Psalm 103 - Shiur

Bless the Eternal God, O' My Soul

1. Bless, O my being, the LORD. The speaker’s exhortation to his inner self or essential being (nefesh) to bless the LORD is an unusual rhetorical move in Psalms, repeated in the next psalm as well. (The Hebrew for “bless” also has something of the force of “praise,” but the core meaning of blessing is worth retaining to distinguish it from three other common verbs that emphatically mean “praise.”) This exhortation imparts a sense of exaltation to this psalm of thanksgiving, the occasion for which may be the recovery from a grave illness, as verses 3 and 4 suggest. -Alter, Robert. The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary (p. 2986).

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ciii. This hymn may fairly be described as an Old Testament Te Deum. In vss. 1—5 the psalmist urges his innermost being to thank Yahweh for five blessings: the forgiveness of sins, the healing of illnesses, rescue from Sheol, admittance to a blessed afterlife, the eternal enjoyment of God's beauty in heaven. In this catalogue of blessings the poet employs five participles—five as half of the basic number ten is important in the Bible (I Kings vii 39, 49; Matt xxv 2)—that recall the ten participles in the Canaanite catalogue enumerating the duties of a son toward his father (2 The psalmist then (vss. 6—10) recounts some historical instances of Yahweh's generosity toward Israel, and in vss. 11—18 he offers some reflections on the nature of God, his justice, love, and eternity, compared with the frail and transient condition of man. Verses 19—22 form a conclusion, with a summons to all created beings to join the psalmist in praise of Yahweh.

Critics customarily signalize the putative Aramaic suffx -kl in vss, 3—5 and the supposed literary dependence of vss. 15—16 on Second Isaiah (xl 6—8) as arguments for a post-Exilic dating (cf., e.g., Kraus, Psalmen, Il, p. 702). The possibility, though, that the suffx -ki might be a Canaanite archaism (see the second NOTE on vs. 3), and that both the psalmist and Second Isaiah might have borrowed from a common literary source (cf. Psalms I, pp. 161; Psalms Il, introductory NOTE to Ps IV) drains such arguments of much of their cogency; a post-Exilic date of composition thus appears very unlikely. -The Anchor Bible

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In this psalm David thanks God for the greatest gift He bestowed upon man — the soul. Without a soul man is merely a two-legged creature competing against all other animals in the bitter struggle for survival. With a soul, he becomes a reflection of the sacred heavens, a semblance of the Divine.

The tragic irony of life is that people are often oblivious to their own souls, unaware of the essence of their being and the true purpose of their existence. All too often, this Divine fragment is smothered by the flesh, this ray of eternal light is engulfed in darkness.

The fundamental lesson of Judaism is to foster an awareness of the Divine Soul and to teach man how to enhance and enrich this most precious possession so that it will be worthy of standing in God's presence to praise Him.

Thus the Psalmist recites the refrain, repeated five times in this psalm and the next, ' n Bless HASHEM, O my soul! -Artscroll

1. Thanks to God for Five Blessings. (vv. 1-5)

(1) Of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul, all my being, His holy name.

(2) Bless the LORD, O my soul and do not forget all His bounties.

(3) He forgives all your sins, heals all your diseases.

(4) He redeems your life from the Pit, surrounds you with steadfast love and mercy.

(5) He satisfies you with good things in the prime of life, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

• How do you feel when you think of God protecting the Psalmist with these blessings?

2. Historical Instances of God's Generosity toward Israel. (vv. 6-10)

(6) The LORD executes righteous acts and judgments for all who are wronged.

(7) He made known His ways to Moses, His deeds to the children of Israel.

(8) The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love.

(9) He will not contend forever, or nurse His anger for all time.

(10) He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor has He requited us according to our iniquities.

• How did the Psalmist feel when recalling the times when God protected the people?
• Has there been a time when you have experienced the prescience of God?
• What is the power for us of recalling times when we experienced the presence of God?

3. Reflections on the Nature of God: Justice, Love, and Eternity, Compared with the Frailty of Humanity. (vv. 11-18)

(11) For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him.

(12) As east is far from west, so far has He removed our sins from us.

