MCPC has gone a different route than the OPC/URC proposal for Psalm 11. The OPC/URC proposal includes two options:
a) the Sing Psalms text to “Bourbon” (LM);
b) the RCNZ’s text to “Protection” (11 11 11 11).
I understand that “Protection” has been used in the Dutch tradition with Psalm 11 for a long time, and I think that a tune associated with “How Firm a Foundation” has some good affective connections with Psalm 11. That text, however, could use some further work.
Text: MCPC, 2012 (SM)
1 My refuge is the LORD; how can you say to me:
“Now quickly like a bird escape, and to your mountain flee.
2 The wicked bend the bow; the upright they would shoot.
3 If our foundations are cast down, what can the righteous do?”
4 The LORD in heav’n is throned; his temple is on high;
his eyes behold, his eyelids test, the children of mankind.
5 The LORD will test the just, but men of wickedness
and those who love destructive ways he certainly detests.
6 Upon all wicked men his fiery coals will rain;
and brimstone, fire, and burning wind shall be their heritage.
7 For righteous is the LORD; he loves all righteous ways,
and so the upright of the earth shall all behold his face.
Tune: Festal Song (William Howard Walter, 1894)
Commentary
The title of Psalm 11 is: “To the Choirmaster. Of David.”
Psalm 11 is a Psalm of confidence, as the psalmist flees to the temple and calls upon the LORD to “rain coals upon the wicked” and preserve the righteous. Of course, the point about the temple raises a question regarding Davidic authorship — since the temple had not been built during David’s life. But as we have noted before, “Of David” does not necessarily mean “by David.” It could mean “about David” or “to David.” On the other hand, when the psalmist says, “The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD’s throne is in heaven” — that may well be a reference to the heavenly temple. Solomon plainly understood that the earthly temple could not contain God, so there is no reason why David could not have written about God’s heavenly temple.
Of course, the point of Psalm 11’s reference to the heavenly temple is that it is a safe refuge for the righteous! Indeed, the psalmist calls upon the LORD to “rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind” — reminding us of God’s judgment against Sodom and Gomorrah.
Psalm 11 concludes with a reminder that not only is the LORD righteous, but he also loves righteous deeds, and the upright shall behold his face. The same upright who were the target of the wicked in verse 2 are the ones who will see the face of God in verse 7.
Structure:
All three texts provide clear and helpful structure.
Translation Notes:
There are a couple key points to highlight.
First, with respect to the RCNZ text: 1) they use the term “snipers” to refer to the wicked (a sniper uses a rifle, not a bow — it would be like referring to chariots as “tanks”); 2) they replace “children of man” simply with “men”; and 3) they omit “he loves righteous deeds.” In contrast, our text 1) uses “bend the bow”; 2) “children of mankind”; and “he loves all righteous ways.”
Second, the Sing Psalms text often does better than our text, partly because they use 224 syllables in place of our 156. And this is our objection to it — since the ESV only uses 158 syllables. The Sing Psalms text provides several expansions where they repeat the same thing again. I have no strong objections to any of their translations — only to the fact that it takes them so much longer to say it! If you can say it well in six stanzas, there is no reason to use seven stanzas!
Tune Notes:
We struggled a bit to find a good tune for Psalm 11. “Festal Song” is used in the Trinity Hymnal with “Not All the Blood of Beasts” (242) and “Revive Thy Work, O Lord” (370) — and with Psalm 108 in the Trinity Psalter. The opening unison works very well for stanzas 1, 3, 4, and 6 — all of which start with the LORD and his work. It works less well for stanzas 2 and 5 which speak of the wicked — but even there it is true that the wicked bend their bows with confidence — thinking that the righteous are helpless!
If the RCNZ text can be repaired, I have to admit that “How Firm a Foundation” (Protection) has some splendid affective congruity with Psalm 11.
Conclusion
You can hear an organ rendition of “Festal Song” at:
I concur with the OPC/URC proposal to use “Halifax” with both Psalms 9 and 10, on the grounds that 1) Psalms 9 and 10 together form an alphabetic acrostic (slightly irregular in form, but clear nonetheless), 2) besides Psalms 1-2, Psalm 10 is the only Psalm in Book 1 of the Psalter that doesn’t have a title, and 3) the Septuagint treats Psalms 9-10 as a single song.
