Psalm 107: Learning from God's Deliverance to Returning Captives

cvii. A hymn of national thanksgiving that begins the fifth and final Book of the Psalter (PSS cvii—cl). It consists of a prologue (vss. 1—3) inviting those who have assembled from all parts to thank Yahweh for his eternal kindness to Israel; of four stanzas and a closing hymn (vss. 33—43) which, in the style of Wisdom literature, develops the theme of reversal of fortunes. Each of the four stanzas is divided by a refrain (vss. 8, 15, 21, 31) that urges the Israelites not only to acknowledge to Yahweh his goodness but also to announce before all men the divine wonders of Israel's salvation history. This strong international note of the recurrent refrain is unfortunately lost in most modern translations. The first three stanzas (vss. 4—9, 10—16, 17—22) describe the Israelites' hunger and sickness as they roamed in the desert, while the fourth stanza (vss. 23—32) relates the experiences of storm-tossed seafarers who were saved by divine intervention.

A serious problem of interpretation is created by the psalmist's disconcerting interchange of qtl and yqtl verb forms. Weiser (The Psalms, p. 687) sees in this interchange of perfect and imperfect tenses an attempt to express the actualization of past events in the cult of the present, I understand these yqtl forms as merely stylistic variants expressing the same time as the qtl verbs, namely the past. This stylistic variation is placed in a clear light by Ugaritic poetry; consult the introductory NOTE to the historical Ps Ixxviii, which makes wide use of it. -The Anchor Bible

Give thanks to God, for He is good, for His kindness is everlasting (107:1)

Recited Before Shabbat. We recite this psalm each Friday before reciting the Minchah prayer, except on a Friday that occurs on a festival (Siddur ofRabbi Schneur Za/man of Liadi). This custom was instituted by the Baal Shem Tov. As Shabbat approaches, we thank God for having protected us from the material and spiritual challenges of our engagement with the material world. -Book of Psalms with English Translation and Commentary: With Commentary from the Talmud, Midrash, Kabbalah, Classic Commentators, and the Chasidic Masters.

Blessing of Hagomel

It is derived from the present psalm that the four types of people mentioned in it are required to offer thanks to God and recite the blessing Hagomel, which is:

Blessed are You, God, our God, King of the universe, Who bestows beneficences upon the culpable, for He has bestowed goodness upon me.

Those present respond by saying:

Amen. May He who has bestowed beneficence upon you always bestow every beneficence upon you.

The blessing should be recited in the presence of a quorum of ten, including two Torah sages (see verse 32, above), If sages are not available, one should not refrain from reciting the blessing. The one saying the blessing is counted as one of the ten. It is customary to recite the blessing in the synagogue after the Torah reading, since there is a quorum of ten present.

Children need not say the blessing, even those who are at the age when they are trained to perform mitzvot.

The blessing is not said until the person is completely out of harm's way. It is best not to wait more than three days before reciting the blessing, but one who fails to do so can make it up anytime.

There is some debate as to whether the blessing is recited only when a person is saved from the four types of danger mentioned in the psalm or whether it is recited when a person is saved from any potential danger. The custom follows the latter opinion (Seder Birchat Hanehenin 13:2-7; see Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 5219). . -Book of Psalms with English Translation and Commentary: With Commentary from the Talmud, Midrash, Kabbalah, Classic Commentators, and the Chasidic Masters.

Birkat Hagomel: A Blessing For Coming through Trauma — and Prevailing

This prayer expresses gratitude for the miracle of healing and full restoration to life.

Rabbi Neal Gold, MyJewishLearning

Thee Jewish blessing known as Birkat Hagomel is recited by people who have survived a traumatic, potentially life-threatening episode. One who wishes to recite (“bench,” in Yiddish) Birkat Hagomel is first called up for an aliyah to the Torah. Then, before the entire congregation, the individual recites the following blessing:

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם הַגּוֹמֵל לְחַיָּבִים טוֹבוֹת שֶׁגְּמָלַנִי כָּל טוֹב

Blessed are You, O God, ruling spirit of the universe,

Who rewards the undeserving with goodness,

and who has rewarded me with goodness.

