Books 3-5 of the Book of Psalms: From Harshness to Hallelujah

BOOKS 3-5 OF THE BOOK OF PSALMS: FROM

HARSHNESS TO HALLELUJAH1

Although we refer to the book of Psalms as though it is one book, it is in fact divided into five collections: Psalms 1-41, 42-72, 73-89, 90-106, and 107-150. Perhaps the editors purposefully organized it into five collections to create a parallel with the Torah: “All that Moses did, David also did . . . Moses gave five books of the Torah to Israel, and David gave the five books of Psalms to Israel” (Midrash Psalms 1:2).2

Aside from noting the structural similarity, this Midrash parallels the two most important figures in Tanakh. Moses is the master of prophecy, and David is the master of prayer. Tanakh contains prophecy, which is the word of God to people; and wisdom, which is the word of people to other people. Psalms is the only book in Tanakh primarily representing the voice of people to God.

We cannot know how the book of Psalms was composed. The following is a speculative midrashic-style effort at creating a coherent approach toward the organization of the five books of Psalms by the book’s editors.3 Psalm 1 opens the book of Psalms by affirming God’s justice and fairness in the world. Psalms 2 and 72 then form the bookends of another important theme in books 1-2 of Psalms: God’s covenant with David and the Davidic dynasty:

Why do nations assemble, and peoples plot vain things; kings of the earth take their stand, and regents intrigue together against the Lord and against His anointed?. . . [God responds:] “But I have installed My king on Zion, My holy mountain!” Let me tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, you are My son, I have fathered you this day (Ps. 2:1-2, 6-7).

Of Solomon. O God, endow the king with Your judgments, the king’s son with Your righteousness; that he may judge Your people rightly, Your lowly ones, justly… May his name be eternal; while the sun lasts, may his name

endure; let men invoke his blessedness upon themselves; let all nations count him happy (Ps. 72:1-2, 17).

Thus, the bookends of books 1-2 teach that God is fair and that God has chosen the Davidic dynasty.

Book 3 opens with Psalm 73, which challenges God’s fairness. The psalmist almost lost his faith as a result of the apparent injustice in this world: As for me, my feet had almost strayed, my steps were nearly led off course, for I envied the wanton; I saw the wicked at ease (Ps. 73:2-3). Although the psalmist reaches resolution by the conclusion of the psalm, it is more complex than the straightforward faith in God’s justice of Psalm 1. Book 3 contains several psalms that speak about the destruction of the First Temple, and it climaxes with Psalm 89. After praising God for making an eternal covenant with the Davidic dynasty in the first 38 verses, the psalmist accuses God of abrogating that covenant at the time of the destruction when the monarchy ceased to exist: Yet You have rejected, spurned, and become enraged at Your anointed. You have repudiated the covenant with Your servant; You have dragged his dignity in the dust. You have breached all his defenses, shattered his strongholds… (Ps. 89:39-41).

The bookends of book 3 (Psalms 73, 89) thereby threaten the premises established in the bookends of books 1-2 (Psalms 1, 2, 72). Psalm 73 challenges God’s fairness, and God’s support for the Davidic dynasty likewise is in jeopardy in 89. At this point in the book of Psalms, the foundations upon which the book had rested are called into question. One cannot even appeal to David to pray, since his dynasty has stopped which itself is a central aspect of this crisis.

Only one person is capable of reversing this distressing trend. Book 4 opens with the one psalm ascribed to Moses,4 famed for his brazen prayers before God: A prayer of Moses, the man of God…Turn, O Lord! How long? Show mercy to Your servants. Satisfy us at daybreak with Your steadfast love that we may sing for joy all our days. Give us joy for as long as You have afflicted us, for the years we have suffered misfortune. Let Your deeds be seen by Your servants, Your glory by their children. May the favor of the Lord, our God, be upon us; let the work of our hands prosper, O prosper the work of our hands! (Ps. 90:1, 13-17).

The psalmist employs language that Moses used during the episode of the Golden Calf (see Exodus 32:12): “Turn, O Lord! How long?” Just like after the Golden Calf when God wanted to sever His relationship with Israel, but Moses tenaciously refused to allow God to do so; so too in our exile, we insist that God not abandon us. Through his singular persona, Moses illustrates the power of prayer. At Israel’s lowest moments, whether dancing around the calf in the desert or living in exile, people reading this psalm demand that the God-Israel relationship continue.

This audacious psalm signals a change in the direction of the book of Psalms. Psalm 91 expresses deep faith in God’s protection. O you who dwell in the shelter of the Most High and abide in the protection of Shaddai—I say of the Lord, my refuge and stronghold, my God in whom I trust, that He will save you from the fowler’s trap, from the destructive plague… (Ps. 91:1-3). Remarkably, God responds at the end of the psalm: Because he is devoted to Me I will deliver him; I will keep him safe, for he knows My name. When he calls on Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in distress; I will rescue him and make him honored; I will let him live to a ripe old age, and show him My salvation (Ps. 91:14-16).

