|
by
Doug Ward |
On the week before Ascension Day, our congregation sang a song that combined
two familiar melodies. The song began with a bit of "For unto Us a Child
is Born" from Handel's Messiah. It then shifted to a section from the
contemporary tune "Open the Eyes of My Heart." This hybrid
composition evoked Jesus as the promised Messiah who rose from the dead,
ascended to heaven, and then sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
The
idea of splicing together two existing songs to form a new one is not a recent
innovation. In fact, there are examples going back to King David, the Bible's
leading songwriter. One of them is Psalm 108, which brings together sections of
Psalms 57 and 60.
When
young David slew the giant Goliath, the adulation he received aroused the
jealousy and ire of King Saul, who then sought to kill him. While on the run
David wrote Psalm 57, in which he cried out for help and praised the faithful
God who had always protected him.
After
David ascended the throne, his kingdom faced attacks from neighboring states.
He wrote Psalm 60 during a difficult military campaign, presenting the prayers
of the king and his subjects for help and favor in battle. He also recorded a
divine response in which God declared his sovereignty over the nations and gave
assurance that his will would be accomplished through his people.
As
the years went by, David had more and more for which
to be thankful. God had always watched over David (Ps 23), and he promised
David that he would also be with Solomon and future kings from David's dynasty.
Ultimately, one of those kings (the Messiah or Anointed One) would rule forever
(2 Sa 7:13-16). David realized that this promise had implications that went far
beyond his little kingdom. It was "instruction for mankind" (verse
19), a source of hope for the entire world.
|
A
New Song |
David may have had these things in mind when he joined Psalm 57:7-11 and Psalm
60:5-12 to form Psalm 108. This combination implies that God's glory "over
all the earth" is displayed when he delivers his people in answer to the
prayer of the Davidic king (see Psalm 108:5-6, which juxtaposes 57:11 and
60:5). In the new context of Psalm 108, the sanctuary from which God speaks in
verse 7 is the heavenly sanctuary, the throne of the universe. The future of
Israel and David's dynasty has global, even cosmic, significance.
This
new psalm is much more than a simple "cut and paste" job. Some subtle
changes in the material from Psalms 57 and 60 give insights into the intended
messages of Psalm 108. For example, "my heart is steadfast" is
repeated in Psalm 57:7 but appears just once in Psalm 108:1. The repetition in
Psalm 57:7 expresses David's courage in the face of trials, while the focus in
Psalm 108:1 is more on his determination to praise God.
There
is extra emphasis in Psalm 108 on God's faithfulness, which is great "to
the heavens" in 57:10 and "above the heavens" in 108:4. Similar
emphasis is evident in the change from David's thanking his Lord (Hebrew Adonai)
in 57:9, to thanking the LORD (Hebrew YHWH), the covenant-keeping God of
Israel, in 108:3. The promises God had made to his people in 60:6-8 are
repeated in 108:7-9, underlining their continuing validity.
|
Psalm
108 in Context |
We learn more about the meaning of Psalm 108 when we study it in its context in
the book of Psalms.1 It appears
shortly after Psalm 106, which comes from a time, over four centuries after
David, when the kingdom of Judah is in exile in Babylon. Psalm 106 confesses
the sins of Israel that led to exile while praising God for his mighty works
and faithfulness, closing with prayer for a new Exodus: "Save us, O LORD
our God, and gather us from among the nations ..." (verse 47).
Psalm
107 begins with an answer to this prayer as the redeemed, those who have been
"gathered in from the lands" (verse 3), praise God for his steadfast
love. In this psalm, God comforts exiles in the wilderness and leads them to
"a city to dwell in" (vv 4, 7, 36). Psalm
107 goes on to picture future restoration, including a return to Edenic
conditions (verses 35-38).
In
this context, Psalm 108 continues the theme of thanking God for his
faithfulness while elaborating further on the restoration of Israel announced
in Psalm 107. We can link the "fortified city" in 108:10 with the
"city to dwell in" from Psalm 107. God will use a king from the line
of David and a reunited Judah and Ephraim to defeat all enemies, incorporating
the nations into his kingdom. Note the points of contact between Psalms 107 and
108 and the messianic prophecy of Isaiah 11:12-16.
The
following psalms reveal more about the Messiah. The individual lament in Psalm
109 prefigures the opposition faced by the Messiah (recall Peter's citation of
verse 8 in Acts 1:20 in reference to Judas), while Psalm 110 pictures the
Messiah as both priest and victorious king.
Psalm
108 introduces these psalms in several ways. The image of the "right
hand," a symbol of power, appears in all three (Ps 108:6; 109:6, 31;
110:1, 5); and the imagery of a scepter appears in 108:8 and 110:2. In all
three psalms the king faces opposition and receives help from God. In 108:6 the
king plays a priestly role, praying for the people, which sets the stage for
the priestly identity of the Messiah in 110:4.
There
is a theme of "being underfoot" in Psalms 108 and 110, as God throws
his shoe over Edom in 108:9 and treads down the enemy in 108:13, while the
enemies of David's Lord become his footstool in 110:1. This imagery reminds us
of Genesis 3:15, where the head of the serpent's seed is crushed under the heel
of the seed of the woman. Such a connection is confirmed in Psalm 110:6, where
David's Lord shatters the head of the enemy. Psalms 108-110 thus point to Messiah’s
final victory over the serpent.
We
can see that Psalm 108 is not just a simple rehash of two previous psalms. In
its context in the psalter, it plays an integral role in proclaiming God's
faithfulness to his people through the victorious Messiah, who is both King and
Priest.
1See
Wyatt A. Graham, The Promised Davidic King: Psalm 108's Canonical Placement
and Use of Earlier Psalms, Lexham Academic, 2023.
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On 25 Jun 2026, 12:14.