Upon hearing this, the congregation responds:

אָמֵן מִי שֶׁגְמָלְךָ\שֶׁגְמָלֵךְ כָּל טוֹב הוּא יִגְמָלְךָ\יִגְמְלֵךְ כָּל טוֹב סֶלָה

Amen. May the One who rewarded you with all goodness

continue to reward you with only goodness, Selah!

It’s a powerful moment — when a person publicly thanks God for being delivered safely from danger, and the congregation affirms that thanks.

The origins of the Birkat Hagomel ritual are found in the Talmud (Berachot 54b) in which the sages teach that a person who survives one of four specific types of calamities is required to offer thanks:

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav:

Four types of people must give thanks:

1. Those who go down to the sea;
2. Those who travel through the desert;
3. One who was ill and recovered;
4. One who was incarcerated in prison and then was released.

The 16^th-century Jewish law code known as the Shulchan Aruch offers a mnemonic for these four categories of survivor in the word chayyim (חיים) “life”: CHavush (“prisoner”); Yissurim (“suffering, sick”); Yam (“sea”); and Midbar (“desert”). Chayyim is a fine memory-aid for this blessing, because Birkat Hagomel is fundamentally about surviving brushes with death, and the profound awareness and gratitude for life that such moments bring to us.

In our time, the spirit of this prayer has expanded to all sorts of other life-and-death situations, such as surviving a car accident, recovering from major surgery, or enduring childbirth. The classic Jewish law codes actually encourage us to broaden the categories of people who can say the blessing — but only to a point. The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim 219:8) suggests that the prayer is appropriate for anyone “who was confined to bed because of their illness and then got up again.” The medieval sages known as the Tosafot were careful not to make this blessing too common; they explain that it is not designed for people “merely with headaches or stomachaches who are not confined to bed.” Rather, it is only for those brushes with mortality that leave us shaken — and profoundly grateful for our survival.

The sentiment that the supplicant is “unworthy” of being delivered (the prayer refers to God as one who “rewards the undeserving with goodness”) echoes the Jewish patriarch Jacob’s famous prayer for safety. Just before he was reunited, after a long and bitter estrangement, with his brother Esau, Jacob experienced a late-night reckoning of the soul. Reflecting on the protection he had undeservingly enjoyed from God his entire life, Jacob humbly asked for one more act of divine deliverance: “I am unworthy of all the kindnesses You have steadfastly shown to Your servant…” (Genesis 32:11). Like Jacob, one who recites Birkat Hagomel approaches the blessing with a sense of awe and humility for having survived an ordeal, knowing that others have not.

But despite the language, argues author Ellen Frankel, the format of the Birkat Hagomel prayer is meant to evoke the opposite of unworthiness. She notes many survivors feel guilt for making it through a situation that other have not. The public call-and-response format of the prayer, she argues, is meant to combat that sense of survivor’s guilt. By reciting the blessing in front of the entire community, the survivor hears neighbors and friends affirm that their delivery is nothing but a blessing.

In some ways, too, Birkat Hagomel as an expression of the extraordinary power of public prayer, and grateful recognition that sometimes prayers do indeed succeed. It is kind of the flipside — or culmination — of the Mi Sheberach prayer for healing which might be recited for weeks or months or even longer while a person battles serious illness. When that person finally recovers, it feels appropriate to mark the moment with public prayer. Birkat Hagomel is just that opportunity to express gratitude for the miracle of healing and the full restoration to family and friends — and, indeed, to life itself.