Hence Psalms 9-10 appear to have been written as one song, and only later got divided. Or, at the very least, Psalm 10 was written as a response to Psalm 9. This raises interesting questions for our canonical interpretation of the Psalm!
I also really like Psalm 9 to St. Denio (Joanna) — and I spent a fair amount of time working on that text — so I think that there are two good options here. My only concern with St. Denio is that I think that it is altogether too triumphant a tune for parts of this text. St. Denio is the tune used with “Immortal, Invisible, God only Wise” — now sing that tune with Psalm 9:13 — “LORD, see what I suffer from malice and hate! Have pity and lift me away from death’s gate.” On the other hand, it works really well with the opening and closing of the Psalm, so I won’t object.
Text: Sing Psalms, 2003 (CMD)
1 I’ll praise you, LORD, with all my heart; your wonders I’ll proclaim.
2 I will rejoice in you, Most High, and praise your holy name.
3 Before you all my en’mies fall, they turn their backs and flee.
4 For you upheld my right and cause and judged me righteously.
5 You have rebuked the nations, LORD; the wicked you destroyed.
You blotted out the heathen’s name, forever made it void.
6 The enemy has met their doom, destroyed eternally.
You have uprooted all their towns; they’re lost to memory.
7 The LORD forever reigns on high; his throne for judgment stands.
8 He’ll judge the world in righteousness, with justice rule the lands.
9 The LORD will be a hiding place for those who are oppressed,
and he will be a strong defense for those who are distressed.
10 All those who know your name, O LORD, in you their trust will place,
for you do not abandon those who seek your gracious face.
11 Sing praises to the LORD who sits in Zion on his throne;
among the nations of the world proclaim what he has done.
12 For he, th’avenger of man’s blood, remembers evermore;
the cry of the afflicted one he never will ignore.
13 O LORD, see how my enemies are persecuting me.
Have mercy! From the gates of death lift me and set me free:
14 so that in Zion’s city gates your praise I may declare,
and that I may exult with joy in your salvation there.
15 The nations all have fallen down into the pit they made;
their feet are tangled in the net that they themselves have laid.
16 The LORD is known by righteous acts; his justice always stands.
The wicked are ensnared in traps, the work of their own hands.
17 The wicked will return to where the dead have their abode,
where all the heathen nations go that have forgotten God.
18 The needy will not be ignored, forgotten all their days;
the hopes and longings of the poor will not be crushed always.
19 Arise, LORD! Let not man prevail; judge nations from your throne.
20 That they may know how frail they are, with fear, LORD, strike them down.
Tune: Halifax (George F. Handel, 1748; harm. Austin Lovelace, b. 1919)
Commentary
Psalm 9 is titled, “To the Choirmaster: According to Muth-labben. A Psalm of David.”
The title, “To the Choirmaster,” reminds us that the Psalms were written for the worship of the temple. It is usually a futile endeavor to try to recreate the personal situation of the Psalmist when he was writing — especially since song writers throughout the ages have frequently composed songs that were not merely expressions of their current emotional state. “A Psalm of David” also reminds us of the Davidic context of Book 1 of the Psalter. Whether it means “by David,” “for David,” “about David,” or something else, it clearly shows us that the Davidic monarchy is the central focus of books 1-2 of the Psalms. They presuppose the Davidic monarchy as the context for Israel’s worship.
The rest of the title, “Almuth labben,” has occasioned much controversy. Some take this literally, “according to Death to a Son” (Jerome), or it could mean “sung to a high voice” (Delitzsch). Others, like the ESV, prefer to leave it untranslated and assume that it is a musical or liturgical term that is unknown to us!
