Some of the post-exilic psalms reflect this fundamental shift in understanding (96, 97, 103, 107, 113, 115, 123, 138, etc.). יהוה as sheltering presence and protecting refuge serve as core monotheistic metaphors. These are stirring descriptions. Psalm 18, an early psalm considered by many scholars as most likely a Davidic poem, is well known for its exceedingly rich metaphorical flourishes in the opening verses: I love you, O יהוה, my strength. יהוה is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, the Rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold (18:1–2, NRSV).
But it is only in Psalm 91 that we find this compact formula consisting of four divine appellatives—in just two verses. In Psalm 90 the poet quickly picks up on the image of refuge proclaiming יהוה as מחסי (machasa, to hide or shelter); it is the principal word for refuge, which occurs twice in Psalm 91 (vss 2, 9). Psalm 115 is considered a communal song of trust to be sung and celebrated by the whole people. The alternating pronouns suggest antiphonal responses throughout the recitation or singing of the prayer. All praise is attributed to the Name, יהוה. The poet is attuned to the complaints on the part of the people. Their situation is understood to be a challenge to the glory and honor of יהוה. The poet reinforces the power and demonstration of the glory of the Name יהוה in the face of the taunts of the surrounding nations. The entire poem is a call to monotheistic Yahwism. As a response to such charges, the poet declares the vitality and power of the God of Israel, יהוה. The idols of the nations are reduced to the futility of their makers while the people of Israel are encouraged to trust in יהוה alone and express their confidence in God’s rescue and deliverance of them.
At the very outset of Psalm 115, glory to the Name of יהוה is expressed and the situation of the people in the face of their enemy Egypt is taken to be a challenge to the glory and honor of יהוה. The poem’s representative voice declares the awesome power and strength of Israel’s God over and against all other gods. The stress is on the transcendence of God. For our God is in the heavens; whatever God wills, God does. The word of finality is expressed in the final strophe: Praise YHWH! This psalm, a liturgical communal prayer of the people in Jewish tradition, is one of the Egyptian Hallel (“praise”) psalms (113–118)—sung before (Pss 113–114) and after (Pss (115–118) the Passover meal in praise of the deliverance out of Egypt by the hand of יהוה.
Psalm 115
Not to us, O יהוה, not to us,
but to your Name give the glory
for the sake of your constancy and your truth,
lest the heathen say: “Where is their God?”
For our God is in the heavens;
whatever God wills, God does.
The idols of the heathen are silver and gold,
the work of their hands.
They have mouths but they cannot speak;
they have eyes but they cannot see;
they have ears but they cannot hear;
they have nostrils but they cannot smell.
With their hands they cannot feel;
with their feet they cannot walk.
No sound comes from their throats.
Their makers will become like themselves
and so will all who put their trust in them.
O Israel’s family, trust in יהוה;
יהוה is your help and your shield.
Aaron’s family, trust in יהוה;
יהוה is your help and your shield.
You who fear יהוה trust in יהוה;
יהוה is your help and your shield.
יהוה remembers and will bless us;
will bless the family of Israel,
will bless the family of Aaron.
יהוה will bless those who fear him,
the little no less than the great;
The heavens belong to יהוה
but God has given the earth into our keeping.
Those who go down to the grave shall not praise יהוה,
nor the dead who, in silence, know only oblivion.
But we will bless יהוה
both now and forevermore.
Praise יהוה!
This psalm functions as a potent discourse on the close relationship that exists between the family of Israel and her God, יהוה. As has already been noted, the Psalter is first and foremost an account of the relationship between יהוה and Israel—God’s word to God’s people and their words as a response to יהוה. There is a continuing conversation between יהוה and the covenantal people throughout the Psalter. This is the hallmark of its many themes and features. It is little wonder then that the rabbis call the Psalter sepher tehillim, formed from the same root as the word הללויה (hallelujah), thus the title The Book of Praises.
The Hebrew title of the book of Psalms is tehillim, ‘Praises.’ Although the hymns or songs of praise are outnumbered in the Psalter by the prayers of lament or complaint, the title ‘Praises’ is appropriate. Even the prayers of lament or complaint move toward praise. So does the Psalter as a whole. Whereas prayers of lament or complaint dominate Books I-III, hymns or songs of praise are dominate in Books IV-V. Thus praise becomes the goal of the Psalter in the same way that praise is the goal of human life. Praise is fundamental.40
Although the songs of praise and thanksgiving are outnumbered, dominantly so, by the prayers and songs of lament-complaint, the title book of Praises is still appropriate. For these and other reasons the Psalter is sometimes referred to as the Hymnbook of the Second Temple.41 This would be appropriate if the book of Psalms was viewed primarily as a post-exilic book, which was commonly held a century ago. But this, too, is inaccurate and misleading as we now understand that not a few psalms likely predate by at least one hundred years the first temple’s Iron Age construction in the mid-tenth-century BCE.
It is important to remember that these early psalms would have begun their life in the worship of יהוה following the event of the exodus; in their journey through the wilderness, shrines and altars were erected in order for the people of יהוה to continue their sacrificial rites and ceremonies. These psalms would travel far and wide before coming to rest in the liturgy of the temple beginning in the tenth century BCE. It is fair to say that ancient Israel’s psalms became, over time, the voice of the people of יהוה communing with their God. This is substantiated by the repeated pleas that the presence of their God would remain and abide with them forever.
18. Kraus, Theology of the Psalms, “The divine name Elyon suggests the idea of ‘ascend’ and connotes ‘the Highest’. The name indicates the exalted status and power of God (e.g. Pss 47:2, 6–7; 82:6; 83:19; 91:1, 9; 97:9). It is an epithet of kingship.” 461.
cf. Mettinger, In Search of God: The Meaning and Message of the Everlasting Names. “The biblical names of God are symbols. On the pump-organ of human language, these symbols perform the music that speaks about God. The symbols are not a direct reproduction of the original tones, but are a downward transposition with