Psalm 1

A tree planted by streams (1:3). In lands without abundant rainfall, vegetation flourished only where there were natural streams or man-made canals. Along the Nile River in Egypt and the two rivers of Mesopotamia, the fertile soils produced abundantly. Trees were planted closest to the bank where their roots could reach the water supply.13 Paintings from Egypt depict thriving palms beside the river.14 In the dry, southern parts of Israel, the benefits of perennial stream flow, or even the seasonal flow in temporary stream beds, was equally striking. Thus, Ezekiel’s vision of restoration included a flowing river of fresh water with trees on both banks bearing perpetual fruit (Ezek. 47:12). Similarly, Ezekiel uses the image of flourishing trees planted by rivers to describe the magnificence of Assyria (31:3–9).

Assyrian relief of the garden associated with a shrine. These gardens featured many trees planted alongside scenic watercourses.

Kim Walton, courtesy of the Oriental Institute Museum

A painting in the tomb of Sennedjem of the mythical fields of Iaru. 19th dynasty, Deir el-Medina

Werner Forman

The righteous … the wicked (1:6). Ancient Near Eastern wisdom maintained that there are two destinies for people. Those who live according to the will of the gods experience a long and fruitful life, while those who live as though there were no god come to an early end. Psalm 1 shares in the general truth of this wisdom tradition.

Like Psalm 1, a Sumerian poem (early Mesopotamia) sets in stark contrast the two ways: “The man who knows fear of god … days will be added to his days, the name he has will become greater…. The man who does not fear the gods … his old age will not last long. His inheritance will not be dear to him.”15 Egyptian wisdom frequently characterized two different men, the “heated” and the “silent.” The Instruction of Amenemope (ca. 1200 B.C.) depicts the former as violent, receiving the judgment of the god. His “tree” has short growth and a short life (see comment on 37:35–36).16 But of the “silent” man:

He is like a tree grown in a meadow.

It greens, it doubles its yield,

It stands in the front of its lord.

Its fruit is sweet, its shade delightful,

Its end comes in the garden.17

Psalm 2

Why do the nations conspire? (2:1). Changes in kingship created political instability. When such a change occurred in a powerful nation, the rulers of lesser nations under its control sometimes rebelled against their new overlord. Frequently, they formed an alliance to rebel together. For example, the Assyrian king Sennacherib faced rebellions after his accession to the throne, including an alliance involving Hezekiah, king of Judah, and Merodach-Baladan of Babylonia.18 Esarhaddon forced vassal kings to swear allegiance to his son, Assurbanipal, and promise not to rebel when Assurbanipal succeeded him.19

Egyptian gods participating in the coronation of Ramesses II

Manfred Näder, Gabana Studios, Germany

Psalm 2 celebrates the coronation of a new king in Israel. It warns all the kings of the earth, who ideally are subordinate to Yahweh’s king in Israel, not to rebel against him. If such action is folly when plotted against a king such as Sennacherib, how much more foolish is rebellion against the king of David’s line who represents the God of all the earth? The poetic style of asking rhetorical questions (v. 1) and citing the words of vassal kings who are wavering on the brink of rebellion (v. 3) is an important theme in Assyrian prophetic oracles that support the Assyrian king’s rule over his vassals.20

His Anointed One (2:2). Anointing a king with oil in order to inaugurate him into office was practiced among the Hittites and possibly the Canaanites but probably not by the Egyptians.21 A Mesopotamian text from Mari records the words of the god Adad, who spoke through a prophet, “I anointed you [i.e., the king Zimri-Lim] with the oil of my luminosity [or perhaps “oil of my victory”], nobody will offer resistance to you.”22 The oil is a symbol of power invested in Zimri-Lim.

Such divine enablement is symbolized in the biblical ritual of anointing, where oil marks the person who is invested with the Spirit’s power and authority for service (1 Sam. 9:16; 10:1, 6). In the ancient Near East, oil served as a symbol of friendship in diplomatic relationships, and anointing was used in legal contracts, including marriage. This association with contracts might have underscored the covenantal relationship between Yahweh and the king whom he anointed, symbolizing Yahweh’s pledge of support.23

The decree of the Lord (2:7). From earliest times in Mesopotamia, it was believed that the gods determined where and upon whom kingship would be placed.24 King Hammurabi of Babylon (ca. 1750 B.C.) claimed that his kingship came from the council of the gods; in one inscription he states that the god Shamash granted to him kingship and decreed his supremacy.25 Egyptian kings likewise received divine proclamation of their status, and some scholars have suggested that the “decree” in Psalm 2 refers to a divine proclamation of privileges and duties similar to Egyptian coronations (see comment on 110:1).26