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/birkat-hagomel-a-blessing-for-coming-through-trauma-and-prevailing/

This hymn of thanksgiving opens the fifth and final Book of Psalms. Primarily, this composition expresses the thanks of those who were in places of danger but were rescued and arrived home safely. As such, these verses relate to a number of historical settings. Alshich says that the Psalmist is amplifying the thanks which Israel offered to God when they were redeemed from the dangers of Egyptian bondage, where they were threatened by the hazards of both the scorched wilderness and the deep sea.

Ibn Yachya relates this work to David's life. The Philistines captured the Holy Ark, and it was endangered in countless ways. When David returned the Ark to a haven of safety and sanctity, he composed this hymn of thanks.

Sforno says that the Psalmist echoes those who will be redeemed from the present exile. Throughout the centuries they have endured all kinds of danger, only to be ultimately confronted with the greatest danger of all — the war of Gog and Magog, which will threaten to tear the entire world asunder.

The Talmud (Berachos 54b) derives a practical rule of Jewish conduct from this psalm: Four people must offer thanks to God — he who traveled over the sea; he who journeyed through the desert; he who was sick and then healed; and he who was jailed and then released. All four of these perilous situations are vividly described in this psalm. -Artscroll

The theme of the psalm is to demonstrate that everything, both the difficulties and the salvation, occurs by Divine Providence. Our sins cause our troubles, so we must thank God for saving us when we call out to Him. Our Sages derive from this psalm that four categories of people—the ones spoken of in this psalm—must thank and bless God in public upon their salvation. They are: Those who survive desert travel, imprisonment, illness, or sea travel (Berachot 54b; Radak).

According to Meiri, the psalm speaks prophetically of the future redemption from this long exile, during which we suffer many difficulties. The Psalmist speaks of our particular challenges: We are taken captive to faraway lands and forced to traverse dry deserts and raging seas. We are imprisoned and suffer from various illnesses. These four challenges are merely examples of the myriad troubles that we encounter. When God will redeem us from the exile, we will be saved from all these difficulties; we will then thank Him and declare His wonders to humankind. We will return to our desolate land and establish cities therein amid great prosperity. All the wicked will then "close their mouths"—we will be cleansed of any spiritual imperfections, and the earth will be filled with wisdom. -Book of Psalms with English Translation and Commentary: With Commentary from the Talmud, Midrash, Kabbalah, Classic Commentators, and the Chasidic Masters.

1. Acclaim. The first word of this psalm, which has no superscription, is hodu, “acclaim” or “give thanks,” announcing this as a thanksgiving psalm. In this instance, as the poem unfolds, it is clear that the thanksgiving is collective. -Alter, Robert. The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary (p. 3006).

2. redeemed ones. The term is not theological but political: these are people who have been redeemed from captivity or from dangerous enemies, “from the hand of the foe.”

3. and gathered them from the lands. The language suggests some sort of return from exile, and this psalm could conceivably have been recited at a public ceremony of thanksgiving during the return to Zion in the sixth century B.C.E. Some scholars, however, date the text earlier. -Alter, Robert. The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary (p. 3006).

Chasidut: Life Defined יֹ֭אמְרוּ גְּאוּלֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֑ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר גְּ֝אָלָ֗ם מִיַּד־צָֽר

2. So shall say those redeemed by God, for His having redeemed them from the hand of distress. As mentioned above, this psalm speaks of those who are saved from four perilous situations— desert travel, imprisonment, sickness, and sea travel—and who must therefore thank God. The Shulchan Aruch offers a mnemonic to aid in recalling these four cases. In the blessing of thanksgiving, which we recite three times daily in the Amidah, we say, "All living [beings] should give thanks to You for eternity." The word for "living," chaim, is an acronym for these four cases.²

But this mnemonic is puzzling. It seems incongruous that the word "living" should allude to four life-threatening, perilous situations!

When something exists and is functioning, we may be tempted to say that it is "living." Indeed, when an organism is not dead, it is alive. But to define "life" this way fails to capture what life truly is. lhe life of challenge and triumph is a more vibrant and emphatic life than the serene and unperturbed. Without challenges, we can never know the depth and strength of our souls. Only after overcoming life's perils do we sense the power and persistence that lies beneath the surface. lhus, we may be described as "living," precisely because of the challenges referenced by this psalm.

