16. Dahood, Psalms, “Since Yahweh is the Just One, the psalmist is confident that justice will ultimately prevail. This type of psalm may have developed from the laments, in which expressions of confidence are a common feature.”68.
17. Dahood, Ibid.
Hallowed Names
Throughout this book we will be treating Psalms 90, 91 and 92 as a specific literary unit in the Psalms. There is much evidence to support its supposition. We focus first on Psalm 91 where only here in the Psalter, the poet employs four different names for God, each of which is intended to emphasize the total sovereignty and power and incomparability of the Hebrew God.
The one who dwells in the secret shelter of the Most High (עליון), and passes the night in the shadow of Shaddai (שדי) speaks: ‘I will say of the LORD (יהוה), my refuge and my bulwark; my God Elohay (אלהי) in whom I put my trust’ (91:1,2, LW). Here עליון (Elyon) is God Most High.18 עליו (Elyon Most High) also occurs in certain other psalms identified with Zion and is often times used with the prefix אל (El)
In Psalm 78:56, it is the continued sin of the people that is met by divine anger, but it is anger tempered with compassion. For they tested the Most High God, and were in utter rebellion. They did not observe the divine decrees, but turned away and were faithless like their ancestors. Again it is used in its plural form אלהים (Elohim, gods) in Psalm 57:3. I cry to God Most High, to God (אלהים) who fulfills [his] purpose for me. God will send from heaven and save me; God will put to shame those who trample me under foot. God will send forth [his] constant love and faithfulness (LW). God as the exalted ruler of the universe vindicates the innocent and confronts the faithless.
In Psalm 113, we read how the personal, intimate יהוה is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. Who is like יהוה our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth? אלהי ( Elohay, my God), which only occurs in three other places in the book of Psalms, is the singular, feminine form of אלהים , the plural (Elohim, gods). Both אלהים (Elohim) and אלהי (Elohay) are derivations of the broader prefix אל (El) the chief god in the Canaanite pantheon.
With the conjunctive יהוה עליון, YHWH and Elyon are also used in apposition in several other psalms.
I will give thanks to יהוה with my whole heart; . . .I will sing praises to your name, O עליון (Ps 9:2); For יהוה thundered in the heavens, and עליון (elyon) raised [his] voice (18:13); For the king trusts in יהוה and through the constant love of עליון (elyon) he shall not be moved (21:7, NRSV). This close association between the two names is found throughout the Hebrew Bible and is particularly noteworthy in the Psalms. Elyon (עליון) connects Psalm 92 to Psalm 91. It is good to give thanks to יהוה and to sing praises to your name, O עליון (elyon). cf. 92:1, 4, 5, 8, 9, and 15. Psalm 92 is a thanksgiving hymn for the just order. It speaks to the deliverance by יהוה of Israel out of the hands of her enemies and oppressors. It is a resounding hymn which builds on the majestic confidence and trust of Psalm 91.
In Psalm 91:4 a distinctly unique metaphor for refuge is employed. יהוה will cover you with [his] pinions, and under [his] wings you will find refuge. The Hebrew noun סֹחֵרָה (sokherah), which occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible, refers to a surrounding enclosure, a rampart, or an enveloping and rounded shield. This metaphor is intended to evoke the powerful image of יהוה encompassing the poet with complete protection against all assaults. Included in this imagery is the understanding of the life of faith and trust as one that is embattled, requiring the unfailing assistance and continuously abiding protection of the presence of יהוה throughout one’s life. Assurance of the presence of יהוה is appealed to by the poets over and over again and is a constant theme in the life of faith for the ancient people of God.
Psalm 91 uses two names for the deity which are typically associated with pre-Mosaic religion: עליון (Elyon, Most High) and שדי (Shaddai, the God of Heaven) which are both names of great antiquity.19 Shaddai is usually translated the Almighty in the LXX. יהוה is referred to in the prophet Hosea as “the living God.” Moses is told in Exodus 6:2–8 that שדי (Shaddai, Almighty) is the name by which the patriarchs knew God. The most likely meaning of this divine appellative is god of the fields, or mountain, but the name יהוה was possibly unknown to them. What we have in the name אל שדי (el shaddai) is an ancient divine appellative with roots deep in the Semitic past. The derivation and meaning of אל שדי (el shaddai) is mostly translated (Almighty) in the Septuagint—whose interpreters themselves were unfamiliar with the original meaning of the name.
Another feature of the LXX (Septuagint) 20 is the reference to the God of Israel, translated the Lord of all the earth. In Psalm 97:5 it states: The mountains melt like wax before יהוה before the Lord of all the earth; and 98:4: All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God. Make a joyful noise to יהוה, all the earth. In a non-biblical reference, it is used of the Greek god, Zeus and the Egyptian god, Osiris, specifically by Plutarch (cf. Isis and Osiris 355e).
The origin of the sacred name, יהוה, goes something like this. In its classical form the traditional Kenite hypothesis postulates the view that the Israelites became acquainted with the worship of יהוה through Moses. Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law in one account was, according to an old tradition, a Midianite priest (Ex 2:16; 3:1; 18:1) who worshiped יהוה (e.g. Ex 18:10–12). In two other accounts Hobab is referred to also as Moses’ father-in-law (in Judg 1:16; 4:11; Num 10:29) and belonged to the Kenites (Judg 1:16; 4:11) a branch of the Midianites. By way of Hobab and Moses, then, the Kenites were the mediators of the cult of יהוה.
Dependency on the historical role of Moses, moreover, is problematic. It seems more prudent not to put too much weight on the figure of Moses—to say nothing of the discrepancy that is found in scripture regarding the actual identities of Jethro and Hobab who are each cited as Moses’s father-in-law (perhaps Moses had two fathers-in-law?). It is only in a much later tradition that Moses came to be regarded as the legendary ancestor of the Levitical priests and a symbol of the “יהוה alone movement.” That יהוה is known as the God of deliverance and grace is attested in the Exodus 18 strata; Moses said to Hobab . . . We are setting out for the place of which יהוה said, ‘I will give it to you’; come with us, and we will treat you well; for יהוה has promised good to Israel. (cf. Num.10:29).
A major flaw in the classical Kenite hypothesis, however, is its disregard for the Canaanite origins of Israel (ca. early to mid thirteenth-century BCE) near the end of the Late Bronze Age. The view that under the influence of Moses, the Israelites then became Yahwists during their journey through the desert, and brought their newly acquired religion to the Palestinian soil, neglects the fact that the majority of Israelites were already firmly rooted and established in Palestine. It is most likely, and it is accurate, I think, to say that Moses first learned the name יהוה in the low desert area separating Canaan and Egypt. This is roughly the geographical location of the Exodus 3 tradition—the Name of the Hebrew God is given to Moses, the Tetragrammaton, YHWH, יהוה Numerous biblical references specifically associate the God of Israel, יהוה, with one or more of the southeastern desert regions of Sinai, Paran, Seir/Edom, Midian, Cushan, and Teman (Dt. 33:2; Jud. 5:4, 5; Hab. 3:3; Ps 68:8,17). The appellative, elyon, Most High, is the name that Moses used for the divine in one of his last speeches. When the Most High apportioned the nations, when he divided humankind, [he] fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the Israelites; the portion of יהוה was [his] own people, Jacob his allotted share (Dt. 32:8