Seder 108: Investigating Psalm 108 in Canonical Context

 Psalm 108 is an often-neglected psalm.  Its first five verses are largely a repetition of Psalm 57:7-11, and verses 6-13 come from Psalm 60:5-12.  To save space in long commentaries on the psalms, commentators frequently treat Psalm 108 briefly by saying, "See my comments on Psalm 57 and Psalm 60."  

In a recent dissertation, Wyatt Graham takes a close look at Psalm 108, paying attention both to the slight changes the psalm makes in the material from Psalm 57 and Psalm 60, and to the placement of this psalm within the psalter.  With regard to the placement of Psalm 108, Graham observes that Book IV of the psalter ends in Psalm 106:47 with a plea for restoration from exile.  The at the beginning of Psalm 107, those redeemed from exile rejoice and give thanks to God (107:1-3).

Then Psalm 108 follows with David's confident prayer and statement of God's sovereignty, with a promise that God will again bring victory to his people in the future.  After that come the imprecatory Psalm 109, which has traditionally been associated with the betrayal of the Messiah: and Psalm 110, which pictures the Messiah ascending to the right hand of God and serving as a priest like Melchizedek.  Graham sees Psalm 108 contributing to the Psalm 108-110 trilogy., which looks forward to the coming of the Messiah to bring salvation and further restoration.   

The superscriptions for Psalm 57 and Psalm 60 associate those psalms with particular times in David's life when God was with him.  In Psalm 108, David seems to be looking ahead and anticipating future deliverance.  We can see Psalm 108 fitting into the overall "story" being told by the psalter as a messianic prophecy.

Seder 79: Lev 7:12-15---The Thanksgiving Offering

 The seventh chapter of Leviticus describes three types of peace/fellowship offerings.  One was called a toda, an offering of praise and thanksgiving.  It was given in gratitude for rescue or deliverance. 

Some examples are described in Psalm 107.  In one of them, a person receives healing from God:

"He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.  Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!  And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!" (verses 20-22)

Other examples in Psalm 107 involve people who have been rescued from the wilderness, released from imprisonment, or safely brought through a sea voyage.  

A thanksgiving offering involved a communal meal that had to be eaten on the day of the offering.  This requirement encouraged the offeror to invite a large group of people to share the feast.  As it says in Psalm 107:32, "Let them extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders."

The feast included lots of bread, both unleavened and leavened (Lv 7:12-14).  Sharon Rimon suggests that the unleavened bread might represent the trial the person had endured, while the leavened bread might represent the fact that the offeror had been completely delivered from the trial.  

Rimon points out that a toda is in several ways similar to a Passover meal, which is a kind of national toda:

• Both give thanks for deliverance.
• Both are shelamim (offerings of peace or wellbeing).
• Both have to be finished by the following morning.
• Both are eaten with bread.

One major difference is that the bread at a Passover meal is strictly unleavened bread.  Rimon observes that Passover celebrates a redemption that has begun but has not yet been completed.  The redemption of the Exodus is completed when Israel receives the Torah at Mt Sinai, inherits the Promised Land, and begins harvesting crops there.  These things are celebrated at Pentecost, when leavened bread is part of the liturgy (Lv 23:15-21).  

Seder 157: Psalm 130---Prayer in Humility and Confidence

 Psalm 130 is one of the psalms of ascents and also one of the seven "penitential psalms" with Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, and 143.  (Van Gemeren notes that Luther referred to these seven psalms as "Pauline psalms." )  The word for "forgiveness" in verse 4 appears elsewhere in the Tanakh only in Nehemiah 9:17 and Daniel 9:9, leading some to conclude that this psalm is post-exilic.

The psalmist approaches God "out of the depths,"  Here the midrash on Psalm 130 says that one should pray from a low place, a position of humility, rather than from a place of pride.  (Humility is also evident in Psalm 131.)  He may be in "the depths" because of guilt and suffering resulting from sin.  His prayers are "pleas for mercy" (v 2), an indication that he is submitting to God and asking for his favor.  

He acknowledges that if God continued to hold us accountable for all of our past sins, then none of us would be able to enjoy the benefits of God's presence (v 3).  But God is forgiving, leading his followers to walk with appropriate fear of him.  

Because of God's love and forgiveness, he waits in hope for "his word."  This "word" may be an act of salvation in the sense of Psalm 107:20:  "He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction."

The psalmist waits for God's help "more than watchmen for the morning"---i.e., in expectation of its arrival, and certain that it will arrive.  He closes by urging the community to have hope in God as he does (vv 7-8).

Seder 135: Psalm 136---God's Steadfast Love Endures Forever

 Psalm 136 begins in a familiar way:  "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love [Hebrew chesed] endures forever."  We also find these words in Ps 106:1; 107:1; 118:29; 1 Ch 16:34. 

But Psalm 136 differs from these other psalms in that the refrain "for his steadfast love endures forever" is repeated in each of its 26 verses.  The verses bring out how God's love of Israel is shown in great works of redemption, and his love for all mankind is shown in his works as Creator.  

There is an interesting midrash on Psalm 136:4 ("to him who alone does great wonders").  This midrash says that it is only God who does great wonders, and it is only God who knows what all of these wonders are.  Each day God is doing wonders of which we may be totally unaware.  

