9: Part 2 Exegesis of psalm 124: 3-5

EXEGESIS OF PSALM 124:3-5 

A LOOK AT HEBRAIC ALLEGORY & THE IMAGERY OF THE FLOODS 

I've been sitting on posting this blog post for a while now. I hadn't been able to figure out what was leaving me dissatisfied with it. Some of these posts will require more and others less. These studies are so much faster when I do them in my head. It takes so much extra time and work to communicate and explain the findings. Lol, after every post I always feel exhausted and like I don't wanna do it anymore. But even though I feel like I haven't expressed everything well enough I need to just post this. I will post this and come back and edit it later. I want to complete this psalm and psalm 122 (thus completing the first grouping psalms 120-124) by the end of this year. 

This post feels like it is simple and my thesis not so far-fetched. Sometimes I felt that I am stretching this thesis to make it say something it is not. However, as I have continued to explain and write it out, I feel more resolved that it is indeed true. The thesis of this post is that this ballad is intended to remind the listener of deliverance from Egypt. The 'songs of degrees' is a ballad that is full of piety. It was formed with a very specific intention and fulfills the commandment of the Lord to remember what He has done for Israel. This isn't so outlandish a suggestion. And again I will profess that I am not irreproachable in my findings. They are, as I am the one expressing them, only my opinions (based off the level of research and study I am at. Which is never as deep or high as one wants it to be). So let's begin with a general recap.

This psalm must be understood in juxtaposition to psalm 120. Psalm 124 is the final shout. Psalm 120 began us by telling us that a story is being told. And the story is being told in order to come to this final shout of exaltation. Psalm 124 is the sacrifice of thanksgiving that the nation makes for His deliverance. And it is in the chiastic structure of the five psalms together that tells us this is what is being said. This first grouping can be summed up as such: 'Let me tell you a story. Israel the servant was in distress and agony. Israel looked to the hand of the Lord Almighty their master for help. And He heard them and saved them by recompensing the wicked nation. Thanks be to the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth!'. The main message or moral of this allegory is - that relationship with the Lord saves and He is worthy of all praise and honour and reverential awe. Psalm 73:26 incapsulates this saying "I have made the Lord God my refuge that I may tell of all of Your works".

Psalm 124 wraps up this first grouping 120-124 under chiasmus and correspondence. And we see this extra inverse or reverse correspondence at work. It's not opposite in being the antithesis but reversed in the way it is expressed. This is being done to draw attention to this principal theme of the first grouping - that deliverance goes hand in hand with the recompense of the Lord. We see this through psalm 124 being Aprime expressing the thought 'praise the Lord because He delivered us' (passive - He recompensed the wicked). It is the inverse of A 'the Lord will recompense the wicked' (passive - He will deliver His people). And we can see the reiteration of the same meaning - A ⇄ A' = 120 ⇄ 124.  

While exegeting Psalm 120 we found that it is an exemplary piece of pathos in poetry. This is the figura at play that is doing the main work. Psalm 120 through the use of pathos, wants to bring the reader into these 2 intense emotional states: the agony of oppression and the longing of waiting on the Lord. 

But psalm 124 happens to use the figura opposite of pathos which is paenismos or exultation - an expression of feeling by encouraging others to rejoice. This psalm seeks to bring the reader into the emotional states of intense gratitude in thanksgiving and reverential awe and praise. This figure will always go hand in hand with the sublime (to affect feelings). Where paenismos is applied the poet desires greatly to impress the mind with a sense of grandeur or power, inspiring awe, veneration, leading to ecstasy. This is the sublime. And the sublime intends to affect the soul and inner man. Genuine gratitude and awe can only come from the deepest part of the man, so that part of him must be touched. 

Again we see psalms 120 and 124 show opposite way of corresponding but now in regards to the figure applied. But concerning the figures, paenismos is the antithesis of pathos. For the Hebrew, joy and happiness does not exist apart from the Lord (it isn't a feeling in and of itself). For that matter neither is suffering (as it does not exist without the absence of the Lord). By applying this reverse aesthetic figura, different emotional focal points and thoughts are dwelled on to encompass the whole spiritual emotional scope. 

Psalm 124 applies exultation and the sublime in order to overwhelm the heart and soul entirely with reverential awe and thanksgiving. While psalm 120 in contrast applies the pathetic, releasing intense emotions of agony and longing to do the same thing. Both psalms are working to evoke intense feelings from the reader but from different ends of the spectrum.

The emotional state of overwhelming gratitude and reverential awe cannot be fully experienced or understood without feeling the agony of oppression and the longing of waiting on the Lord first. Just as we can't remember the joy and bliss of deliverance without remembering the suffering that came from oppression. 

Psalms 120 and 124 are like two sides of one coin. This coin represents the complexity of emotion and how both the negative and positive together are needed to create a full scope emotional expression and often spiritual maturity.

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The literary figure paenismos is placed under the third division category of figures involving change (Bullinger, iii). Under this division are these classifications of figures: 

1. affecting the meaning of the words. These are things like heterosis, metonymy and synecdoche.

2. affecting the arrangement and order of the words such as hysteresis, antithesis and anacoluthon. 

3. affecting the application of words. These are some of the most well known and used figura.
    A. as to sense: simile, metaphor, symbolism, allegory, irony, idioma, etc. 

