PSALM 107: PART 1

Main Theme

There is some disagreement among translators and commentators as to how to label this psalm. Thus, I have seen the following titles attached to this chapter in the Psalter: “Variety and Repetition,” “Thanksgiving and Praise,” “The Song of the Redeemed,” “God, a Refuge in All Dangers,” “Thanks to the Saving God,” “The Faithfulness of the Lord,” “Whoever is Wise,” and “God to the Rescue.” My own suggested title would be “The God Who Transforms” or “Reversals,” and I will try to highlight this choice as we go along by underlining some of the key words in the quotations given in the post.

Historical Setting

This is a subject that is a matter of controversy among Bible scholars. Just look at the opinions given below:

Kselman says of Psalm 107:33-38: “God has the power to reverse the normal order (cf. Isa 50.2), and the return from exile is described as a new Exodus (Isa 41.18; 43.19) and resettlement in the land (cf. Josh 24.13).”

Somewhat similarly, the footnote in the Jerusalem Bible feels that verses 4-9 refer to the Exodus while 10-16 deal with the return from Exile. The overall effect is to “elaborate the wisdom theme of the reversal of situations.”

But M'Caw and Motyer discern an entirely different background to the psalm feeling that “it may well be that we find here the pre-exilic community viewing themselves as in principle gathered from the world and all its dangers.”

And for a more general background to the psalm, P.D. Miller says that it “demonstrates the richness of Israel's expression of praise and thanksgiving...The Yahwistic community is in the picture from the beginning, and its history and plight echo throughout the Psalm so that it is always moving on two planes, the individual and the communal, the general and the particular, the existential and the historical.”

“Psalm 107 is typical...in describing the wavering faith of the 'redeemed of Yahweh' (Ps 107:2), some of whom 'became fools through their rebellious ways' (Ps 107:17) and who cried out to Yahweh in their distress and were delivered (Ps 107:19).” (Davies)

L.C. Allen sees the background of this psalm as that of a temple service. “Individuals are to have the opportunity of testifying to God's help in particular difficulties, by oral statement and by sacrifice (v. 22). Then the whole community will cap their thanksgiving with a general outpouring of praise. These two parts of the service are reflected in this psalm.”

In attempting to determine the historical setting of Psalm 107, some additional scholars just zero in on verses 4-32 for clues:

McKnight: “Common human experiences give rise to God's saving acts. Psalm 107 perhaps best puts this all into one grand display.”

DeClaisse-Walford: “The repetition of words in the vignettes provides further evidence that the psalm may have been used in a liturgical setting, in which groups of worshippers recited the words of Psalm 107 antiphonally with presiding priests.”

Dentan says, “This psalm was perhaps sung by groups of pilgrims who came to Jerusalem to celebrate one of the feasts, offering thanks for escape from various dangers.”

“Some scholars (e.g. Kissane) regard this passage [i.e. vv. 23-32] also as a metaphorical account of the return from the Exile (cf. Isa. 54:11). It is not certain, however, that this was the original meaning.” (Anderson)

And concerning just the concluding verses 32-43, M'Caw and Motyer state: “These verses seem broadly based on the history of Israel from Egypt onwards.”

We also see possible echoes of other OT passages in individual verses in this psalm. As just one example, Anderson points out regarding verses 10-16: “The Targum applies these verses to Zedekiah and the nobles of Israel (i.e. Judah) in the Babylonian exile...”

Setting Within the Psalter

This long psalm is notable in several ways. For one thing, it serves to open the last of the five divisions of the Book of Psalms.

Figure 1: Structure of Book V – Psalms 107-150

A. Bridge (Ps. 107)

B. Psalms of David (Ps. 108-110) 

            C. Hallelujah (Ps. 111-117)

A'. Bridge (Ps. 118)

B'. The Torah (Ps. 119)

C'. Song of Ascents (Ps. 120-134)

A''. Bridge (Ps. 135-137)

B''. Psalms of David (Ps. 138-145)

C''. Hallelujah (Ps. 146-150)

This book is arranged somewhat differently than the other four. Three parallel sections begin with bridging psalms (A, A', A'') which contain very similar language. The statement “O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures for ever!” appears in all three. And Waltke points out that Psalm 107 also relates backwards to the previous psalm with their common theme of gathering the people of Israel from Exile (compare 106:47 and 107:3).

But at the same time, as DeClaisse-Walford points out, the final words in Psalm 107 “set the scene for the rest of the words in Book Five.” And in addition, Holladay notes that the opening of Book 1 (Psalm 1:6) may be compared to the closing of Psalm 107, which opens Book V.

Old Testament Parallels

Various OT influences on the words in Psalm 107 have been proposed by scholars, but it is often hard to make value judgments regarding which writing influenced which due to uncertainties as to the relative dates of composition. Anderson expresses this uncertainly when he says that “verse 40 may be a quotation from Job 12:21a,24b (or vice versa?).”

Schnittjer also points out that Job 12:21-22 appears to be taken from Psalm 107:40 with, however, one important change. In Job, the positive conclusion is left out. He says, “The context of Ps 107 alternates between the blessing and judgment of Yahweh.” This is most clearly seen in verses 33-43.

Schnittjer also notes that “The only places the combination of 'gloom' and 'utter darkness' appear with 'claim' or 'redeem' are Ps 107 (verses 2, 10, 14) and Job 3:5a.”

New Testament Echoes

Working in the opposite direction, some scholars feel that the Gospel accounts may derive some of their ideas from this psalm. For example, Kostenberger sees possible allusions to vv. 23-32 (especially vv. 29-30) in0- John 6:21 as well as to the scattered Gentiles of John 11:52 in Ps. 107:2-3.

But the most extensive list of such parallels comes from Meye, as enumerated and expanded by Colin Brown. Their combined findings are summarized in Figure 2.

                                      Figure 2: Parallels Between Psalm 107 and Mark's Gospel

Subject                                      Psalm 107 (vv.)                 Mark 4-8

God's redemptive deed             1-3,22,32                          5:19-20,27,43; 7:37

summons of the redeemed        2                                       1:37,45; 3:7; 7:24,26

God's steadfast love                  1,15,21,31,43                   4:38; 5:19; 6:34; 8:2

hunger and thirst                      4-9                                     6:30-44; 8:1-10,14-21

darkness and bondage             10,14                                  5:1-20; 6:13; 7:24-30

“the most High”                      1                                         5:7

sickness                                  17-22                                  5:21-6:5,13,53-56; 7:31-37; 8:22-26

peril at sea                              23-32                                  4:35-41; 6:45-52

call to understanding              43                                       8:17-21

More detailed analysis of the text of Psalm 107 will be presented in part 2 of this post.