Praise For God, From God

Psalm 65 (October 24, 2010)

1) The Text

1Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion; and to you shall vows be performed, 2O you who answer prayer! To you all flesh shall come. 3When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us, you forgive our transgressions. 4Happy are those whom you choose and bring near to live in your courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, your holy temple. 5By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance, O God of our salvation; you are the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas.

6By your strength you established the mountains; you are girded with might. 7You silence the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples. 8Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by your signs; you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy. 9You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide the people with grain, for so you have prepared it. 10You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. 11You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with richness. 12The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy, 13the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy.

2) The Context

Sometimes we need a prayer to remind us that praise for God comes from God. Psalm 65 is such a prayer. It was an agricultural hymn of praise to the Creator. In an arid climate like Palestine has, the nation depended upon the seasonal cycles that brought rain. So, this psalm could have been a song celebrating the end of drought or a part of the liturgy from the Feast of Booths (or Sukkoth). The Feast of Booths was a fall celebration that marked the beginning of the planting season; after a long, hot summer, farmers needed the rains of late October for their new crops. The psalm recognized God’s power and Israel’s dependency on that power to sustain the nation.

3) Interpretation

Psalm 65 is a thanksgiving psalm often associated with a harvest. As a whole the psalm challenges many ways in which we perceive praise of God and who/what offers praise. The thanksgiving and praise offered God comes from three quarters. The psalm opens in vv. 1-2 with a declaration of the universal praise of the ‘God, in Zion’ who is the one ‘who answers prayer’. The second section (vv. 3-4) focuses on the temple in Zion. It emphasizes the gracious movement of God toward the people in terms of forgiving the sins which overwhelm them and in bringing God’s chosen near to the temple. Verses 5-8 see the scene change to a cosmic one. God answers the prayer of the psalmist’s community. The section establishes the mythic background for the rest of the psalm. It declares that God is the one who orders the cosmos. This is the one who can pardon sins and grant abundant fertility. Finally, in vv. 12-13 the psalmist’s praise joins with the joy of earth. These verses begin and end with statements expressing joyous exclamation and singing. God is the source of earth’s life and abundance (vv. 9-11).

While each of the sections of Psalm 65 has a distinct emphasis, they are intricately connected in the present form of the psalm, relating the various forms of praise and thanks evident in creation. One connection between vv. 9-13 and vv. 3-4 which focus on the temple is the word ‘goodness’ (vv. 4 and 11). Both temple and earth reflect the ‘goodness’ of God. The connection draws together earth’s abundant fertility and the worship in the temple.

Another connection concerns the movement within the last three sections of the psalm. In each God moves outward toward the creation: in forgiveness when sin overwhelms the people (v. 3), in establishing the mountains and stilling the seas (vv. 6-7), and in giving fertility to earth (vv. 9-11). In each there is a corresponding movement back toward God: as God brings the chosen near to the temple (v. 4), as the inhabitants of the earth stand in awe and ‘east and west sing for joy’ (v. 8), or as earth responds in joyous praise (vv. 12-13). The sections thus detail how ‘all flesh’ comes to God (v. 2b). The coming together of worshippers and God in the temple, the inhabitants of earth standing in awe of God’s signs, and the coming together of God and earth in abundant fertility, complement each other. In each case intimacy is the result of God’s initial movement toward creation. Thus, the presence of God in the temple, and the ‘awesome deeds’ in ordering creation, are continuous with the work of God in and with earth.

Psalm 65 both challenges and encourages us to see our relationship with the earth, and its relationship with God, in ways different to those we have inherited. The psalmist assumes an intricate connection between the activity in the sanctuary, the orderliness of the cosmos and the nations, and the fertility of earth. God’s gracious action toward each part of the creation gives rise to the joyous response of each part: of worshippers, the peoples, and earth. All this was part of the psalmist’s world view which saw connections many in our own world no longer see.

The psalmist sees earth as a living entity, with a voice of its own, capable of giving praise to God. This is more than ‘mere metaphor’. The psalmist’s association of pastures, valleys etc. with joyous song, invites a broadening of our understanding of what we think of as praise and what can praise God. The psalm suggests that praise is not necessarily linked to human worship alone. In vv. 11-13 earth sings and shouts for joy in its abundant fertility. It sings for joy in following its life cycle. Life itself, which is lived in fullness, wholeness and peace, is an offering of joy and praise to the God whose gift that life is. Praise is embodied in the very life of earth and its community. Human praise is but a part of the chorus. We are challenged to recognize that and to be lost in the wonder of the life of the world around us.

4) Thought Exercise

When do you feel the need to praise God? How does your praise of God help you to realize his overwhelming power in your life?

How is your life an offering of praise and joy to God?