We live in a significant time in history—not only for our
country but for the whole world. COVID-19 has no boundaries. It is left up to
us individually and nationally to establish boundaries wherein we say “This far
and no farther.” And yet even this is a guess, informed perhaps and effective
maybe, but a guess nevertheless. Time will tell. Such uncertainty creates
anxiety for all and fear for many.
Emotional Ambivalence, 1-6
In a previous sermon I developed Psalm 93 that speaks of
the storms of life we are now experiencing and what we need to do to live
calmly and peacefully by trusting in the sovereign God. To a degree we are
helped when we allow our minds to focus on the attributes of God. He comes to
us through the Holy Spirit to calm our anxieties, and for a little while we experience
peace—until the next thunderous boom that refocuses our minds and emotions once
again on the realities raging all around us.
This article was to be a sequel to the previous sermon, but
circumstances halted the preaching for now except from those churches that minister
through the internet to their home-bound congregations. In this posting my would-have-been-preached
sermon is presented in a teaching format being careful to maintain exposition,
interpretation, and applications. Welcome to my “in home” class! It is my
prayer that you will find help in Psalm 57 during these “Persistent Anxious Moments.”
In
Psalm 57 we find freedom to be human as well as freedom from incapacitating anxieties.
King David reveals his emotional ambivalence, bouncing back and forth from fear
to faith and back again as he struggles through life-threatening circumstances.
He also points us to a way to minimize the incapacitating effects of our own troubles.
The
superscription of Psalm 57 takes us back to a time when David was fleeing for
his life from King Saul and hiding in a cave. Without discussing the details of
the historical background here[1]
I simply point out the level of emotional distress imbedding in the Hebrew
words Al-tashheth meaning “Do not destroy!” David’s anxiety was justifiable.
In
reading the Psalm we can easily identify where David’s emotional ambivalence in
verses 1-6 changes to emotional stability in verses 7-11.[2]
The change is dramatic. Verse 1 makes a plea to God, “Be gracious[3]
to me, O God, be gracious to me.” Verse 7 makes a similar but positive dramatic
declaration, “My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast.”[4]
The general outline of the Psalm is clear.
1 Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to
me,
For my soul takes refuge in You;
And in the shadow of Your wings I will
take refuge
Until destruction passes by.
2 I will cry to God Most High,
To God who accomplishes all things for
me.
3 He will send from heaven and save me;
He reproaches him who tramples upon me.
Selah.
God will send forth His lovingkindness
and His truth.
4 My soul is among lions;
I must lie among those who breathe
forth fire,
Even the sons of men, whose teeth are
spears and arrows
And their tongue a sharp sword.
5 Be exalted above the heavens, O God;
Let
Your glory be above all the earth.
6 They have prepared a net for my steps;
My soul is bowed down;
They dug a pit before me;
They themselves have fallen into
the midst of it. Selah.
7 My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is
steadfast;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises!
8 Awake, my glory!
Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.
9 I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among
the peoples;
I will sing praises to You among the
nations.
10 For Your lovingkindness is great to the
heavens
And Your truth to the clouds.
11 Be exalted above the heavens, O God;
Let Your glory be above
all the earth.
1 Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me,
For my soul[5]
takes refuge in You;
And
in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge
Until
destruction passes by.
Throughout these 6 verses David leaps back and forth from “Woe
is me!” to “But God . . . .” We do the same thing when facing personal crises
praying the only words that come to our troubled minds, “God, Help!” In verse 1
David cries out for God’s help twice, perhaps psychologically seeking assurance
that God will indeed hear. The verse also exhibits a chiastic pattern
(ABBA), a common feature of Hebrew poetry wherein A corresponds to A in some
way and B corresponds to B, more often than not the second element extends the
thought of the first element.[6]
The ambivalence moves from the distress plea, lines 1 and 4, to focusing on God,
lines 2 and 3. The repetition of the verb “refuge” and the dramatic imagery clearly
shows the interconnection between lines 2 and 3. This is called parallelism and
is a pervasive feature of Hebrew poetry where one line is expanded in a subsequent
line.[7]
Line 4 presents the occasion for the cry for help in verse 1, a cause and effect
pattern.
