Psalms 77

Psalms 77

DESCRIPTIVE TITLE

Comfort in Distress Obtained by the Study of a Song,

ANALYSIS

Stanza I., Psalms 77:1-3, Introductoryshewing, by quotation of Language and Statement of Fact, that the Psalmist has been Inconsolable. Stanza II., Psalms 77:4-9, In like manner, the Psalmist pursues his Study, rising to an Intense Spirit-Search (indented). Stanza III., Psalms 77:10-15, A second study, conducting to a Satisfying Conclusion (indented): God is Holy, Incomparable, Redeeming. Stanza IV., Psalms 77:16-19, The String-Song itself, on which the Study has been based (divisible into four sub-stanzastristichs). Stanza V., Psalms 77:20, Conclusion: The Flock is under the Care of a Divine Shepherd (implied).

(Lm.) By AsaphPsalm.

1

With my voice unto God let me cry:

with my voice unto God, and he will give ear to me.

2

In my day of distress after Adonai I sought,

mine eye poured out and became not slack:[55]

[55] As in Lamentations 3:49; and so Dr. deems probable. M.T.: my hand by night was outstretched, and grew not numb.

my soul refused to be consoled:

3

Let me remember God though I moan,

let me soliloquise though my spirit swoon.

4

I anticipated the night-watches with mine eyes,[56]

[56] So, nearly, Br. (w. Vul. and some cod, of Sep.).

I was disturbed and could not speak:

5

I pondered on days out of aforetime:

The years of by-gone ages let me recall,

6

My string-song in the night is near my heart,[57]

[57] Or: mindso that I can easily recall it.

let me soliloquise that my spirit may make diligent search.[58]

[58] N.B.: this spirit-search begins with the next line.

7

To the ages will Adonai reject?

and not again grant acceptance any more?

8

Hath his kindness perpetually ceased?

is speech ended to generation and generation?

9

Hath GOD forgotten to be gracious?

or shut up in anger his compassions?

10

And I said[59]Now have I made a beginning:

[59] Renewing his soliloquy.

this changing of the right-hand of the Most High![60]

[60] So after Sep. Other renderings: This is my sicknesssorrowcross. Also: The years of thy r-h, instead of changing.

11

I will commemorate the doings of Yah,

yea let me recall out of aforetime thy wonders;[61]

[61] So (pl.) (w. Aram., Sep., Syr., Vul.)Gn.

12

And talk to myself of all thy works,

and of thy deeds let me soliloquise:

13

O God! in holiness is thy way[62]

[62] Anticipating Psalms 77:19 a.

who is a great GOD like unto Elohim?

14

Thou art the GOD that did a wonderful thing,

thou madest known among the peoples thy might:

15

Thou redeemedst with thine own arm[63] thy people,

[63] So Sep. M.T.: w. an arm.

the sons of Jacob and Joseph.[64]

[64] So far, appar., the spirit-searching soliloquy. Now comes the string-songconfident, joyous: in tristichs which mark it off as a song in itself. The whole stanza [Psalms 77:10-15] is an overture to the following hymn of praise of God the Redeemer out of EgyptDel.

16

Waters saw thee[65] O God!

[65] In the cloud, as thou camest up to the sea.

waters saw thee they were in birth-throes,[66]

[66] About to bring forth a nation of freed-men.

yea perturbed were the deeps.

17

Clouds poured down waters,

skies uttered a voice;

yea thine arrows flew hither and thither.

18

The voice of thy thunder was in the whirlwind,

thy[67] lightnings illumined the world,

[67] So it shd. be (w. Sep., Syr., Vul.)Gn.

perturbed and in commotion was the earth.

19

In the sea was thy way,[68]

[68] In the sea thou didst tread with thy horsesBr., after Habakkuk 3:15.

and thy path[69] in the mighty waters;

[69] So to be read. Some cod. (w. 5 ear, pr. edns.) both write and read: path (Sing.)Gn.

and thy footprints could not be known.

