Psalm 61 – Looking Forward to Forever

TEXT (Hebrew text at end)

1. For the leader; on neginat.1 Of David.

2. Hear, O God, my supplication; heed my prayer.

3. From the end of the earth to You I call; when my heart is faint, lead me to a rock high above me.

4. For indeed You have been a refuge for me, a tower of strength in the face of an enemy.

5. I would dwell in Your tent forever, take refuge in the shelter of Your wings.     Selah.

6. For indeed You, O God, have heard my vows; You have given an inheritance (to) those who fear Your name.

7. Add days to the days of the king; may his years be from generation to generation;

8. may he ever dwell before the face of God; appoint steadfast love to guard him.

9. So I will sing Your name in hymns eternally, as I fulfill my vows day after day.

Notes

1. Meaning uncertain. The term probably refers to an instrument or to a melody.

　

COMMENTARY

The speaker of Psalm 61 recalls another time and another place. He wants to be elsewhere.

Overlapping structures highlight the tensions in Psalm 61. I deal first with those structures and then with the ferment in the text. Afterward I comment on the circumstances of the psalm as an example of how specific application often serves to diminish our appreciation of the poetry of Psalms.

Two Structures

There are two complementary structures in Psalm 61. The poem first seems to be divided into two sections, verses 2–5 and 6–9. Each section includes “hear” at the beginning. The second section is tightly constructed, with two middle verses dealing with the king, around which are two verses that frame it with two terms used in reverse order—“vow” and “name.” Refuge” is a uniquely repeated term in the first half, reflecting its chief concern, and the four repetitions of “day” in the second half (with the repeated “generations”) reflect its emphasis on permanence. The later hand that added the musical direction “Selah” after verse 5 was evidently sensitive to the two-part division.

This structure focuses attention primarily on the relationship between the personal need for refuge (first half) and long-range hopes (second half), the latter having a particularly national or communal emphasis. The two halves end in similar tones, and thus challenge the reader to understand the relationship of one to the other.

A second structure, of three sections, is anchored in verses 4 and 6, each of which reflects an earlier time than the rest of the psalm and each introduced by “ki,” which means “indeed” or “for (because).” (The translation includes both.) In this division, the first two sections, verses 2–4 and 5–6 both begin with a request, each then grounded in previous Divine acts. The third section (vv. 7–9) then follows suit, with a variation. A request for the king (vv. 7–8) is grounded not in a past act of God’s, but in a future promise by the speaker, introduced by “so” (“ken”). Temple terminology binds the last two sections and both end with “vows” and “name.”

The three-part division leads to thoughts about the speaker. He seems in need of reassurance, which is achieved through articulation of past salvation, and he depends heavily on his promises, as reflected in his repetition of “vows.” Indeed, he is using these vows twice. Presumably when he made a vow, it was a pledge for something requested at the time. Now he holds out the fulfillment of his promise as further reason for God to answer his next request.

The three-part division also highlights the relations among different times in life. The past reassures the present, just as future vision can motivate it.

Ferment and Variety: The Contrasts

The overlapping divisions highlight the ferment in Psalm 61. The reader encounters elements set one against the other, as follows.

Distance and proximity – Distance is used in the Bible to indicate not only a physical separation, but also a spiritual gap. Here, the metaphor for desired proximity (the shelter of Your wings) suggests primarily a spiritual longing. However, the Temple imagery in the second half suggests a longing for that place as well, thus possibly expanding the “wing” metaphor to include the cherubs whose wings covered the Ark. The question of the primacy of physical or spiritual distance is moot, and the reader is left to deal with the timeless tension between physical locales of worship and the non-corporal nature of monotheism. The psalm floats between the two interpretations.

Earlier and later times – Verses 4 and 6 deal with interactions that took place earlier than the rest of the psalm, each verse providing a foundation for the preceding request. This structure reflects the strength of what we now call “narrative,” an interpretive reading of history. Although the speaker’s requests reflect troubled times, his recollections of past interactions grant strong reassurance.

The speaker and the king – The speaker prays for governmental stability, a necessity for orderly and constant worship. He thus posits a correlation between general well-being and personal ability to function, and he incorporates the national requests within the individual entreaty. (This is clearest in the two-part division, the king/government framed within the speaker’s vows, as made and as carried out. Because the psalm cites the king in a functional capacity, i.e., that his success allows for the final verse, I do not accept interpretations that consider that the king is the speaker of the entire psalm, referring to himself here in third person. The psalm is focused on the speaker and his relationship with God.)

