Psalm 91 Exegesis

Psalm 91 Exegesis of Psalm 91:1 Hayes and Holladay (2007) state that exegetical works are an exercise in "leading" readers of Scripture, in the sense that they act as interpretive signposts designed to assist readers in comprehending the Word of God (p. 1). This paper provides an exegetical analysis of Psalm 91:1-16 and discusses how the writer of the Psalm shows that God favors those who show complete faith in His ability to look after His faithful sons.

The Book of Psalms is a poetic collection of songs written by David, the shepherd boy who grew up to be a king, chosen by God to rule over His chosen people. The psalms are hymns expressing a range of thoughts, prayers, joys, pains, gladness and wonder. David's life was filled with such range -- from his slaying of Goliath, to his persecution by his family and friends, to his triumphant guidance of the Ark of the Covenant into the Temple.

The psalms are so expressive of our humanity in all its varying aspects that they are still repeated in Church liturgy today. The Biblical story of David begins with the Book of Samuel in the Old Testament. When Samuel arrives at the house of Jesse in Bethlehem, the Lord tells him not to be surprised by the height of the son he is to anoint, since he is still yet a small boy. The Lord tells Samuel which to anoint, and that one is David.

This special anointing marks David as one upon whom "the Lord came powerfully" (1 Sam 16:13). Meanwhile, King Saul is oppressed by an evil spirit, and one of his attendants (following in the common belief of the time that music could help soothe a suffering body/soul) tells the King that he knows of a young son of Jesse of Bethlehem "who knows how to play the lyre" (1 Sam 16:16). It is through this invitation to play for the King that David is introduced to the royal court.

David plays the lyre so well that Saul allows him to stay. As Jonathan Kirsch observes, however, Saul did not merely allow David to stay with him: He also gave David an important title -- "weapons bearer" (Kirsch, 2000, p. 49). This title would foreshadow that great military victory that David would soon have over the Philistines. Indeed, it also foreshadows the glory of the Psalms as spiritual artillery.

Psalm 91, in fact, acts as a spiritual bow and arrow that carries the reader straight to the heart of God, Who loves men after his own heart -- which is what David in the Psalms reflects. For this reason it is known as the "Soldier's Psalm" (Williams-Hayes, p. 51). Psalm 91 was written in a similar style with similar content as Psalm 90. Once again, God is described as a place of "refuge" as Tesh and Zorn (2004) show.

However, while Psalm 90 is a song or hymn that is meant to be expressive of the whole rather than the individual, Psalm 91 is more personal in its expression. It is directed to the inner self: it's use of the first person pronoun is indicative of the self-assertiveness of the Psalm. As Brueggemann (1984) states, the Psalm is "enormously open" to the individual and acts as a kind of tutorship -- an assurance or breathe of confidence for the hearer and a reminder of the true home and sanctuary of the faithful.

It acts as hymn of praise that serves a two-fold purpose: first, it recognizes God as a divine protector; second, it asserts decisive trust and show of faith in God's goodness. It corresponds to the difficulties that David faced in his own life, when pursued by his own people (and kin) and how he never doubted his deliverance but had full confidence in the protection of God, in Whom he placed his trust.

Textual Analysis As Tesh and Zorn (2004) indicate, the brunt of the Psalm is located in the Hebrew word "ki," the meaning of which can be found in the English word "because" or "for this reason." It is a pivotal word, "ki," and represents a hinging nature -- which is the essence of the Psalm: because God is the divine refuge, I will seek shelter in His arms.

The theme of the Psalm is explicitly rendered in the fist verse: "Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty" (Psalm 91:1).

This verse announces the point of the hymn and sets up the following verses which go to illustrate the theme, broaden it, deepen it, and expand it through visual imagery, as verse 4 does: "He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge." The imagery counters that provided in the preceding verse, which speakers of a "fowler's snare," a trap for catching birds. God, therefore, is pictured as a spiritual bird, who cannot be caught or subdued by the tricks of man.

From man, therefore, the Psalm depicts God as a deliver. Indeed, deliverance from enemies and "terrors of the night" (Psalm 91:5) is the purpose. Yet God is not just depicted as a saving eagle with protective wings -- but as plague-resistant: "A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand" (Psalm 91:7-8).

The diseases of the world, the Psalmist notes, will take others with it into death, but the plague will not approach the divine one, whose shadow is a place of rest -- a "fortress" as verse 2 indicates. Thus, the theme is deepened by "death" imagery and "soldier" imagery, uniting these two ideas which are typical of a battlefield and applying them to a spiritual hymn.

That such imagery would lend itself as applicable to such a hymn further illustrates the nature of the hymn itself: it is meant to rouse one's spirits, which may be dampened by thoughts of impending doom or disaster. It is meant to rouse the soul from the depths and uplift it with vigorous notes of bold reminders of the ways that God will look after those who love Him and place their confidence in Him.

The Psalm, like David's early youthful victory over Goliath, is a sweeping victory of the soul in the face of defeat. Just as David does not just go to meet his foe but runs to meet him, this Psalm runs the soul of the hearer to God, with Whom it longs to be. This exuberance of both the Psalm and David is what commentators suggest exemplifies the kind of spiritual exuberance with which the children of God should meet the obstacles they face (Kaiser, 2011, p. 12).

David in his run kills Goliath with a rock hurled from a sling. David then uses Goliath's sword to cut off the Philistine's head. It is a swift, surprising victory. Meaning Moreover, the fact that the Psalmist makes the hymn more personal in its trajectory indicates that the relationship between God and man is a personal one that should be felt by all.