Psalm 9:1-12 takes the form of a communal thanksgiving as Israel gives praise to God for maintaining the just cause of David. But then in verses 13-18, the tone begins to change towards a plea for help. In 9:19-20, the Psalmist is now calling on God to arise and judge the nations. (And then Psalm 10 continues with the communal lament, asking God why he allows the wicked to prosper in 10:1-11, and then repeating the plea for God to arise and “break the arm of the wicked” in 10:12-15, before concluding with an affirmation of confidence that the LORD will hear and act — “so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more”).
Structure:
If Psalms 9-10 were originally a single song, does this mean that they should be interpreted (and sung) together? Or should we take the Hebrew division of the Psalm as an inspired division and thus read them and sing them separately? I like the approach taken here — by putting both Psalms to the same tune, but retaining the Hebrew numbering, it becomes possible to sing/read them together, while also permitting them to be sung/read separately.
The Sing Psalms text also enables us to do this. The chief weakness of this translation (in terms of structure) is the stanza break after verse 13, which results in the stanza ending with a colon. This is one place where the St. Denio/Joanna text is superior. It has ten stanzas — each of which contains two biblical verses. (This is why we originally crafted the 11 11 11 11 text — we were only convinced to go with the CMD text by our desire to hold Psalms 9 and 10 together — and St. Denio is simply way too confident for Psalm 10).
Translation Notes:
Those who have ever worked on metrical psalmody will know that it is rare that you are ever satisfied with a text.Verses 19-20 provide a good example. In verse 19, Halifax is superior:
“Arise, O LORD! Let not man prevail; let the nations be judged before you!” (ESV)
“Arise, LORD! Let not man prevail; judge nations from your throne” (Halifax)
“Arise, O my God! Let not man win the day, let nations be judged in your presence, I pray” (St. Denio).
But I prefer how the St. Denio text renders verse 20:
“Put them in fear, O LORD! Let the nations know that they are but men!” (ESV)
“Strike terror within them, O LORD, always then let nations know truly that they are but men” (St. Denio)
“That they may know how frail they are, with fear, LORD, strike them down” (Halifax).
But the attempt to blend the best of each was thwarted by the constraints of meter and inflection!
Tune Notes:
Since Psalms 9 and 10 blend together notes of triumph and lament, Halifax is one of the few tunes that can carry the whole Psalm. Austin Lovelace’s harmonization of Handel’s tune provides a strong but dark tone. While in a minor key, it moves back and forth to the relative major, allowing for a variety of brightness and darkness in the tune — mirroring the Psalmist’s trust in the Lord, even as he pours out his pleas and petitions.
Halifax is used in the BPS with Psalm 89, in the BPW with Psalms 55 and 89, and in the Trinity Psalter with Psalm 140.
Conclusion
Psalms 9-10 work well together liturgically. Psalm 9 works well as a song of praise as we come into the presence of the living God, followed by Psalm 10, as we lament our afflictions and troubles and call upon the LORD to do justice. I think that sometimes we focus so much on the confession of sin that we lose sight that many afflictions are not due to our sin, but to the assault of our enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil.
I have not been able to find any recordings of Halifax.
As stated in my comments on Psalm 9, I concur with the OPC/URC proposal to use “Halifax” with both Psalms 9 and 10, on the grounds that 1) Psalms 9 and 10 together form an alphabetic acrostic (slightly irregular in form, but clear nonetheless), 2) besides Psalms 1-2, Psalm 10 is the only Psalm in Book 1 of the Psalter that doesn’t have a title, and 3) the Septuagint treats Psalms 9-10 as a single song.
Text: Sing Psalms, 2003 (CMD)
1 O LORD, why do you stand remote and stay so far away?
Why do you hide yourself from us when trouble comes our way?
2 The wicked in his arrogance hunts down the weak and poor,
who in the snares that he has set are caught and held secure.
3 About the cravings of his heart he speaks with boastful word;
he praises people filled with greed while he reviles the LORD.
4 The wicked does not seek the LORD because he is so proud,
and in his inmost thoughts there is no room at all for God.
5 His ways are always prosperous; he strikes a haughty pose.
He keeps his distance from your laws; he sneers at all his foes.
6 He reassures himself and says, “No threat will topple me;
I will be happy evermore; from trouble I’ll be free.”