2 I will cry [keep crying out] to God Most High,
To
God who accomplishes all things for me.
Parallelism
here extends beyond two lines. Verse 2, line 1, further personalizes the plea,
“Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me” (verse 1, line 1). The repetition
in verse 1, line 1, is repeated by “I keep crying out”[8]
in verse 2, line 1. The second line of verse 2 shows David’s emotional bounce
back to God. He had previously
experienced God’s help and cries out for it again.
3 He will send from heaven and save me;
He reproaches him who tramples upon
me. Selah.
God will send forth His
lovingkindness and His truth
[faithfulness]. [9]
David
continues his thoughts of God in verse 3, “He will send from heaven and save me
. . . . God will send forth His
lovingkindness and His faithfulness.” His expectations are high but the middle sentence
intrudes into his positive thoughts, “He reproaches him who tramples upon me.
Selah.” Ambivalence! But then David casts himself upon God’s lovingkindess and faithfulness.
4 My soul is among lions;
I must lie among those who breathe
forth fire,
Even the sons of men, whose teeth are
spears and arrows
And their tongue a sharp sword.
As soon as he has he found some measure of emotional relief
by thinking about God in verse 3, David is brought back to the impending dangers,
“My soul is among lions; I must lie among those who breathe forth fire, Even
the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows And their tongue a sharp
sword.” This whole verse is parallel to and illustrative of “him who tramples
upon me” in verse 3. The poetic pattern and imagery is striking. The lions of
line one are identified as the sons of men in line 3, and the fire-breathers of
line 2 use their tongue as weapons of destruction in line 4. This is an ABAB pattern
with the parts corresponding to one another. David cannot even lie down and
sleep without fear. Insomnia takes over as a natural consequence of intense
anxiety. We’ve all been there!
5 Be exalted above the heavens, O God;
Let Your glory be above all the earth.
The
only solution to regain some measure of peace is to reflect once again on God.
This time he focuses on God’s greatness in verse 5, “Be exalted above the
heavens, O God; Let Your glory be above all the earth.” Contextual interpretation—Show
forth your greatness in heaven as well as on earth by acting on my behalf in
accordance with your character and promises. This is not so much a statement of
praise as a plea for God’s help amid the trying circumstances. “It is the
psalmist’s way of asking God to bring to nothing the plans of evil men.”[10]
But then there is verse 6—Ambivalence!
6 They have prepared a net for my steps;
My soul is bowed down;
They dug a pit before me;
They themselves have fallen into the
midst of it. Selah.
“They have prepared a net for my steps; My soul is bowed
down;[11]
They dug a pit before me;” David cannot even safely walk around outside the
cave without being in danger from his enemies. Insomnia at night; fear during
the day! But, again, a good thought invades his mind reminding him that God’s
retributive justice surely will be at work, “They themselves [will] have fallen
into the midst of it. Selah” (verse 6).[12]
Emotional
ambivalence is normal but should not incapacitate us. David was familiar
enough with God’s word to be able to restore some peace for himself even while
the danger persisted. Yet, like us, ambivalence, bad and good side-by-side, is
part of life, but it does not have to render us unable to function adequately. One
of the keys, therefore, is to familiarize ourselves with God through the
reading and study of his Word. Then when troubles come our way, the Holy Spirit
can draw upon Scripture and encourage our hearts and minds as it did in David’s
case.
7 My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart
is steadfast;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises!
Verse 7 begins with repetition as in verse 1, “My heart is
steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast!” Emotional stability! Whereas verse 1
was a frantic cry for help from God, verse 7 is a dynamic, repeated cry awakening
his praise to God, “I [must] sing, yes, I [must]sing praises!”[13]
A
connection with God occurred between verses 1-6 and verses 7-11 that changed
the mood from emotional ambivalence to emotional stability. This connection, called
an “oracle of salvation,” depicts that point when the Holy Spirit reminds and
confirms the truth of God’s word encouraging the heart and turning the emotions
from gloom and despair to hope and confidence. “Oracles address individuals in
a specific and present need, comfort them with a message of God’s presence, and
promise of deliverance in the future.”[14]
Sometimes the oracle appears in the text as in Psalm 60:6-8 (Hebrew 8-10) or
implied as here.
8 Awake, my glory!
Awake,
harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.
In David’s experience, the night was a mixture of hope and
danger, sleeplessness and anxiety (verses 4-6). In verse 7 he cannot wait until
dawn when he is determined to praise God for the “middle of the night”
encouragement and the promise of deliverance. For David worship and music are
in concert.
The
verse begins with repetition as in verse 7, a repetition that summons him to
praise. Line 2 is parallel to line 1 and interprets his musical creations as
representative of his glory, the “God-given faculty of worth and praise, that
aspect of human personhood which responds to God . . . . The worshiper’s whole being is filled with the
thought of God; and this state of mind is his ‘glory.’”[15]
For David a fitting response of praise to God involves the “harp and lyre.”
9 I
will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples;
I
will sing praises to You among the nations.
The essence of David’s musical praise is thanksgiving for
deliverance, assured but not yet realized.[16]
Line 2 parallels line 1: to “sing praises” is his way of giving “thanks,” and “the
peoples” and “the nations” are synonymous. He determines to give testimony of
God’s deliverance “far and wide” to include both Israelites and non-Israelites.[17]
10 For (B) Your lovingkindness is (A)
great to the heavens
And (B)Your truth [faithfulness] (A) to the clouds.
This passage exhibits an ABAB pattern seen in the original
order of the text. Also, line 2 makes line 1 more specific: “lovingkindness
parallels “faithfulness” and “the clouds” parallel “the heavens.”
11 Be exalted above the heavens, O God;
Let Your glory be above all the earth.
Verse 11 repeats the thoughts of verse 5 but with a subtle
change based on the changed emotions. Whereas verse 5 is a prayer for God to
reveal Himself verse 10 is an
exclamation of certainty that God will bring the much-needed help, “Be exalted
above the heavens, O God; Let Your glory be above all the earth.”
Each of us can identify with “Psalm 57 And Those
Persistent Anxious Moments.” The world-wide COVID-19
epidemic has elevated the “flu season” to extreme levels. Anxiety and fear leads
to anger and recriminations. What we really need are reflections on Psalm 93 that
encourages us to look upward beyond our immediate circumstances to our sovereign
God who controls all things, pestilences included.[18]
Similarly, Psalm 57 recognizes our humanness, our anxieties and our fears,
without apology. But it also shows us how we can alleviate these natural and
possibly incapacitating human emotions by frequently turning to genuine worship
of God in whatever manner consistent with our personalities. It is possible to
say with David, “My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast.” For
David, worship and music were synonymous; for me, worship and reading and
studying the Word of God are one and the same. Whatever form genuine worship of
our sovereign God takes, it has the capacity to elevate our emotions from the
darkness of despair to the full light of God’s abiding presence!
[1]
Taken from the superscription as a plausible historical context for this Psalm.
“THIS psalm—the “twin psalm” with the last—has also an elaborate “title,” which
runs thus: “To the precentor (or chief musician): destroy not; David’s;
Michtam; when he fled from Saul; in the cave.” The meaning of the second and
fourth headings is doubtful. Some explain the second as “musical;” others as an
allusion to David’s words when he bade Abishai not to kill Saul. The last two
clauses give the place and occasion of the composition. It was written “in the
cave”—probably the cave of Adullam (1 Sam. 22:1)—when David was flying from
Saul. No valid reason can be urged against these statements.” Spence-Jones, H.
D. M. (Ed.). (1909). Psalms (Vol. 2, p. 6). London; New York: Funk &
Wagnalls Company.
[4]
For this exercise I employ the New American Standard Bible, but, as I interpret
the text, I occasionally insert some bracketed changes to the NASB based on the
Hebrew grammar and on my interpretation. In this article I target the readers
of the English Bible, minimizing technical descriptions except in these
endnotes.