(13) As a father has compassion for his children, so the LORD has compassion for those who fear Him.

(14) For He knows how we are formed; He is mindful that we are dust.

(15) Man, his days are like those of grass; he blooms like a flower of the field;

(16) a wind passes by and it is no more, its own place no longer knows it.

(17) But the LORD’s steadfast love is for all eternity toward those who fear Him, and His beneficence is for the children’s children

(18) of those who keep His covenant and remember to observe His precepts.

• This part of the psalm links to wonder of nature and order of the world with the Divine. How do you feel when you sense a larger wholeness in the world?

4. A Summons to All Created Beings to Join the Psalmist in Praise of the Eternal God. (vv. 18-22)

(19) The LORD has established His throne in heaven, and His sovereign rule is over all.

(20) Bless the LORD, O His angels, mighty creatures who do His bidding, ever obedient to His bidding;

(21) bless the LORD, all His hosts, His servants who do His will;

(22) bless the LORD, all His works, through the length and breadth of His realm; bless the LORD, O my soul.

• How dis people in the time of the Psalmist feel reading these affirmations of God? How do you feel?

8. Compassionate and gracious, the LORD, / slow to anger and abounding in kindness. This entire line is a direct quotation of the revelation of the divine attributes to Moses in Exodus 34:6. It is introduced in the previous line by “He makes known His ways to Moses.” What is left out from the passage in Exodus is God’s “reckoning the crimes of fathers with sons and sons of sons.” Here, on the contrary, the exclusive emphasis is on divine compassion and forgiveness.

10. Not according to our offenses has He done to us. The theology of forgiveness that pervades this psalm is based on the idea that as long as Israel is God-fearing, committed to upholding its pact with God, whatever trespasses, however egregious, it may have committed will not be held against it by God.

19. The LORD set His throne firm in the heavens. The throne is implicitly the throne of justice, the quality by which God rules the world. At the same time, the switch of focus to the celestial realm sets the stage for the grand conclusion of the psalm in which the heavenly powers are exhorted, just as the speaker exhorted himself at the beginning of the poem, to praise God.

22. all His works, / in all places of His dominion / . . . O my being. In a grand concluding flourish, all creation is pulled together in the exhortation to praise God. “All His works” includes all sentient beings, from the celestial armies to humankind. God’s dominion extends to all imagined places. And in this vast cosmic setting, the speaker repeats the words of his initial injunction to his own being to bless God, now making himself part of the great chorus of all creation.-Alter, Robert. The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary (p. 2986).

Spiritual Applications When we ask, “Why should I praise God when there is so much wrong in the world?” this psalm offers a catalogue of answers. It encourages us (vv. 3, 12) to consider our sins and remember that being alive can be seen as evidence that God is overlooking them, forgiving even the part of us that causes us to do wrong— surely a reason to praise God! Indeed, that we are still alive is several times cited as a reason in and of itself to praise God— even if there are physical and emotional scars that we bear as we make our way through life.

If we have reached middle age, what evidence can we find for verse 5— that God “satisfies thy middle age with good”? How can we stretch our wings and touch our inner eagle (v. 5), one of the most long-lived of birds? (Quite a contrast with the more vulnerable birds of the previous psalm!) If we notice that we are being short of temper, or lacking in compassion, this psalm also suggests that we might try to emulate the God who is slow to anger, filled with compassion to those whom God brought into the world, and who has resolved “not to strive forever.” (Do we really have to pick a fight over everything? Do we have to win every battle?)

Yes, we know that eventually we will die— many of us are less resilient than we were a few years ago. But we are still flowering, still able to water the lives of others; and if we have children, we can be aware of how much we have to give them (whatever their age) for them to pass on to their children. If we do not have children, how many students have we, how many friends or family have learned from us? They are our children too.

So on a bright spring morning, or a crisp winter evening, let’s open the door and listen for the sounds of the heavenly hosts; let’s tick off the identities of the angels in our lives— and say a full-throated, or a very quiet, earnest “Thank You.” -Levy, Rabbi Richard N.. Songs Ascending: The Book of Psalms (Vol. 2)