7 The wicked’s mouth is always full of curses, threats, and lies;
and from his tongue iniquities continually arise.
8 He lies in wait near villages his victims’ blood to spill;
he lurks in secret ambushes the innocent to kill.
9 Like lions crouching secretly he waits for helpless prey.
He pounces on the weak and poor; his net drags them away.
10 His victims by his strength are crushed; his prey collapse and fall.
11 He thinks, “God does not notice it; he does not see at all.”
12 Arise, LORD God, lift up your hand; do not forget the poor.
13 Why does the wicked say of God, “My conduct he’ll ignore”?
14 But you, O God, do see such wrong and you will bring redress.
The victim puts his trust in you; you help the fatherless.
15 LORD, break the wicked person’s pow’r and call him to account
for all the evil which he thought would never be found out.
16 The LORD will ever reign as king; his throne will always stand.
The heathen nations of the world will perish from his land.
17 O LORD, the needy ones’ desire you answer from on high;
you give encouragement to them and listen to their cry.
18 For you defend the fatherless and those who are oppressed,
so that from fear of mortal man the helpless may have rest.
Tune: Halifax (George F. Handel, 1748; harm. Austin Lovelace, b. 1919)
Commentary
Psalm 10 has no title (see introduction).
Psalm 10 responds to Psalm 9 very closely. (Psalm 9:1-12 takes the form of a communal thanksgiving as Israel gives praise to God for maintaining the just cause of David. But then in verses 13-18, the tone begins to change towards a plea for help. In 9:19-20, the Psalmist is now calling on God to arise and judge the nations). And then Psalm 10 continues with the communal lament, asking God why he allows the wicked to prosper in 10:1-11, and then repeating the plea for God to arise and “break the arm of the wicked” in 10:12-15, before concluding with an affirmation of confidence that the LORD will hear and act — “so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.”
Structure:
If Psalms 9-10 were originally a single song, does this mean that they should be interpreted (and sung) together? Or should we take the Hebrew division of the Psalm as an inspired division and thus read them and sing them separately? I like the approach taken here — by putting both Psalms to the same tune, but retaining the Hebrew numbering, it becomes possible to sing/read them together, while also permitting them to be sung/read separately.
Sing Psalms does very well with the structure of Psalm 10. The stanza breaks are all quite conducive to singing with understanding.
Translation Notes:
A key word in Psalms 9-10 is aniyim “the afflicted” (9:12, 13, 18; 10:2, 9, 17). The ESV renders this alternately as “the afflicted” (9:12, 10:17) and “the poor” (9:18, 10:2, 9). Some may find this puzzling — since the ESV is not constrained by metrical considerations! — but once again we are dealing with a word whose semantic range varies in a wider range than the English word “afflicted.” It would be very odd to translate 10:2, “In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the afflicted,” because it is only on account of the wicked’s pursuit that they have become afflicted! Rather, the reason why they are vulnerable to the wicked’s pursuit is because they are poor. On the other hand, if you translate it consistently as “poor” then you wind up with a misleading translation in verse 17 — “O LORD, you hear the desire of the poor” might sound to English ears as though God is heeding the cries of the materially destitute.
Part of the problem is that we have come to think of “poverty” in terms of material lack. We think of the poor as those who “lack stuff.” But that is not the biblical description of the aniyim. The poor — the afflicted — are those who lack the resources to protect themselves against the depredations of the powerful. Material possessions can be helpful in this respect — since land and resources can go a long way to stave off trouble — but the poor are those who are vulnerable. When you start to think of poverty in terms of access to power, it is much easier to understand the biblical teaching regarding God’s “preferential option” for the poor.
For this reason we have not tried to attain consistency in our translation of aniyim — but have followed the excellent “weak and poor” of Sing Psalms in verses 2 and 9 — or “needy” in verse 17.
Another key word in Psalm 10 is darash — “to seek” or “to call to account.” In verse 4, the wicked does not seek God (or, “The wicked says, ‘He will not call to account'” — see ESV footnote). The same phrase is used more clearly in verse 13. But then in verse 15, the Psalmist asks God to “call his wickedness to account till you find none.” And since wicked (rasha’) looks and sounds a lot like darash, there are some really fun plays on words in this Psalm.
