals is described as a fumigating agent. The gods Ea and Enlil send down sulfur as a purifier that counteracts witchcraft. In those texts, unlike here, it is not found as part of the divine warrior’s arsenal for the judging of enemies. The terms here are reminiscent, though not identical, to those used in the account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (; see ).

see his face. Seeing the face of a judge or a god was a metaphor in Mesopotamia and was equivalent to being on their “good side,” because it refers to gaining access to their presence. It usually refers to a supplicant or plaintiff gaining an audience with a judge. If a judge or a god turned his face toward you, you were looked upon with favor.

crucible. This Hebrew term is found only here in the Bible. Because of the mention of silver, the context implies that what is described may be a clay crucible used for smelting purposes (see note on ). Crucibles appear in Egyptian wall paintings, and clay exemplars have been found by archaeologists. refined seven times. Silver often went through the refining process several times to remove all the dross. The imagery here is that if one was purified seven times (the number of completion in Hebrew), he was then completely purified.

How long . . . ? See note on . hide your face. Opposite of showing one’s face (cf. ; see note there), hiding one’s face is a way of showing displeasure or indifference by turning away the face. This is probably a common metaphor from human experience, and is therefore unsurprisingly found also in other literature of the ancient world. In the Mesopotamian “Poem of the Righteous Sufferer,” the worshiper cries, “I called to my god, he did not show his face.” Perhaps more heartrending is the Assyrian elegy in memory of a woman who died in child birth: “I prayed to Belet-ili . . . she veiled her face.”

All have turned away. This universal observation did not escape the sensitive heart in Mesopotamia. In an Old Babylonian (c. 1800 BC) prayer for forgiveness, the penitent asks whether any humans are not guilty of sin. This refers to a universal experience of offending God at some point or another. In the larger ancient world, the gods had not revealed themselves, and religious obligation took a ritual form. It was easy to believe that ritual offenses occurred all the time. For Israelites, though ritual offenses could occur, God had revealed his law, and they were more intimately familiar with the sorts of behavior that could offend God. Though they had developed no doctrine of being party to the sin of Adam and Eve, they understood that no one could keep the law perfectly.

Zion. The name for the mount on which God’s temple was built in Jerusalem; it represents the center of God’s rule (see note on ).

who may dwell in your sacred tent? Because the space surrounding God’s temple was sacred, it required that anyone entering be ceremonially clean and sanctified by the offering of appropriate sacrifices (; ). This concerned ritual purity, but in the spirit of worship, those approaching God’s presence in the temple were also expected to have exercised obedience to God’s instructions for living. The sacredness of temples in the ancient Near East was “guarded” by architectural features such as statues of cherubim (see note on ), sphinxes or protective lions. An inscription on a guardian lion at a temple in Assyria identifies the statue as being capable of driving away evil and bringing good. Priests also had the duty to screen would-be worshipers, and perhaps the question and answer format in preserves an entrance liturgy. sacred tent . . . holy mountain. See note on .

libations of blood. Other usage in the OT indicates that a libation is a drink offering of wine (; ; ) or beer (perhaps brandy, ). There are no parallels to libations of blood in ancient Near Eastern texts, so the practice to which this refers is unknown at present.

boundary lines. As sovereign Lord of the land, Yahweh allocated Israel’s boundaries () as well as those of the other nations (). Property delimitation was an important issue in the ancient Near East and closely tied with inheritance rights. OT law regarded the movement of boundary markers as a serious offense (see and note; ; ; ; ), as did legal custom in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Elaborately decorated and inscribed boundary markers were used in some periods in Mesopotamia. The psalmist celebrates God’s goodness to him in terms of desirable land allocation.

at my right hand. A fully armed warrior would hold his weapon in his right hand and his shield in his left. The person to the right of a king would have the privilege of defending him. For a king to put someone there would be an affirmation of trust, and therefore an honor. In contrast, when the Lord takes up his position at someone’s right hand, as here, he is in a position to offer defense with his shield ().

will not abandon me to the realm of the dead. In this context, it refers to not allowing someone to be put to death at the hand of malicious enemies. The psalmist will not be consigned to Sheol; he will not see decay because his life will be spared (). An early Sumerian text recounts the tale of an individual who is facing capital punishment for the crimes of which he is accused. Instead, however, he finds himself snatched from the jaws of destruction and praises the underworld-goddess Nungal for his deliverance.

my vindication. Legal difficulties were a common experience for people in the ancient Near East, and the defendant naturally sought divine help against his accusers. In the personal library of a family living in Babylon (c. 1500–1200 BC), texts were found describing the theft or misappropriation of farming equipment, which illustrates the type of problems people faced. In the same archive was a prayer, possibly related to litigation, that the god Nabu might judge his case fairly and give a favorable outcome.

shadow of your wings. See note on .

lion. See note on .

rock. In the wilderness regions of southern Judah where David hid from his enemies, the rocky cliffs and caves afforded great protection. One hiding place, named “Sela” in , uses the same word for “rock” as in this verse (Hebrew sela). Such places offer a natural fortification (cf. ), which is reinforced by the word “fortress.” fortress. A very common image for God as a place of safety (; ; ; ; ); it is translated “Crags” in , where David hides from Saul. It is a most appropriate metaphor, then, to refer to God as a place where David takes “refuge.” shield. See note on . horn. Animal horns were associated with bulls, so they symbolized strength, often with connotations of military victory (e.g., ; ). The Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (c. 650 BC) reports how the goddess Ninlil defeated his enemies with her “strong horns.” Mesopotamian gods and goddesses were depicted in art with multiple horns, signifying their prowess.

cords of death. Noose snares were commonly used by hunters in the ancient Near East. In this metaphor, death or Sheol is the hunter (see the articles “

These verses describe the saving intervention of Yahweh in terms of a great thunderstorm. It alludes to the experience of the nation at Mount Sinai (), and such language was common in ancient Near Eastern accounts of a deity’s appearance in battle (see below notes on vv. ).

The earth trembled and quaked. The earth quakes before a divine warrior (cf. ; ), as in a Sumerian hymn from the Old Babylonian period (c. 1800 BC) celebrating the coming to power of the storm-god Ishkur, depicted as a fierce lion. He causes the earth to rumble with the roaring of a storm. The same idea can be found in an Egyptian hymn to Amun—when he goes to war the mountains tremble and the earth quakes. Similar to this verse, the connection between an earthquake and the deity’s anger is explicit. Even Assyrian kings adopted this warrior image for themselves. Tiglath-Pileser I (c. 1100 BC) boasted that his fierce weapons had caused the four corners of the earth to quake.

Lightning from a thunderstorm, thought of as fire from heaven, was commonly regarded as an important weapon of divine warriors. One hymn from Egypt (c. 300 BC) describes the god Mar snorting smoke. Assyrian king Esarhaddon is aided by the god Assur, who hurled down fire and hailstones. Ishtar is described as a shining torch who blazes fire against the enemy. Despite these similar texts, the idea of fire coming from a god’s mouth is unparalleled in the ancient world.

dark clouds. This term has been found in the Ugaritic Baal Cycle, in which the god Baal is described as the “rider of the clouds” and his “voice” is the sound and fury of thunder and lightning.

mounted. Refers to riding a chariot. Even as kings rode into battle on chariots (), divine warriors were portrayed as chariot riders. Assyrian art portrays the god Assur riding into battle on behalf of the king. The god Baal is described in the Ugaritic Baal Cycle as one who rides the clouds mounted on a chariot (see notes on ; ). This image dates as far back as the Old Akkadian period (c. 2400 BC), from which a cylinder seal depicts the storm-god riding a chariot drawn by a winged lion. Since “cherubim” were guardian spirits with wings, over whom God was enthroned on the ark of the covenant (; ; see note on ), they naturally are worked into the imagery of God’s flying war-chariot (cf. ).

hailstones . . . lightning. In the Assyrian text cited in the note on v. , “hailstones” and “lightning” are associated with a deity’s appearance in a great thunderstorm. The Canaanite storm-god Baal/Hadad is commonly depicted holding a lightning bolt in his hand (see note on ). Hail is Yahweh’s weapon in , ; (see the note on ), and it appears in poetic imagery of his acts of judgment against his enemies (; ). In this way and many others, Yahweh is often portrayed in terms and metaphors familiar to the rest of the ancient Near East even as the point is being made concerning how different he is from those gods. Despite the superiority of Yahweh to other gods, there is a common cultural way of describing the activity and nature of a god.

arrows. Lightning bolts were thought of as arrows of the divine warrior. When the Babylonian god Marduk prepared to attack the enemy goddess Tiamat, he mounted his arrows, described as “thunderbolts,” on the string. A hymn of Ashurbanipal (c. 650 BC) speaks of the god Marduk defeating the forces of chaos with bow and arrows, swords, and other weapons of war. Another text describes arrows from Marduk’s quiver as torches lit from a brazier that rain down on mountains to kill even the strong. An Assyrian carving shows the god Assur riding the sky with wings and shooting an arrow with a flaming head. However, in both texts and art, deities might be depicted shooting more conventional arrows as well. These descriptions depict the power of the deity with the might of the storm.

valleys of the sea . . . foundations of the earth. The lowest portions of the sea and the roots of the mountains (see note on ) were thought to be the limits of the earth before descending into the underworld, i.e., death (; ; see the article “Death and the Underworld”). In light of the report of deliverance in v. , this verse can be understood to mean that David was on the brink of death, from which Yahweh reached down and rescued him.

deep waters. When the Babylonian god Marduk brings restoration he is praised for taking hold of the individual and drawing him out of the waters of the Hubur River. This is the river that flows at the gates of the netherworld, and being drawn from its waters represents being saved from death at the last moment. This imagery continues into Greek mythology with the famous River Styx and even finds its way into Christian literature as indicated by the river of death that flows in front of the golden city in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. Alternatively, the psalmist could simply be referring to the cosmic waters.

I have kept the ways of the LORD. The blameless character of a king before his god was a common theme in royal inscriptions and prayers. In Ramses II’s victory hymn, he states that he had not transgressed Amun’s command.

keep my lamp burning. See note on .

The LORD’s word is flawless. In praising the god Assur for the reliability of his word to bring defeat to his enemies, Ashurbanipal expresses that his god’s pronouncement is unchangeable. Of the goddesses who brought him military success he writes that their utterances are valid forever. Similarly, David praises Yahweh’s word, which assures his protection. Probably, David is referring to oracles urging him on to victory (e.g., ; ; see note on ).

God . . . arms me with strength. In royal inscriptions, it was proper for a king to attribute his prowess and victory in battle to his god. Esarhaddon reports that he was victorious in battle by the help of his gods. His father, Sennacherib, introduced the annals of his military campaigns by noting that the god Assur “made powerful my weapons” and “all humankind he has brought in submission at my feet.” In a text closer to because of its hymnic form, the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal praises his goddess Ishtar by indicating that it was not his strength or the might of his weapons that brought victory, but it was the power of the goddess. Later in this same hymn, similar to v. , Ashurbanipal reports that the goddess made the kings “bow down at my feet.” Egyptian art shows deities standing behind the pharaoh guiding his hands at the bow. We can therefore see that Israelites praised their God with the same kinds of terms, images and metaphors used by their neighbors for their gods, even though they were learning about the ways in which their God was far more powerful than the other gods.

bow of bronze. If this expression reflects an actual weapon, it may indicate either a wooden bow decorated with bronze or bronze-tipped arrows. On the other hand, it may simply be a poetic way of denoting the strength of the warrior’s bow. The bow was a symbol of royal strength in both Assyria and Egypt, as well as one of the weapons of the gods.

I crushed them. The language of battle used in might appear harsh, but it was the common style in royal reports in the ancient world and mild in comparison to many. The imagery in the psalm is not as graphic as many descriptions that can be found in Assyrian records: “I laid low their men-at-arms in the mountains like sheep. Like lambs I cut off their heads (and) made their blood flow into the hollows and plains of the mountains.” While this boast of Tiglath-Pileser I (c. 1100 BC) is a narrative report, not a hymnic piece like , it illustrates the vividness customary in an ancient and violent culture. The Hittite king, Halparuntiya II (c. 850 BC) similarly claims to have cut off the feet of the men and made eunuchs of the children. Such graphic imagery rarely appears in the psalms, but generally speaking, when it does, it is poetic for the judgment of God, not the celebrated victories of a Judahite king (see notes on ; ).