In providing the mnemonic, the Shulchan Aruch cites the entire phrase from the prayer: "All living [beings] should give thanks to You for eternity." The relevant portion of the phrase, it would seem, is "All the living should give thanks to You." Why are the words "for eternity" cited as well? By including these final words, the Shulchan Aruch alludes to the fact that the tested life is a proven, stronger life, one that can be said to endure 'for eternity" (The Rebbe).³ -Book of Psalms with English Translation and Commentary: With Commentary from the Talmud, Midrash, Kabbalah, Classic Commentators, and the Chasidic Masters.

Chasidut: Spiritual Danger

The four types of peril referenced in this psalm also Chasidut symbolize various spiritual obstacles that we may encounter in our terrestrial journey:

Wilderness. The soul wanders in a parched land, bereft of spiritual "water" or sustenance. Not only does it lack inspiration, it must face harmful elements that can hamper its Godly drive.

Illness. When the soul descends from its pristine state to its physical body, it may fall "ill." Just as one's energy is weakened and sapped when ill, so can the soul flicker faintly within the body, struggling to illuminate it with Godly light.

Imprisonment. Imprisonment restricts the prisoner's freedom. He cannot see what he wants to see nor hear what he wants to hear. He is whole, but he is smothered by an external force. Similarly, spiritual imprisonment occurs when the soul is suppressed by the ego and shackled by the needs and wants of the body.

Storm at Sea. The tumultuous storm represents the hardships of earning a livelihood. The soul engulfed by material worries is like a capsized ship that has lost its bearings. In the mayhem of the storm, the soul's priorities become skewed: worldly pursuits threaten to displace what is truly meaningful in life.

Yet, the Psalmist assures us, God rescues us from each of these dangers. Furthermore, he instructs us to give thanks to God for doing so. When God rescues us from the brink of spiritual death, we are raised to spiritual heights that were previously unfathomable to us. Having confronted spiritual danger, our appreciation of spiritual life is intensified (The Rebbe). -Book of Psalms with English Translation and Commentary: With Commentary from the Talmud, Midrash, Kabbalah, Classic Commentators, and the Chasidic Masters.

3. And for His having gathered them from the lands. The Psalmist begins by speaking of those who traverse the desert, which is the most dangerous of the four perils (Tosfot to Berachot 54b).⁵ It is common for people to traverse deserts as they travel from land to land on business. In His kindness, God gathers these travelers from the lands to which they have traveled and returns them to their homes in peace (Radak).

From east and from west, from north. The Psalmist does not mention the south, whose intense heat makes it the least inhabited of the four sides and thus an unpopular place for business travel (Radak).

And from the sea. The Psalmist refers to those who cross the sea in their travels from land to land and whom God returns to their homes in peace (Radak).

Alternatively, at the time of the future redemption, God will gather us from the lands of our exile and return us to our land by way of the sea (Meiri). ³ -Book of Psalms with English Translation and Commentary: With Commentary from the Talmud, Midrash, Kabbalah, Classic Commentators, and the Chasidic Masters.

Chasidut: Soul Hunger

5. Both hungry soul languished within them. A precious stone from the king's ring was lost. Yet from all of the people at his disposal—servants, ministers, military officials—the king chose his beloved only child to search for and find the lost stone and return it to his father, the king. Although the king did not doubt that his trusted officials could restore the stone, he wanted to give the privilege to his beloved child.

Why do we hunger and thirst for physical nourishment? Obviously, the body needs food and drink to survive. But why did God make our bodies dependent on physical food? Wouldn't it be ideal if body and soul could live purely on spiritual nourishment?