Perhaps closer in comparison is the covenant relationship set up between Assyrian kings and their gods. One of the Hebrew terms used for a royal covenant (ʿēdût in 2 Kings 11:12; Ps. 132:12; cf. also berît, “covenant,” in 2 Kings 11:17) is related to the Assyrian word for the covenant between the Assyrian king and the gods (adû; see also Ps. 132:11).27 Since the Hebrew word for “decree” in 2:7 is also associated with this covenant term in 81:4–5 (cf. 105:8–10), the idea of a royal covenant is probably in the background to Psalm 2. Regarding both theme and structure, this psalm is similar to an Assyrian prophetic oracle that affirms the sonship and world dominion of the king.28

“You are my Son” (2:7). This announcement that the divine birth of the king is “today” emphasizes that the relationship was viewed in Israel as one of adoption rather than physical birth of the king from the gods. In the ancient world, such announcements often came in the form of divine (or prophetic) speech (see the sidebar “Divine Sonship”). Affirmation of divine relationship was part of coronation rituals, and in some cases annual feasts renewed the kingship (e.g., the Opet festival in Egypt, in which divine birth of the king was commemorated).29 Psalm 2 may have served on such occasions of coronation or kingship renewal in Israel.

Relief of the Opet festival on the southern outside facade of the naos of Philip Arrhidaeus, Karnak. Top register shows the purification and crowning of the king by Thoth and Horus. Middle and lower registers show the transportation of the sacred barque on the shoulders of priests.

Werner Forman Archive

Dash them to pieces like pottery (2:9). Defeating enemies with a scepter—originally a clublike weapon of war—was a common image for ancient Near Eastern kings. Egyptian kings extended control over foreign kings beyond their normal sphere of military control by inscribing their names with curses on pottery jars and then smashing them.30 This ritual is unknown in Israel, but breaking earthen pottery as a symbol of destroying one’s enemies was understood across the ancient Near East.31

Execration figurine

Elke Noppes/Wikimedia Commons, courtesy of the Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brussels

Ramesses with outstretched arm to smite enemies as god looks on

Frederick J. Mabie

Psalm 3

Shield (3:3). There were two basic types of shields used in the ancient Near East. A large, body-length shield protected the entire body, but mobility was sacrificed. This shield was most suitable for infantry equipped with spears approaching a fortress, or for units assigned to protect archers. A round or torso-length shield was more common for infantry engaged in hand-to-hand combat with swords or spears. The materials were wicker or wood, and leather sometimes served as a cover.32

Assyrian soldiers

Edward Silver, University of Chicago, courtesy of the Vorderasiatisches Museum

Because helmets and body armor were more difficult and expensive, the shield was the typical means of defense in combat; so it lends itself to common use as a metaphor of personal protection. Assyrian prophetic oracles (ca. 680 B.C.) used the image of a shield, along with other military metaphors, to assure the king of the deity’s promise of protection: “Esarhaddon, I [the goddess] will be your good shield.”33

Lift up my head (3:3). See comment on 110:7.

Holy hill (3:4). See comment on 48:1–2.

Psalm 4

Light of your face (4:6). This is probably a metaphor of the sun, the radiance of which was associated with light and warmth (see comments on 80:3; 84:11). There are several parallels to this imagery in ancient Near Eastern texts.34 In a letter from Ugarit, a man assures his mother of the king’s favor upon him: “the face of the Sun [king] shone upon me greatly.”35 A similar figurative use of the sun in the Old Testament is applied to the blessings of a righteous king’s reign (2 Sam. 23:4). See also comments on 42:2; 67:1.

Grain and new wine (4:7). An abundant agricultural harvest was a time of great rejoicing (Deut. 14:22–26). The grains were gathered and threshed in the spring with celebration (Ruth 3:7). Grape harvest began in summer and grapes were pressed into newly fermented wine in the autumn (Jer. 48:33).36

Psalm 5

House … temple (5:7). The temple was viewed as God’s residence, a visible manifestation of his presence on earth (see comments on 47:8; 48:1–14). Consequently, it was reasonable for an ancient Israelite to look, either physically or figuratively, toward Jerusalem and its temple to seek the Lord.

Open grave (5:9). Embalming was not practiced in Israel as it was in Egypt, so signs of bodily decay commenced within days of death; and burial was immediate, even for criminals (Deut. 21:23). Natural or rock-cut caves were used as tombs (Gen. 23:20; 2 Chron. 16:14). If circumstances dictated, earthen graves were also used, which was probably the custom for the common people (Gen. 35:8, 20; 1 Sam. 31:13; 2 Kings 23:6).