Of course, the problem is that wordplays are nearly impossible to translate. I don’t know if the Sing Psalms translators did this intentionally, but they provide some similar English wordplays to make up for it. For instance, in verse 7, they say: “The wicked’s mouth is always full of curses, threats, and lies…” and in verse 8, later in the same stanza, they say, “He lies in wait.” The two meanings of the word “lies” provide an English wordplay that help makes up for the impossibility of translating Hebrew wordplays!
Tune Notes:
I will simply repeat my comments on Halifax from Psalm 9:
Since Psalms 9 and 10 blend together notes of triumph and lament, Halifax is one of the few tunes that can carry the whole Psalm. Austin Lovelace’s harmonization of Handel’s tune provides a strong but dark tone. While in a minor key, it moves back and forth to the relative major, allowing for a variety of brightness and darkness in the tune — mirroring the Psalmist’s trust in the Lord, even as he pours out his pleas and petitions.
Halifax is used in the BPS with Psalm 89, in the BPW with Psalms 55 and 89, and in the Trinity Psalter with Psalm 140.
Conclusion
Psalms 9-10 work well together liturgically. Psalm 9 works well as a song of praise as we come into the presence of the living God, followed by Psalm 10, as we lament our afflictions and troubles and call upon the LORD to do justice. I think that sometimes we focus so much on the confession of sin that we lose sight that many afflictions are not due to our sin, but to the assault of our enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil.
I have not been able to find any recordings of Halifax.
I have some sympathy with the idea behind the paraphrase used with “Evening Praise” — namely, they recognize the “refrain” in verses 1 and 9, and so they try using a refrain after each stanza. The execution of the paraphrase, however, is unfortunate, and the expansions to the text do not convey well the point of the Psalm. Particularly, it omits the reference to how God made man “a little lower than the heavenly beings” (v5 ESV). I would only be in favor of using this text if someone reworked it.
I generally like the C.M. text (adapted from Sing Psalms) used with “Clinton” — a familiar tune from the 1959 Psalter Hymnal (although not used in the Trinity Hymnals). My chief quibble is that it follows the Septuagint in translating “elohim” as “angels” or “heavenly beings” in verse 5 (see below on “translation notes”).
Text: 7.6.7.6.7.7.7.6. (Book of Psalms for Singing, 1973; MCPC, 2011)
1 LORD, our Lord, in all the earth how excellent your name!
You above the heav’ns have set the glory of your fame.
2 From the mouths of infants young you the power of praise compose
in the face of enemies to stop avenging foes.
3 When I view the skies above which your own fingers made,
when I see the moon and stars with you in order laid,
4 what is man so frail and weak that you should remember him?
What can be the son of man that you should care for him?
5 You have made him next to God, with honor, glory crowned.
6 Him you placed above your works; beneath him all is found:
7 oxen, sheep, and all wild beasts, 8 birds, and fish the oceans claim
9 LORD, our Lord, in all the earth how excellent your name!
Psalm 8 is titled, “To the Choirmaster: According to the Gittith. A Psalm of David.”
You might think that Psalm 8 is talking about creation. That is true-but it is not talking about Genesis 1-2. But, you might say, verse 3 speaks of looking at the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars, which you have set in place.” True-and verse 6 speaks of God giving man dominion over the works of his hands, putting all things under his feet-all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea. But still, I cannot say that he is talking about the creation in Genesis. He is using the language of Genesis to talk about a different creation-the new creation. After all, verse 2 speaks of how God has ordained strength out of the mouth of infants, “because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.” If Psalm 8 is talking about the first creation, then verse 2 makes no sense.
But Psalm 8 does speak of man in the glorious language of Genesis 1-2: “You have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings [elohim, God/gods] and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over all the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet.” The reason that Psalm 8 can speak in this way is because Psalm 8 is speaking of the new creation.
