Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37

Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37 (NRSV)

¹ O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

for his steadfast love endures forever.

² Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,

those he redeemed from trouble

³ and gathered in from the lands,

from the east and from the west,

from the north and from the south. 

⁴ Some wandered in desert wastes,

finding no way to an inhabited town;

⁵ hungry and thirsty,

their soul fainted within them.

⁶ Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,

and he delivered them from their distress;

⁷ he led them by a straight way,

until they reached an inhabited town.

…

³³ He turns rivers into a desert,

springs of water into thirsty ground,

³⁴ a fruitful land into a salty waste,

because of the wickedness of its inhabitants.

³⁵ He turns a desert into pools of water,

a parched land into springs of water.

³⁶ And there he lets the hungry live,

and they establish a town to live in;

³⁷ they sow fields, and plant vineyards,

and get a fruitful yield.

 

Psalm 107 is a communal thanksgiving hymn. Some scholars suggest that worshippers recited it before the sacrifice at the festival of thanksgiving. This psalm reflects similar themes as that of II Isaiah, primarily Chapters 40-55 of Isaiah. The refrain shows a strong international theme. The psalm shows a liturgical and responsorial character. 

Psalm 107:1-3 are an introduction to the whole Psalm. It calls those the Lord has redeemed from their distressing circumstances to give thankful praise to God and to speak up about what God has done for them. ¹ O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. Here is the basis of Jewish piety in its summons to praise the Lord in prayer.[1] For his steadfast love (hesed) endures forever. Steadfast love is the most significant thematic word in Psalm 107

Its combination the goodness of the Lord, we have a phrase used often in the Old Testament. We see it in Psalms 100:5; 106:1; 118:1-4, 29; 136 (all); Jeremiah 33:11; I Chronicles 16:34; II Chronicles 5:13; Ezra 3:11. Further, Psalm 23:6 combines the goodness and mercy of the Lord, words we find here as well. Steadfast love signifies the persistent protective loyalty of the Lord to the people with whom the Lord has established a covenant. The Lord acts faithfully in keeping promises. The Lord shows mercy, loving-kindness, and steadfast love that endure forever. The Lord will show such loyal love, even when the people do not show such loyalty to the Lord. It shows its importance in the Psalm as it begins and ends with the word. The steadfast love of the Lord reveals the character of the Lord. We see the word in verses 8, 15, 21, and 31. The Lord works actively for our well-being. Thus, the Psalm opens with offering good reasons to offer thanks to the Lord. ² Let the redeemed (ga’al) of the Lord say so, those he redeemed (ga’al) from trouble. Kinsfolk had the obligation and privilege of rescuing their kin from precarious circumstances. We see this in Leviticus 25:23-55 and the little book of Ruth. The Lord took redemption of the covenant people seriously. For example, the Lord will redeem them “with an outstretched arm” in Exodus 6:6-7. The Lord has redeemed them and called them by name, so they belong to the Lord in Isaiah 43:1-7. The Lord has redeemed Jacob “from hands too strong” for him in Jeremiah 31:11. The introduction ends by declaring that the Lord ³ gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south [the Gulf of Aqabah]. This seems to suggest a widespread diaspora. Therefore, it would seem to be written after 587 BC. This suggestion of a widespread diaspora would suggest that the Psalm has a date of after 587 BC. The theme is common. Out of compassion, the Lord will restore their fortunes, gathering them from among the peoples to whom the Lord has scattered them (Deuteronomy 30:1-5). They pray for the Lord to gather them “from among the nations” (Psalm 106:47-48). The Lord will gather the people “from the four corners of the earth” (Isaiah 11:12). The Lord will bring the people from north and south (Isaiah 43:5-7). The Lord will gather them “from all the nations and all the places where” where the Lord has driven them (Jeremiah 29:10:14). The Lord is going “to bring them from the land of the north” and “gather them from the farthest parts of the earth” (Jeremiah 31:8). The Lord will gather them from the lands to which they have scattered (Ezekiel 11:14-20). Thus, the Lord has taken responsibility for redeeming the people from their trouble, gathering them in and bringing them home from all points of the compass. 

The rest of the psalm is a series of vignettes that are accounts of redemption. Each of these redemption stories has the same fourfold structure:

1) a description of the nature of the distress;

2) a prayer of desperation;

3) an account of the deliverance; and

4) an expression of thanks.

 

Each of these mini-liturgies of redemption includes two identical refrains. The first is, "Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and he saved them from their distress." A few verses later, an expression of gratitude follows, "Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wonderful works to humankind." It is a two-step dance of redemption: the people cry out in anguish, then -- after the Lord rescues them -- they voice their thanksgiving for deliverance. 