Within every aspect of creation lies a Godly spark, which is the life-force of that creation. But this Divine spark is in "exile," hidden from view. When we use or interact with a physical entity in a permitted manner, we have the opportunity to "liberate" that Divine spark and "return" it to our Father in Heaven. When we eat a kosher meal and recite a blessing before doing so, then use the energy derived from its nutrients for a mitzvah, we redeem its Divine spark.

Particular sparks are aligned with particular souls. The soul senses the Divine sparks that are yearning to be redeemed by that particular soul. The soul therefore seeks out every opportunity to interact with the physical in a holy manner.

So the natural impulse for food is merely the external expression of a deeper drama. The soul hungers for food and drink so it can elevate it, and the body is the vehicle through which the soul achieves that goal.

Hence, a deeper reading of our verse: We are hungry and thirsty because their soul, the Divine sparks, are cloaked within them—the Divine sparks are hidden within the physical, yearning to be redeemed (Baal Shem Tov).⁶

The same is true of desire for fame or fortune. This seemingly egotistical drive is itself driven by the soul's desire to use influence and wealth to do good.⁷ Similarly, the urge of young people to seek meaning should be understood in the same way. may tread down paths that are foreign to a Torah lifestyle, but at the heart of their quest is the cry of the Godly soul. They themselves do not recognize the true nature of this drive. It is incumbent upon us, the educators, to guide and enlighten them in their search for meaning (The Rebbe).⁸

Selfless Petition

With this in mind, we can appreciate an anomaly found in our liturgy. The silent Amidah is the climax of daily prayer. At this stage in prayer, one is expected to be wholly enwrapped in a Godly reality; no sense of self should be detected. The silent Amidah is consummate humility. And yet, it is at this juncture where we find requests for our daily needs. Here we ask for livelihood, for health, and for a successful crop. These are undoubtedly important requests, but do they belong at this point in prayer?

The Baal Shem Tov's teaching answers our question: The ultimate ambition of the devout soul is to elevate every interaction with the material world, to imbue every meal, every dollar, and every crop with Godly meaning. At the height of the soul's ecstasy, when it enters into total union with God, it expresses its longing for the Divine sparks cloaked in the physical (The Rebbe). Book of Psalms with English Translation and Commentary: With Commentary from the Talmud, Midrash, Kabbalah, Classic Commentators, and the Chasidic Masters.

6. And they cried to the LORD from their straits. This is the first of two recurring refrains in the poem, a device appropriate for a liturgical text chanted in a public celebration.

8. Let them acclaim to the LORD His kindness. This is the second refrain, which is repeated verbatim further on and also picks up phrases from the first line of the psalm. -Alter, Robert. The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary (p. 3006).

6. They cried out to God in their distress, and He saved them from their troubles. This verse, with minor variations, is repeated four times in the psalm to describe the cries of the four types of people in distress. The word for they cried out וַיִּצְעֲק֣וּ is spelled here with a צְ, as it is in verse 28 regarding the sea travelers. Regarding the cry of the prisoners and those suffering from illness—verses 13 and 19—the Psalmist uses the word וַיִּזְעֲק֣וּ . According to Radak, the two words are identical in meaning, and the Psalmist uses them interchangeably. According to Chazeh Tzion, וַיִּצְעֲק֣וּ refers to an audible cry, whereas וַיִּזְעֲק֣וּ refers to a cry of the heart. Those who are ill do not have the strength to cry out audibly. Their cry is therefore described as וַיִּזְעֲק֣וּ

An additional variation: In the present verse, God saved the desert travelers from their troubles יַצִּילֵֽם. By contrast, He delivered those who are in prison or ill Yod-Shin-Ayin, and He brought out Yod-Tsadi-Aleph those who are in danger at sea (Radak).

The word for deliverance, Yoshua Yod-Shin-Ayin, implies a complete salvation. In the case of the sick who recover or the imprisoned who are set free, God's response to their cry is a complete salvation. By contrast, God saves those who are lost in the desert by pointing them in the right direction. But their salvation is not complete until they reach their homes in peace. Similarly, God brings out the seafarers from the storm, but their salvation is not complete until they reach their homes in peace (Chida).- Book of Psalms with English Translation and Commentary: With Commentary from the Talmud, Midrash, Kabbalah, Classic Commentators, and the Chasidic Masters.