In Psalm 8, David rejoices because he sees by faith that the kingdom of God is being restored. He sees the son of man sitting on the throne in the midst of the Promised Land, and sees the fulfillment of what God had promised to Adam. “O Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”
All through Israel’s history, they were to look to the Son of David as the second Adam, the Son of God-the Anointed One. And yet, Israel could not help but see the failures of his kings. They could not but earnestly desire to see the day when what they sang in Psalm 8 was as true in reality as it was in faith.
And that day has now come. Hebrews 2 understood that Psalm 8 was not talking about Genesis 1-2. Hebrews 2 understood that Psalm 8 was talking about the Davidic king (Hebrews 2:5-8). But in Jesus Christ, what was spoken of in faith in Psalm 8 has begun to come about. Hebrews 2:8 admits that “at present, we do not yet see everything subject to him-but we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” He who was higher than the angels-indeed, he who Hebrews 1:1-3 tells us was the one “through whom God created the world,” this Jesus was made lower than the angels for a time. “What is man, that you are mindful of him? What is the son of man, that you care for him?” What is man? I’ll tell you who man is. Man is no longer Adam. Man is no longer the rebel and the cursed one. Man is now Jesus Christ. Man is now the obedient and the glorious one. Jesus has been made perfect through suffering. Jesus has been crowned with glory and honor as the Second-indeed, as the Last Adam, the one who restores humanity to the fellowship of God and the dominion over creation.
Only God can save. That is why it was only the eternal Son of God who could redeem us from our sins. But only man could correct man’s fault. The king must be one of your brethren (as we hear from Deuteronomy). “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things.” Why? Because, there was no way for God to bring salvation, unless one who was true man “might through death, destroy the one who has the power of death.” As the Nicene Creed puts it, “who, for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit by the Virgin Mary, and was made man.”
Structure:
The Book of Psalms for Singing text does an excellent job of fitting Psalm 8 into three stanzas.
1) Verses 1-2 open the Psalm with the exaltation of the name of the LORD and the contrast between the heavenly glory of God and how that glory is proclaimed through the weak and the lowly (the infants) of verse 2.
2) Verses 3-4 then further the contrast by pointing out that when I consider the marvelous heavenly bodies — the moon and stars — I cannot but wonder “what is man?”
3) Verses 5-9 then conclude by speaking of the dominion of man over the creatures. The challenge, of course, is that the third stanza has to pack 5 verses in — where the first two stanzas each have two.
Translation Notes:
There is some discussion over the translation of the last sentence in verse 1. The ESV says, “You have set your glory above the heavens,” but others translate it, “I will sing of your glory to the heavens.” The reason for this is that the Hebrew is unclear as to who is doing the “setting.” If it is the Psalmist, then it should be translated, “I will set your glory above the heavens.” If it is the LORD, then it should be translated, “you have set your glory above the heavens.” One could try to split the difference and translate it, “O LORD our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth – which sets your glory above the heavens.”
The big debate, of course, is over verse 5. “You have made him a little lower than the elohim.” A very wooden translation would render this, “You have caused him to lack little from God/the gods” [the piel of “chaser” has the causative force]. In other words, however you translate “elohim” the point here is that man is differs only a little bit from the divine beings.
We’ll often come back to this term “elohim” in the Psalms, because at various times the NT will see this as “angels” (Hebrews 2 on Psalm 8), rulers (John 10 on Psalm 82), and God himself. But for our purposes here, the main question is whether Hebrews 2 is definitive for the translation of Psalm 8. Hebrews 2 simply follows the Septuagint in translating elohim as aggelos. This fits well with the point of Hebrews 2 in showing the supremacy of the Son to angels. But given the differences in angelology from the time of David to the time of the New Testament, I am inclined to suspect that David was not thinking about “angels” in the common sense of the term. The “elohim” of Psalms 58 or 82, for instance, seem to be something like what Paul talks about as the “so-called gods” of the nations (1 Cor 8:5), namely, the beings that go by the names “Baal” or “Marduk” or “Zeus” among the nations.
