Psalm 108

Psalms 108:1-3

Psalm 108 opens by taking up five verses almost word for word from Psalm 57:7-11, a resolve to sing joined to two named instruments, psaltery and harp, ahead of the light itself, I myself will awake early. My heart is fixed, twice stated in the source psalm and kept once here, is read by Henry and Delitzsch as a settled resolve rather than a passing feeling, the will fixed on praise before circumstance changes. Verse 3 widens the vow past Israel, I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people, and sing praises unto thee among the nations, a reach the second half of the psalm will test against a real enemy.

Psalms 108:4-5

The first half closes on the pairing carried over from Psalm 57:10-11, mercy and truth measured against the sky itself, thy mercy is great above the heavens, and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds, before the one closing prayer, be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, and thy glory above all the earth. Spurgeon reads the couplet as the true order of praise, God's greatness affirmed before anything is asked of him, an order the request of verse 6 does not disturb. Delitzsch notes the wording here is slightly smoothed from Psalm 57's, unto the heavens becoming above the heavens, the kind of small variant a compiler makes rather than a copyist's slip.

Psalms 108:6

This verse is the seam of the psalm, drawn from Psalm 60:5, where the compiler turns from private resolve to national plea in a single line, thy beloved a plural standing for the covenant people rather than the psalmist alone. Save with thy right hand, and answer me asks the specific thing the following verses will answer, a word from God himself rather than a general blessing. Gill notes the shift is not a break but the reason for the first half's confidence, praise offered before the request so the plea does not stand alone.

Psalms 108:7-9

Verses 7 through 9 answer the plea with an oracle drawn from Psalm 60:6-8, God's own claim on the land laid out in two movements, the tribes on both sides of Jordan named as his possession and the neighboring nations named as subject to him. Gilead and Manasseh, Ephraim as the strength of mine head, and Judah as my lawgiver claim Israel's own territory in the king's voice standing for God's; Moab is my washpot and over Edom will I cast out my shoe use the imagery of a servant's basin and a master's claim to put those nations under the same hand. Delitzsch and Barnes read Shechem and Succoth, one west and one east of Jordan, as marking the whole land in miniature, its geography spoken over before the divided kingdom existed.

Psalms 108:10-13

The closing question, drawn from Psalm 60:9-12, names Edom's fortified capital as the test case for the oracle just spoken, and verse 11 answers its own question honestly, wilt not thou, O God, who hast cast us off, admitting a defeat the psalm does not hide. Give us help from trouble, for vain is the help of man states the psalm's whole argument in one line, the same confidence that opened the psalm turned now toward an enemy still standing. Through God we shall do valiantly closes both this psalm and Psalm 60 with identical words, victory promised in the same breath the human helplessness of verse 12 is confessed.