A common notion expressed in victory reports is the submission of enemies, whose hearts fail them and who then surrender in fear before the king. Assyrian king Sargon II (c. 720 BC) claims that when he attacked Egypt, the hearts of his enemies palpitated at the sound of his name. Egyptian scribes report of Rameses II (c. 1275 BC) that chiefs and rebels submitted to him out of fear and with trembling.

his anointed. See note on .

The heavens declare . . . Day after day . . . night after night. In the Egyptian Papyrus Insinger (a composition from the intertestamental period), it is observed that the hidden work of a god is made known on earth day by day. For the next 20 lines the papyrus describes many aspects of nature that have been created by the god and presumably are involved in this revelation (AEL 3:210). These works of creation included light and darkness; day, month and year; summer and winter; constellations; the birth process; sleep; and the succession of generations. For Mesopotamian and Egyptian thought, the astral bodies were functional manifestations of the deities, and were therefore regarded as appropriate objects to worship. But in the view of the psalmist, the heavenly bodies are not extensions of deities to be worshiped; rather, they should invoke in humanity a sense of wonder at the glory of the God who made them as gifts for human benefit (see notes on , ).

bridegroom . . . chamber. The chamber of a bridegroom was the specially prepared room in which the marriage was consummated. The use in suggests this in its parallelism. It has this meaning in early rabbinic Judaism, but after the destruction of the temple in AD 70 it takes on a reference to the pavilion in which the formal wedding ceremony was conducted.

rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit. In many ancient Near Eastern cultures, it was assumed that the sun ran a daily course through the heavens. Mesopotamian texts refer to the gates of the heavens where the sun enters and exits. In these texts, all of the heavenly bodies follow paths or courses, which are represented as bands across the sky.

The law of the LORD is perfect. In both Egyptian and Mesopotamian thought, law and justice were closely related to the sun-god, whose penetrating rays illumined every human activity. In the Babylonian Hymn to Shamash, the sun-god even discerns the covetous heart and weighs the fairness of each business transaction. With this divine character in view, King Hammurapi illustrated his famous law code with an engraving of himself standing before Shamash, the sun-god, who sanctions his kingship and law (see note on ). Egyptian kings, who embodied the sun-god, Ra (or Re), boasted the following epithet: “The Son of Re who lives by Maat (justice).” This background provides an important bridge between the first and second halves of . For the psalmist, it is not a deified sun who presides over law and justice; rather, it is Yahweh, whose commands are perfect and who perceives “hidden faults” (v. ) and every “meditation of [the] heart” (v. ).

pure gold. This imagery is known from other ancient Near Eastern cultures. A number of inscriptions on doors at a Ptolemaic-period Egyptian temple at Edfu read: “Everyone who enters by this door, beware of entering in impurity, for God loves purity more than millions of possessions, more than hundreds of thousands of fine gold.” The Hebrew word translated “pure gold” is somewhat obscure (it is a single word, not a noun with an adjective describing pure or refined). It could refer to a particular grade or to a particular variety, e.g., rose gold or white gold. honey. Represents a natural resource, in most occurrences the syrup of the date rather than bees’ honey. Since sugar was not available, honey was the most commonly used sweetener. There is evidence of bee domestication at Tel Rehov in Israel, and the Hittites and Canaanites also used honey from domesticated bees in their sacrifices. In the Bible, honey occurs in lists with other agricultural products (e.g., ). It is possible that the first reference to honey in this verse is date honey, but the second reference is clearly referring to bee honey since the “honeycomb” is mentioned.

who can discern their own errors? The belief in the ancient world was that the gods had many more regulations, requirements and restrictions than were known to people. In a “Prayer to Every God,” an Assyrian worshiper goes through an elaborate listing of possible offenses (“the forbidden thing I have eaten, I do not know; the prohibited place on which I have set foot, I do not know”) asking that his unwitting sins be pardoned, claiming the offense was committed in ignorance. Additionally the penitential prayers from Mesopotamia known as shigu prayers contain frequent reference to being absolved of unknown sins. Egyptians were also concerned with unknown sins, as reflected in a late demotic wisdom piece (Papyrus Insinger), in which the author begs forgiveness for unwitting sin.

Very few pieces of literature from the ancient world show sufficient similarity to a Biblical text to support the claim that they are both representative of the same literary work; the amount of overlap is simply not sufficient to sustain such a claim. The primary exception to that is Papyrus Amherst 63, which contains a version of that is directed to the Egyptian god Horus (also called Baal Shamayn), rather than to Yahweh. Close verbal parallels line by line in the very same sequence show that these are two versions of the same psalm.

Papyrus Amherst 63 is perhaps dated to as early as the fourth century BC, though a strong claim can be made for the second century BC, and it is written in the Aramaic language using a Demotic (Egyptian) script. The papyrus contains a number of cultic texts. Two of them are hymns addressed to Yahweh that are not known from the Hebrew Bible. Hymns to other gods are included as well. Scholars disagree whether is the original composition, with Papyrus Amherst representing a paganized corruption of the Biblical psalm (the majority opinion), or whether Papyrus Amherst represents an original version that the Biblical authors adopted and adapted for praise of Yahweh. An alternative view is that both stem from an earlier non-Israelite version. The importance of this test case is that here we have an incontestable example of the same literary piece having variations that exist both in the Bible and the ancient world, though here the papyrus is a product of the Hellenistic period rather than the ancient world per se. ◆

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Prayers for the king (vv. , ) were customary in the ancient world, especially in the face of impending battle, which is the case in v. . For example, a prophet’s oracle regarding the safety of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (650 BC) ends with a prayer that the king be preserved alive in the context of a rebellion against him.

support from Zion. The temple was not only the place of God’s residence, it was the center of order in the cosmos and the hub of divine operations (see note on ; see also the article “Hymns to Holy Cities”). Therefore, in time of war, God would come forth into the battle to restore order (see notes on , ). The temple of Yahweh (the “sanctuary”) was built on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, which was viewed as the fortress (see notes on , ) from which God emerged to do battle against the enemies of his people (see note on ).

accept your burnt offerings. Perhaps as part of the prayer ritual before battle, the king would have offerings and sacrifices presented to the Lord. Egyptian iconography frequently portrays the pharaoh approaching the deity with offerings. In one case the accompanying text provides a fitting parallel to the prayer of as the king offers sacrifices and libations to the god whom he hopes will grant him life. Burnt offerings were a typical sacrifice in Ugaritic ritual as well, but the Ugaritic practice may not have necessitated burning the whole animal as in the case of the OT burnt offering.

banners. The Hebrew word refers to flags held up as rallying points in a military formation or battle, as illustrated in the organization of the tribes marching through the wilderness (note the military implications from ). In the Egyptian army the divisions were named for various gods (e.g., the division of Amun, the division of Seth), and the standards would identify the division by means of some representation of the god. Holding high the banners was evidently a sign of victory.

trust in chariots . . . horses. Chariots and horses were prestigious weapons in ancient Near Eastern warfare, and kings often measured military capacity in these terms (cf. ; ; ). For this reason, the multiplication of them was regarded in the OT as an act of misplaced trust (). It was Yahweh, not military technology and numbers, who was to be the confidence of Israel in battle, which is the confession of this verse.

This psalm has been compared with a type of prophetic speech that was widespread in the ancient Near East called an “oracle of victory.” In the face of impending battle, a spokesperson for the king’s god or goddess would offer encouragement to the king. In Syria, a monument of Zakkur, the king of Hamath (c. 800 BC), describes how an oracle strengthened him in the face of a terrifying attack against his city. Other examples are common especially in prophetic speech of Assyrian prophets (cf. ; see note on ). In , the words of an “oracle of victory” might be preserved in vv. . Perhaps a prophetic psalm, like , would have been the source of confidence reflected in a prayer such as in .

lay hold on . . . seize. The Hebrew verb used in both instances actually describes attacking the enemy with a weapon, not apprehending him. Most soldiers were right-handed, so one would not seize the foe with the right hand—for that was where the weapon would be held. The right hand, then, was used for offense, and it would “find” its mark. The Hymn to Shamash says that the god’s weapon will make straight for the wicked man and that there will be none to save him. In Egyptian reliefs and paintings (also at Ugarit) the king often strikes a pose with his weapon upraised in his right hand, while his left hand lays hold of the enemy. This verse is only describing part of that picture because the lines are parallel, not contrasting. Both lines describe what the right hand does.

furnace. The Hebrew word (tannur) refers to a cooking oven (; ; ). It was constructed of earth, brick and broken pottery and was made in the shape of a bell, the top of which was open for the chimney. Fire was kindled inside the oven, distributing heat to the inside surface where the bread dough was placed for cooking. Oven heat, being more intense than an ordinary open flame (reducing fuel to very hot charcoal), served as a metaphor for destructive power (cf. ; ). Such punishment was also known to be literal. A Mesopotamian royal letter, possibly from about 600 BC, instructs a governor to throw corrupt priests into a burning oven. Such a custom, evidenced also in , undergirds the rhetorical power of the image in this psalm.

enthroned. See note on .

, womb. See note on .

bulls. Considered by ancient people to be one of the strongest and most potentially dangerous land animals. This is illustrated as early as c. 3000 BC by a slate palette from Egypt depicting a man being gored and trampled by a horned bull. Bashan. The high plateau region east of the Sea of Galilee; it was well known as a fertile grassland and therefore conducive to the grazing of cattle ().

lions. While lions no longer inhabit what was the land of ancient Israel, in ancient times they were not uncommon, and the danger they posed was well known (; ; ). In addition to their strength and speed, lions used stealth to hunt their victims and were feared for both their teeth and claws. These attributes are all illustrated in ancient Near Eastern artwork. In Assyrian royal hunts and art, animals (especially lions) symbolized both human enemies and the forces of chaos that the king ritually subdues. In this psalm, the reversal of this imagery is used to portray the afflictions of the psalmist.

my bones are out of joint. Strain and trauma can result in the sensation of aching joints; however, such language is a common figure of speech for suffering in Psalms, as well as in Mesopotamian laments, even describing the effects of emotional distress (cf. ; see note on ). A Mesopotamian lament uses similar imagery in the context of a physical illness in which joints were separated and limbs were splayed.

potsherd. See note on .

Dogs. See notes on ; . pierce. The understanding of this Hebrew verb is problematic. Traditionally translated “pierce,” this Hebrew verb occurs only here, and can only be translated here as “pierce” if it is emended. As it stands, it indicates that the psalmist’s hands and feet are “like a lion” (see ), which some commentators have interpreted to mean that the psalmist’s hands and feet were trussed up on a stick as a captured lion would be. Unfortunately, despite all the lion hunting scenes that are preserved and described, no lion is shown being transported this way. If a verb is desirable here, a suitable candidate must be found among the related Semitic languages. The most likely one is similar to Akkadian and Syriac cognates that have the meaning “shrink” or “shrivel.” Akkadian medical texts speak of a symptom in which the hands and feet are shrunken. Although uses several other lines from this psalm (e.g., , , , ), is of no help here, because it does not refer to this verse. Since Matthew omits it, he likely did not read the psalm as referring to the piercing of hands and feet.

my bones are on display. In the same Mesopotamian lament cited in the note on v. , one finds a description of gauntness. The background to might be starvation (or even fasting, see note on ), rather than disease, as in the Mesopotamian text; otherwise, the imagery might be stereotypical for extreme distress: “My bones are loose, covered (only) with skin” (cf. ).

cast lots for my garment. Although Roman soldiers had the right to the clothes of convicted criminals (as the soldiers gambling by means of lots for Jesus’ tunic []), there is no evidence of this for soldiers supervising executions in the OT period. Nevertheless, in this period we do know that plunder was sometimes divided by lot, so it is not difficult to understand a person’s clothing being divided that way upon his demise. It should be noted, however, that does not indicate that those casting lots for the clothing were executioners. Inheritance procedures often used lots to divide the property among the heirs. A Mesopotamian lament indicates this as the person on his deathbed bemoans the fact that his valuables are already being divided up before he is dead.