The chart below shows the different cries and Divine responses:

10. dwellers in dark and death’s shadow. The second verset of this line speaks of prisoners, so it is plausible, as several interpreters have suggested, that the concrete image is a dark, windowless, dungeon-like place of captivity.

tormenting iron. The literal sense of the Hebrew is “torment and iron,” but this translation assumes it is a hendiadys and thus renders the first of the two nouns as a participle.

14. He brought them out from the dark. This line is a phrase-by-phrase answer to the condition of distress represented in verse 10. -Alter, Robert. The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary (p. 3006).

11. For they defied the words of God and spurned the counsel of the Most High. The words of God in this verse refer to the universal commandments that apply to all of humanity, i.e., the Noahide laws of basic morality. The counsel of the Most High refers to the fact that God counsels us to keep the commandments and thereby merit life.

Of the four categories, only imprisonment and illness are described as punishment for sin. The Psalmist does not mention sin in regards to desert and sea travelers. This is because travel in and of itself is not necessarily harmful. So those who embark on desert or sea travel do not do so as punishment for sin. Rather, if they encounter difficulties and danger during their travels, it is so that they return to God and repent (Radak). ).-Book of Psalms with English Translation and Commentary: With Commentary from the Talmud, Midrash, Kabbalah, Classic Commentators, and the Chasidic Masters.

17. He sent forth His command and healed them; He delivered them from their graves. When our souls are muted and fail to inspire us to love and fear God, we are spiritually ill. One of the remedies for spiritual illness is alluded to in our verse. The word for command (1727) literally means word. We can heal our spiritual malaise with God's word. When we immerse ourselves in the words of prayer, even when devoid of emotion and meaning, our souls are slowly warmed to God again (Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi). -Book of Psalms with English Translation and Commentary: With Commentary from the Talmud, Midrash, Kabbalah, Classic Commentators, and the Chasidic Masters.

18. All food their throat rejected. In their desperate plight, perhaps as prisoners, these miserable people lose all appetite and retch at the thought of food, so that they are on the verge of dying.

22. offer thanksgiving sacrifices /. . . recount . . . in glad song. This verse provides an explicit reference to the Temple ritual that this psalm would have accompanied. -Alter, Robert. The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary (p. 3007).

Chasidut: Three at Sea

23. Those who go down to the sea in ships, who perform nautical tasks in mighty waters. This verse alludes to the soul's descent into the world and how different people cope with the challenges inherent in this descent:

Those who go down to the sea in ships refers to the journey all souls embark upon. The soul is cast from the cradle of Godliness to the tumultuous sea of life. Each soul differs, however, in how it fares in this sea. This difference is alluded to in the words in ships. The word for ships has an alternative meaning of "moaning."15 Some souls descend to the sea and shelter themselves with "ships." They escape the dangers of the sea by taking refuge in spiritual pursuits. This ensures that the lashing waves of temptation lap harmlessly against their spiritual fortress. Others are not as fortunate; they descend to the sea, not in ships, but in "moaning." The demands and pressures of the material world engulf them, so they flail helplessly in the raging waves.

Then there are those who perform tasks in mighty waters—the valiant souls who leave the comfort of the ship and seek to save those who are drowning. The sheltered souls are content to huddle in their spiritual haven, surrounded by others who share their values and observe the Torah and mitzvot. Those who perform tasks in mighty waters tear themselves away from that shelter and risk the mighty waters of the material world in order to retrieve and comfort others (Baal Shem Tov). -Book of Psalms with English Translation and Commentary: With Commentary from the Talmud, Midrash, Kabbalah, Classic Commentators, and the Chasidic Masters.