(Nm.)

20

Thou didst lead like a flock thy people,

by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

PARAPHRASE

Psalms 77

I cry to the Lord; I call and call on Him. Oh, that He would listen.
2 I am in deep trouble and I need His help so badly. All night long I pray, lifting my hands to heaven, pleading. There can be no joy for me until He acts.
3 I think of God and moan, overwhelmed with longing for His help.
4 I cannot sleep until You act, I am too distressed even to pray!
5 I keep thinking of the good old days of the past, long since ended.
6 Then my nights were filled with joyous songs. I search my soul and meditate upon the difference now.
7 Has the Lord rejected me forever? Will He never again be favorable?
8 Is His lovingkindness gone forever? Has His promise failed?
9 Has He forgotten to be kind to one so undeserving? Has He slammed the door in anger on His love?
10 And I said: This is my fate, that the blessings of God have changed to hate.[70]

[70] Literally, that the right hand of the Most High has changed.

11 I recall the many miracles He did for me so long ago.
12 Those wonderful deeds are constantly in my thoughts. I cannot stop thinking about them.

*

*

*

*

*

13 O God, Your ways are holy. Where is there any other as mighty as You?
14 You are the God of miracles and wonders? You still demonstrate Your awesome power.

*

*

*

*

*

15 You have redeemed us who are the sons of Jacob and of Joseph by Your might.
16 When the Red Sea saw You, how it feared! It trembled to its depths!
17 The clouds poured down their rain, the thunder rolled and crackled in the sky. Your lightning flashed.
18 There was thunder in the whirlwind; the lightning lighted up the world! The earth trembled and shook.
19 Your road led by a pathway through the seaa pathway no one knew was there.
20 You led Your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds.

EXPOSITION

This is emphatically a psalm of moods and tenses, so delicately expressed in the Hebrew that only clumsily and by the aid of quotation-marks can they be represented in English, and then not without risk of overdoing. The key to the psalm lies in this: That memories which ultimately yield consolation, when first recalled aggravate present sorrow. The right hand of the Most High: this is what, after diligent search, stays and consoles the psalmist's minda hand put forth with redeeming efficacy in the doings that gave the nation birth. But the first apprehension concerning it is, the contrast between its former activity and its present supineness: a contrast so painful that the psalmist, though resolved on the contemplation, anticipates that it will cause him to moan in anguish, even to the extent of causing his spirit to swoonto be enshrouded in mental darkness, to be able to think no more.

A day of anguish seems to have culminated in a night of agony. The outspoken petitions with which his prayers had been begun, not without hope of being heard, falter on his lips, and he can no longer prayhe can only ponder; but those apparently long-lost days culled out of aforetime are his theme, and he is determined, at whatever cost, to recall them. Fortunately, there comes back to his mind a string-song of his, embalming memories of those ancient redeeming days. He does not start singing that song forthwith. No! he is too gloomily critical for that; but he will recall ithe will study ithe will soliloquise on that as a text, talking aloud to himself as the manner of study then was. He can at least ask questionshis spirit shall make diligent search. And then the questions follow. They are so framed as to indicate that the psalmist's mind is in process of recovering its balance. The answer suggested, without being expressed, isSurely not! He cannot have rejected for ever! His kindness cannot have perpetually ceased! He may have changed his dealings; but surely He himself remains unchanged!

He takes breath. He feels he has made a beginning. Encouraged, he follows it up, He looks in the face the conception which like a spectre had projected itself before him. This changing of the right hand of the Most High! he seems to say, let me examine it more closely! And this he does, by thinking of its doings, its wonders, its works, its deeds. He is fortified to think out these topics, because he already sees that a change of dealings by God, does not necessitate the admission of a changed God! It is true (we may admit in passing) that the Hebrew word sh-'noth may be rendered by the word years as well as by the word changing; but since the recalling of the years of the right hand of the Most High seems to bring with it, as an undertone, the change made between those ancient days of activity and the present days of inactivity, we may continue to let our thoughts run on the thread of the Septuagint rendering.