Assyrian panel of dogs attacking an animal, Nineveh, 645 to 635 BC. “Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs” ().

Kim Walton. The British Museum.

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has not hidden his face. See note on ; cf. note on , “meet with God.”

fulfill my vows. See note on .

The poor will eat. The type of offering sacrificed in fulfillment of a vow (v. ) was a peace (or fellowship) offering, which was communal in nature (; ; ). Choice portions went to Yahweh and were burned on the altar, but the bulk of the animal was shared with other worshipers in the congregation at the temple. A ritual text from Ugarit (c. 1300 BC) specifies a daily peace offering of this type (Ugaritic, shlmm = Hebrew shelamim, ), of which all may eat. What this type of offering meant for Israelites is that even poor people who came to worship could partake in something to eat. They ate with the knowledge that God had answered the prayer of the one fulfilling the vow, bringing praise to God.

shepherd. A metaphor describing the authority and care exercised by a deity or a king who represents the gods. Marduk was the chief god in Babylonia for much of its history, and a standard hymn of praise concludes by extolling his care for the weak like a benevolent shepherd. Concerning Shamash, the Mesopotamian sun-god, a hymn identifies him as the shepherd and herdsman of all creatures. An Egyptian hymn praises the sun-god as the “Brave Protector who tends his flocks.” But the image not only suggested protection, but was also an affirmation of the authority to rule (cf. ; ). A coronation prayer for the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal asks that he may rule as their (the Assyrians’) shepherd. Thus, the metaphor of shepherd was a royal one, with connotations of strong leadership but tender care. One ancient Sumerian wisdom text offers a particularly good parallel to when it identifies a man’s god as one who, as a shepherd, finds good pasturage for him.

green pastures . . . quiet waters. Sheep in the Levant grazed on the fertile grass produced by rain. In the summer and autumn they fed on weeds and stubble left over from harvest. Like camels, sheep can go long periods of time without water and then drink as much as 2.5 gallons (9 liters). In contrast to goats, which are quite independent, sheep depend upon the shepherd to find pasture and water for them. Shepherds also provided shelter, medication, and aid in birthing. In sum, sheep were virtually helpless without the shepherd. In an Old Babylonian text, King Ammiditana claims that the god Ea gave him the wisdom to shepherd his people. He continues the metaphor by saying that he provides them with fine pastures and watering places, and makes them lie down in safe pastures.

darkest valley. That is, the “shadow of death” (see ; see also the articles “

prepare a table. To set out food was a gesture of hospitality (; ). To do so in front of someone (enemies) would publicly establish the right relationship that exists between host (in this case God) and the guest (the psalmist). Perhaps the image of Yahweh as a protective shepherd-king continues here (cf. ; ). anoint . . . with oil. Olive oil could be used to treat dry or cracked skin, so it was a sign of hospitality to offer oil to visitors. A text from an Aramaic speaking community in Egypt (c. 300 BC and related culturally to Jews) uses the word for oil to speak of invigorating an old man. In a diplomatic letter from the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (c. 650 BC) to vassal tribes in Arabia, he boasts of his good treatment of them expressed by putting oil on their heads as an act of friendliness. Thus, the psalmist is refreshed by being in God’s hospitable presence.

the house of the LORD. Used as a term for the temple (which is very clear in ), but never for the heavenly dwelling place of God. forever. This term could be confusing in regard to dwelling in the temple “forever,” but the Hebrew says only “for length of days,” i.e., for extended periods (cf. ). If the translation “dwell” (following the Septuagint, the pre-Christian Greek translation of the OT) is correct, then it would suggest a priestly office for the psalmist, for priests were the only inhabitants of the temple precinct. If, instead, we should follow the Hebrew text by translating this “I will return to the house of the LORD,” we would find here the anticipation of enjoying many future opportunities to worship at the temple (“time and again”). The Babylonian king Neriglissar expresses to his god that he wants to be where he (his god) is forever. Another text requests, “May I stand before you forever in worship and devotion.” The Hymn to Marduk requests that the worshiper may stand before the deity forever in prayer, supplication and entreaty. In the third millennium BC, Sumerian worshipers tried to accomplish this objective by placing statuettes of themselves in the posture of prayer in the temple. In this way they would be continuously represented in the temple. Consequently, we can see that this sentiment was commonly expressed in the ancient world, regardless of which God was being worshiped.

founded it on the seas. In the Babylonian perception of the cosmos, the earth’s foundation is on what is called the apsu. This is a primordial watery region that is under the jurisdiction of the very important deity Enki/Ea. From the standpoint of physical geography, it represents the water table that surfaces, e.g., in marshes and springs, and is associated with the sweet-water cosmic seas and rivers. In Enuma Elish, one of Marduk’s names, Agilima, identifies him as the one who built the earth above the water and established the upper regions. Passages such as this show us that the Israelites thought about the shape of the world the same way that their neighbors did (see the article “

does not trust. This expression means to “nurse an appetite” for something. It here refers, physiologically, to the throat, and thereby the meaning arrives at appetite or desire. In a number of contexts the same expression is used with God as the object (see ; ; ). idol. The Hebrew term is related to the word for “emptiness” or “vanity.” Other Biblical writers use the term “no-gods” for idols (e.g., ).

Lift up your heads, you gates . . . you ancient doors. In the Hymn to Shamash, the Babylonian sun-god, various parts of the temple are said to rejoice over Shamash, including the gateways and entrances. A Nabonidus text refers to the gates of the temple being open wide for Shamash to enter. These would occur in the context of regular processions of the statue of the deity into his temple. If the “head” of the gates refers to an architectural feature, it would most likely be the beam or projection across the top of the gates that served as a cornice. This was a common feature in Egyptian and Mesopotamian architecture, and the Akkadian word for it, kululu, also refers to a headdress or turban. The idea that these would be lifted off the posts of the gates to allow something large to pass through is ingenious, but not persuasive, in that the usual design of gates would not have unencumbered cornices that could be so easily moved. The alternative, that the lifting of the heads is metaphoric, is, for the moment, more likely. In Ugaritic literature, the gods lower their heads when they are being humbled; they raise up their heads when they have reason to rejoice.

mighty in battle. See the article “

While honor and shame are issues common to human society and individual experience, various cultures exhibit different degrees to which these issues are important. Evidence from the ancient Near East indicates that these were relatively important factors related to social status, even between different deities. Social prestige was often experienced through acts of deference received from others (e.g., ; ). It might come from vocational excellence (e.g., ; ), military exploits (e.g., ) or other meritorious actions (e.g., ). Perhaps the most common avenue was through material prosperity, in large measure because success was viewed as a sign of divine favor. An Old Babylonian letter makes explicit the connection between a god’s favor and prosperity: “Because the god has accepted your prayers, you are now gentlemen and men of property; all your affairs have prospered.”

Shame, on the other hand, was society’s way of enforcing control through punishment and sanction. It might involve “official” shaming, when promoted through proper legal or political channels, such as public punishment and humiliation (e.g., ; ), or in an extreme case such as war, the defeated were exposed to naked exploitation (). There was also “informal” shaming, to which suffering people might be subjected even if innocent of any wrongdoing. This is frequently the complaint in Biblical psalms of lament and in prayers from Mesopotamia, and it included a variety of verbal (e.g., ; ; ; ; see note on ) and physical abuses (e.g., ; ), as well as social isolation (see note on ).

If the basic assumption were that prosperity meant divine favor, then the opposite principle of retribution also applied; if fortunes reversed, it meant divine disapproval. Since society presumed it a religious duty to shame the individual as punishment, the psalmists cried out for God to demonstrate the individual’s innocence by deliverance from distress. ◆

Victory stele of Sargon showing shameful treatment of prisoners as a way to enforce control.

Jill Walton. The Louvre.

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put to shame. In ancient texts, a common expression that sums up the emotions of defeat is “shame.” An Assyrian prayer to the god Nabu begs the god not to allow his faithful worshiper to experience shame in the assembly. Similarly, promises of deliverance are expressed in terms of not allowing the pious one to come to shame.

sins of my youth. The rashness of youthful behavior is proverbial in all cultures and is generally met with special patience and leniency by society. Like this verse, Mesopotamian laments speak of the “sins of the youth” with hope on the part of the worshiper that the deity will be merciful.

snare. See notes on ; .

Test me. See note on .

altar . . . house. These terms indicate that a temple setting is in view, perhaps where the psalmist hopes for the vindication of judicial innocence before the assembly of worshipers (vv. , ; see note on ). One of the functions of the high priest using the Urim and Thummim was to determine difficult cases (; ).

I wash my hands. In the tabernacle and in Solomon’s temple there was a basin of water for priests to wash (; ; ). The psalmist’s reference to washing might allude to a similar ritual for any worshiper circulating in the court of worship. Evidence suggests that ritual washings were customary in temples from Phoenicia on the Mediterranean coast to Susa, east of Mesopotamia.

stronghold. Fortifications in the ancient Near East are known from before 5000 BC, as soon as rival, settled communities competed for resources, necessitating military structures for defense. If a city had adequate supplies of food and water to endure a lengthy siege, it might withstand an attack indefinitely (Samaria fell after three years, ).

all the days of my life. Pious Mesopotamian worshipers expressed the same longing for continuous presence in the temple (see note on ). This is illustrated in a Babylonian incantation prayer for deliverance from illness: “May I stand before you forever in worship, prayer, and devotion.”

hide your face. See note on .

Though my father and mother forsake me. While social isolation, even from one’s family, is a common theme of laments (see note on ), this expression may allude to the physical loss of parents due to death, which at an emotional level is experienced as abandonment. A parallel from “The Babylonian Theodicy” might help clarify the distress: “I was the youngest child when fate claimed (my) father / My mother who bore me departed to the land of no return / My father and mother left me, and with no one my guardian!”

I lift up my hands. Among the postures of worship, lifting hands in prayer is commonly mentioned and portrayed pictographically in ancient Near Eastern cultures. Mesopotamians possessed an entire category of prayers named “prayers with raised hands.” The meaning of the gesture is submission (as it can also be for us) and hopeful appeal. This is illustrated in Egyptian art, which depicts people bringing tribute to the divine pharaoh with upraised hand and also imploring an Egyptian royal servant for favor.

anointed one. See note on .

Many of the images in mirror those found in the Ugaritic Baal Cycle, showing that the hymnic traditions and rhetoric were held in common across the ancient world (see notes on ). Because of the high concentration of such images in , as well as other similarities in poetic style to Canaanite literature, some scholars have suggested a direct borrowing from a Canaanite hymn to Baal. Such a conclusion, however, is unnecessary since the imagery and poetic style is very typical of literature from Late Bronze/Iron Age Levant (ancient Israel to Syria). Since there is insufficient evidence to suggest literary borrowing from a known Canaanite hymn, it is more likely that the similarities simply reflect common traditions. Nevertheless, such comparison offers important evidence that the Israelite psalmists were well acquainted with the hymnic styles of their neighbors and used those same styles, just as our praise music today echoes the musical styles current in our culture. ◆

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The myths of the Canaanite god Baal provide important background for appreciating the message of this psalm. While speculative claims that is actually an adaptation of a Canaanite hymn to Baal overstate the evidence (see the article “Psalm 29: A Canaanite Hymn?”), numerous phrases and ideas in seem to allude to the Baal Cycle, beginning with the reference to a deity giving “voice” in the form of thunder. Baal, as storm-god, spoke with thunder and lightning (cf. v. ). refers to the “voice of the LORD” seven times, which may allude to the proverbial seven thunders and lightnings of Baal. The imagery throughout these verses describes a mighty storm that forms over the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, sweeps inland across the forested mountains of Lebanon in the north, and rolls on to the Desert of Kadesh.

heavenly beings. Lit. “sons of gods,” which refers to the supernatural beings who inhabit the heavenly realm. In the same Hebrew expression (“sons of gods”) is also translated “heavenly beings” and is found in poetic parallel with the “assembly . . . council of the holy ones,” who praise Yahweh in the heavenly realm. In the ancient Near Eastern world view, the universe was inhabited by divine beings (gods, goddesses and lesser spirits) and human beings. The realm of divine beings was thought to be organized like a human royal court, with a chief god presiding and the others comprising his council. The “council” in the ancient world met to render judgments concerning the world of people. In the heavenly beings are called on to acknowledge the superiority and majesty of Yahweh. Typically in the ancient world the gods of the council each had their autonomy, though they did ascribe greatness to the head of the council (e.g., to Marduk in Enuma Elish). See the article “

the mighty waters. Lit. “the many waters,” an expression referring to what is unruly in creation (see note on ; see also the article “

cedars of Lebanon. These forested mountains were famous throughout the ancient Near East as the best source of stout timber for construction. Kings from Egypt to Mesopotamia would boast that they gathered lumber for building projects from faraway Lebanon. Tiglath-Pileser I claims to have marched to Mount Lebanon, where he cut down cedar beams for his temple-building projects. The venture to Lebanon by the Egyptian official Wenamun was prompted by his quest for great timber. Even David and Solomon looked to these forests as the best source of timber for the royal palace and Yahweh’s temple (; ). In the Baal Cycle, cedars from Lebanon and Sirion are the materials for Baal’s palace. speaks of the oaks twisting and the forests being stripped bare. These stalwart trees shatter before the power of God.