Sometimes the body was left permanently at rest. In other instances, after decomposition of the body, the bones were moved to a central repository in the tomb, and the bench on which the body was originally laid was reused.37 Except for the temporary offset from burial spices, the odor of decomposition was potent, and an open grave is a graphic image of the “rot” issuing forth from the mouth of the wicked in Ps. 5:9 (vocal cords and tongue).

Shield (5:12). See comments on 3:3; the full-body type of shield may be in view here.38

The vulture stele is the oldest known historical document. It documents in a variety of ways (text, historical, mythical) Eannatum’s (king of Lagash) victory over Umma (about 2450 B.C.). The soldiers, helmeted and carrying long pikes, collectively protect themselves behind tall rectangular shields.

Eric Gaba/Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA

But the shield, generically speaking, might be used as an image for complete protection.

Psalm 6

Discipline me in your wrath (6:1). When the worshiper senses something amiss in his or her relationship with God, the possibility of divine discipline enters the mind. A similar question plagued worshipers in Mesopotamia, illustrated in a prayer to the god Nabu: “O Nabu, you discipline your servant … incline your face to him, turn your head toward him.”39

How long? (6:3). This is the natural outcry of one who is suffering, which finds expression in Mesopotamian laments as well. A Sumerian worshiper whose body is racked with illness complains to his god: “How long will you not care for me, will you not look after me?”40 In a prayer to the god Nabu, an ill Mesopotamian worshiper cries: “How long, a whole year, must I keep on waiting.”41

Who praises you from the grave? (6:5). See comment on 88:10.

Bed with weeping (6:6). This verse expresses a common human experience. A Ugaritic story describing the lament of a king tells how he entered his chamber and cried himself to sleep upon his bed: “His tears [Ugar. dmʿt = Heb. dmʿh] poured forth like shekels on the ground, like five-weights on the couch [Ugar. mṭt = Heb. mṭh].”42 In the same Sumerian text cited in verse 3, the afflicted says, “Tears, lament, anguish and depression are lodged within me, suffering overwhelms me like a weeping child.”43 An Egyptian wisdom text extolling the care of their creator-god states: “When they [mankind] weep he hears.”44

Psalm 7

If I have done this (7:3). In some psalms, the psalmist is aware that sin has resulted in divine discipline (e.g., 6:1; 32:4–5; 51:3). But frequently this is not the case, and the psalmist protests innocence (like Job). Declaration of innocence by one who is suffering is also a feature of Mesopotamian thought.45 While some texts preserving lament seem to presume guilt on the part of the worshiper, even if unknown,46 others complain that the worshiper is innocent: “What have I done to you [goddess Ninsianna] … I really must complain.”47

Searches minds and hearts (7:9). See comment on 19:7.

Deadly weapons (7:13). Artistic portraits of divine warriors wielding various kinds of weapons (clubs, spears, swords, bows, shields) are common in the ancient Near East.48 In addition, texts often depict an effective god or goddess with military imagery. Ishtar receives praise as one “who brandishes weapons, who prepares for battle,” and because of that attribute she is “most capable” of the gods.49 Some gods or goddesses are more closely associated with warrior imagery than others, but the point of these metaphors is that the deity is powerful and able to act on behalf of the worshiper. For “flaming arrows,” see comment on 18:14.

Ashurnasirpal II accompanied in battle by the god Assur with drawn bow

British Museum; © Dr. James C. Martin

Psalm 8

Your glory above the heavens (8:1). In Egyptian cosmology, the goddess Nut (Sky) was pictured arching over the earth, bearing the stars and heavenly lights on her body.50 Mesopotamian religion also viewed the heavenly objects as deities (see comments on 19:1 and 104:2). In one Egyptian text the god Amun, the “Hidden One,” is conceived in some way as “farther above than heaven”; this, however, refers to the mystery that shrouds his nature in comparison to the other Egyptian gods, and even Amun was born out of the waters of Chaos.51 By contrast, the psalmist declares that Yahweh’s glory transcends the majestic heavens, which are merely his workmanship (v. 3).

21st dynasty coffin of a lady with the starry body of Nut held up by the sky god, Shu.