But in Psalm 8, it is not obvious that David is thinking of these beings. In fact, the creation/new creation language in this Psalm leads me to think that the Psalmist’s point is to see the Son of David — the New Man — as God’s vice-gerent, one who rules over God’s creation on behalf of God himself. In this context, the point is not that the Man of Psalm 8 is made a little lower than angels — the point is that he is made a little lower than God himself. After all, the next thing he says is, “You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet.” (v6)
Of course, this raises a question for Hebrews 2. If the Septuagint mistranslated Psalm 8, then how does this affect Hebrews 2? I do not believe that the Septuagint was an inspired translation. But I do believe that the God who providentially superintends and governs all things also providentially governed the translation of the Septuagint (and all other translations that have ever been made! After all, the Septuagint technically only refers to the translation of the Pentateuch. There were lots of other translators who were involved in translating various passages from Hebrew to Greek). The point in Hebrews 2 is that Psalm 8 shows how the eternal Son was humbled — how the one who was above the angels was made “for a little while lower than the angels.”
There is nothing in the Hebrew that suggests a temporal reference. But that’s because David is thinking of the status of the Davidic king, whereas Hebrews is thinking of the incarnation of Christ. And the Septuagint brilliantly sets up this Messianic interpretation of Psalm 8.
So the question is: should we follow the Hebrew or the Septuagint in our singing of Psalm 8? The RPCNA has said, “follow the Hebrew.” The Free Church has said, “follow the Septuagint.” I am sympathetic to the Hebrew rendering, but I don’t at all object to including both. I would only object to a course of action that would seek to hide the difficulty from our congregations. We do no service to the Word of God by pretending that everything has a simple answer — because God himself chose to give us all these complexities. If we hide them from our congregations, then we are lying about the scriptures and bearing false witness about God. And that never ends well!
Tune Notes:
One comment that reached the OPC composition subcommittee went something like this: “If they do not have Psalm 8 to Amsterdam, then forget the whole project.” It is safe to say that Amsterdam is incredibly popular in churches that have used the Book of Psalms for Singing (or the BPW, or the Trinity Psalter).
Of course, it also helps that Amsterdam is extremely well suited for this text! One musicologist said that it had “excellent affective congruity” — and I would only add that it is absolutely essential to the text that Amsterdam uses almost identical musical lines in its opening and closing, since the “refrain” must appear in the opening of the first stanza and the closing of the last stanza.
I do not know “Clinton” — the tune used by the Psalter Hymnal (1959) — so I will not try to comment on it. I will only say that since the text proposed by the URC is satisfactory, I will not object if they wish to include a popular tune.
Conclusion
Psalm 8 is important enough that I could live with two or three versions. I think that having two different translations that go opposite directions with “elohim” in verse 5 could be useful in helping congregations think through the challenges of Bible translation!
Is the Psalter an Obsolete Songbook? Why Sing All 150 Psalms ANDthe Best of the Best of All Ages?
Part 4
In the final section of this essay on the importance of including the whole Psalter in our congregational singing, we look at Psalm 88 and its doctrine of death and the grave — and why Christians need to sing Psalms like this more often.
Death and Depression: Why We Need to Sing Psalm 88 More Often
Some argue that there are obsolete doctrines in the Psalms. For instance, some claim that Psalms 6:5, Psalm 30:9, and Psalm 88:10-12 reflect an obsolete doctrine of the grave. Psalm 88 is perhaps the most egregious example, so I will focus my attention there.
A pastor from a denomination that sings all 150 Psalms once asked me, “when would you ever sing Psalm 88 in worship?” I simply answered, “Do you really have no one in your congregation who suffers from depression?” Psalm 88 reminds us that there are days in the Christian life that may end in utter blackness.
“Do you work wonders for the dead?
Do the departed rise up to praise you?
Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
Are your wonders known in the darkness,
or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?”
Some think that some or all of the Old Testament authors had no clear idea of the resurrection, and so expressed unclear or incomplete ideas regarding the afterlife. They grant that the text is inspired by God and true so far as it goes – but they argue that it was written at a time when the people of God were uncertain about the afterlife, and so Psalm 88 is not appropriate for Christian worship. After all, we know that the departed will rise up to praise God!