Sirion. Another name for Mount Hermon () in the mountain range immediately inland from the coastal mountains of Lebanon. Hence Lebanon and Sirion are coupled together poetically in both the Baal Cycle and here. At an elevation of 9,100 feet (2,775 meters), Sirion was among the highest mountains in the geographic vicinity of Israel. These mighty mountain ranges quake when God speaks, being likened to powerful young calves and oxen skipping about (cf. ).

lightning. Commonly viewed as a divine weapon (v. ; ; ). Baal was depicted in Canaanite art with a lightning bolt in his hand, but stresses that it is Yahweh who can strike with the power of lightning.

Desert of Kadesh. The most familiar reference to Kadesh in the OT is the southern desert site (Kadesh Barnea), where the Israelites camped during their wilderness journey in the Sinai peninsula (; , ). If this location is in view, then the imagery of tracks the storm from the mountains in the north to the desert regions south of Judah. However, another possible referent is the region near Qadesh north of Damascus on the Orontes River. This fits well with the other northern geographic references in , and this possible location, “wilderness of Kadesh” (mdbr kdsh), is known from a Ugaritic text, fitting with the other allusions in the psalm to these traditions. In this case, the more general translation of the Hebrew word used in this verse (midbar, “wilderness”) is in view.

enthroned over the flood . . . as King. A sculptured scene from the temple of Shamash on a tablet from the Neo-Babylonian king Nabu-apla-idinna shows Shamash, the sun-god, residing on a throne under a cosmic mountain and a number of wavy lines that are considered to represent the cosmic ocean. The scene is remarkably like Yahweh sitting enthroned over the flood (or better, the celestial sea, see note on ). In contrast to the Hebrew word tehom (), which represents the cosmic waters on the earth, this word, mabbul, represents the cosmic waters in the heavens, where rain comes from. In it is the mabbul that comes upon the earth in Noah’s time. Shamshi-Adad V refers to the god Ninurta as the exalted lord who rides on the Deluge. The imagery of combines to express the majestic power of Yahweh, so, in conclusion, the psalmist returns to the scene of his heavenly court. The Hebrew word translated “temple” in v.  is the Hebrew word for a “palace,” and when the palace happens to be that of a deity, it is a “temple.” In the Baal Cycle, the victory over the cosmic waters earns for the god of the thunderstorm both kingship and the right to have a palace-temple

Yahweh’s power not only exceeds that of the many “waters” (v. ), his kingship over the flood ascribes to Yahweh the highest possible sovereignty. Having taken up royal residence in his temple, Yahweh himself is at rest. On this basis the psalmist expresses confidence that Yahweh can give peace to his people in the midst of any imaginable chaos (v. ).

In Egypt, as early as the fourth millennium BC, burial goods evidence belief in an afterlife. Funerary practices developed into elaborate customs of burial, accompanied by ongoing food offerings, to maintain an enjoyable life in the next world. At death, the individual stood before the god of the underworld, Osiris, and the confessions of the heart were weighed against the standard of justice (maat; see note on ). Failure of character resulted in torture, but one judged “true of voice” was admitted into a joyous afterlife. The Egyptian “Book of the Dead” consists of a series of magical spells buried with the deceased person to help him or her overcome obstacles to a successful transition to life in the underworld.

Mesopotamian belief was not so optimistic. Upon death, Mesopotamians thought that the individual became a sort of ghost, but there was no judgment and no joyful existence possible. The underworld was a gloomy “land of no return,” partitioned from the land of the living by a series of gates and described in one text as a place with no light and only dust and clay for food. Other texts offer some hope for food and fresh water if provided by surviving family members in ongoing funerary rituals. But without proper burial and maintenance, the ghost was doomed to wander without rest. The Hittite conception was very similar. The ghosts of the dead descended to an underworld beneath the subterranean waters.

Ancient Israelites shared views of death and the underworld more in common with Mesopotamia than with Egypt. The afterlife was an uncertain state of existence as a shadowy image of the former, living self (rephaim, “shades” [ESV] or “spirits” [NIV] in ; ; “the dead” in ; ). This same term (Ugaritic rpʾum) is used in Ugaritic texts for the deceased ancestors of kings who return from the underworld to celebrate royal banquets. But unlike the departed kings of Ugarit, those designated by this term in the OT have no power or ability to return to the realm of the living (see note on ). The realm of the dead, called “Sheol,” was located in the lowermost region of the earth, below the subterranean waters (, hence “depths” in ) and at the root of the mountains (; ). Ugaritic texts refer to the “shades” as descending into the earth (Ugaritic ʾars = Hebrew erets). Death contrasts with the “land of the living” (; ). Because burial was associated with decomposition in an earthen grave, one finds metaphors such as “pit” (Hebrew bor in ; , ), “decay” (Hebrew shahat in ; ) or “Destruction” (Hebrew abaddon, personified in ). In moments of most extreme distress, even the righteous despaired in fear, viewing death as a hopeless end (; ). ◆

Gate to the ladder down into the underworld; from the Book of the Dead of the scribe Nebqed, Egypt, fourteenth century BC.

© Baker Publishing Group and Dr. James C. Martin. Courtesy of the Musée du Louvre; Autorisation de photographer et de filmer. Louvre, Paris, France.

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spared me from going down to the pit. In a Babylonian composition, the god Marduk is reported as bringing restoration to one of his followers, setting him on his feet and giving him life by rescuing him from the pit. See the articles “

What is gained . . . ? See note on .

worthless idols. See notes on ; ; see also the article “

my bones grow weak. See note on .

object of dread to my closest friends. It is possible in cases of suffering, especially in a culture that associates such affliction with divine punishment, that even friends might withdraw. Whether or not this literally happened in each circumstance behind a psalm is not relevant, since expressions of this type became stereotypical language in psalms of suffering (cf. ; ; see the article “Honor-Shame Cultures”). In a classic example of the suffering worshiper in Mesopotamian texts, one describes how his family and friends turned against him. Egyptian texts addressing the experience of suffering utilize the same motif, as illustrated in “The Dispute Between a Man and His Ba” (“Ba” is comparable to one’s immaterial “soul”). In both Israel and the ancient Near East, a suffering person may lose friends because the friends assume he is suffering because he has angered a god—and no one wants to become collateral damage through associating with a recognized offender.

Let your face shine. See notes on , , ; . The negative side of this image is expressed in v.  (see note on ).

my bones wasted away. See note on .

your hand was heavy on me. While not all suffering is caused by divine discipline (see note on ), addresses one such case. Mesopotamian laments often dwell on this theme. In one poem, the worshiper recognizes the god Marduk’s punishment and states: “Heavy was his hand upon me.” Similarly, in an Egyptian hymn dating about 1250 BC, the worshiper notes that even as he lay on his deathbed because of Amun’s wrath, he looked for the god’s mercy. A royal Hittite prayer, perhaps a generic template for such laments, appeals to the sun-god to reveal the sin that the worshiper presumes to be the cause of his illness and to be merciful.

mighty waters. Carries overtones of chaos (see the article “

I will instruct you. It is possible that these are God’s words to the chastened psalmist. However, in psalms that celebrate deliverance from trial, it is common to find words of instruction by the psalmist to the congregation, since others can learn through the psalmist’s experience (cf. ; ; ). This feature is illustrated in Mesopotamian texts as well. The suffering worshiper in the “Poem of the Righteous Sufferer” proclaims that he will teach people of the kindness of Marduk, who had responded to his prayer and restored him to favor. Later in the poem the speaker advises that anyone who has done wrong should learn from him.

harp . . . lyre. See the articles “

Let all the earth fear. A similar logic calling for awesome fear of the Creator is illustrated regarding the Egyptian god Ptah, who is feared as a god with absolute control and whose utterances cannot be bypassed. Because of the creative might of Yahweh, the psalmist insists that not only Israel but all the world must worship him.

No king is saved by the size of his army . . . A horse . . . cannot save. See note on .

keep them alive. For ancient Near Easterners, life and death were in the hands of their gods. For example, the Egyptian creator-god Ptah had power to grant life to the one who followed the moral order and to assign death to the wrongdoer.

radiant . . . shame. The metaphor of seeing God draws upon the feelings associated with basking in the sun (see notes on ; ; ; , , ; ). Conversely, shame results in a fallen countenance (see note on ).

shield and armor. They represent the two extremes in personal defensive equipment. Respectively, they refer to a small, round shield and a large, full-length, body shield; the latter most likely carried by an aide.

spear and javelin. They represent the full range of offensive weaponry (cf. v.  and note). The Hebrew root (sgr) translated “javelin” occurs nowhere else as a weapon in the OT. Herodotus refers to a Scythian double axe (Greek sagaris), and the Dead Sea Scrolls use the root for the handle of a lance. In the latter case, the text simply speaks of two uses for the same piece of equipment. The long wooden handle can be used to parry and deliver blows as a staff, while the pointed end is used for the finishing blow. There are numerous depictions of these and other Iron Age pieces of military equipment on wall reliefs at the Assyrian cities of Nineveh and Calah (Nimrud).

chaff. Cut grain stalks were gathered on a threshing floor for crushing in order to separate the kernels of grain from the husk and stalk (chaff). After threshing, the pile was tossed into the air, allowing the denser grain to drop to the threshing floor and the lighter chaff to blow away with the wind.

net. See notes on ; .

shadow of your wings. This image can convey two ideas: (1) Swift freedom of motion in the heavenly realm, and so it is a fitting image for deities and angelic creatures. Ugaritic myth portrays the goddess Anat as raising her wings for flight. (2) The protective covering offered by the wings of a mother bird—the image used in this psalm. Assyrian prophets used this image to promise divine protection to the king. In the context of physical danger from enemies, the goddess Ishtar encourages Esarhaddon by reminding him that she raised him between her wings, and would therefore assure his success. Egyptian art also portrays the king surrounded by the protective covering of a deity’s wings.

river of delights. Since the word translated “delights” has the same root letters as Eden, there is possibly a reference to the waters flowing out of paradise in this phrase. The association between ancient Near Eastern temples and spring waters is well attested. In fact, some temples in Mesopotamia, Egypt and in the Ugaritic Baal Cycle were considered to have been founded upon springs (likened to the primeval waters), which sometimes flowed from the building itself. This would explain the parallel between God’s house in the first part of the verse and these rivers ().

fountain of life. See note on .

These verses echo the thought of . The foundational importance of this wisdom theme in Near Eastern thought is highlighted by the fact that a comparable proverb was chosen for the sole text of a Mesopotamian cylinder seal (used by a private individual to “sign” documents and mark ownership). The owner expresses that he conscientiously sought the god and that such an attitude will mean that he will lack for nothing.

desires of your heart. In Akkadian texts, the attaining of one’s desires concerns receiving a favorable omen concerning either intended activities or needs, such as illness or oppression, from which one seeks deliverance. One text reports that when the individual prayed to the gods he was granted his desire. If the Israelite concept has any similarity, the desire referred to here is not just any desire, but particularly the desire that concerns the psalmist in this prayer (which is articulated in v. ; see , where the context is a request for one’s plans for relieving distress to succeed).