God’s responding is extremely unusual in the book of Psalms, which generally reflects people’s prayers directed toward God. God’s dramatic rejoinder offers breathtaking encouragement to a degraded Israel. When Israel places its faith in God, God lets Israel know that He still is with her in exile. Israel is never alone. Rabbi Shimon b. Yohai poignantly expresses this idea, “Come and see how beloved are Israel in the sight of God, in that to every place to which they were exiled the Shechinah went with them” (Megillah 29a).

Psalms 92 and 94 then revitalize the belief in God’s ultimate fairness after Psalm 73 had destabilized it: I was a dolt, without knowledge (va-ani ba’ar ve-lo eda); I was brutish toward You (Ps. 73:22). A brutish man cannot know, a fool cannot understand this (ish ba’ar lo yeda, u-kesil lo yavin et zot): though the wicked sprout like grass, though all evildoers blossom, it is only that they may be destroyed forever (Ps. 92:7-8). Take heed, you most brutish people; fools, when will you get wisdom (binu bo’arim ba-am, u-kesilim matai taskilu)? Shall He who implants the ear not hear, He who forms the eye not see? Shall He who disciplines nations not punish, He who instructs men

in knowledge? Happy is the man whom You discipline, O Lord, the man You instruct in Your teaching (Ps. 94:8-12).

These psalms return to the position of Psalm 1 and others, that God is fair and even when there is apparent injustice one need only be patient because justice will be served. Psalm 94 stands out in the book of Psalms by introducing the idea of suffering as a sign of divine love. Whereas the psalmist of 73 felt like a fool for doubting God before regaining his faith, the psalmist in 92 criticizes such doubters as fools, and the psalmist in 94 lashes out against them.5 Faith in God’s ultimate fairness has been restored.

The final two psalms in book 4 (105-106) are historical surveys. Each has a common theme relevant to the period of the exile. Psalm 105 speaks of God’s eternal promise of the Land of Israel to the Patriarchs. It then surveys how God has always protected our nation while in exile: The Patriarchs in foreign lands (vv. 12-15), Joseph (vv. 16-22) and then the Israelites in Egypt (vv. 23- 38), and the Israelites in the wilderness (vv. 39-41). The psalm concludes that God always remembers the Patriarchal covenant, will give the Land to Israel to their descendants, and in turn expects them to be faithful to the Torah: Mindful of His sacred promise to His servant Abraham, He led His people out in gladness, His chosen ones with joyous song. He gave them the lands of nations; they inherited the wealth of peoples, that they might keep His laws and observe His teachings. Hallelujah (Ps. 105:42-45).

Nahum Sarna suggests that this psalm was likely composed in the Babylonian exile. The psalmist appeals to God’s past acts throughout history of protecting Israel while in exile. He prays that just as God protected them in the past, so too should He protect their descendants currently in exile. Just as God redeemed the Israelites from Egypt and gave them the Land that He promised to the Patriarchs, so too He should do that for their descendants now. The psalmist also encourages Jews to be faithful to the Torah since the God-Israel covenant must be mutually honored.6

Sarna explains that Psalm 106 utilizes the same technique of a historical survey as Psalm 105, albeit from a different vantage point. The psalmist refers to historical instances in which God was good to Israel, yet Israel was unfaithful. God wanted to destroy Israel in the past because of its sins, but refrained from doing so for His Name’s sake and because individuals prayed on their behalf. The lesson to glean from this history is that Israel has sinned

and therefore is suffering. However, God preserves Israel for His Name’s sake and therefore one should pray since God has been responsive to prayer in the past. Drawing the proper lesson from his historical survey, the psalmist concludes with a prayer for redemption: He saved them time and again, but they were deliberately rebellious, and so they were brought low by their iniquity. When He saw that they were in distress, when He heard their cry, He was mindful of His covenant and in His great faithfulness relented. He made all their captors kindly disposed toward them. Deliver us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the nations, to acclaim Your holy name, to glory in Your praise. Blessed is the Lord, God of Israel, From eternity to eternity. Let all the people say, “Amen.” Hallelujah (Ps. 106:43-48).7

Book 4 has stabilized concerns about God’s fairness and expresses confidence that God will protect the Jews, redeem them, and return them to their Land as He has done in the past.

Book 5 opens with a celebratory reflection on the return from exile:“Praise the Lord, for He is good; His steadfast love is eternal!” Thus let the redeemed of the Lord say, those He redeemed from adversity, whom He gathered in from the lands, from east and west, from the north and from the sea (Ps. 107:1-3).

Although not every psalm in book 5 is joyous (see, e.g., Psalms 109 and 137), the overall tone of the book is positive insofar as there are many praises and Hallelujahs to complete the book of Psalms.

Although there is no way to demonstrate that the thematic order of the psalms was intended by the editors of Psalms, it is possible to suggest a progression. Books 1-2 open with a stable confidence in both divine justice and God’s covenant with the Davidic dynasty. Book 3 then challenges both of these assertions. Book 4 opens with the powerful voice of Moses, who demands that God should end the nation’s suffering. God responds in the following psalm that He is indeed with Israel in their troubles since they have trusted Him. Book 4 goes on to affirm divine justice and to derive lessons from history that God always has protected Israel while in exile, has promised the Jews the Land of Israel, and that Israel has sinned but always can repent and pray. The hope generated from book 4 spills into book 5 which opens with a psalm of gratitude to God for redeeming the exiles and returning them to their land.