[5]
“My soul” is metonomy for the individual himself as seen in the NIV and
NET. “Metonymy is a figure by which
one name or noun is used instead of another, to which it stands in a certain
relation. . . . Metonymy of the Subject is when the subject is put for
something pertaining to it: as the possessor for the possessed; the thing
signified for the sign.” (Bullinger, E. W. (1898). Figures of
speech used in the Bible (p. 538). London; New York: Eyre &
Spottiswoode; E. & J. B. Young & Co.) Metonymy appears in verses 4 and 6
as well.
[6]
“This is by far the most stately and dignified presentation of a subject; and
is always used in the most solemn and important portions of the Scriptures.
Bengel observes with regard to this form of the Figure, that ‘its employment is
never without some use: viz., in perceiving the ornament and in observing the
force of the language; in understanding the true and full sense; in making
clear the sound Interpretation; in demonstrating the true and neat analysis of
the sacred text.’” (Bullinger, Ibid, 394)
[7]
Parallelism, however, is not limited to two lines of poetry. For an extended venture
into this topic see Berlin, A. (2008). The dynamics of biblical parallelism.
Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, UK; Dearborn, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing
Company; Dove Booksellers.
[8]
The continuousness of the translation is based on the Hebrew Imperfect verb. (Gesenius, F. W. (1910). Gesenius’ Hebrew
grammar. (E. Kautzsch & S. A. E. Cowley, Eds.) (2d English ed., p. 314).
Oxford: Clarendon Press.). See also Ronald J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax:
An Outline, 2nd ed, 1988, p. 31.
[9]
Translated as “faithfulness” in ESV, NIV, NET.
See Koehler, L., Baumgartner, W., Richardson, M. E. J., & Stamm, J.
J. (1994–2000). The Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament
(electronic ed., p. 69). Leiden: E.J. Brill. The context suggests that the
“faithfulness” translation is to be preferred over “truth.”
[11]
Taken literally and applying it to David’s circumstances as he looks out for pits and traps: “to bend, bow down (one’s head)” (Koehler,
L., Baumgartner, W., Richardson, M. E. J., & Stamm, J. J. (1994–2000). The Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of the Old
Testament (electronic ed., p. 493). Leiden: E.J. Brill).
[12]
The Hebrew verb system typically relies on the context for the time element
rather than the verb form as it is in English which explains why various
translations often differ in their interpretations. In this verse the perfect verb
form is used to express the psalmist’s certitude of the enemies’ ruin so he can
speak of it as already accomplished. See Gesenius, F. W. (1910). Gesenius’
Hebrew Grammar. (E. Kautzsch & S. A. E. Cowley, Eds.) (2d English
ed., p. 312). Oxford: Clarendon Press—“(b) To express facts which are
undoubtedly imminent, and, therefore, in the imagination of the speaker,
already accomplished (perfectum confidentiae), . . . This use of the perfect occurs most frequently
in prophetic language (perfectum propheticum).”
[13]
A Hebrew cohortative form conveying a personal exhortation. Also, the two different
words for “sing” may be synonymous although the second word extends beyond the
vocal aspect to the instrumental (NIV “make music”) which corresponds well with
the mention of the harp and lyre in the next verse.
[14]
D. Brent Sandy & Ronald L. Giese, Jr., Cracking Old Testament Codes,
p. 141. Obviously Psalm 57 was composed after the event but they certainly reflect
the experiences, convictions and emotions of David during the event.
[15]
Quotation from Weiser, The Psalms: A Commentary, p. 428, in Marvin E.
Tate, Psalms 51-100, p 79.
[16]
The Psalm was undoubtedly composed after the event but surely accurately reflects
David’s emotions while the event was unfolding.
[17]
“In light of the certain destruction of the wicked, David vowed to sing a song of victory. With his faith
established in the Lord, he could praise Him early in the morning in anticipation of what God would do. David said he would
praise the Lord’s love (ḥeseḏ, “loyal love”) and faithfulness (cf. 57:3) where others
would hear him.” (Ross, A. P. (1985). Psalms. In J. F. Walvoord & R.
B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the
Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 836). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