Be still. See note on .

This common advice (cf. ; ) is reflected in the Egyptian “Instruction of Amenemope”: “Better is a bushel given you by the god, than five thousand through wrongdoing.”

offspring . . . will perish. In ancient Near Eastern culture, a fate worse than death was to witness the tragic death of one’s children. This concept is more than just an extension of the natural feelings one has toward one’s offspring. The most meaningful afterlife a person had in the ancient world was found in the idea that their line continued in the land of the living. In that way, the deceased not only joined the community of the ancestors that had died, but, more important, continued to have a place in the community of descendants that survived. Community extended beyond the land of the living. A curse on an Aramaic tomb inscription warns that the offspring of anyone disturbing the deceased would perish. Zedekiah’s fate was aggravated by the slaughter of his sons before his eyes ().

Hope in the LORD. This admonition is based upon trust that God will judge the wicked, and therefore personal vengeance is wrong. This thought lies behind the Egyptian proverb stating that a person is better off not to take matters into his own hand but to wait and hope and see how his god acts on his behalf. Mesopotamian wisdom warns that the speaker of evil will be accountable to Shamash (the god of justice). Nevertheless, vengeance is differentiated from justice. The gods carried out both, and humans were responsible for executing justice, but were not to carry out vengeance.

flourishing like a luxuriant native tree, but he soon passed away. Egyptian wisdom observed the temporary success of evil men using the same metaphor when it described an angry worshiper in the temple as like a tree growing indoors. It may flourish for a brief time, but then will be destroyed.

your hand . . . on me. The ancients did not assume that all illness was personal punishment by the gods. For example, a letter from an advisor to the Assyrian king Esarhaddon encourages the king that his illness is not due to divine wrath but is only a disease of the season that many others are also suffering and from which all have recovered. On a different occasion, however, an advisor identifies the king’s illness as the work of the gods. However, here the psalmist is aware that the cause is divine discipline (see notes on ; ). Israelites thought about illness in much the same way as their neighbors as they sought balance between what we would call natural or supernatural causes.

no health. Physical illness stemming from divine discipline is a common theme in Biblical psalms as well as in ancient Mesopotamian laments. is perhaps the most descriptive of the psalms in terms of detailed physical symptoms. However, the language of physical suffering is so stereotypical that it is hazardous to guess specific clinical diseases. Some symptoms are closely associated with mental distress. The ancients were not trying to identify the pathological origin of symptoms. For example, a letter between an Assyrian king and his advisor describes a fever as one that lingers in the bones. This description is true to the experience of bodily aches and pains from fever. The general nature of these descriptions allows the poems to be used for a wide range of experiences by a later worshiper, either ancient or modern.

number of my days. See note on .

moth. In an age dependent largely on woolen clothes, the potential of moths for destruction was readily apparent. Moths lay their eggs in wool, which hatch into larva that eat the material. Not even the most enduring commodity, precious metals, can endure under God’s judgment.

Sacrifice. See note on ; see also the article “Sin and Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East.”

scroll. Mesopotamian texts express the idea that the gods decreed an individual’s lot in life as well as the special calling of kings to service (see note on ). A prayer of the Assyrian king Sennacherib (c. 700 BC) wishes that the god Assur, who holds the “Tablet of Destinies,” would decree good health and a successful reign for the king (see notes on , and especially ). Prophetic decrees concerning the divine call on the Assyrian king were recorded on clay tablets. The Hebrew language, on the other hand, was written on either leather or papyrus scrolls for official archives, and the “scroll” of this verse could be royal laws similar to or prophetic decrees such as in ; .

heal me. See notes on ; .

enemies . . . slander. One of the stereotypical themes of lament psalms is the social rejection and oppression that come upon the sufferer. The Mesopotamian “Poem of the Righteous Sufferer” describes the court intrigue that surrounded the afflicted with plots, slander and lies. This type of conspiracy makes sense in the political context of high society in which this psalm might have originated. However, social adversity is a common plight of average people as well, so this language functions at an emotional level for everyone, regardless of social status.

Even my close friend . . . turned against me. See note on .

deer. A common artistic image found on many seal impressions from the Biblical period in Israel. In Judah, there was an apparent artistic preference for depicting does, especially in poses bent over lapping or grazing. This may be an expression of the same religious symbolism reflected in this verse. The longing of deer for water was proverbial in the land of Canaan, as illustrated in a text from Ugarit (c. 1350 BC) that refers to craving for a pool of water “like a hind” (Ugaritic aylt = Hebrew ʾyl).

soul. Within the Hebrew OT, the word is nephesh. It refers to the “self” or to “a living being” (see ), but not to the “immortal soul” familiar to many in Christian theology. There is no intimation of the nephesh surviving after one’s death. The word is related to Akkadian napašu, referring to the neck or throat and by extension to one’s breath. There is no differentiation in the Hebrew usage between the body and the life principle, and therefore in passages like , nephesh is used to mean “life.” The body’s energy or life force can be drained by a pouring out of the soul (v. ; ), as it is in this lament. In Egyptian thinking, the “ba” is the animate vital force and is portrayed as a human-headed bird. It is separated from the body at death and is considered immortal. Its place is in heaven rather than in the netherworld, to which the body is consigned. Egyptian literature preserves a composition entitled “The Dispute Between a Man and His Ba,” which is a discussion of the feasibility of suicide. In contrast, the “ka” is more like the shadow of what is left of the person after he has died. It inhabits the funerary statue and receives the offerings to the dead, and is therefore more like the spirit of the dead. In Mesopotamia this spirit is called the etemmu, which receives offerings and must be appeased. It is often associated with a ghost. The other element of one’s being in Mesopotamia is called the zaqiqu, which appears to be closest to the soul. Like the etemmu, it also survives death, but little else is written about it. In Israelite terminology, the spirit of the dead is called elohim (see notes on , ; see also the articles “

among the festive throng. See note on .

Hermon. See note on . The abundant rains on Mount Hermon supply the Jordan River, which in one northern locale cascades in the breathtaking Banias waterfall. Mizar. Its location is uncertain. The name means “the little hill,” and therefore it may refer to a specific peak in the Hermon range. However, this would depend upon the geographic perspective and poetic intent of the writer. It is quite possible that the psalmist is referring to Mount Hermon as “little,” in terms of its sacredness, in comparison to Yahweh’s holy hill, Zion ().

My bones suffer. See note on .

holy mountain. See note on .

lyre. See the article “

Most of the psalms in the OT are prayers of an individual or prayers offered on behalf of an individual. However, many are hymns calling the congregation to praise, and a number record prayer for a community that is suffering or in distress. This last group is called “community laments” Some examples include ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; . Songs of community lament have a long history in Mesopotamia, beginning with laments over the destruction of holy cities as early as the third millennium BC (see the article “

Community laments concerned the people as a whole, often expressed with the plural “we.” However, the song was sung by a representative of the community, perhaps a king, priest or prophet, so the singular “I” appears at times, even in a lament that also uses “we” (e.g., ). A Hittite community lament over the destruction wrought by an enemy is spoken by the king (Arnuwanda, c. 1350 BC) in the singular (“I”) but also includes “we,” in this case including his wife, the queen, as they lament how the gods plundered their land. Military disaster was not the only occasion for community lament. The Hittite laments include a series of prayers offered by King Mursili II (c. 1300 BC) concerning a plague that struck the land. One might compare the anguish over death that dominates the communal lament in . ◆

A Hittite community lament over the destruction wrought by an enemy, spoken by King Arnuwanda, c. 1350 BC.

© Baker Publishing Group and Dr. James C. Martin. Courtesy of the Turkish Ministry of Antiquities and the Istanbul Archaeological Museums, Turkey.

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I put no trust in my bow. This is an indication that it is the king speaking for the community (“we,” v. ). This affirmation of trust in Yahweh alone is an important theme in psalms involving the king (see note on ).

scattered us among the nations. A consequence of defeat in battle was deportation of captives to be slaves in a foreign land (see notes on ; ). In the “Lament Over the Destruction of Ur,” the patron goddess of the city laments that her daughters and sons were carried off as captives.

You sold your people. When the Hittite king Arnuwanda (c. 1350 BC) decries the abandonment of the people by their gods in war, he lists the various classes of people carried off to slavery; as a result, he reports that there is no longer a return of offerings or worship in the temple for the benefit of the gods.

a haunt for jackals. One of the images used in Mesopotamian city laments is the habitation of the fallen city by wild animals, as in the Lament Over the Destruction of Ur, where the city now has foxholes.

forgotten the name. A deity’s name, like Yahweh, is often associated with that god’s power and essential being (; ). In , the false prophets plan to remove God’s name from the people’s memory so they will be enticed to follow Baal. See note on . Failure to invoke the name of Yahweh as their God is a violation of the covenant and is cause for God to punish the people (). spread out our hands. This posture of worship and prayer is illustrated in ancient Near Eastern iconography, perhaps symbolizing the desire to receive from the deity. Egyptian art in the tomb of the fourteenth-century BC pharaoh Horemheb depicts fugitives of famine seeking aid by lifting their spread hands toward one of his officials. Some of the petitioners have thrown themselves to the ground (cf. v. ).

Awake, Lord! The psalmist does not, of course, think that Yahweh needs waking (). Rather, he is using a metaphor to call on God to arise for action (). The painful cry of desperation can lead to honest outbursts. An Egyptian work lamenting the downfall of society utilizes the same image for their chief deity, the sun-god, as people wonder whether he is asleep since his power has not been revealed. Elijah used this metaphor to taunt the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel (). The intimacy of the psalmist with God, whom he addresses directly in such a manner, is striking.

verses for the king. Psalms directed to the king rather than to the deity are common in the ancient Near East, but this is the only example in the book of Psalms. Like the Egyptian Marriage Stele of Rameses the Great, the marriage portrayed in this psalm is the result of military strength—it represents a political alliance that is desirable because of the king’s military victories. pen of a skillful writer. The scribe was one of the most respected professionals in the ancient world. One scribal exercise in Egypt boasts of how the profession of scribe is superior to all others. The Sumerian and Akkadian scribes wrote: “The scribal art is the mother of the eloquent.” A fifth-century BC Aramaic wisdom text opens with the claim of the author to be a “wise and experienced scribe” (“experienced” [mahir] is the same word as “skillful” in this verse; cf. ). In Mesopotamia, scribes wrote on clay tablets or wax boards by pressing their stylus into the soft writing medium to make the marks, and in Egypt scribes used a brush to paint on papyrus or other writing surface. Similar to the Egyptians, Israelite scribes wrote on papyrus or leather using an ink pen, which was rather like a thin brush (a pointed reed split on the end to retain ink). Scribes and sages were the official storytellers for the kings of the ancient Near East. Their command of the traditions and their association with the royal bureaucracy made it appropriate that they perform songs and stories that reminded the people of the king’s role to feed and protect the land as God’s political agent. Thus, during the New Year’s festival in Babylon, the Enuma Elish (a creation epic) was recounted, representatives from other cities came to give their homage to the king, and a sacred procession wound its way through the streets of the city to the great temple of Marduk, the patron god of Babylon. When Nehemiah the scribe performs a covenant renewal ceremony, he reads the people the law, reminding them of their sacred story (). In , the poet likens the composition and oral performance of this song (his “tongue”) to the “pen” of a skillful scribe, a song of beauty befitting the occasion of the king’s wedding. See the article “

your lips. Ancient descriptions of kings emphasized their grandeur and eloquence of speech. One pharaoh is described as “a master of wisdom, excellent in counsel, brilliant in his use of words.” Since most communication was oral rather than written, eloquence was highly valued.

