A. General Prayers of Distress
(Pss 16, 28, 36, 77, 82, 123, 125)
Unlike the prayer songs (the tep̠illôt̠) considered below in which the plight facing the petitioner is clearly revealed in the course of the prayer, these few prayers present only general distress or hints of specific problems. The other main features of the prayer songs appear, however, so that these poems form a fitting introduction to the consideration of the others.
Here, as in the prayer songs that follow, affirmations of faith fill the songs, assertions of confidence in Yahweh and rationale of various sorts, which form the context in which the prayer can be offered. As a matter of fact, in these prayers this theological foundation accounts for the bulk of the psalm, supporting, undergirding or leading to the petitions, which themselves consume little space. For example, Ps 16’s opening petition (v.1a) is supported by the entire remainder of the work.
The major context in which the petitioners lay their request before the Lord is their undivided trust in him, their loyalty to him, and their claim of seeking refuge in him, which claim has leverage on its own (16:1, 2, 8; 28:1, 7; 123:1-2). This involves a rejection of the wicked and their ways (36:1-4) and an acknowledgment that without God’s help they are doomed (28:1). These prayers claim confidence in Yahweh’s ability and disposition to come to the aid of those who call upon him. His rule (82:1, 8; 123:1), his unfailing love (36:5-7a), his protection of the upright (125:2, 5), and his destruction of the wicked (125:5) are not in question, indeed are the very basis for looking to him at all. They are buoyed by the undeniable blessing experienced by the people of God, the recipients of his continuing love (36:7b-9; 125:1-2). And they themselves fully expect not to be shaken or abandoned to death (16:8-10), to give thanks now and on the other side of deliverance (28:7).
The generally presented plight facing the worshiper in these prayers is the ever-present danger from the proud (36:11), the general threat that the wicked always constitute (28:3-5), an assumed need for refuge (16:1, 10), and contempt endured (the most specific ill confronted in these poems, 123:3-4). None of these is specified or elaborated, allowing a wide range of worshipers with vastly differing problems to enter these prayers sympathetically and use them to lay their distress before God.
The petitions are equally vague, but important, pleading for safety (16:1), a listening ear (28:1-2), salvation (28:2, 8) and blessing (28:9), continuing of love and containment of the wicked (36:10-11), and for mercy (123:3). None of these petitions is elaborated either. But never mind; they have been uttered. Yahweh, who knows the heart, hears; and that is what counts. A most unusual prayer is set in the heavenly court, where God presides over the divine counsel (82:1). The bulk of the poem is a “speech of God,” upbraiding the members of his court for their failure to enforce justice among earth’s rulers (82:2-7). At the conclusion the petition calls on God himself to rise and judge the nations (82:8).
As with the other prayer songs, indeed the other psalms, these few tep̠illôt̠ defy overly precise categorization as individual or communal. While Ps 16 reads totally in the first person (“I,” “me,” “my”) and Ps 125 is totally of communal referent, the other prayers here move without fanfare between these viewpoints. These prayers lead the worshiper, even when praying alone, to remember his or her tie to the people, God’s inheritance. And even while the congregation stands praying as God’s people, each I and me is able to speak to Yahweh and is confident of being heard by him.
These and the other prayer songs reveal some small part of the temple experience behind them. Even after their collection in the Psalter, they call the believer to the temple’s courts and prayer there, literally and in spirit. One petitioner prays, lifting hands toward the temple’s Most Holy Place (28:2). Another prayer has the believer bowing toward the sacred place (5:7), a daily pattern of prayer (5:1-3). From that holy hill answer would come (3:4). There in his temple, Yahweh sits enthroned (63:2), though his throne is also in the heavens above all. He dwells between the cherubim (80:1). There between the cherubim the worshiper encounters Yahweh himself, hears God speak (60:6-8); 63:2; 108:7-9), and turns to this place with special attachment (26:8).