To resume, then. The study of the string-song is renewed to such good effect, that, whereas the previous stanza culminated in questions, this one rises to conclusions, confidently addressed to God himself, conclusions indicating a rest of spirit in them on the part of the psalmist. The very first word set after the Divine name in these conclusions is reassuring: O God in holiness is thy waywhether in manifest mercy or not. Again, it is what God is which leads on to what he has done; and what he is remains for renewed manifestation. Moreover, what was it that God did? Was it not to reveal himself to the nations around, and that, as redeeming for Himself a peoplethe people for whom the present petitioner is pleading? Clearly, this is logically the conclusion of the soliloquyof the study! It is all reflective thus far. And it is a great gain to recognise this conclusiveness here, inasmuch as the apparent abruptness of the formal conclusion is thereby explained.

In fact, the four tristichs which now follow, so far from being out of place or a mere afterthought, are the very forethought of the whole psalm: at least from the moment when the favourite old string-song came up to the surface of the poet's memory. Happy is it for men in a storm, to recall the charm of the still sunlit waters through which they have passed; who have something better than dead selves to help them to survive the stress of present trouble. This psalmist Asaph had improved an earlier and more auspicious time for song-making and song-singing and song-memorising; and now his song comes back to him in his night of agony, and he knows it well enough to hold it before his mind's eye while he ponders and reasons and questions and summarises and concludes. And then he gives the string-song itselfaltogether and compact, and of a sufficiently peculiar formal structure, aswithout the aid of quotation marks or altered type, of which, of course, he was innocentto make it recognisable by us after a long lapse of ages.

The Song speaks for itself. It is too boldly and elementally poetical to need detailed comment. Only in its final triplet (Psalms 77:19) does it betray as much subjectivity as to amount to a symbolical undertone. In the sea was thy wayas how often it is! And thy path in the mighty waterstoo mighty for us to control! And thy footprints could not be knownand so it ever is, something withheld, something unknown. The. work remains: the Worker disappears. Whenwherehow will he next reveal his right-hand! O Asaph! wait: wait until the Assyrian draws nearer, and thou shalt see!

After the four triplets of the string-song, comes a coupletonlyin conclusion. How little it says, and yet how much: it seems to say everything needing to be added. Under the Divine Shepherd's care, it starts the flock on its journey to its home. That flock is in itself a moving appeal to its Divine Redeemer.

With respect to the origin of this psalm, it may be added: That while, so far as direct evidence is concernedit remains obscure what kind of national affliction it is which impels him [the singer] to betake himself in flight from the God who is at present hidden to the God who was made manifest in olden times (Del.); yet the earlier period of the Assyrian invasion probably afforded more than one conjuncture during which prophecy was silent, and it appeared to the strained hearts of the faithful that an end had come to prophetic speech, and God had forgotten to show favour. It is certainly shown by the comfort sought in the revelations of power and grace made in connection with the earlier history of his people, that it was an affliction shared in common with the whole of the nation. The place of this psalm, and the indications afforded by several of its companions, point in this direction.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.

It is always a help to attempt to understand the historical circumstances of the psalmwhat is it here?

2.

In the many prayers for help, do you feel the petitioner had a specific type of help in mind? Was it physical or spiritual?

3.

Where is this man's faith? Read Psalms 77:3-4. Isn-'t this an admission of defeat?Discuss.

4.

Discuss the best use of past pleasant memories.

5.

Should we ever thinkfeelbelievethat God has rejected us? Discuss.

6.

Under two or three circumstances we can almost expect a negative, discouraged, exaggerated response. Name at least two and discuss.

7.

What possible miracles were in the mind of the psalmist?

8.

The holiness of God is such a basic beliefwhy?

9.

The deliverance from bondage is an oft recurring theme. Should not this be also true of us? Discuss.

10.

God leads through men. Read Psalms 77:20. Is this true now? Discuss.