Immediate and “eternal” needs – Psalm 61 begins with a pressing need for help, set against earlier salvation. This segues into a very-long-range vision, beginning with “forever” in verse 5, which is reinforced by subsequent terminology: “days to… days” (“day” implies “year”), “generation to generation,” “ever,” “eternally,” and “day after day.” (Note also the fine play on words – adding “days on days” allows the speaker to worship “day by day.”) (Note that this terminology implies only this life in the Bible, not post-life eternity.) Questions of the primacy of past or future vision and of the roles played by each abound, both in terms of the speaker and of prayer in general.

Supplication and hymns – In Psalm 61, praise and request are interspersed in each time period. There may be in Psalm 61 an indication that the two, supplication and hymn, are not  a  progression, but coexistent phenomena.

The Circumstances of Psalm 61

Interpreters of Psalm 61 tend to identify the circumstances of the poem quite specifically. However, there is an incredible variety of suggestions.

Some interpret the psalm as referring to David’s flight from King Saul (alternatively, from his rebellious son Absalom). Others apply it to the state of the Jews in exile, four hundred years later! (Kimche offers both interpretations as alternatives.) Broyles sees no reflection of real danger (only “an” enemy is mentioned, he notes, i.e., a generic term) and sees here a psalm of pilgrimage to the Temple. Schaefer, on the other hand, sees the danger as very real and imminent, the immediate concern of the poem. Dahood applies the “Temple” allusions to God’s heavenly residence and finds here the existential challenge of man standing by the abyss, longing for divine assistance.

This range of specific situations reflects not only the ferment of the psalm, but also certain stylistic elements that can be interpreted in more than one way. I list examples of such elements as an additional note (#2).

This plethora of possibilities allows the reader a wide range of dates to consider. This is certainly not a criticism of the psalm. I suggest, to the contrary, that the reader is not well served by trying to limit it to one circumstance or another. The issues raised are far beyond any specific context.

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Additional Notes

1. The term “steadfast love” is a hendiadys, two nouns indicating a single phenomenon. The two nouns are chesed (God’s gracious care in covenant) and emet (truth or faithfulness). The verse can be read as a personification, these two elements appointed as the guards of the king.

2. Elements that allow for the varied attribution of the psalm’s circumstance include the following. Is the “distance” of the speaker a physical or a metaphorical one? Is the speaker the king, who begins in verse 7 to speak of himself in the third person, or is the king not a speaker? Are the Temple descriptions physical or rather metaphorical imagery for closeness to God? Are the “vows” associated with (Temple) sacrifice or with other undertaken (locally based) obligations? Is the concern with an enemy only that of the earlier times referred to or also of later? Is the implication of God’s tent (and refuge) Jerusalem, or the heavenly abode, or neither?

3. Clearly there are two basic times in the psalm: earlier (using the perfect tense, which spans past through present; vv. 4 and 6) and later (imperfect, spanning present through future, though sometimes translated as a wish and sometimes as an imperative. The only verbs in exclusively imperative form are in v. 2.) This results in a wide variety of translations. By way of example, note that the beginning of v. 7 can appear as “Add,” “You add,” “You will add” or “Would that You add.”

　

　

The author of these essays is Rabbi Benjamin Segal, former president of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem　and author of The Song of Songs: A Woman in Love (Jerusalem: Gefen, 2009). This material is copyright by the author, and may not be reproduced. If you are interested in using the texts for study groups, please be in direct contact with the author, at psalmblog@gmail.com.

 

　

HEBREW TEXT

(א) לַמְנַצֵּחַ עַל נְגִינַת לְדָוִד:

(ב) שִׁמְעָה אֱלֹהִים רִנָּתִי הַקְשִׁיבָה תְּפִלָּתִי:

(ג) מִקְצֵה הָאָרֶץ אֵלֶיךָ אֶקְרָא בַּעֲטֹף לִבִּי בְּצוּר יָרוּם מִמֶּנִּי תַנְחֵנִי:

(ד) כִּי הָיִיתָ מַחְסֶה לִי מִגְדַּל עֹז מִפְּנֵי אוֹיֵב:

(ה) אָגוּרָה בְאָהָלְךָ עוֹלָמִים אֶחֱסֶה בְסֵתֶר כְּנָפֶיךָ סֶּלָה:

(ו) כִּי אַתָּה אֱלֹהִים שָׁמַעְתָּ לִנְדָרָי נָתַתָּ יְרֻשַּׁת יִרְאֵי שְׁמֶךָ:

(ז) יָמִים עַל יְמֵי מֶלֶךְ תּוֹסִיף שְׁנוֹתָיו כְּמוֹ דֹר וָדֹר:

(ח) יֵשֵׁב עוֹלָם לִפְנֵי אֱלֹהִים חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת מַן יִנְצְרֻהוּ:

(ט) כֵּן אֲזַמְּרָה שִׁמְךָ לָעַד לְשַׁלְּמִי נְדָרַי יוֹם יוֹם: