psalm 108 patterns

Read Psalm 108 at Bible Gateway.

Like the last psalm, there are no mid line paragraph divisions in this psalm, just a strong paragraph division at its conclusion.

1 O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.
2 Awake, lute and harp! I will awaken the dawn.
3 I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples, And I will sing praises to You among the nations.
4 For Your mercy is great above the heavens, And Your truth reaches to the clouds.
5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, And Your glory above all the earth;
6 That Your beloved may be delivered, Save with Your right hand, and hear me.
7 God has spoken in His holiness: “I will rejoice; I will divide Shechem And measure out the Valley of Succoth.
8 Gilead is Mine; Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is the helmet for My head; Judah is My scepter.
9 Moab is My washpot; Over Edom I will cast My shoe; Over Philistia I will triumph.”
10 Who will bring me into the strong city? Who will lead me to Edom?
11 Is it not You, O God, who cast us off? And You, O God, who did not go out with our armies?
12 Give us help from trouble, For the help of man is useless.
13 Through God we will do valiantly, For it is He who shall tread down our enemies. {p}

I could not find the chiastic structure, if there is one. But what is interesting is that this psalm almost identically mirrors parts of two other psalms:

Psa 108:1-5 mirrors Psa 57:7-11:

7 My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises.
8 Awake, my glory! Awake, lute and harp! I will awaken the dawn.
9 I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to You among the nations.
10 For Your mercy reaches unto the heavens, And Your truth unto the clouds.
11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; Let Your glory be above all the earth. {p}

Psa 108:6-13 mirrors Psa 60:5-12:

5 That Your beloved may be delivered, Save with Your right hand, and hear me.
6 God has spoken in His holiness: “I will rejoice; I will divide Shechem And measure out the Valley of Succoth.
7 Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is the helmet for My head; Judah is My scepter.
8 Moab is My washpot; Over Edom I will cast My shoe; Philistia, shout in triumph because of Me.”
9 Who will bring me to the strong city? Who will lead me to Edom?
10 Is it not You, O God, who cast us off? And You, O God, who did not go out with our armies?
11 Give us help from trouble, For the help of man is useless.
12 Through God we will do valiantly, For it is He who shall tread down our enemies. {p}

Now, to what purpose? It might be that Psa 57-60 forms one bookend of a chiastic structure, and Psa 108 the other bookend, with the intervening psalms in the center. If that is the case, I was not wise enough to discover it this year. However, here is something interesting to ponder. Shechem, Succoth, and Gilead are cities and regions in Israel that predate Jacob’s return there with his four wives and eleven children. In fact, he arrived at Gilead first, then Succoth, and finally Shechem, where tragedy befell his family. Manasseh and Ephraim are the two sons of Joseph, with half of Manasseh inheriting on the east side of the Jordan, and Ephraim inheriting on the west side. Judah’s inheritance was in the south. Very early on in the history of the nation, the kingdom of Israel was divided into a southern and northern kingdom, with Judah the representative tribe for the southern, and Ephraim for the northern. In fact, in prophetic Scripture, Ephraim and Israel are often used interchangeably to mean the whole ten tribes of the north, just as Judah is also meant to include Benjamin (the other tribe of the south. Isn’t it interesting that Judah remained surety for Benjamin throughout Israel’s long history?) So with the mention of these three tribes, the whole of Israel is included on both sides of the Jordan. The only time these tribes were united into a single kingdom was during the reigns of David and Solomon, both types of Messiah. Likewise the three enemies Moab, Edom, and Philistia represent the traditional enemies of Israel. The only time these three enemies were in subjection to Israel was also during the reigns of David and Solomon.

So the psalm, I believe, is prophetic in nature of the Messianic kingdom, when Israel will be united under the kingship of one king, Messiah Yeshua, and Israel’s enemies will be subdued under His authority. Give us help from trouble, Father, for the help of man is useless (as Israel is finding out with her current troubles). For through God Israel will do valiantly, for He Himself will tread down her enemies!