Geerhardus Vos takes a different – and more helpful – approach:
“And most touching of all I think is the form which this sentiment assumes in the mind of the Old Testament saints in view of the mysteries, so much greater to them than to us, of the state after death. Did you ever observe what is the thought that seems to have most acutely distressed and perplexed the writers of some of the Psalms when they tried in vain to pierce this veil of mystery enveloping to them the future world? It was the fear that in these strange regions there might be no remembrance of God, no knowledge of his goodness, no praise of his glory. We may be assured that when a religious want is in this way projected into the world to come so that the fear of its not being satisfied proves stronger than the fear of death in itself, we may be sure that there it has been recognized as the supreme, the essential thing in religion.”[1]
But the question of the afterlife is not really the issue in Psalm 88. The question in Psalm 88 has to do with God’s promises to Israel, and particularly, with God’s promises to David. If the Davidic king is overthrown, and Israel is destroyed, then what will become of God’s promises? To use New Testament language, if the Gates of Hell prevail and the church is destroyed then what will become of God’s promises to Jesus? “Do you work wonders for the dead?”
Of course, this is precisely where Psalm 88 is so helpful for the church to sing! If God never works in history, then what can God do for the dead? This is what makes Psalm 88 such a beautiful song of the cross. After all, Psalm 88 opens “O LORD, God of my salvation…” How can salvation come to God’s people? It is only if God does “wondrous works” in history. It is only if God is the God of the living that there is any hope for the dead!
In the end, the answers to the questions in verses 10-12, which so obviously appear to be “No!” – in fact, are “Yes!” God’s steadfast love will be declared in the grave – when he raises Jesus from the dead. Israel’s only hope – and our only hope – is if God triumphs over the grave by raising up his Son to eternal life!
But what about us? Psalm 88 is helpful for the Christian to sing – not just about Jesus, but also for ourselves. Because in the Christian life there are days that end in darkness and despair like this:
“Your wrath has swept over me;
your dreadful assaults destroy me.
They surround me like a flood all day long;
they close in on me together.
You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;
my companions have become darkness.” (88:16-18)
It was true for Jesus on the cross – and it can be true in the Christian life as well. There were days when Paul himself “despaired of life” (2 Cor 1:8-10 – which almost quotes Psalm 88 with its emphasis on how God is the one who delivers us from deadly peril). Paul talks openly about his own discouragement in 2 Cor 4:7-12 — though the fact that God is his salvation prevents him from reaching ultimate despair (just like Psalm 88 never reaches ultimate despair). After all, Psalm 88 is a Psalm of the cross. This is what Jesus endured for us. The reason why we must sing Psalm 88 is because when we sing Psalm 88 in union with Christ, we can sing Psalm 88 with the same hope as the Psalmist — because God is the God of our salvation! The Psalmist’s hope was exactly the same as our hope. He hoped in the same Redeemer.
As Geerhardus Vos put it, there are different redemptive-historical epochs, but there is a “homogeneity of redemption.”[2] Certainly there can be a difference in “tone” between the Davidic era and New Covenant – which is due to our diverse redemptive-historical eras. Certainly the resurrection of Jesus gives us a greater joy and glory than anything in the “obsolete covenant” – but this simply demonstrates that we need to sing more than the Psalms.
Conclusion
Congregational singing is where the church participates in the songs of the heavenly assembly. As such, we should use the songs of the old covenant in the same way that we use readings from the old covenant. And as the word of Christ dwells in us richly, perhaps once again in our daily lives, we will begin “teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in [our] hearts to God” (Col. 3:16).
While we often prefer to avoid themes of darkness, depression, cursing, and death, we cannot do so without ignoring New Testament teaching on the subject. One of the best ways of renewing our understanding and piety in such matters would be to resume singing the “hard” Psalms, singing them in the light of the glory of Christ.
Of course, congregational singing should not be limited to the 150 Psalms – but it will always be nourished and enriched by the Psalter. But the relation between psalmody and good hymnody will have to wait for another essay!
Q. 48. What are we specially taught by these words before me in the first commandment?
A. These words before me in the first commandment teach us that God, who sees all things, takes notice of, and is much displeased with, the sin of having any other god.