    B. As to person: personification, apostrophe, etc. 

    C. As to subject matter: parecbasis, metabasis, anachoresis, etc. 

    D. as to argumentation: erotesis, negatio, metastasis, paromologia, prolepsis etc.

    E. As to feeling: pathos, anamnesis, paraeneticon, oeonismos, ecphonesis, aganactesis paraeneticon etc. 

These are those which I have named the aesthetic figura in my part 2 exegesis of psalm 120.  We also looked at many of these in part 1 exegesis of psalm 120 where our conversation on pathos and the sublime in Hebrew poetry began.

Where psalm 120 came alive to me resides in my experience of its pathos. Truly, as big as our pathos was given in psalm 120 so is our joy and exuberance given here in 124 through exaltation. The poets intention in psalm 124 is to bring the reader into a spiritual and emotional ecstasy or sublime state of being due to being delivered by the Lord. and it this grouping it is our last spiritual step which thus tells us it was the scribes intended goal to land here, and it is the greatest step in the group.

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In part 1 exegesis of psalm 124 I say how this psalm is the cathartic culmination of all the pathos and sublime that the first 4 psalms have been leading up to. That this psalm is much more exuberant in its design to reverentially magnify the Lord than to wallow in anguish. Here in Psalm 124 the ballad burst forth with one of the foremost intentions and meaning! And all I hear are the waters rushing and smashing upon the rocks of joyous praise as an encomium to the Lord!

Isreal is a nation that has known suffering. But they have also known joy.  The major theme of this psalm is thanksgiving/praise. The major subject is expressing the power of the Lord. And this comes through the recompense of the wicked, but remember in this psalm, this is done by showing us the deliverance of the righteous. 

 

These verses 3-5 are those which show us this deliverance using sublime language, very strong imagery. We will be going over the imagery of 'being swallowed alive' and 'the waters wash over our souls'. We will identify the original poet's intention as well as what the scribes' intentions may have been for choosing this psalm in the sequence of our ballad 'the psalms of degrees'. 

In the last post, I put forth the suggestion that the scribes intended this psalm to recall Isreal's deliverance out of the hand of Egypt. So, this is the main thesis of this post that I will be seeing if I can prove.  

In the last few posts, we have been talking about how this ballad is not one meant for remembering the suffering. psalm 120 started us off with a remembrance of suffering but the ballad has a greater objective overall. Rather than the suffering, its true objective is the remembrance of the joy that comes with deliverance and reverence to the Lord. This psalm is the biggest testament to this. This is a praise and thanksgiving psalm - meant for acknowledging the Lord. And that because it is focusing on the deliverance of the people, the joy of this deliverance is translated into exalting the Lord. In regard to these steps or assents in this ballad, the principal expression of this psalm is jubilation and exultation. 

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So let's get into it. Here is a side note: The verses have the link to them so you can go directly to biblehub to look at them. Please forgive my romanized spelling of the Hebrew. You can also find the Hebrew by clicking on the verse links to look at the spelling if you wish. And here is an extra companion bible study commentary free bible commentary psalm 124. And Here is a link to a website in which you can look up the figures of speech.

Before continuing, consider these two passages as they mirror verses 3-5 in meaning and expression:

Lamentations 3:52-54 "Without cause my enemies haunted me like a bird. They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me. The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die".

Psalm 18:16-18 " He reached down from on high and took hold of me; He drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from foes too mighty for me. They confronted me in my day of calamity, but the Lord was my support.

3 Then they would have swallowed us alive; azay chayim bela-unu; When their anger was kindled against us baharot appam ba-nu

Verse 3 has the resolution to the conditional clause from the last verse. The more literal interpretation gives us, 'Then alive, they would have swallowed us'. This 'would' comes in contextually because of the 'if then' conditional clause.

Next we have the literal 'when their noses became hot against us' which gets translated as anger kindled. This is not metonymy and it is not idiomatic because this has to do with the nature of the Hebrew language being concrete and not abstract. You can go bakc and read more on the difference between Greek and Hebrew thought in my post Part 2 Psalm 123. This can very simply be taken as is. Nations aren't at war until something occurs that sparks, or kindles animosity. David is basically saying, these nations would have wiped us out during times when they were antagonistic toward us.

As a reminder, this 'they' is the 'men who rose up against us'. In the last post we didn't really get into who we may think this is referring to. That is because we were focused more on the structure of the poem, addressing versification, liturgical strophe and chiasmus and what these elements indicate. We did link this 'they' to psalm 120's 'men who are for war'. But I think it is safe to just refer to them as nations. Historically there were many nations who came against Israel during the reign of David. I'm okay with not making a suggestion to a specific nation or specific instance. I even think that David while writing this poem could have been generalizing as well.

VOCAB: Alive - chay: alive, raw(flesh), fresh, strong, life or living thing, lively, quick.

 

From the root word 'chayah' - keep alive, give life, live, nourish, preserve, quicken, recover, repair, restore (to life), revive, save. Strongs concordance on biblehub

Some translations have "they would have swallowed us up quick'. As if this is saying they are swallowed quickly. But this is not correct. The word is not describing the manner in which then men came agaisnt them (as in quickly or in strneght) but it is to tell the manner in which the poet in this instance was being swallowed - alive or living. This brings up imagery of a snake which swallows its prey whole and alive. This word 'quick' is therefore most often and correctly translated as alive.

We even see that imagery expressed in this passage: Jeremiah 51:34 " Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon has devoured us, He has thrown us into confusion, He has made us an empty jar. Like a serpent he has swallowed us and filled his stomach with our delicacies, and has spit us out".

Another aspect that using this word 'alive' brings out is that there is a sense of surprise, like being come against unawares. Psalm 55:15 says "Let death seize them by surprise; Let them go down to Sheol quick/alive". 

Now this is an obvious use of figurative language. It is metonymy with the change of the action for the thing produced by it. It is not speaking to a literal swallowing. Possibly it is also idiomatic. 

But some studies will reference numbers 16:32-33 in which the Israelites were literally swallowed alive by the ground.  32and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who belonged to Korah with their possessions. 33So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.

In numbers we have a literal swallowing happening. I think it is correct to assume that these literal instances became the expressive foundation for the idea which denotes complete destruction. It is correct to understand that this expression did probably come about because of such a literal event havign once happened. 

What I think does come to light looking at this passage is that this swallowing didn't just mean their life - it took the household and possessions down to Sheol as well. This could denote the family line being wiped out. So if we bring it back to this passage, the poet could simply be saying that these foreign nations (men with kindled anger) were trying to destroy the nation of Israel.

First lets look at the vocab: bahlah: swallow, consume, engulf, devour.

 

This word figuratively becomes destroy or ruin. So by metonymy - 'they would have swallowed us alive' is put for something like 'they would have killed us' or ' they would have ended us/snuffed us out'. Or as a more generalization 'to be overwhelmed by calamity' or 'have calamity fall upon'.

This imagery of being swallowed alive is only ever used when talking about destruction. It is interesting that we never see the expression used as a good thing, like 'I was swallowed alive by His goodness'. 

I think the meaning that David, the original poet had when he wrote this poem is 'to destroy cities' or 'cut off the people' possibly similar to the phrase 'scatter the people'. Nations were coming agaisnt them - in order to destroy the cities and the people. Yet even still, the expression had the meaning of ones personal life being in the jaws of death. And can absolutely have passively being stated. But the initial and intentional forefront message the poet is making is Isreal the nation being destroyed.

To 'swallow up' as in to DEVOUR, OR KILL: 

Numbers 16:30 "But if the Lord brings about an entirely new thing and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that is theirs, and they descend alive into Sheol, then you will understand that these men have spurned the Lord".

Psalm 21:8-9 "Your hand will find out all your enemies; Your right hand will find out those who hate you. You will make them as a fiery oven in the time of your anger; The Lord will swallow them up in His wrath, and fire will devour them". 

Proverbs 1:11-12 the wicked say " Let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause; let us swallow them alive like Sheol, even whole, as those who go down to the pit". This proverb links swallowing whole and the bird in the snare as well. 

Isaiah 25:7-8 " And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all the peoples,...He will swallow up death for all time". This is fascinating that death itself will be swallowed by the Lord a.k.a will die itself and be no more.

To 'swallow up' as in to DESTROY CITIES. And CUT OFF THE PEOPLE or DESTROY the/a NATIONs: 

Numbers 16:32 "and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who belonged to Korah with their possessions". and Psalm 21:10 "Their offspring You will destroy from the earth, And their descendants from among the sons of men".

In Hosea 8 the Lord says He will swallow Israel up. In this case it is used to two ways. In verses 7-8 it means to scatter the people - "For they sow the wind and they reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it yields no grain. Should it yield, strangers would swallow it up. Israel is swallowed up; they are now among the nations like a vessel in which no one delights".

And in verse 13-14 it means to destroy the cities - "Now the Lord will remember their iniquity, and punish them for their sins; they will return to Egypt. For Israel has forgotten his maker and built palaces; and Judah is multiplied fortified cities, but I will send forth a fire on its city so it may consume its palatial dwellings". I want to note how the passage says, 'return to Egypt'. do we take this literally? We have to be careful especially with the prophetic books, but let's continue with the figurative interpretation which would be 'return to captivity'. This will play a part in this blog as we look at the point the ballad is making that I have suggested in this being about being delivered from Egypt.

Lamentations 2:5 "The Lord has become like an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel; He has swallowed up all its palaces, He has destroyed its strongholds and multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and moaning"(also Lam 2:2).

Deuteronomy 11:6 "what He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, among all Israel".

'To be swallowed' as in TO LOSE REASON, become confused.

Isaiah "And these also reel with wine and stagger from strong drink: The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, they are swallowed by wine, they stagger from strong drink. They reel while having visions, they totter when rendering judgment". The idea here that this figurative language creates is that a person can be overtaken, overwhelmed, lost to wine i.e. not be in control. In some sense, the mind and reason dies or is destroyed when this happens.

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So do we think hyperbole is being used? Yes, absolutely. I do think we can make a case for it.  Hyperbole is simple yet effective. Hyperbole or exaggeration. From "ύπέρ (hyper), over and above, or beyond and from βολή (boleh), a casting, to throw. 

When more is said than is literally meant. The figure is so called because the expression adds to the sense so much that it exaggerates it, and enlarges or diminishes it more than is really meant in fact. Or when more is said than is meant to be literally understood, in order to heighten the sense" (Bullinger, 422).

Yet even with it, it doesn't demean the intention and we can still say that this exaggeration is the only way to help us understand the true scope of such an experience. it's quite paradoxical that the only way to understand a literal reality is through not just figura but the figura specifically used for exaggeration. But there are such things in life that are this way.

When I read through this passage, I immediately thought of this scene from the television show (GoT clip). In the clip we see an army having surrounded another and is pressing in on them. The army that has been encircled is made lame by this tactic and is in an extremely hopeless situation.  The clip completely visually demonstrates being swallowed alive by an attacking army. When we can see imagery with our own eyes, we usaully understand something more deeply than just the rational comprehension of the words. 

with this video clip we can see to be 'swallowed by an army' is actually all of the above - literal, figurative, exaggerated. I can only imagine to be the one being swallowed, there is no way to really express the way it makes you feel. As if death has opened its mouth and is swallowing you whole. Without saying it we understand that all hope is lost in such a moment. There is a feeling of no escape and that in just a second, your existence will be erased forever.

With this video we can see how in war the armies literally look to be swallowing soldiers up. Hyperbole is necessary to help the truest feeling come across, yet at the same time it is not an exaggeration at all - it is an emotional reality to express something that is too big for the being (mind,body,spirit) to really handle or experience itself. 

It is clear that David is using this expression to create a feeling of being in this situation without trying to explain it. It also is meant to tell us something like sudden or total destruction by being overtaken by an enemy is upon them. And that this verb swallow is meant to demonstrated being engulfed completely.

Another clear intention of our poet is to help us understand how big a deal it is that the Lord delivered. The danger is portrayed very big so that the deliverance is understood as very big. Which in turn induces the understanding of very big emotional relief and very big gratitude and praise.

4Then the waters would have engulfed us; azay hammayim seta-punu; The stream would have swept over our soul; nachlah a-bar al nephshenu; 5Then the raging waters would have swept over our soul azay a-bar al nephshenu hammayim hazzedonim;

These phrases are under Complete Parallelism - these three phrases are all under complete parallelism and repeating themselves. This is not gradation, anabasis. So really it is verse 5 that mirrors verse 4. Even though we have three phrases, the one phrase in verse five is the full expression of the combined two phrases from verse four. You can literally see this. 

Do we think this is a use of batalonia or vain repetition? No, I don't think so at all, the fact that this phrase is repeated three times is actually telling us the poet really wanted us to sit with this. And it is very purposely repeated. That is the point of the use of hyperbole as well. The poet wants to stir the heart of the reader to that utter exultation of Lord for His deliverance.

Three times over our poet says, 'we would have died', if not the Lord had been on our side. So even though something like Selah is not in use, the poet clearly wants the reader to meditate on the impression that 'almost dying' should leave on someone. The gravity of it. Thus, the gravity of being saved or having the Lord on one's side is also the poets expressed desire for the reader to fall under. And in a passive way, instead of 'we would have died' what's being said three times is 'the Lord delivered me'. Or even 'the Lord saved me/protects me' (which reminds us of psalm 121). And this is a use of synecdoche for 'engulfed us' and 'swept over our soul' - the idea of being killed or overtaken or almost dying/being destroyed.

The word soul - nephshenu is itself under synedoche or transfer. It is the exchange of one idea exchanged for another. Here soul is put for life or self; this occurs often in the scriptures. So the phrase is saying 'the waters would have taken our lives'.

To 'sweep over my soul' or 'wash over my soul' for TO TAKE MY LIFE:

Psalm 69:14-15 " Rescue me from the mire and do not let me sink; deliver me from my foes and out of the deep waters. Do not let the floods engulf me or the depths swallow me up; let not the pit close its mouth over me"

Jonah 2:3,5 "For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current swirled about me; all Your breakers and waves swept over me...The waters engulfed me to take my life; the watery depths closed around me..."

Psalm 18:4-5, 2 Samuel 22:5 " For the waves of death engulfed me; the torrents of chaos overwhelmed me. The chords of show entangled me; the snares of death confronted me".

Psalm 42:7,9 "All Your breakers and waves have rolled over me...Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy's oppression?

Psalm 88:6 " You have laid me in the lowest pit, in the darkest of the depths. Your wrath weighs heavily upon me; all Your waves have submerged me".

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And with all this in mind then we can suggest that a type of prosapodosis or a repetition in detail is at play. It might be epidiegesis or re-statement, but it is not epexegesis or a repetition in order to explain more fully because it is not under gradation (there is nothing additional). But as I stated above, the poet wanted us to really sit with this. Thus I suggest it is likely Epimone or lingering; A repetition in order to dwell upon a subject for the sake of emphasizing it.

We already talked about the use of epidiegesis and about the double protasis and triple apodosis that make up these conditional clauses structure in part 1 psalm124: 1-2. But we will just show the line structure layout again.

1] A  - if not

2] A' - if not

3] B  - then

4] B' - then

5] B'' - then

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So we have sentence repetitions, word repetitions and sound repetitions.

The sound repetition gives the poem a much smoother rhythm. Of these first 5 psalms this is the first one we see this type of figure applied. We can see consecutive rhyme scheme with the same sound at the end of successive phrases throughout the entire psalm. 

 

1 lu le Adonai sehayah lanu; yomar-na Yisrael 2 lu le Adonai sehayah lanu; bequm alenu adam 3 azay chayim bela-unu; baharot appam ba-nu 4 azay hammayim seta-punu; nachlah a-bar al nephshenu;

5 azay a-bar al nephshenu hammayim hazzedonim; 6 baruch Adonai shiloh neta-nanu teref leshi ne-hem 7 naphshenu kitsipor nimletah mippach yokashim;  .  .  .  happach nishbar wa a-nachnu nimlatnu 8 ezrenu beshem Adonai o-seh shamayim va-aretz

This is closely related to the figure homoeoteleuton - the repetition of letters or syllables at the end of successive words. But seems to be more of a type of epistrophe - with the same sound at the end of successive sentences rather than same word at the end of successive sentences. We see this very clearly in verses 1-4. Yet we see this in 5-6 which has this sound in the middle and 7-8 has the sound at the beginning. But 7 also gives us the sound at the end again as well (and successively).

