III. Extending the analysis
1. Comparisons
little human beings can accomplish within the normal working hour of the day. So, in line three, such overworking is seen not just as ‘toil’ but a burden the last line has a little textual problem but most people take the word as a variant of sleep. If this is so, the last line is a completion of the thought in line verse two: one should relax at the end of working hours with the belief that Yahweh would bless what has been done during the working period.
Verse 3
Behold, children are a gift of the Lord;
The fruit of the womb is a reward
There seems to be a sharp break between verses two and three. This break makes some to feel that the two segments of this psalm are not originally one. However, what I think the psalmist has done is to give a general statement and then in verses three to five the author zeros in on a particular example: children.
The verse opens with ‘behold’ which now draws particular example to
‘sons’ as God’s own gift. The word translated ‘children’ here actually in Hebrew is ‘sons’ and this is understandable in the highly male chauvinistic society of the ancient Near East. However, it is safer to use children. Again, the word translated‘gift’ literally means‘heritage’. It connotes the idea of a possession which in Jewish thought is to be seen as a gift. The second line of this verse is just echoing the same thought as the first. It is a parallelism.
“The fruit of the womb”is a metaphor for children and they are a reward.
‘Reward’here does not carry the thought of what human beings are paid for a good work but something that has been given as a favour.
Verse 4
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior So are the children of one’s youth
The poet picks up a simile from the arena of war. Sons are to their fathers what arrows are to a warrior. The arrow is a source of strength, courage, power and confidence to a warrior on the battle field. When a warrior in the thick of battle has many arrows in his quiver, he moves gallantly forward shooting at the enemy. But if he discovers that the arrows are all done, the courage and determination with which he has been fighting would immediately simmer down since his support is gone.
To this, the poet likened “children of youth”. What the psalmist meant here is nothing but the children the parents have early in their lives. This type of children is set in opposition to the children of old age. The thought here is that by the time the parents would have grown old, such children would have grown to the point of supporting their parents.
You cannot but notice the mistranslation in the Yoruba version of the Bible here because it translates the ‘children of youth’ as ‘little children’ hence leading a host of people to misunderstand and misinterpret the verse.
Verse 5
How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;
They shall not be ashamed
When they speak with their enemies in the gate
The word ‘blessed’ may also mean happy. In fact, the Good News Bible translates blessed as happy especially in the beatitudes. People who have many children of youth are bound to be happy because they shall not be humiliated (that is, no one can take advantage of their infirmity in their old age) because their children shall stand by them in case they have a lawsuit against their adversaries. The phrase ‘in the gate’ also has to be seen in the light of the Jewish culture. Among the Jews, the city gate is the place of judgement (Deuteronomy 21:19; Isaiah 29:21; Amos 5:12) as well as of all public activities. This would then mean that as at the time of the parents’
old age, their children would have been admissible to the city gates, thus they would be able to defend their parents. The message of the psalm would be summarized thus:
a. Nothing that any human being does can ever succeed except there is the blessing of Yahweh in their activities. Therefore, there is no need for anybody to overwork themselves. They should work within the working hours and trust in the Lord to bless their work.
b. Children are even an aspect of God’s blessings. As a result, in the African society where children are prized, no one should, in the quest for children, go outside God’s will for humanity.
c. There is an advice here to human beings. People should have children very early in their life so that by the time of their old age, their children would have grown to the point of being able to support them.
4.0 CONCLUSION
In this unit, you have studied about the interpretation of the psalms. You are first taught that the psalms are songs of thanksgiving and prayer that are set to music. The book of the psalms has three noticeable stages in its development. The foundation stage was the stage of Davidic patronage and was the period when most of the psalms with the title leDavid were written.
The second stage was the cultic stage when the musicians, singers and poets that were drawn to Jerusalem by David’s patronage contributed to the growth of the Psalter. This second stage was completed at the time of King Hezekiah. The third stage was the post-exilic stage when psalms of various traditions were mingled together. There are various types of psalms, like the praise, thanksgiving, lamentation, wisdom, royal, salvation history, celebration and affirmation psalms and imprecatory psalms. You have also learnt the meaning of most technical terms in the Psalter and the steps to take in the process of interpretation.
5.0 SUMMARY
The following are the major points you have learnt in this unit:
Psalms are songs of thanksgiving and prayer that are set to music.
The book of the psalms has three noticeable stages in its development.
The foundation stage was the stage of Davidic patronage and was the period when most of the psalms with the title leDavid were written.
The cultic stage was when the musicians, singers and poets that were drawn to Jerusalem by David’s patronage contributed to the growth of the Psalter.
The post-exilic stage was when psalms of various traditions were mingled together.
Imprecatory psalms are the psalms that contain “the psalmists’ call or wish for divine punishments on the enemies.