Psalms by Broyles Craig C

Author:Broyles, Craig C.
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781441238450
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2012-07-01T04:00:00+00:00

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§65 Praise to the God of Zion as Creator and God of Agricultural Fertility (Ps. 65)

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This corporate hymn has three sections, each focusing on a different locale and each placing Yahweh in a distinct role. He is the atoner at the temple (vv. 1–4), the warrior who establishes order in all creation (vv. 5–8), and the dispenser of water and fertility in the land (vv. 9–13). Several key phrases confirm this structuring of the psalm’s contents. The respective locations form an inclusion for each strophe: Zion and temple (vv. 1, 4), “all the ends of the earth” and “where morning dawns and evening fades” (vv. 5, 8), and the land and grasslands and hills, and meadows and valleys (vv. 9, 12–13). Beginning strophes one and two are divine epithets that link them: “You who hear prayer” (v. 2) “answer us” as “O God our Savior” (v. 5). The second strophe is marked off by the mention of awesome deeds (derived from Hb. yrʾ, v. 5) and by noting that those living far away are in awe (Hb. yrʾ, NIV “fear,” v. 8). As the second strophe ends with “you call forth songs of joy” from the dawn and sunset, so the final strophe ends by observing that the meadows and the valleys “shout for joy and sing.” Some commentators believe verses 9–13 are a later addition because their meter and content appear distinct (Kraus, Psalms 60–150, p. 28), but the links noted in the interpretation below show an integrated development throughout the psalm.

The psalm is sung at the temple (v. 4) in Zion (v. 1). Rituals performed with the psalm are the fulfillment of vows (v. 1), made in connection with an earlier prayer that Yahweh has now heard (v. 2), and fellowship offerings, implied in the phrase, “we are filled with the good things of your house” (v. 4; cf. 22:26; 36:8–9). Portions of the fellowship offerings (Lev. 3; 7:11–36) that are “the result of a vow” were eaten by the worshipers themselves (7:16; cf. Deut. 12:5–7; 1 Sam. 1:3–4, 9). At the moment Psalm 65 was sung, it is apparent that Yahweh has “visited the land” (lit., v. 9), which is now “covered with flocks and . . . mantled with grain” (v. 13). “You crown the year with your bounty” (lit. “goodness,” v. 11) implies its fruitfulness is at its peak. These clues suggest the votive offerings are in response to Yahweh’s blessing the agricultural year, and they are now to be offered at its climax in the spring. This points to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which marks the beginning of the barley harvest (Deut. 16:9; see J. A. Thompson, Deuteronomy, TOTC [Leicester: Inter-Varsity, 1974], pp. 196–97). Much of the year’s crop, however, would still cover the fields. Thus, seven weeks (hence Feast of Weeks) or fifty days (hence Pentecost) later a feast was celebrated to mark the end of the wheat harvest. The earlier prayer and its attendant vow, mentioned here

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