There is a figure of repetition with the word waters and over. The words - hammayim and a-bar, we either have mesodiplosis - which is the repetition of the same word or words in the middle of successive sentences or repetitio - the repetition of the same word or words irregularly in the same passage. These repetitions do not appear irregular to me.

I think the word for soul is used by the figure mesoteleuton, which is the repetition of the same word or words in the middle and at the end of successive sentences. Or it is under repetitio as we do see it in the next sentence at the beginning. So this word is seen: vs4 - in the middle, vs5 - at the end. But again we see it in vs7 - at the beginning. 

Then there is also something going on with these words: 'waters' and 'soul' and 'over'. I think maybe it is epanodos or inversion - the repetition of the same words in an inverse order but with the same sense (Bullinger, 299). This figure is sort of like a type of chiasmus. Where chiasmus is the repeated inverse of subject matter, epanodos is the repetition of words in inverse order. If it was the repetition of phrases in an inverse order it would be synantesis. 

Another figure is at play with the 2 words for water - hammayim and nachlah.  It seems to simply be synonymia which is the repetition of words similar in meaning but different in sound and origin. We can see that 'waters' is being given a good deal of attention in these phrases as it is used 3 times.

Vocab: Nachlah - stream, brook, river, flood. 

Mayim - water, waters, floods, pool, watering. By euphemism - urinating, wasting or pissing.

Let's try to flush out the imagery and its roots of creative expression. To some extent we see a personification of the water. As if it is a living entity.

Concerning these waters, they are figurative. The phrase 'swallow alive is' put under metonymy but so also are these waters. So we have a use of metonymy for there is an exchange of enemy or destructive force for 'waters'.

→ Verse references to flood and water being the imagery for an enemy (specifically that can 'wash away', overtake, snuff out...swallow whole. these verses and expressions also allude to water being seen as a enemy:

Psalm 18:4-5 " The sorrows of death encompassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me". This is linked to psalm 116:3. It is also the psalm mentioned in 2 Samuel 22 :1 with the inscription "And David sang this song to the Lord on the day the LORD had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies And from the hand of Saul".

psalm 69:1-2 "For the waters have threatened my life. I have sunk in deep mire, and there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and a flood overflows me".

Isaiah 17:12-13 " Alas the uproar of many people, who roar like the roaring of the seas, and the rumbling of nations who rush on like the rumbling of mighty waters! The nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters...".

psalm 93:3 - "the floods have lifted up their voices, but mightier is the Lord than the breakers of the sea".

psalm 90:5 - "You sweep men away like with a flood, they are like dreams".

psalm 32:6-7 - "therefore let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found; surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him. You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble You surround me with songs of deliverance".

Jonah 2:3,5 - "For thou hast cast me into the deep, in the midst of the Seas, and the floods compassed me about, all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. The waters engulfed me to take my life; the watery depths closed around me...". These waters were literal, but there is figurative imagery in this as well.

Psalm 88:7 gives us waters as divine punishment - "Your wrath has rested upon me, and You have afflicted me with all Your waves". Here waves is of the sea or ocean. 

Isaiah 8:7 "Now therefore, behold the Lord is about to bring on them the strong and abundant waters of the Euphrates, even the king of Assyria and all his glory; and it will rise up over all its channels and go over all its banks. Then it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass through, it will reach even to the neck; and the spread of its wings will fill the breadth of your land, Oh Emmanuel". Here we are given direct figurative language for the waters as representation of another nation, Assyria coming agaisnt Israel and will destroy them.

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ALLEGORY: A look at the figurative imagery through allegory. 

While I began to exegete this psalm from the poet's perspective, the metaphor or analogy or allegory that is used didn't really stand out to me, it seemed pretty simple. But now, in understanding the song of the pilgrim and thus also the intention of the scribes who composed this ballad by choosing which poetic pieces to put together to make up these songs of ascents, and seeing that we are using direct language about the Lord not letting Israel's enemies swallow them alive, not letting the waters engulf them...that our minds are being encouraged to remember a time when the Lord swallowed Israel's enemies alive by engulfing them in water.  The Lord brought Israel through the Red sea and then swallowed Egypt alive in literal waters. And the Lord literally swallowed Egypt alive and the raging waters washed over their souls. 

This psalm is sacrifice of thanksgiving for the deliverance of Lord. And it could be just a generalized expression to talk about deliverance from any many times nations came against Israel. But because this was the exact recompense the Lord employed against Egypt it is impossible not to remember this specific instance.

Now this wasn't the original poets intention that is for sure. Neither does this pslam or the first grouping recall through narration specfically the deliverance for Egypt like pslams 104 and 105 do. But the focus of this first grouping in the ballad is intended to draw a peron higher in the spirit with exaltation, thanksgiving, affection and awareness of the Greatness of YHWH. The ballad is not intending to recant the whole happenings in detail. This pslam shows us remembrance happens with a nod to this event.

But the original poet did use allegory here and the scribes made use of this allegory as well for extra meaning. The original poet did use allegory - but the scribes added an extra layer and who intended for something more to be being said and they have by creating this ballad made it appear. What we see here by the scribes intention may be type of antithetic or inverse correspondence. 

Let's focus on these phrases. While looking at this verse, I had been trying to decide if this is a metaphor or hypocatastasis. We know in full context this is a metaphor because we have both nouns - the men who rose up against them are the first noun and the floods are the second. However, in this verse 'the floods have engulfed us' only one noun is given and the second is not. In order for it to be a metaphor both nouns must be given and not by ellipsis. We covered this in part 1 exegesis psalm 120. Therefore, what we have is actually hypocatastasis in which the figure takes us to the next level and directly calls the men floods. You can refresh on the difference between metaphor and hypocatastasis in my blog post part 1 exegesis of psalm 120. Yet something more is happening, some reference to an event or moral that the poet wants the reader to ruminate on.

Which lead me to wonder, is this is allegory? But I wasn't sure it really fit the definition. A typical dictionary definition of allegory is some sort of story or narrative or even visual representation that has a underlying or hidden meaning. "To speak allegorically is to set forth one thing in the image of another, the principal subject being inferred from the figure rather than by direct statement. Clarity of inference differentiates between allegory and parable, because the latter usually requires an interpretation for the teaching that it parallels" biblical training.org. 

Allegory conveys simple or complex ideas in a way that strikes the reader and sends him into meditation and experience. Allegory is notable more than analogy because it appeals to the imagination to experience whereas the other intends to clarify through explanation. Cotterell and Turner point out that "the intention of allegory is to mystify" but not to confuse (Cotterell & Turner, 311). They note this figure of speech is employed and the author expects the reader to identify the symbols the allegory makes use of and correctly interpret his intentions. The symbols will have corresponding representatives, and this will not be opaque. In this instance, these floods are the symbol, and the correct correspondence is a 'destructive force'.

But it wasn't till I looked at Bullinger's definition of allegory that I felt sure. For he has defined it in a way I have never seen before yet am finding is the true or more correct definition. He does say the way he defines it he says this is the Hebraic version. But It really brought everything to clarity concerning this passage (but also concerning the distinction between these similar figures of speech). 

Bullinger calls allegory the continued metaphor and hypocatastasis. Or continued comparison by representation or implication. From "αλλήγορία (allegoria), from αλλοσ (allos), another, and αγορεύειν (agoreuein), to speak or make a speech in the agora (i.e. assembly)" (Bullinger, 748). So literally it means to make speech in a way other what is meant (given with just the words).

In defining allegory he goes on to say it is a figure subject to great controversy in its defining. Of figures of comparison, "all three figures are based on comparison. Simile is comparison by resemblance; metaphor is comparison by representation; hypocatastasis is comparison by implication. In the first the comparison is stated; and the second it is substituted; and the 3rd it is implied. Thus allegory is a continuation of the latter two, while the parable is a continuation of the simile. This definition clears the whole ground and explains the whole of the difficulties and reconciles the different [definitions]. 

The allegory therefore is of two kinds; one in which it is continued metaphor (as in Psalm 23), where the two things are both mentioned (jehovah & the shepherds care), and what is asserted belongs to the principal object; the other in which it is continued hypocatastasis (as in pslam 80:8-15) where only one thing is mentioned (the vine vs 8) and what is asserted belongs properly to the secondary object (Israel). Whom it really refers, is not mentioned, but only implied" (Bullinger, 748).

Bullinger says allegory represents or implies that the one thing is another. When things are given in an allegory, they are things meant to teach or tell us something beyond what is said. "The modern and common usage of the word allegoria is thus quite different from this scriptural definition. According to the modern sense it is taken to mean a fictitious narrative which is another and deeper meaning than what is expressed. An allegory may sometimes be fictitious but Galatians chapter four shows us that a true history may be allegorized i.e. be shown to have further teaching in that which actually took place, without detracting from the truth of the history. Here note this important fact, that in either case, allegories always stated in the past tense, and never in the future. Allegory is thus distinguished from prophecy. The allegory brings other teaching out of past events will the prophecy tells us events that are yet to come, and means exactly what is said" (Bullinger, 749).

Since we have this condition 'if' clause in the past tense, we get this third conditional (unreal past) would have + past participle. And what we have is an instance of allegory by continued hypocatastasis. As for continued metaphor, it is present but not directly stated, it is - men who rose up against us is the noun that is replaced by raging waters.

And the story given can be seen by looking at the literary elements.  The morale of the story - relationship with God delivers, God as protector (master) helps (saves). Protagonist (Israel) and antagonist (men who rose up against us/nations). The rising action is war in hostility, the antagonist desires to whip out the protagonist. The climax is when the nations enact this hostility and the moment of salvation for our protagonist. 

The protagonist's feelings are what are being expressed through the figurative language. Instead of trying to tell you, they paint a picture of feeling as if they might be swallowed alive. Or as if raging waters have piled high to take their life. But because the protagonist is in relationship with the Lord (had it not been the Lord who was on our side), they were - moral of the story - delivered and the nations were recompensed - theme or deliverance ⇄ recompense. This moral is the main message of this psalm - that relationship with the Lord saves.

This also makes me think of psalm 18 which says 'death encompassed me, my Lord heard my cries and helped me. This psalm is a full narration that is actually allegorical and historical. If figurative speech had not been used, all of this could still have been said. but it is the use of figurative speech that takes what is said to something more, something deeper. And in this we see the sublime with its excellence in language. This figure of allegory creates great conceptualization and forceful sentiment with the words while making the reader emotional feel the moral rather than just rationally understand it. 

This figure of speech is applied to convey something deeper than what appears on the surface.  But that is the striaght up front object of allegory. If you think this is its only object indeed the poet must be in despair for your loss.

When it comes to the allegory, there are two objects that this figura applied is meant to accomplish. The first is obvious and well understood - to convey a hidden or deeper meaning (And in scripture, of course a goal is to tell of invisible spiritual things.). The second is always experienced but not consciously understood as the poet's intention. This is to bring the reader into a reality as if truly it was experienced. 

An object of all figurative language is to express emotions which cannot be so wholey expressed with words or to bring the reader into that reality as if they were the one's experiencing it.

It is the poet who has taught us through the willingness, no, the necessity of his spirit to release his hearts outpourings. But the economy of emotions and thoughts in relation to emotions, and even true facts that are to be expressed, can never be wholey expressed through the use of such arbitrary things as words. For the language of the emotions or the soul goes a step further, using such things as figures of speech, so that the world we see within a poem becomes a sort of commentary on the experience of being alive. The human experience (in general or of a moment) could never be so plainly expressed without figura.

This use of allegory gives us a 3demensial experience of the poet's experience during such a time, or such an event. if he simply said 'people tried to kill me and I thought I was going to die' - we would not be transported into such an experience in the sense of truly walking in his shoes. And if he could not transport us, the first and original intent could not occur. And this original intent is what lets the reader feel exactly who God is to them, exactly what it feels like to be helped by Him, exactly what it means to be in relationship with Him.

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Now how the scribes have made use of this poem is interesting to me. What we get is that our original poet applied allegory to tell the story of Israel. This is the first layer, the original use of allegory. And we flushed out above what that was.

But we get a second layer of allegory. For the scribes also made use of this allegory to repeat the message. Because David is not using this allegorically to speak about coming our of Egypt. Yet I am putting forth that the scribes intention was to cause remembrance of that time the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt. 

I am being specific by saying Egypt and that might not be true. What is true for sure is that this poem was chosen to speak to Israel being brought out of any captivity or oppression. 

But here is some of my thinking. The scribes put this ballad together specifically for the feast festivals. It seems there would be a natural nod to the deliverance from Egypt. It was after the Lord brought them out from under the hand of Egypt and in the wilderness that the Torah was given, which included the commandment for these feast festivals to honor the Lord. There were also the commandments to remember and pass on these stories about how the Lord saved his people from Egypt. And this psalm and psalm 120 specifically has the main object of remembrance were as psalm 121-123 weren't calling for that, or doing that. 

SO we will talk about this later but what is so interesting is that, if this is correct, that the scribes did intend for the remembrance and thanksgiving of deliverance to be connected to freedom from Egypt that we have this flood symbology. Here the poet says the Lord delivered him from figurative waters that would swallow him whole. Yet the Lord literally recompensed Egypt by swallowing them whole with waters. These figurative waters would be the corresponding chariots and armies (of Egypt) under this imagery. So that is very poignant.

Therefore allegory is of twofold and the scribes doubled down on. Everything that this allegory here does actually assist the macro message of this first group (ps 120-124); it wraps up all the themes and subjects of the four previous psalms for the final message of that first grouping in the ballads chiastic structure. And that's impressive to me; I calp my hands to acknowledge that skill and fluid artistry.

We can see how the main themes from psalms 120- 123 are flushed out through this story telling. You can look at that again in the preview post part 1 exegesis of psalm 124. Now, by using this allegory we get a clear link and connection to these other passages and events. 

So Let's look at some related Verse references that back up some of this thinking:

WASHING OVER EGYPT:

Psalm 78:42,50,53 "...when He redeemed them [Israel] from the adversary, When He performed His signs in Egypt...He did not spare their [Egypt] soul from death...But He led forth His own people [Israel] like sheep...He led them safely so that they did not fear; but the sea engulfed their enemies [Egypt]".

In this psalm we see Israel Delivered (redeemed), Egypt's soul washed over and the waters engulf Egypt. Here the things that are unspoken in psalm 124 are stated in a narrative psalm focused on how the Lord favored and delivered Israel but Israel was ungrateful.

Psalm 106:10-13 "So He saved them [Israel] from the hand of the one who hated them [Egypt], and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy [Egypt]. The waters covered their [Israel] adversaries; not one of them was left. Then they [Israel] believed his words, they sang his praise.

Exodus 14:4 "Thus I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will chase after them [Israel], and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD". The Lord is honoured through pharaoh and his army being smitten.

Exodus 14:13-14 " But Moses said to the people, Do not fear! stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which he will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent". The salvation of the Lord is the destruction/recompense of Egypt. Here we see the agreement that deliverance or salvation is the same thing as recompense and judgement (they go hand in hand).

Exodus 14:27 " So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at Daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it; then the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the Chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh's entire army that had gone into the sea after them, not even one of them remained". Also reiterated in exodus 15:19.

Exodus 14:30 " Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, And Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore".

Exodus 15 is a narrative thanksgiving ode of Moses. The characteristics of an ode are that of joy, love, admiration. It seems an ode will always then have a great use of the sublime and exultation (paenismos). In this ode we get language very similar to what we find here in plasm 124.

15:1-13 " I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted; the horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea...The Lord is a warrior...Pharaoh's Chariots and his army he has cast into the sea; and the choicest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea. The deeps cover them; they went down into the depths like a stone. And O Lord, shatters the enemy. And in the greatness of your excellence you overthrow those who rise up against you; you send forth your burning anger, and it consumes them as chaff.... I will draw out my sword, my hand will destroy them. You blew with your wind, the sea covered them;... you stretched out your right hand, the earth swallowed them. In your loving kindness you have led the people whom you have redeemed".

→ Here we have the same imagery as psalm 120:4 - the warrior's sword and the kindled wrath that burns (coals of the broom tree). 

→ Here we have the same 'swallow' yet it uses the word earth instead of water which is interesting when it is not earth but literal water covering them. We know it is the water that swallowed them and not land like in numbers. This 'swallowed by the earth' is synonymous with 'swallowed by the waters' which means 'to be killed' or 'to be snuffed out'. Using the word earth here leads us to think about death and returning to the dust. 

→ And here we see that clear inversion that recompense (of the wicked) is equal/synonymous with redemption (of Israel) and going hand in hand.

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What the scribes wanted to do with this ballad was to transmit to posterity the words and actions of the Lord from the past into present life and on into the future of the nation. Psalm 78:5-8 "For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers that they should teach them to their children, that the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell them to their children, that they should put their confidence in God and not forget the works of God, and not be like their fathers... A generation that did not prepare its heart and whose spirit was not faithful to the Lord".

 

It was what the Lord required of them saying, "Take heed to yourself and keep yourself diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, unless they depart from your heart all the days of your life; and teach them to your sons and to the sons of your sons" (Deuteronomy 4:9). 

This particular poem was probably chosen because it could encompass a great deal of events that the nation went through so easily. It could speak to so many times the nation was under distress and facing annelation and present the main voice of the poem so clearly - which was praising the Lord for deliverance and acknowledging Him as their God. This poem literally fulfills this commandment from deut 4:9 perfectly. This ballad then serves to unite the nation during feast festivals to raise their children up on the stories of the Lord, still giving thanks and still giving heed to diligently not forget what the Lord has done for them.

And I genuinely think the scribes intended this poem to recall to mind one of the most memorable instances of when the nation was facing calamity - which was when they were fleeing Egypt. 

Now, just because of these things coming up naturally doesn't prove that this was the intention. Certainly not of the original poet.  However, the intention of the scribes is very specific. The application of chiasmus is good proof for this. The title 'songs of degrees' is great proof for this theory as well. These two things specifically mean that there is a specific agenda for these psalm groupings and what they are saying and doing. And another thing that helps as proof, is that through our exegesis of psalms 120-123, everything seems to be pointing toward this thesis - that the scribes did intend a recall of the time the Lord delivered Isreal out of a time of great distress.

Conclusion:

Our main theme for the first grouping is again displayed. These verses again demonstrate deliverance and recompense going hand in hand. This psalm tells us the Lord delivered by telling us He destroyed/ recompensed the enemy. 

The applied allegory to tells the story of Israel Who is watched over by their God.  These floods speak to any calamity from a nation or time death came to encompass them.

Praise is the final note of the story. As praise is one of the main subjects. This is a thanksgiving psalm. Praise is a type of offering or sacrifice. So we understand that this psalm is 'a sacrifice of thanksgiving'. 

A good servant gives praise and thanks (ps 58 or 116?) but not only this but this ballad is being used for the feast festivals. This first grouping of psalms has been intended to tell of the main moral/message of the ballad which is that relationship with the Lord saves and the Lord is mighty and worthy of reverence.

Verses 3-5 are basically summed up by saying —If Jehovah had not fought for us, we should have been annihilated when our enemies rose up against us.

In the third part of this exegesis, we will look at verses 6-8 which are essentially the thanksgiving for the deliverance and a profession of trust.

The feeling of awe has considerable physiological and psychological implications. It effects the sense of self and physical health and view of the world in profound ways. Studies have proven that 'awe' is more powerful impactfully in these regards than 'love' is. There is power within this ballad. here is intention to be spiritually transformed, physically healed and even to bring forth Divine spiritual protection against enemies. This ballad is the blowing of the shofar, the waters of the healing pool, the incense that goes up to the Lord.

LASTLY, let's look at Extra Verses that are similar in expression to the meaning of these verses:

Psalm 27: 2-3, 5 "When evildoers came up against me to devour my flesh, my adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell. That will host in camp against me my heart will not fear; though war rise up against me, in spite of this I shall be confident...For in the day of trouble He will hide me in His shelter; He will conceal me under the cover of His tent; He will set me high upon a rock.".

Psalm 118:6-7 " The Lord is on my side; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? The Lord is on my side; he is my helper. Therefore I will look and triumph on those who hate me". Through this psalm we understand again that there is a link between psalm 124:1-2 and psalm 121:1-2 and also Psalm 120:7. You can see this in the line structure layout in my theme overview post.

Psalm 9:13, 16-17 "Be merciful to Me Oh Lord; see how my enemies afflict me! ...Lift me up from the gates of death, the Lord is known by the justice He brings; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. The wicked will return to Sheol, all the nations who forget the Lord".

Psalm 14:4 " Will the workers of iniquity never learn? They devour my people like bread; they refuse to call upon the Lord". This is very specifically linked to psalm 120:7 which again reaffirms that those who do inequity are not in relationship with the Lord - do not speak with the Lord.

Psalm 59:1-3 "...set me securely on high away from those who rise up against me. Deliver me from those who do iniquity and save me from men of bloodshed. For behold they have set an ambush for my life; fierce men launch an attack against me.

Psalm 79:1,4,6-7 "The nations Oh Lord, have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.... We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those around us.;... pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that refuse to call on your name, for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland".

In this psalm we can see what the opposite looks like. Here the nations have devoured or swallowed Israel up. We see this the link to psalm 123 with the contempt they endured which is that scorn and derision (This again is implying oppression,, captivity or destruction - not just being laughed at as was mentioned in part 2 of exegesis of psalm 123). And again the link to 120:7 and 121:1-2 reaffirming the calling on the name of the Lord i.e. being in relationship with Him.

Psalm 56:1-2,9 " Be merciful to me oh God, for men are hounding me. All day they press their attack. My enemies pursue me all day long... Then my enemies will retreat on the day I cry for help. By this I will know that God is on my side".

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END OF pOST wait for link to part 3 verses 6-8.