Rabbi Elhanan Samet8 contributes to this discussion by interpreting Psalm 107 as an independent unit and then in its context juxtaposed with 105 and 106. In a vacuum, Psalm 107 teaches that when an individual is in danger, he or she should pray to God, God will save the individual, and then should thank God after being saved. This psalm forms the foundation for the rabbinic blessing, birkat ha-gomel that one recites after surviving dangerous experiences (TB Berakhot 54b).

Contextually, Psalm 107 is the third of a trilogy (105-106-107) of psalms that begin, Praise the Lord (hodu la-Hashem). As a trilogy, the psalms encompass all of Israel’s history, from Abraham through the final redemption. The historical time in which the author of Psalm 106 is found, and from which he surveys the past history of his people, is the time of the Babylonian exile. The psalmist prays for the ingathering of exiles so that they may give thanks to God.

This psalm is immediately followed by the beginning of 107, which describes how the two elements of this request on the part of the petitioner will be fulfilled in the future: “Praise the Lord, for He is good; His steadfast love is eternal!” Thus let the redeemed of the Lord say, those He redeemed from adversity, whom He gathered in from the lands, from east and west, from the north and from the sea (Ps. 107:1-3).

It appears that the barrier that the redactors created between books 4-5 in Psalms is intentional, and that this division stems from their objective to create a fundamental distinction between 105-106 and 107. 105-106 are historical psalms relating to the past, whereas 107 describes the future. Rabbi Samet argues further that this interpretation is not the entire story. In the future, when the time of redemption will arrive, the people of Israel will repair what they had perverted throughout their history, and they will thank God for the acts of loving kindness that He performed for them. The contrast between 107 and the two preceding psalms is expressed in opening common to all three psalms: “Give thanks to the Lord,” at the beginning of 105-106 are the words of the psalmist to Israel, and it is a demand that was never realized. The failure to fulfill this demand lies at the root of all the evil performed by Israel and all the evil that befell them. In contrast, “Give thanks to the Lord,” at the beginning of 107 is a citation of the words of the redeemed, and through it the original demand is realized.

As an independent psalm detached from its context, 107 serves as a universal didactic psalm, teaching about the obligation to thank God falling upon any person meriting God’s rescue from danger. A consecutive reading of 105, 106, and 107 reveals a dramatically different understanding: it is not a universal psalm, but rather an Israelite psalm that deals with the future history of the people of Israel in contrast to its past history. This psalm of redemption propels us into book 5, with all three Hallels, conveying the ultimate joyous tone.

As individual psalms can change in meaning with time and also have the power to transform those who recite them; so too the entire book of Psalms goes through a process of transition, bringing readers on a journey from a stable world, to instability, and then provides mechanisms for encouraging repentance, faith, and hope. The journey from a simple faith to a more profound and deeper understanding of the God-human relationship leads to the religious ecstasy found in the joyous psalms that are concentrated toward the end of the book.

NOTES

1. This essay is adapted from H. Angel, Psalms: A Companion Volume (New York: Kodesh Press, 2022) pp. 93-101.

2. A. Hakham (Da’at Mikra: Psalms vol. 1 [Hebrew] [Jerusalem: Mossad HaRav Kook, 1979] introduction, p. 3) observes that in some old manuscripts of Psalms, several lines separate each book, like in the Torah.

3. For a similar approach to this section in Psalms, see S. S. Ndoga, “Revisiting the Theocratic Agenda of Book 4 of the Psalter for Interpretive Premise,” in The Shape and Shaping of the Book of Psalms: The Current State of Scholarship, ed. Nancy L. deClaisse-Walford (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2014) pp. 147-159.

4. “A Psalm of Moses” could ascribe the psalm to Moses. Alternatively, a later psalmist used Moses’ name because he invokes the prophet’s brazen terminology and therefore dedicates the psalm to Moses. Rambam suggests that Moses composed Psalm 90 in prophetic anticipation of the exile, and David included it in Psalms to offer comfort and consolation (Epistle of Consolation, in J. Kraemer, Maimonides: The Life and World of One of Civilization’s Greatest Minds, 2008, p. 12).

5. F. I. Andersen (Habakkuk: Anchor Bible, p. 133) observes that there are no instances in Tanakh where God rebuked someone for questioning God’s justice. In the book of Job, God criticized Job’s shortsightedness but vindicated his justness as well. It is worth noting that one psalmist does rebuke those who question God’s ways (Ps. 94:8–10), and that type of rebuke is unique in Psalms.

6. N. M. Sarna, et al., Olam HaTanakh: Psalms vol. 2 (Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Dodson-Iti, 1999) p. 129.

7. See Sarna, et al., Olam HaTanakh: Psalms vol. 2, p. 133.

8. At http://vbm-torah.org/archive/tehillim70/57tehillim.htm .