23. Those who go down to the sea in ships. These famous lines (Melville recalls them in Moby-Dick) about the dangers besetting mariners are only loosely connected with the imagery of captives in foreign lands that has been the center of the poem until this point. Perhaps the sailors belong here as a different but related category of people who have been at death’s door but are saved by God. It should be noted that in the Hebrew text, verses 21–26 are marked in the right margin with an inverted letter nun, a device that seems to have been used by the ancient scribes to indicate some questioning of the text or even a virtual erasure of it. Although the unit about sea travel continues through verse 30, this scribal indication makes one wonder whether the whole section might have been regarded as a different poem that was somehow inserted into our psalm.

27. They reel and sway like a drunkard, / all their wisdom is swallowed up. This line and some of the phrases before and after are put to remarkable use by the twelfth-century Hebrew poet Judah HaLevi in his brilliant sea poems, a kind of poetic chronicle of his voyage from Spain toward the Land of Israel. The biblical word for “wisdom” also means something close to “craft”; thus, the idea here is that all the technical expertise of the sailors is baffled or made futile by the fury of the storm.

30. their bourn. This rather antiquated English term reflects a high-poetic locution for “destination” in the Hebrew, which is literally “the realm of their desire.” -Alter, Robert. The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary (p. 3007).

40. He pours scorn upon the princes. This verse also shows an inverted nun at its right margin, and in this instance that device clearly indicates a glitch in the text. Verse 39 (“And they dwindle and are bowed down”) makes no sense immediately after verse 38, which is taken up with the blessings of those redeemed by God. The inverted nun is a recognition that this verse is out of place in the received text. If we place it before verse

39 rather than after it, the whole sequence here becomes perfectly coherent. It is worth noting that this whole clause also appears almost verbatim in Job 12:21a. 39. they dwindle. This indication is in pointed contrast to the condition of those favored by God, whose very cattle are not allowed to dwindle.

41. increases his clans like flocks. The image of the dwindling of the wicked is sandwiched on both sides with images of the increase of the righteous. -Alter, Robert. The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary (pp. 3007-3008).

Spiritual Approaches

This psalm is punctuated by God’s acts of punishment of the people and the sailors, the crying out of the oppressed to the Holy One, God’s deliverance of them, and the poet’s call for the delivered ones to thank God. A difficult aspect of this psalm is seeing the misfortunes that beset us as acts of God. To see God as the cause of our pain (or as the One who bestows the consequences of our wrongful acts on us) is itself painful— why would God want to punish us that severely? The answer is that there are consequences— even cosmic consequences— to our actions, that our actions make an imprint in the world, and on the consciousness of God. This is a theology that says that human beings matter, that our acts matter. Whether we do wrong or whether we call out to God to deliver us, God takes notice of us.

What form do those consequences take? Is cancer a punishment for sin? Is being run over by a car? We do not know the mind of God, and so we cannot really pinpoint what of the good or hard things that befall us is a reward or punishment for a specific act of ours. What we can do is ask, “What can I learn from this blessing? What can I learn from this misfortune? Are there things in my life I need to do differently? Can I see this blessing, this misfortune, as a call from God to look more closely at my life— and see what my own instincts will reveal (noting that our instincts may also be messengers from God)?”

And then we need to cry out— to speak to God directly, to ask for deliverance. And we need to be aware of the shape that that deliverance takes— God is subtle, and it takes a while to look at the bush to realize that it is not being consumed. Prayer may also help in that regard: “Help me to discern Your way in my life, help me to experience when You have split the seas of my life and helped me cross over on dry land. Help me to understand when my nourishment is manna from You, when it is food brought by the ravens You have sent my way.”

And as we sail our ship upon the roiling ocean of life, let us give thanks to God for whatever of divine covenantal love we can experience, and for all God’s wonders that are unfurled for each of us. -Levy, Rabbi Richard N.. Songs Ascending: The Book of Psalms (Vol. 2)