Psalm 108

Psalm 108 belongs to Book Five of the Psalms (Psalms 107–150). It follows Psalm 107, which calls on the people to give thanks for the lovingkindness of God, who gathered his scattered people. The superscription (the heading placed before the psalm) presents it as a psalm of David. Psalms 108–110 form a small collection bearing David's name. Verses 1–5 are nearly identical to Psalm 57:7–11, and verses 6–13 to Psalm 60:5–12.

Structure

• Verses 1–5 The psalmist, his heart fixed, sings that he will rouse the psaltery and harp and awaken the dawn. He resolves to give thanks among the peoples and the nations, and confesses that the Lord's mercy and truth reach to the heavens. He then prays that God's glory be exalted above all the earth.
• Verses 6–9 The psalmist asks the Lord to save his beloved with his right hand and then relays God's word. God declares that he will divide Shechem and mete out the valley of Succoth, and that Gilead, Manasseh, Ephraim, and Judah are his. He also announces that he will rule over Moab, Edom, and Philistia.
• Verses 10–13 The psalmist asks who will lead him into Edom and laments that God has not gone forth with the armies. Confessing that the help of man is vain, he closes the psalm with the confidence that through God he will act valiantly.

Key Verses

• Psalm 108:2 "Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early." The verse expresses a resolve to praise God in the early morning.
• Psalm 108:4 "For thy mercy is great above the heavens." Here "mercy" translates the Hebrew hesed, God's steadfast covenant love. The whole psalm grounds its trust in this love.
• Psalm 108:12 "For vain is the help of man." The verse sums up the psalm's conclusion: reliance not on human strength but on God.

People and Places

• David: The king of Israel named in the superscription.
• Shechem and Succoth: Shechem is a city west of the Jordan River, and Succoth a city east of it. Both appear in the scene in which God divides the land.
• Gilead: A highland region east of the Jordan River.
• Manasseh, Ephraim, and Judah: Some of the twelve tribes of Israel. Ephraim is called "the strength of mine head" (often rendered "helmet"), and Judah "my lawgiver" (often rendered "scepter," the king's staff).
• Moab, Edom, and Philistia: Peoples surrounding Israel. In this psalm they are portrayed as nations to be brought under God's rule.

Points for Reflection

• Because the psalm joins portions of two other psalms, scholars commonly regard it as a new arrangement of existing psalms for use in worship. Noting that it omits the lament at the beginning of Psalm 60 (verses 1–4) and opens with praise instead, some read it as shifting the emphasis from lament over defeat to trust.
• "Moab is my washpot" and "over Edom will I cast out my shoe" are understood as ancient expressions of conquest and possession. Interpretations differ, however, on exactly what the act of casting a shoe signifies.
• No verse of this psalm is known to be directly quoted in the New Testament.

In the Korean Church

• Verse 2, "I myself will awake early" (rendered in Korean translations as "I will awaken the dawn"), is frequently cited along with Psalm 57:8 to encourage or introduce the early morning prayer meeting.