Psalms 107:23

THE METAPHOR OF THE DANGEROUS SEA-VOYAGE

The fourth metaphorical description of Israel's rescue from captivity presents it as a near-fatal ocean voyage from which disaster God rescued them.

"They that go down to the sea in ships,

That do business in great waters;

These see the works of Jehovah,

And his wonders in the deep.

For he commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind,

Which lifteth up the waves thereof.

They mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the depths:

Their soul melteth away because of trouble.

They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man.

And are at their wits end.

Then they cry unto Jehovah in their trouble,

And he bringeth them out of their distresses.

He maketh the storm a calm,

So that the waves thereof are still.

Then are they glad because they are quiet;

So he bringeth them unto their desired haven.

Oh that men would praise Jehovah for his lovingkindness,

And for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Let them exalt him also in the assembly of the people,

And praise him in the seat of the elders."

As Leupold suggested, "The ship about to be lost at sea here is Israel, that is, their ship of state, an expression which is like our current usage of it when men say, `the ship of state is threatened.'"[15] Leupold further elaborated this comparison.

"The storm of the Captivity had swept over the nation; all seemed lost. The threatening billows could have destroyed the nation forever."[16]

This paragraph is much like the previous three. The danger is stated; the people cry for Jehovah's help (the first refrain); and there is a somewhat longer declaration before the second refrain.

THE LONGER DECLARATION

"He maketh the storm a calm ... they (those on the ship) are glad because they (the waves) are quiet ... He brings them unto their desired haven" (Psalms 107:29-30). God's bringing them to "their desired haven," is a reference to his returning them to Jerusalem.

"Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people ... the seat of the elders" (Psalms 107:32). This is not a picture of sailors, having escaped a storm, praising God in a group, but it is a picture of Restored Israel praising God in the public assemblies in Jerusalem, the seat of the elders.

THE LAST ELEVEN VERSES

Addis declared that, "These verses have no strict connection with the preceding,"[17] and also assigned them to another author. However McCaw, it appears to us, has a much better understanding of their meaning.

"The purpose of these two remaining stanzas is to reduce the illustrative material of the psalm to a statement of principle, namely that the Lord is both steadfast and loving to his redeemed."[18]

The RSV divides the rest of this psalm into two stanzas of six verses in the first and five in the second. In both of these, there appears a contrast between the wicked and the upright as evidenced by God's dealings with them.