We're not sure when this psalm was written.   Commentators point out that the designation for God in verse 26 ("the God of heaven") appears most often in post-exilic books like Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel. Verse 23 ("It is he who remembered us in our low estate") could refer to the Exodus and also to exile. 

On the other hand, nothing else in this psalm is necessarily post-exilic.  There is another midrash that says it would have been fitting for this psalm to have been written right after the victories over Sihon and Og (vv 19-20), much as Exodus 15 celebrated the victory over Pharaoh at the Red Sea.  

A third midrash reflects on the magnitude of the victory over Og the giant.  According to this midrash Og picked up a mountain and threw it at the Israelites, but Moses thwarted that attack with a pebble over which he had pronounced the Divine Name. 

The midrash on Psalm 136 also includes traditions about Israel's miraculous crossing of the Red Sea.  One of these traditions says that "the depths crystallized on both sides of the children of Israel and became a kind of glass," based on Exodus 15:8.  This tradition links Exodus 15 and Revelation 15, which pictures a "sea of glass" in heaven.  

Seder 79: Lev 6-7---Instructions for the Priests

 The sixth and seventh chapters of Leviticus give further discussion of the types of offerings described in chapters 1-5, this time focusing mainly on the responsibilites of the priests with each type of offering.

Burnt offerings are discussed first in chapters 1-5, and they are discussed first in chapters 6-7.  In Lev 6:8-13, the priestly responsibility to keep a fire burning on the altar of burnt offering at all times is emphasized.  Commentator Jay Sklar observes that this was like a continual prayer that praised God and requested favor and forgiveness.  He also sees here the principle that spiritual leaders must be faithful to their duties so that worship can continue.

Verses 14-18 give the rules for handling grain offerings.  Sklar notes that when the priests respected God's property, they modeled this respect for all of Israel  As with Exodus 29:37, verse 18 ("whoever touches them becomes holy") does not mean that someone unholy can become holy by touching a grain offering.  Rather, it means that the only ones who could touch a grain offering were those who were already holy.

Verses 19-23 instruct the priests to give a continual grain offering.  Sklar explains that this would be a continual reminder of God's presence and the priests' need for his favor.  This would protect the priests from pride and also sent the message that God was serious about helping them to help God's people. 

In chapters 1-5, fellowship offerings are mentioned third, while in chapters 6-7, they are mentioned last.  Sklar points out that here "most holy" offerings (ones that could only be eaten by priests) are dealt with before the ones that are merely "holy", the fellowship offerings that any ritually clean Israelite could eat.  

There is an unusual detail in Lev 6:28.  An earthenware vessel in which a purification offering was boiled was to be destroyed afterward, while a metal vessel was washed and could be reused.  Earthenware vessels are porous and could absorb liquid from a most holy offering.  They were destroyed so that they would not subsequently be used in the realm of the nonholy.  Metal pots, on the other hand, are not absorbent.  

The offerings provided food and clothing for the priests (7:8-10).  Here we see the principle that a congregation should see to the physical needs of its spiritual leaders, a principle repeated in the New Testament (in 1 Cor 9. e.g.).

One kind of fellowship offering was the thanksgiving or praise offering, given for example to thank God for deliverance from trials (Ps 107:17-22).  This kind of offering had to be eaten in one day, perhaps as a way of encouraging the offerer to include as many people as possible in the celebration.  Requiring that the offering be eaten promptly also lessened the chances that it would become defiled.  

Another type of fellowship offering was one given to fulfill a vow.  Here the offerer may have promised God to give such an offering if a particular important prayer was answered (Ps 66:13-16).  

A third type of fellowship offering was a freewill offering.  These may have been general expressions of thanks, not tied to a specific incident or answer to prayer.

Priests had an opportunity, if they chose to pursue it, to become fairly wealthy.  Lots of gifts came their way.  So it was important for them to keep things in balance and prioritze the "weightier matters" of the Torah.  Kyle Kettering spoke on this topic at Church of the Messiah on Nov 13, 2021, using Mark 7:10-13 as an example.

Seder 8: Psalm 107---A Call to Give Thanks

Psalm 107 is a Psalm of thanksgiving.  The first three verses imply that it was written after the return of some Israelites from exile.  Verses 2-3 urge those to give thanks whom God has "gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south" (ESV). 

A few verses earlier, in Psalm 106:47, there is a prayer:  "Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise."  Psalm 107:1-3 suggests that this prayer was answered.

Psalm 107 praises God's "wondrous works to the children of man'' (v. 8) including

• guiding those lost in the wilderness (vv 4-9);
• freeing prisoners who cry to him for help (vv 10-16)
• healing the sick (vv 17-22)
• protecting those who go to sea (vv 23-32).

The implication is that no place or situation is beyond the scope of God's love. 

The psalm calls upon those whom God has rescued to "extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders" (v. 32).  And it advises us to consider and learn from the many examples of God's steadfast love so that we will grow in wisdom and faith (v 43).

One verse in this psalm (verse 9) is quoted in the New Testament, in Luke 1:53, where Mary testifies, "He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty."  Mary praises God for raising up the lowly and judging those who exalt themselves, as this Psalm does in vv 33-42. 

Verses 23-32 remind us of Jesus' calming a storm (Matt 8:23-27).  We think of Noah as an example of one rescued by God who then proceeds to give thanks (Gen 8:20-22).