Gird your sword . . . ride forth victoriously. The king in both Mesopotamia and Egypt was the guardian of divine order on earth. A well-ordered society (“truth, humility and justice,” v. ) depended on a valiant king. Therefore, his prowess as a warrior was essential to carrying out his duty, and any ideal portrait of the king presented him in military splendor. This is graphically portrayed in the palace reliefs of Ashurbanipal, who is shown conquering enemies on his chariot (“ride forth victoriously,” v. ), both human and animal, thereby bringing order to the kingdom. An Egyptian royal text from about 1900 BC presents the king as one who brought order to the kingdom by his military might, assigning everything its role, subduing threats (e.g., lions and crocodiles) and defeating enemies. The imagery of a royal warrior in is parallel to descriptions of a divine warrior (see note on ), which reinforces the metaphor of the king in v.  as God’s representative, especially in his “splendor and majesty” (v. ; cf. with ; ; ). This fearsome aura is a common description of kings on military campaign. The Assyrian king Sennacherib (c. 700 BC) reported that his enemies were overwhelmed by the terrors of the splendors of his sovereignty. His son Esarhaddon (c. 680 BC) described how the god Nergal bestowed on him “awesome radiance and splendor.” A similar manner of speech was used in Egypt. Pharaoh Rameses II (c. 1270 BC) likens his fury and aura in combat to that of the gods.

nations fall beneath your feet. See note on .

Your throne, O God. The NIV capitalizes “God,” suggesting that the psalmist turns the address to God at this point. However, throughout the context, the king is the addressee. In what sense can the king be called “god”? By virtue of his divine appointment, the king in the ancient Near East stood before his subjects as a representative of the divine realm. An Assyrian official reminds his king of the proverb that identifies man as a shadow of god, while the king is the perfect likeness of the god. The Egyptian king Seti I (c. 1300 BC) addressed the future rulers of Egypt as those counted among the gods. Egyptian texts often referred to the king as “god.” While the king of Egypt was thought to be divine, this was not the case in Mesopotamia or Israel. In Israel the king was “adopted” as God’s son (see note on ). In fact, the term “gods” (Hebrew elohim) is used of priests who functioned as judges in the Israelite temple judicial system (; ; see note on ). a scepter of justice. As God’s representative, the king was responsible to enact justice for the benefit of his land (see note on ; see also the articles “Enthronement in the Ancient Near East,” “

love righteousness and hate wickedness. Pairing together these two ideas is common in ancient texts extolling ideal virtue (cf. ). The empowerment to act on God’s behalf is symbolized by “anointing, which was part of the ritual on such a joyful occasion. anointing you with the oil of joy. Middle Assyrian laws feature the bride being anointed by the father of the bridegroom as part of the wedding ceremony, but in this psalm, the anointing is still part of the kingship (rather than the wedding) section, and it represents God anointing the king to his position (see notes on ; ).

myrrh. Used in oil as well as dried for incense, it is an oily resin from the branches of a tree native to Arabia. aloes. From trees native to East Africa and India. cassia. Produced by steaming the leaves of a tree from as far away as East Asia. Not only are perfumes appropriate for such a special occasion as a wedding (cf. ), but because they are precious trade commodities, the mention of these spices stresses the success and prosperity of the king. adorned with ivory. The walls and furnishings of rich homes and palaces were inlaid with ivory decorations (; ; ). These were intricately designed and displayed the most sophisticated craftsmanship in the ancient world. The Assyrian king Sennacherib (c. 700 BC) boasted of the palace he built in his capital city of Nineveh as a palace of ivory that had no rival. The expression used in this Akkadian text—“palace of ivory” (ekal shin)—is parallel to the Hebrew of this verse (hekal shen). The adornment of the king’s attire and the splendor of his royal abode was matched by the beauty of his bride, adorned in the “gold of Ophir” (see notes on ; ).

Forget your people. The usual marriage custom was for a bride to leave her parent’s house to join her husband, often residing in or near his home. One Sumerian bridal song bids the young woman to regard her father and mother as “strangers” in order to join her groom in his household. A text from the northern Mesopotamian city of Emar, which may reflect broader wedding customs, describes the rituals for consecrating a high priestess in marriage to the storm-god. In the ceremony, the new priestess is adorned with jewelry (cf. ) and special attire as she proceeds from her father’s house with maidens to the temple of her god-groom. It is of interest that a ceremonial weapon is carried in this procession, even as military symbols are part of the king’s attire in . The accompaniment of maidens is mentioned in other Mesopotamian texts as well. However, aside from cultural parallels regarding wedding customs, this psalm has little in common with the so-called Sacred Marriage texts of Mesopotamia, which celebrate a religious union between the king and a goddess.

Tyre. A prominent merchant city on the coast of Phoenicia, it was associated with the epitome of wealth (), so the magnitude of honor is underscored by the lavish gifts given the bridal couple.

her gown is interwoven with gold . . . embroidered garments. Clothing was a status marker in the ancient world. The princess-bride in this psalm is dressed in the richest garments. Like the young bride in , she wears elaborately embroidered robes, probably dyed with Phoenician purple. Adding to the majesty of her ensemble is gold stitching. It would have been impossible to create a durable thread made from gold, but gold dust could have been encrusted into the thread and the garment to give it this added touch of wealth. explains the process by which gold was worked into each thread used to weave a garment.

Your sons. The success of a king’s dynasty depended on the royal couple’s ability to produce heirs. This was an important part of divine blessing expressed in prophetic promises to kings (see note on ). Assyrian prophets announced to the king that his son and grandson would rule as kings. The royal residence as a place where generations of princes are born is illustrated in a description by the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal when he recalls that his grandfather and father had ruled there.

the earth give way . . . mountains fall into the . . . sea. In OT cosmic geography, the earth was thought to be set upon pillars that reached to the bottom of the subterranean ocean, where the mountains were rooted as well (see the article “

waters roar. Keeping with the imagery of creation being undone, the psalmist describes the sea as violent water, a concept that is parallel to “Yamm,” the chaos sea monster of Ugaritic mythology (see the article “

a river whose streams. Though the Hebrew word “river” can also refer to the destructive cosmic waters, here “river” is qualified by the word “stream,” which connotes peaceful, controlled, life-giving water (; ; ). In Ugaritic myth, the mountain palace of the chief god El is located at “the source of the rivers,” where one appeals for favor. A portrait of the city of Nineveh depicts channels of water flowing through the garden area of the temple (cf. ; see notes on ; ).

she will not fall. In the theology of Sumerian city laments (see the article “

uproar. Using the same Hebrew word for the roaring of the sea in v. , the psalmist refers to the threat of enemy nations. Hence, the nations are likened to the forces of chaos. Associating enemy nations with conditions of chaos is illustrated also in the Egyptian Prophecies of Neferti (c. 1960 BC). In a reversal on chaos, however, the psalmist depicts the “fall” of these kingdoms with the same Hebrew word that he used for the “fall” of the mountains in v. . The threat of chaos alluded to in the imagery of vv.  is turned on the nations themselves, who would rise up like the sea against God’s city.

wars cease. Because God has subjugated all enemies. This reflects the political dominance of God on behalf of his people more than it does a utopian setting. When a new king came to the throne in a kingdom that had vassals, it was common for the vassals to test the strength and resolve of the new king as they looked for an opportunity to break free. Others might actually try to invade and take control before the new king could get established. In this psalm, the kingdom is intact and secure by the hand of God. God has brought rest to his people by resolving all unrest throughout the kingdom. Such “rest” was the goal of kings and gods in the ancient world and was the desire of people who wanted to establish order in their lives.

This verse might record a direct speech from God given to a temple priest or prophet (see note on ). However, because of its brevity, this verse is more likely a citation of a well-known prophetic saying (cf. ). The force of this command is probably directed to the worshiping community; the people are encouraged in the context to rest in God’s power to save them from warfare (cf. ). In this respect, it is similar to the command of the Assyrian prophet to King Esarhaddon (c. 680 BC), who was encouraged at the end of a civil war to rest in the help of his goddess Ishtar. Be still. Silence before God shows reverence, as illustrated in the Assyrian Hymn to Marduk, in which the other gods bow in silence before him. The term does not suggest meditation, but trust that lacks fear or anxiety.

Clap your hands. In accompaniment to music and dance, people would clap their hands in festive processions. A relief of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (c. 645 BC) shows men, women and children following the musicians and clapping their hands in a procession to celebrate the enthronement of an ally after victory over the Elamites.

the great King. See notes on ; .

subdued nations. Because “chose our inheritance” is in the next verse, the historical allusion is to the conquest under Joshua, when God delivered the land of Canaan to Israel as an inheritance (see note on ). under our feet. The placement of enemies under foot is a common theme in ancient Near Eastern texts (see note on ). The coronation inscription of Pharaoh Horemheb (c. 1300 BC) equates the placement of the foreign nations under the king’s feet with assigning to him the land of his rightful rule.

One of the most important ceremonies in the ancient Near East was the ritual of enthronement of a king and the investiture of that person with his symbols of office. This can be seen in the investment of Marduk with his royal insignia in the Enuma Elish (a creation epic). Marduk is named king and then given his scepter, throne, robes and weapons by the other gods. This ritual is mirrored in the coronation practice in Assyria in which all court officials surrendered the symbols of office, resigning so that the king could decide whether to reappoint them to their duties. In Mesopotamia, enthronement is also tied to the majesty and power of the gods since it is believed that “kingship descended from on high.” In the prologue to the Code of Hammurapi, e.g., the king of Babylon states that the gods called him by name and installed him to carry out their commands on earth, including the restoration of cities, the purification of sacred rites, and the establishment of “truth and justice as the declaration of the land.” During the Babylonian New Year’s festival (Akitu), the granting of power to the king had to be reinvested in his person, so an enthronement ritual was reenacted. Many scholars assume that Israel used psalms like this one in their own enthronement festival (for Yahweh and his king), but no positive proof has yet come forth to confirm that hypothesis. ◆

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God has ascended. This is likely an allusion to a procession up to the holy mountain where God’s temple and throne were located (see notes on ; ). trumpets. Here, refers to the ram’s horn blown on special occasions (see note on ).

From the earliest records of Mesopotamia, cities were associated with particular patron deities. For example, in the prologue to his famous law collection, Hammurapi (c. 1750 BC) declares how he built up various cities and the temples of the deities who in particular dwelled there. So close was the association between city and deity, that the city seal incorporated the name of the patron deity. The same notion held true for ancient Egypt. Different creation accounts emerged from major cities of Egypt extolling the role of the primary god worshiped in each respective city. From the founding of the nation of Israel, Yahweh’s intention was to establish a holy city in which he would dwell (). After various temporary locations, Jerusalem was chosen, and there David and Solomon built the permanent temple (, ; ). The temple, as well as the city in which it was located, became theologically the center of the created world.

Because of the close link between city, temple and deity, hymns were composed in Mesopotamia and Egypt exalting the city as a beautiful dwelling place alongside praise for the god or goddess whose temple was located there. In this practice, the psalmist is doing the same as the hymn writers throughout the ancient world. Many of the themes included in such hymns are similar to those found in the “songs of Zion” () in the book of Psalms (; ; ; ; ). These psalms include (1) the city and its temple as the dwelling place of God; (2) the grandeur of the city’s location, gates and walls; (3) the foundation of the city “in heaven”; (4) a place of security; (5) the good fortune of its inhabitants; and (6) wishes for prayer and blessing on the city. See also the articles “

Jerusalem, the Holy City.

