psalm 113 meditation

These are the Hebrew paragraph divisions:

1a Praise the Lord! {n}
1b Praise, O servants of the Lord, Praise the name of the Lord!
2 Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore!
3 From the rising of the sun to its going down the Lord’s name is to be praised.
4 The Lord is high above all nations, His glory above the heavens.
5 Who is like the Lord our God, Who dwells on high,
6 Who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in the heavens and in the earth?
7 He raises the poor out of the dust, and lifts the needy out of the ash heap,
8 That He may seat him with princes— with the princes of His people.
9a He makes the barren woman to dwell in her house as a joyful mother of children. {n}
9b Praise the Lord!

Once again, we have a psalm without a strong paragraph division at its end. This means that we will not have a conclusion of the topic begun in this psalm until we encounter the next strong division. I did some looking ahead … it occurs at the end of Psalm 118! Of course, it would, as Psalm 119 is a separate composition unto itself, unique in the Scripture.

I am not wise enough to discover the chiastic structure of this psalm. But this morning as I was dwelling on what it might be, I was humbled to realize that our great God and Father, who is high above the nations, whose glory is great above the heavens, who humbles Himself to look upon our goings on, sees the most humble and lowly among us — the poor and needy, the barren and childless woman — and Himself acts to correct their lack and give them the desires of their heart. Praise the Lord!