It is not just a relationship for kings or persons in high or safe places, for the tone of the Psalm is one in which the Psalmist is found to be in want, as though he were in humble or humiliating circumstances. Danger is a very real presence for the Psalmist. This should further appeal to the universal plight of man, which is felt at all times and in all places -- a degree of longing, of need, of want, that only a spiritual God can satisfy.

The universality of the Psalm is further expressed by the fact that David represents or prefigures Christ, Who is the new Adam and Adam is in a sense every man. Therefore this connection can be drawn. But as McKenzie (2000) states, there is more to David's appeal than just this: the Old Testament contains several books "devoted to David," (McKenzie, 2000, p. 26).

Just as the Psalm begins with the theme of shelter, the Biblical story of David begins with the Book of Samuel, with David becoming the anointed one, the new shelter for the spirit or heart of God in man. In 1 Samuel 15, God shows his displeasure with King Saul and tells Samuel the prophet that He has rejected Saul as the king over Israel. This love of God for man is reflected though from man's perspective in Psalm 91.

Just as in 1 Samuel 16 the Lord says to Samuel: "I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king" (1 Sam 16:1), Psalm 91 says, "Because he loves me…I will rescue him" (Psalm 91:14). God chooses those who love Him to be his anointed ones, His sons. The son God has chosen, of course, is David in the Book of Samuel. But in the Psalm, the son is everyone who loves God -- it is an appeal to all of God's people.

As Sheen (1977) observes, Joseph was the "obscure descendant of the great King David" (p. 15), and Joseph had an important role in the guardianship of the young Savior Jesus as an infant and young boy. This theme of guardianship and the relationship between obscurity/humble origins is everywhere in Psalm 91 and should fill the hearer with a sense of the profound mystery that God works in delivering individuals from times of trial and darkness when hope is all but vanished and when people are in their greatest need.

Guardianship is expressed in verse 11: "For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways." This notion of guardianship reflects the divine mysteries of the Holy Family but also acts as an assurance to the common man that he does in fact have at least one guardian angel assigned to watch over him.

This knowledge should be felt as a comforting thought and should inspire the hearer to not only sing the praises of a loving God for issuing such a kind command to His angels but also to communicate with his angel, who is beside him. The desire of the angels to fulfill the commandments of God need not even be expressed -- and yet it is in the following verses, which describe the ways that the angels will look after man.

The angels of God so care for man that they will take care of the very lowest of his being -- his feet. They will lift him up with their own hands, the way a baby is lifted by its mother or father: the angels have a parental love for their ward. "You will not strike your foot against a stone," says the Psalmist to the man who declares the Lord as his "refuge." But not only that: the angels will assist man in "trampling" the lion and the serpent.

This imagery is powerful and assertive: it suggests that with the angels acting on man's behalf, man becomes mightier than his adversaries, whom the lion and the serpent represent. The lion is the king of the beasts/jungle and the serpent is the sneaky, treacherous snake that can worm its way into man's soul. So the meaning is double: angels protect man's body and soul -- his whole being in other words.

And the fact that the angels are sent by God because man has shown his trust in God is indicative of the great army that exists in God's camp -- a spiritual army that is ready and willing and waiting to be dispatched on our behalf. This idea should carry the hearer to a still greater confidence in God: not only is He a personal God but He is also willing to move mountains, so to speak, simply on our behalf.

That is a wondrous message that should fill the downtrodden with the greatest hope. In this way, Psalm 91 unveils its fullest, brightest thematic message: "with long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation" (Psalm 91:16). God pledges to come to those who call Him and to help and honor them who seek Him. It is a God who is like a friend, a lover, a parent, a defender, a prince all at once.

It is a God's sole focus is on man and in return asks only that man make his sole focus be God. This sense of love for love and felt fully by the concluding verses of the Psalm, which emphasize the greatest gift of all: salvation -- a mystery that is not fully understand until the coming of Christ in the New Testament -- but already offered here in the Old.

Application This Psalm applies to the Church today in a deep and meaningful way by illustrating the necessity for all faithful Christians to realize that their true hope should be placed on the shoulders of God rather than on the shoulders of men (politicians, celebrities, friends, family).

Just as King David's own son turned against him, we are likely to have our own friends and family turn against us and it is unfortunately only then when we are abandoned and alone that we realize that we feel that way because we have abandoned God. This is an important lesson in today's church, which seeks to make social activism and economic equality a priority over spirituality. Today's church should emphasize the amazing spiritual message that Psalm 91 brings -- that God looks after those who love Him.

That means that we should all put away our sinful, childish, and self-centered ways and adopt a lifestyle that is pleasing to God, that is humble and full of charity for others and not judgmental. God wants us to follow His commandments and He became angry with David when David broke His laws and David was punished so that he might realize that the best way to show one's love for God is to keep His commandments.

Thus, even though we can be sinful and misguided, it is important to remember that we when do go astray, we can return to God immediately by expressing our sorrow and confessing our sins and asking for forgiveness. When we go to God, He is not deaf but hears us and gives us what we need -- that is what this Psalm teaches us.

In my own church, I often hear members of my parish complaining about either events in the world that they feel do not bode well or events in their own private lives that are troubling. But they forget that they should say that "The Lord is my refuge" as the Psalm reminds us to do. But the Psalm also does more -- it challenges us to do more than just say this.