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his holy mountain . . . Mount Zion. In ancient Canaan, the highest mountains, particularly those in the north, were considered sacred places and appropriate locations for temples, since the top was the closest contact point between the earth and the heavens (see the articles “Hymns to Holy Cities,” “

The most striking parallel to is in the tradition about Baal, whose mountain was “Zaphon” (Ugaritic spn = Hebrew spn). The texts describe Mount Zaphon as Baal’s “beautiful hill,” “inheritance,” “holy mountain,” “lovely, mighty mountain.” This background helps explain the importance of God’s mountain in the OT. Such a prominent location was expected for any deity’s dwelling. So the temple was on a prominent hilltop in Jerusalem, in some texts called “Mount Zion” (e.g., , ; ; ), the Lord’s “holy mountain” (; ; ; ). Even Jerusalem itself was located at higher elevation than much of the surrounding region. While the Hebrew word translated “Zaphon” can mean the direction “north,” the parallel to the Baal Cycle is striking. An association between Yahweh and mountains is illustrated in other texts. Israel’s experience meeting God at Mount Sinai () left an impression, so that Biblical texts speak of Yahweh coming from mountains in the south (e.g., ; ). In this way, the psalmist is using theological images that are current in the ancient world to praise Yahweh—even though Yahweh is quite different from the other gods.

citadels . . . fortress. The psalmist associates God’s presence in the city with protection (cf. ). A fortified city would have exterior walls that constituted the first line of defense. Within these walls, the palace and temple complex would be fortified further as a position of defense in the event that the walls were breached (). The word picture here is that Yahweh in his temple is the ultimate defense for the city. Most people in the ancient world believed that their gods would defend their cities and protect them from harm. But in most other places their beliefs were based on the idea that the people gained that protection from their gods by consistently meeting the needs of their gods through rituals. In this view the gods needed the people and when the people cared for those needs, the gods protected them. Yahweh, in contrast, has no needs. He cares for his people as a response to their covenant faithfulness and as a reflection of his love for them.

destroyed . . . like ships of Tarshish. The psalmist recalls some event from the city’s collective memory when Yahweh intervened to deliver the city, perhaps similar to the destruction of Sennacherib’s army (). The vulnerability of an army attacking Jerusalem is likened to ships bound for Tarshish that are destroyed in a great storm. Travel to Tarshish—a distant, if unknown, place in the western Mediterranean—was a hazardous sea voyage ().

Within your temple. Unlike the kings who fled away at the sight of God’s power (vv. ), the Israelite pilgrims gain great comfort from the majesty of God’s presence at Zion, because that is where his deliverance comes from. “Within” in this case may be simply entrance into Jerusalem (Mount Zion) or the temple mount complex, since pilgrims would not be allowed access to the inner precincts of the temple itself. unfailing love. Hebrew hesed is a legal term employed in connection with the covenant; it indicates a sense of fulfillment on their part and is the basis for their fervent worship.

towers . . . ramparts . . . citadels. The basic architecture of a fortified city functioned as its defense system and also served as a form of monumental display of the physical power of the state. towers. Placed at regular intervals within the wall system and dominated each gate. ramparts. Ranged as high as 40 feet (12 meters)—as at Tell Dan—and were set between the towers, often in an offset-inset pattern that provided more angles for arrows and for other missiles dropped or thrown by the defenders. citadels. Within the city, a citadel would be constructed as the strong point in case the city walls were breached. Since it was usually constructed at a high elevation, the citadel tower could also serve as a link in the signal fire system used to communicate between cities.

Walk about Zion. An imaginary tour in a city and praise for its features and life within its walls are a feature of ancient Near Eastern city hymns (see the article “Hymns to Holy Cities”). The Assyrian “Hymn to the City of Arbela” praises the city as being as lofty as the heavens and with foundations as firm as the heavens. The “Hymn to the City of Assur” cites the obvious prosperity of the city as praiseworthy. Here, the psalmist invites anyone to marvel at the splendor of Jerusalem, because it evokes praise of Yahweh who built it (v. ).

all you peoples. While some psalms address all of humanity based on the kingship of Yahweh (see note on ), here the psalmist calls out in the name of wisdom (cf. ). The rhetorically universal appeal of wisdom (v. ) is demonstrated by the internationally shared forms and content of wisdom literature across the ancient Near East. Since piety is not foreign to wisdom, even among the other nations, the merger of the two in the religious devotion of a psalmist is natural. In an Egyptian prayer to the scribal-god Thoth, the worshiper makes the acquisition of wisdom the central theme.

proverb. The Hebrew term is mashal. It has a wide range of meanings depending upon context: “parable” (), poem (), prophetic “message” (). In this case, as in , it refers to an instruction from God to the people, warning them, but relying on the universality of a wisdom theme so that all peoples (v. ) can be addressed, not just the Israelites. It may also be compared to the “taunt” in that speaks with scorn of the Assyrian aggressors’ loss of their ill-gotten wealth. with the harp. The measured parallelism of the verse would be aided in its rhythm by the strumming of a harp or zither. This might be compared to the musician employed by Elisha when he speaks a prophetic message (). A similar occurrence also appears in “The Report of Wenamun,” an Egyptian text in which a musician and a prophet are paired. Certainly words of praise were chanted or sung to the sound of lyre and harp (). It would be natural for minstrels and storytellers to recite the mighty acts of God and of Israel’s heroes to the sound of music ().

No one can . . . live on forever. The quest for immortality was a vital concern in ancient Near Eastern culture. One of the earliest literary stories, the Gilgamesh Epic (a composition perhaps c. 1800 BC from sources originating in the third millennium BC), features this quest as its central, unifying theme. After the death of his friend Enkidu, Gilgamesh seeks counsel from the Mesopotamian flood hero, who with his wife are the only humans ever granted immortality by the gods. Gilgamesh is told that their circumstances were unique and that there is no one who can convene the assembly of the gods to grant him the immortality he seeks. In the Ugaritic Aqhat Legend (c. 1300 BC), King Aqhat declines a deceptive offer of eternal life by the goddess Anat, asserting that he will die as everyone does. See notes on , .

the wise die . . . Their tombs will remain. The reality that death overcomes everyone regardless of their station in life is reflected in the Egyptian Harpers’ Songs that adorned tombs in the New Kingdom period (c. 1550–1100 BC). One harpist’s song observes that the dead have built their mansions throughout life and then rest in them. It urges people to build well so that their name might endure. Another song mentions the enduring reputation of the famous Egyptian wise man Imhotep, who designed the first pyramid; yet the song adds that even his tomb no longer remains. See the article “

Their forms will decay. The common observation that the human body decayed to dust in the grave gave rise to imagery of the earth swallowing and consuming a corpse. Corresponding to this, Canaanite mythology described the god Mot (“Death,” Ugaritic mt = Hebrew mwt) in terms of an opening in the earth that “swallowed” and “consumed.”

take me to himself. Like the Mesopotamian culture with whom they shared a number of their religious and social ideas, the Israelites throughout most of the OT period did not have a concept of a resurrection from the dead, a last judgment or an afterlife of reward or punishment (see the articles “

title Asaph. May be an abbreviation for the “sons of Asaph” and thus a reference to one of the temple choirs or their repertoire of music. In , the musicians who returned to Israel with Ezra were “descendants of Asaph.” According to the list of temple musicians in , Asaph was appointed by David to serve in Jerusalem’s worship space as Heman’s associate.

Two images are conflated in the opening verses of this psalm. The first description of God in these verses recalls his appearance in a storm on Mount Sinai, when he spoke the words of the covenant to which the psalmist alludes throughout this psalm (). It connotes the terrifying manifestation of a divine warrior (in , Yahweh “shone forth” with his army of holy angels; see notes on ). This notion of radiant splendor and awe-inspiring sheen surrounding a deity is a common Mesopotamian expression. In the Enuma Elish (a creation epic), when the god Marduk waged war against the forces of chaos, his head “was covered with terrifying auras,” a description also used of the fierce dragons he opposed. This same description was frequently used of Assyrian kings in battle. Sennacherib speaks of overwhelming Hezekiah with his terrifying splendor. The important point of this imagery for is that when God calls people together to speak his word or exercise judgment, his authority is backed by his awesome nature.

The second image is connected to God as lawgiver and judge. A relief at the top of the seven-foot-high (two-meter-high) diorite pillar containing a copy of the Code of Hammurapi depicts the Babylonian sun-god Shamash seated on his throne with Hammurapi standing before him. In the prologue that follows, the king accepts the responsibility to make justice prevail in the land and to rise like the sun-god Shamash over all humankind. He becomes the god’s judicial representative for the Babylonian Empire. Shamash’s role as divine judge is also found in Akkadian prayers for forgiveness. The Egyptian Great Hymn to Aten, composed for the court of the pharaoh Akhenaten in the fourteenth century BC, contains creation imagery very similar to that in this psalm. This is especially the case with regard to a sense of order and universality as the god’s glory enriches the land.

He summons the heavens . . . and the earth. In the ancient Near East, covenants between people were sworn before deities, who then served as witnesses to bind the agreement. Sometimes elements of nature were also invoked, including heaven and earth (). Perhaps for Israel, where these elements were not deified, the stability and relative eternality of the heavens and the earth rendered them fit symbols for the durability of the covenant obligations. This rhetorical device is used by OT prophets (; ).

made a covenant . . . by sacrifice. Accompanying the oaths that bound a covenant, the agreement was also ratified by sacrifice (; ). This custom was common in the ancient Near East, illustrated by an eighth-century BC Aramaic covenant from Syria in which animals were cut in half.

Listen, my people. is a prophetic speech introduced by the description of God’s appearance (vv. ) and continued with the speech formula in v. . Such prophetic words are not uncommon in psalms (cf. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ). So one might conclude that prophetic ministry was active in the Israelite temple, as it was among Israel’s neighbors, with parts of prophetic speeches recorded in psalms (see the article “

burnt offerings. See note on ; see also the article “Sin and Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East.”

Do I eat . . . ? Among Israel’s neighbors, part of the concept of an offering was that it fed the gods. Mesopotamian and Egyptian hymns credit the chief god with providing agricultural produce as meals for other gods. In Mesopotamian myth, humans were created to bear the labor of tending orchards and fields that provide food for offerings. Priests were largely occupied with the care and feeding of the gods. One of the best illustrations of this is found in the Mesopotamian flood story recounted in the Gilgamesh Epic. During the flood, when no humans were upon land to make offerings, the gods became hungry. Consequently, after the flood waters receded and the Mesopotamian “Noah” built an altar for sacrifices, the gods smelled the aroma of the sacrifice and gathered like flies around him. The Canaanites also held this view of their gods and sacrifices. The god Baal is the one who fattens gods and men—i.e., he provides fertility for crops and livestock that become offerings. In the Ugaritic royal stories, the Kirta epic and the Aqhat Legend, the sacrifices of the king to the gods are called “food.”

The OT perspective is also that sacrifices and drink offerings are food for God (, ; ; ). However, unlike Mesopotamian texts, such as the flood story in the Gilgamesh Epic, which indicate the actual dependence of gods upon sacrificial offerings, categorically denies this notion. Rather, according to the psalmist, sacrifices were symbolic meals that allowed worshipers the opportunity to give something to God and enhance fellowship, as well as provide a means of atonement. This emphasis is evident in v. , which commands the sacrifice of “thank offerings” as a fulfillment of vows (see note on ). See the articles “

Have mercy. Feeling the need for forgiveness and pleading for mercy are universal experiences among humans who fear their God or gods. Many parallels exist in Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Hittite literature, but the distinction is that here the psalmist’s plea is based on a belief in Yahweh’s moral expectations that have been laid out in the Torah rather than on simply the whims of a deity (see notes on ; ; ; ; see also the article “Sin and Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East”).

I know my transgressions. In the ancient Near East, individuals typically claimed that they were mystified concerning what they could possibly have done to offend the gods. Several factors contributed to this ignorance: (1) the gods of the ancient Near East had offered no permanent revelation of themselves that might be used as a guide; (2) the gods were not characterized as acting consistently from one day to the next, making it difficult to assess one’s standing in any given circumstance; and (3) offenses often took the form of neglecting rituals of which the guilty individual was not even aware. As a result, in Babylonian penitential literature (Akkadian shigu), e.g., the offender sometimes simply accepts blame for a vast range of sins, hoping in the process to confess to whatever has offended the god. However, at other times, he lists offenses and asserts that he is well aware of his sins. In the Hittite Prayers of Mursili, confession of one’s guilt is the step toward reconciliation with his lord. In Israel, the Mosaic Law was clear enough and offenses could be clearly identified.