Scratch the story of a saint and you will quickly reveal painful episodes of spiritual travail, of agonizing struggle and doubt. In his play, A Woman of No Importance, Oscar Wilde has this line: "The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future." This psalm makes it clear that the Lord acts redemptively toward those who have gone astray. Suffering and judgment are not the final word. Saints lose their tempers, get hungry, scold God, get egotistical, testy, or impatient, make mistakes and regret them. still, they are persistently blundering toward heaven.[2]

The first question of the Heidelberg Catechism goes like this: "What is your only comfort in life and in death?" The answer? "That I am not my own, but belong -- body and soul, in life and in death -- to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ." The second follows up with this question and answer: "What must you know to live and die in the joy of this comfort?" Answer: "Three things: first, how great my sin and misery are; second, how I am set free from all my sins and misery; third, how I am to thank God for such deliverance." The Catechism, like Psalm 107, has redemption at its very heart. It is not pretty to recall "how great my sin and misery are." But it is real. Out of such human wreckage comes treasure. This is good news indeed. For we have Jesus Christ -- a Savior, a Redeemer, a Deliverer.

What follows are five sections which identify the "redeemed."  

In Psalm 107:4-7, a segment that extends to verse 9, the redeemed are those who were coming home. We find a description of a group of wanderers who are lost in the desert, but who also find their way out of the desert. They move from the distress of a deserted wasteland to settled and inhabited land that will satisfy their deepest hunger and thirst. ⁴ Some wandered in desert (midbar) wastes (yasham). These two words describe the desolate places, where they wandered lost. "Desert" often describes the wilderness where the Israelites were wandering for decades after they left Egypt before coming to the Promised Land. "Wastes" describes a situation of being in bone-dry desolate places such as around the Sinai Desert, etc. They were finding no way to an inhabited town; ⁵ hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. ⁶ Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress; ⁷ he led them by a straight way, until they reached an inhabited town (yashab, settled place). The Lord has met and continues to meet their desperate needs, by leading them directly to an inhabited town, as well as by satisfying their deepest hungers and thirsts with the good things for which they most eagerly have been yearning. ⁸ Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wonderful works to humankind. ⁹ For he satisfies the thirsty, and the hungry he fills with good things.The description of life as need and desire corresponds to the teleological description of living creatures in Aristotelian philosophy. A point of contact with the Christian Aristotelianism of Aquinas is that God alone can satisfy the desire for life that constitutes the life of the soul. From the biblical standpoint, to desire God is of the very nature of creaturely life.[3]

Psalm 107: 33-37 are a hymn for the general testimony of the congregation that will continue to the end of the Psalm. Here is a wisdom part of the Psalm. The Lord has done good things for the people. ³³ He turns rivers into a desert (midbar), springs of water into thirsty ground, ³⁴ a fruitful land into a salty waste, because of the wickedness of its inhabitants. ³⁵ He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water.³⁶ And there he lets the hungry live, and they establish a town to live in; ³⁷ they sow fields, and plant vineyards, and get a fruitful yield. Wisdom literature often uses multiple contrasts and reversals, along with words such as "wickedness," "upright" and "those who are wise." The point is that suffering becomes an occasion to show the mercy of the Lord. The psalm places the story of human suffering within a redemptive perspective. The final word is not suffering, but the showing of divine mercy.

All of this raises the question is whether our story of suffering is also a redemptive story. In his Journal, Søren Kierkegaard observed that the fact that God creates out of nothing is wonderful. What is still more wonderful is that the Lord makes saints out of sinners.[4] We sing about such redemption. A song that early affected me profoundly was the following:

Something beautiful, something good

All my confusion He understood

All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife

But he made something beautiful of my life 

 

If there ever were dreams

That were lofty and noble

They were my dreams at the start

And hope for life's best were the hopes

That I harbor down deep in my heart

But my dreams turned to ashes

And my castles all crumbled, my fortune turned to loss

So I wrapped it all in the rags of life

And laid it at the cross.[5]

 

From the rousing gospel song "Diamonds," recorded by Hawk Nelson, I share these words. However, the song is joyful and well worth hearing as well.

Here and now I'm in the fire, in above my head,

Being held under the pressure, don't know what will be left.

But it's here in the ashes,

I'm finding treasure.

 

He's making diamonds,

Making diamonds,

He's making diamonds out of dust.

He is refining,

And in his timing,

           He's making diamonds out of us.

---

[1] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 432.

[2] McGinley, Phyllis. "Running to paradise." Saint-Watching. Viking, 1969.

[3] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 185.

[4]Søren Kierkegaard, The Soul of Kierkegaard: Selections from His Journals (Courier, 2012), 59.

[5] Bill Gaither, "Something Beautiful, Something Good." 1975.