Sergej V. Ivanov, courtesy of CESRAS and the Odessa Archaeological Museum

Stars … set in place (8:3). Mesopotamian creation accounts ascribe the placement of stars in the heavens to their major deities. One text speaks of the god Marduk placing stars in the lower heaven: “[the lower heavens] … belong to the stars. He drew the constellations of the gods on them.”52 The observation that the stars maintain their positions, fixed relative to one another, led to the use of a term for “etching” them onto the night sky.53 The Hebrew text uses the word for making something firm or established, the point being that Yahweh’s majestic power is displayed by fixing these marvels in the heavens (see comment on 147:4).

Cuneiform disk from about 1000 B.C. divides the heavens into eight segments and includes drawings of the constellations.

British Museum; © Dr. James C. Martin

What is man? (8:4). The dignity of human beings is stressed in this passage in a way unparalleled in the ancient Near East. According to Mesopotamian sources, men and women were created to relieve the workload on the lesser gods; they were forced to cultivate land in order to feed the gods (see comment on 103:14). When the growing human population became too noisy, the gods thought to extinguish them through the great flood.54 But as a result of the flood, food offerings to the gods were no longer forthcoming; only then did the gods find that humans were not so expendable after all.55

Although humanity survived the flood, the gods decreed certain afflictions to keep the population from ever getting out of control again.56 But according to Psalm 8, far from being expendable slaves to the gods, human beings are the special objects of the Creator’s care in the vast universe. This idea finds a closer analogy in Egyptian thought (see comments on 104:29–30; 139:13).

Lower than the heavenly beings (8:5). The Hebrew word translated “heavenly beings” (ʾ elōhîm) can also be translated “God” (NASB). Here it may refer to the entire class of those who inhabit the heavenly realm, also called the council of “divine beings,” which would include both God and those creatures commonly called “angels” (see comments on 29:1; 82:1). While Mesopotamian myth relegated humans to a servile status beneath the divine beings, Psalm 8 places human dignity nearly equal to the council of the heavenly realm. As such, humans are divine representatives to rule over the earth (vv. 6–8). Thus, Psalm 8 is the poetic commentary on the creation of man and woman in Genesis 1:26–27.

Egyptian and Assyrian texts elevate the king to the status of “god’s image.”57 One Egyptian text speaks of humans as the gods’ “images” in the same context as it speaks of them as his well-tended “cattle.”58 But in Psalm 8, every human is uniquely crowned with glory and granted the honor of responsible rule over creation.

You put everything under his feet (8:6–8). God created humanity as a guardian of creation. The concept of guardianship is illustrated by an inscription of a certain Azatiwata, who about 700 B.C. was appointed by a greater king to rule over a district of what is modern Turkey. Azatiwata claims that he brought all things under his guardianship in peaceful and prosperous order: “I placed them under my feet.”59

The categories of the animal kingdom over which humanity is charged finds a partial parallel in a hymn to the Egyptian god Aten, who made “all peoples, herds and flocks; all upon the earth that walk on legs, all on high that fly on wings.”60 The point in Psalm 8 is that all categories of life are encompassed under humanity’s care.

Psalm 9

I will praise (9:1). The first letter of this psalm is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, beginning an “acrostic” (see the sidebar “Acrostic Psalms” at Ps. 111).

Reigns forever (9:7). For this phrase as well as its parallel, “enthroned in Zion” (v. 11), see comments on 97:5; 99:1.

Gates (9:13–14). The psalmist juxtaposes two different “gates” (for the notion that the underworld is entered through a series of gates, see the sidebar “Death and the Underworld” at Ps. 30). In contrast is entrance into God’s holy city, Zion (see comments on 24:7; Ps. 48). The word “gate” can serve as a metaphor for a new experience, illustrated in a Mesopotamian work in which the god Marduk delivers the worshiper: “[I who went] down to the grave have returned to the Gate of [Sunrise].”61 In all, thirteen gates describe deliverance and the renewal of life.

Psalm 10

Why? (10:1). This word begins with the Hebrew letter lamed, which continues the acrostic alphabet from Psalm 9, uniting the two psalms thematically (see comment on 9:1).

Hide yourself (10:1). See comment on 13:1.

Villages (10:8). Most Israelites lived in unwalled villages clustered close to larger walled cities (“surrounding villages”; lit., the “daughter” of the city; Judg. 1:27; 1 Chron. 7:28–29). The latter served as a place of refuge during times of war, provided a central market for villagers to buy and sell goods and produce, and offered important social services such as judicial resources. While traveling to and from cities and fields, people were exposed to danger from robbers lurking among rocks or trees, especially in the more rugged hill country and at night when returning from the fields.62

Net (10:9). For the imagery of a “net,” see comments on 124:7; 140:5.

King for ever and ever (10:16). See comments on 97:5; 99:1.