Against you, you only, have I sinned. If David is identifying Yahweh alone as the one sinned against, whom else is he ruling out with the phrase “you only”? Certainly he has wronged Bathsheba and Uriah (see ; see also ). It is important to notice that in the context the issue concerns who has a right to pass judgment and carry out sentence (v. ). In Israel, the family of the murder victim had a right to blood vengeance, and there were always political enemies who would be happy to stylize themselves as the arm of God’s justice against a wayward king. Perhaps by this statement David is limiting his acknowledgment of culpability so that only Yahweh has the right of punishment.

sinful at birth. The observation that humans fail from the moment life begins was proverbial in Mesopotamia. In a lament over illness, a Sumerian worshiper confesses that a sinless child has never been born—no one is perfect. The individual continues by appealing to the confession of forgotten sins and those committed unwittingly (see the article “Sin and Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East”). A similar Sumerian prayer expresses that everyone has sinned against their god. The ideology in these texts is not identical to the standard Christian doctrine of original sin, in that nothing connects the origin of sin or guilt to a first human pair.

in the womb . . . in that secret place. Based on the birth image in the previous verse, it is likely that this verse refers to obtaining knowledge while still within the womb. The penitent person thus acknowledges that his sin cannot be excused for lack of knowledge. He is aware, even from the womb, of what is right behavior, and he has failed to obey what he knows to be lawful (v. ). A similar image of prenatal learning is found in the Egyptian Great Hymn to Aten. The writer repeatedly praises the god for supplying all that is necessary for human survival, even within the womb. To counter human nature’s tendency to disobey, Egyptian religious thought is filled with the need to internalize maat, “truth.” It is described as the bread that sustains humans (as in the royal annals of Queen Hatshepsut).

hyssop. See note on . whiter than snow. White is identified with purity or joy in the Biblical tradition (see note on ). Dark colors, especially black, are used to signify mourning or lamentation—both of which are associated with states of impurity (; ). In an Assyrian prayer, the king calls on his god to “whiten” and thus free his heart from his sin of blasphemy. In Akkadian, the verb “to brighten” overlaps with the verb “to make white.” In one Babylonian magical text there is a request to become as pure and bright as heaven. See note on .

pure heart. Having acknowledged his sinful condition from his birth, the penitent psalmist now asks God, the only power able to grant his request, to purify his “heart” (the seat of the intellect in Hebrew tradition). A Sumerian prayer of repentance also pleads for divine mercy from the gods and transformation of the sin into goodness. This is similar to the petition in the “Lament Over the Destruction of Ur,” which calls on the goddess Nanna to insure that “every evil heart of its people be pure.” The concept of regeneration or redirection is also found in Ezekiel’s prophecy of a restored nation; in that prophecy God promises to “give you a new heart” ().

your Holy Spirit. While God’s spirit shows up many times in the OT text, the explicit reference to the Holy Spirit, used synonymously with Yahweh’s presence, occurs only here and in . To have that presence removed or to be excluded from communion with God is the ultimate punishment imaginable. On a national scale, it would be the end of the covenant relationship and the total destruction of the people (; cf. Hosea’s third child Lo-Ammi [which means “not my people”] in ). For a reigning monarch, who is God’s representative, being cut off from Yahweh’s voice or presence would be the signal that the monarch’s dynasty has been rejected and will come to an end (see ; ). The Sumerian “Prayer to Every God” also pleads that the god would not cast out his servant, presumably away from divine favor because of his transgressions. For the ancient Israelite reader, this expression would not entail an understanding of the Trinity—only that God’s spirit is characterized by holiness.

Sacrifice in the ancient Near East served several purposes. The primary purpose of sacrifice in the cultures outside of Israel was to feed the gods (see note on ). A second use involved preparation in rituals, e.g., in the widespread practice of divination in Mesopotamia, Syria and the Levant, where the organs of sacrificial animals were inspected to discern answers to questions asked of the gods. Slaughter of animals also accompanied rituals designed to remove evil influences caused by demons or spells. A ritual use, found in Israel as well as neighboring nations, was to inaugurate covenants by sacrifice (see note on ). Sacrifice also served in ritual cleansing. Particular physical conditions (e.g., a skin disease) or unavoidable actions (e.g., sex with one’s spouse or physical contact with a dead relative) rendered an individual unfit for participation in religious rituals performed in sacred places (see note on ). In such cases, sacrifice was part of the purifying ritual. Sacrifice also played a role in temple cleansing during the Mesopotamian Akitu festival. This is somewhat similar to the temple cleansing aspect of Israel’s Day of Atonement (); but unlike the Akitu festival, Israel’s Day of Atonement was also associated with the final category of sacrifice in the ancient Near East, appeasing divine anger on account of sin. The degree to which appeasement was important varied in each of the major ancient Near Eastern civilizations, but this use of sacrifice was the most relevant in the religion of Israel.

All cultures of the ancient Near East had standards of ethical behavior and social consequences for violation of these customs. However, they differed on the religious implications of such violations and the expected rituals required by the gods in order to amend wrongs. The Egyptians valued adherence to truth and justice, called “maat” (see note on ). The ideal, as reflected in the king’s duty, was to advance the well-being of society and contribute to the maintenance of temple worship (see note on ; see also the articles “Enthronement in the Ancient Near East,” “

While Egyptians believed in a judgment after death, there was no necessity to offer sacrifices regarding one’s wrongdoing in the present life. However, prayers of thanksgiving for mercy and forgiveness have been found that accompanied thank offerings. Offerings also contributed to the care of the deceased and the gods, and they perhaps placated the ghost of the dead so that they would not disturb the well-being of the living.

If the worshiper petitioned the gods for favor, an offering might be included. Mesopotamian laws attest to a respect for life and property rights, and family responsibilities were important. Violations of these customs resulted in social consequences; but religiously speaking, offenses against the gods were primarily the failure to bring offerings for divine food or to observe other ritual requirements (see note on ). In the “Poem of the Righteous Sufferer,” the individual laments that his misfortune is without explanation, since he has faithfully fulfilled such religious duties. In fact, the worshiper is not even certain which duties are pleasing and which are offensive to a god—nothing is intuitive with the gods.

As mentioned above, offerings of food, including meat, obtained divine favor, and animal slaughter was necessary to perform acts of divination. However, there were no sacrificial rituals or manipulation of blood for forgiveness in Mesopotamia comparable to those of the OT. Like the Mesopotamians, the Hittites possessed laws clearly delineating right and wrong behavior. One sacrificial ritual involved squirting the blood of a sacrificial animal toward the statue of the deity in the temple, and smearing blood was used in purification.

In the extant prayers of confession, however, “sins” are infractions against temples and worship practices. So, while the Hittites offered animal sacrifices for removal of sin, the offenses were presumably for these cultic failures. At Ugarit, “burnt offerings” and “peace offerings” were sacrificed, but the theological significance is unclear. Blood was not part of the ritual, as in OT sacrifices. Some evidence points to a concept of care and feeding of the gods similar to Mesopotamia, and a few texts mention “sin.”

The OT places an emphasis on the necessity of blood sacrifice for removing sin, whether it be an infraction against ceremonial requirements of worship or a violation of ethical laws. For further discussion, see note on . ◆

Model of man slaughtering a bull.

Kim Walton. The Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago.

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sacrifice . . . a broken spirit. The sacrifices prescribed in addressed only sins committed “unintentionally” or by omission of duty (, , , ; , ; see ). Sins committed in a premeditated or defiant manner were not removed by these sacrifices (). The offending individual was left at the mercy of God; and only on the Day of Atonement were all sins, even “rebellion,” removed and God’s wrath appeased (, , , ). On this day, God expected an attitude of humble contrition (). The sin of David spoken of in this psalm was premeditated (see ); therefore, no prescribed sacrifice addressed the psalmist’s plight, and capital punishment would have been just. Only God’s gracious forgiveness offered to the contrite sinner, realized on the Day of Atonement, was applicable for intentional sins. A Ugaritic ritual text prescribes sacrifices (Ugaritic dbh = Hebrew zbh) for sins committed due to anger, impatience or a vile attitude.

Furthermore, like Jeremiah’s direct attacks on what he considered a totally corrupt cultic system in Jerusalem (; ; ), the psalmist denies the value of animal sacrifice without an ethical dimension to sustain it. The Egyptian Teaching for Merikare contains this same sentiment, indicating that the character of the upright person is more desirable than the sacrifice of an evildoer They share Samuel’s () and Hosea’s () argument that God desires a devout worshiper’s heart and prayers, not his or her ritual pantomime (see and notes on ; ). This is also noted in Babylonian wisdom literature, where the pious are encouraged to pay daily homage “with sacrifice, prayer, and appropriate incense-offering,” and it is most important to “feel solicitude of heart” toward one’s god.

build up the walls of Jerusalem. It is a common theme in ancient Near Eastern royal records that a successful king undertakes the building of cities and temples. The Assyrian king Shalmaneser III, e.g., boasts of the rebuilding of Assur’s dilapidated walls as the fruit of his victories. After capturing Jerusalem, David expanded the size of the original Canaanite city (). Further construction is recorded for Solomon (), and an extension of the walls to embrace a wider urban core was undertaken by Hezekiah (). In each case, architectural expansion is mentioned as evidence of a stable and prudent king. The figure of speech used in this verse draws upon the natural association between a king’s vitality and the undertaking of monumental architecture such as fortress walls.

tongue. The destructive potential of the tongue and the displeasure it stirs in God is proverbial not just in OT wisdom. A well-known Egyptian proverb warns that a malicious tongue is connected to a faulty heart and is abhorred by the Egyptian gods, who hate those whose tongues deceive and cause harm.

vindicate me. A person who was suffering was believed to be receiving punishment from God. Since God was considered to be just, then the punishment was considered to be deserved. The psalmist’s troubles would therefore be taken as evidence of his sinfulness (see the article “

freewill offering. See note on .

my close friend. See note on .

go down alive to the realm of the dead. The judgment sought by the psalmist on his enemies is an untimely death. Like the rebellious Levite Korah and his followers (), they are to be swallowed up by the earth without any further opportunity to commit mischief. The parallel here to “by surprise” clarifies that going alive to the realm of the dead does not mean they will not die; rather, a sudden death is requested. The image of death as an open mouth swallowing the unaware is found in the Ugaritic Baal Cycle, in which the god of the underworld, Mot, is described as a “pool luring the wild oxen” that “eats whatever it wants with both hands.”

I cry out . . . he hears. The idea of God “hearing” means that he acts (v. ). This common figure of speech is illustrated in many ancient Near Eastern prayers and reports of deliverance (see note on ). An inscription from the king of Byblos dating to the postexilic period exalts his goddess with gratitude that she heard his voice. Later in the text the same expression is parallel with the idea that the goddess made the situation “pleasant” (i.e., peaceable) for the king. In Egyptian reliefs, a series of ears on a stele portraying a god expressed the hope that the god would hear and respond.

violates his covenant. Related to the immediately preceding call for God to afflict the psalmist’s enemies (vv. ). They have apparently violated a covenant, a serious offense in ancient culture, which would have been punished by curses from God for breaking the oath taken during the covenant-making ritual.

talk is smooth . . . war is in his heart. The hypocritical contrast between outward speech and inward intent is illustrated by an accusation found in the annals of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (c. 650 BC) as he speaks about an enemy who spoke in a friendly way to him even as he plotted murder in his heart.

pit. See the articles “

tears. See note on . scroll. Lit. “bottle” or “wineskin” (see ; see also ). This intimate image portrays a container belonging to God, filled with the psalmist’s sorrow.

vows . . . thank offerings. When the psalmist feels passionately about his distress and plea, he might promise to bring an offering to God as an act of praise after God has delivered him (; ; ). See notes on , ; ; ; ; see also the article “

shadow of your wings. See note on .

lions. See note on . tongues. See note on .

net. See notes on ; .

harp and lyre. See the articles “

is known as an “imprecatory” psalm because it calls down curses (imprecations) on the enemy. In the ancient Near East, such curses were enhanced or activated by magical rituals and spells, but this sort of practice would have been unacceptable in the Biblical system. Imprecatory psalms can be best understood against the background of the Retribution Principle (see the article “

An example of a type of indirect curse is found in the vassal treaties of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon as he calls on a host of gods to do the treaty-breaker harm. Babylonian, 672 BC.

© The Trustees of the British Museum/Art Resource, NY

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