The Beautiful Spoils of War: Psalm 68:12-19

The Psalm 68 blogabout continues. Indefatigable Suzanne is playing catch as catch can. I really like the attention to the history of translation. Lingamish weaves the psalm into his family devotions. Bob references a favorite poet of mine, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and catches an example of onomatopeia. Chris Heard, as usual, makes a number of astute observations.

As I remarked in a comment to Chris’s post, I think a case can be made for suggesting that a procession of God out into the battlefield, and sundry other related events on the field of battle, are recounted in Psalm 68, which was, once upon a time, sung as accompaniment along the course of a cultic parade. In this cultic setting, the particular details of the victory recounted, which seem to relate to the Bashan region (the Golan Heights region and neighboring territory, in terms of current geography), like “the bombs bursting in air” of a well-known piece of Americana, become archetypal. They retain and lose their specificity at the same time. Ps 68 is a celebration of a victory seen as the final outcome of the theophany recounted in its opening lines.

In this segment of the poem, a subsection composed of twelve lines in accordance with standard compositional technique as I understand it, the retreat of the enemy and the sharing of the spoil are recounted first. The battle is then described in epic terms as a battle between two mountain ranges and the gods that inhabit them: mount Bashan and its gods, and mount Sinai and the One who dwells there. God’s chariots are described as numbering in the tens of thousands. The reference appears to be to heavenly chariots, on a par with the “chariots of fire” glimpsed by the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 6:17).

Finally, God is described as the one who ascends on high - in the Bashan highlands, one assumes based on context -takes captives, receives tribute, and takes up residence (this last detail is uncertain, but is a reasonable guess).

I’m reminded of passages in Isaiah, in particular, Isa 59:15b-20 and 63:1-6; and of other psalms, in particular, Ps 76.

In response to a footnote by Chris, which I almost missed it’s in such small print, I don’t expect many people to show an interest in the quantitative aspects of ancient Hebrew poetry. After all, you don’t have to know a thing about music theory and music comp to appreciate Bach’s music. You don’t even have to know how to read music. For most people, it’s why bother.

Still, the attempt to understand the prosody of ancient Hebrew verse is a legitimate endeavor. If the prosody of the texts were understood in detail, the knowledge would serve as a guide, one among many, in the task of interpretation. I think I’m on to something, but of course, so have others before me. My hope is that as others engage the working hypothesis I’ve developed, it will be refined and become a useful tool for many.

Here is Psalm 68:12-19, bisected into two subunits, in Hebrew and in English translation:

 
אֲדֹנָי יִתֶּן־אֹמֶר

הַמְבַשְּׂרוֹת צָבָא רָב

 

מַלְכֵי צְבָאוֹת

יִדֹּדוּן יִדֹּדוּן

 

וּנְוַת בַּיִת

תְּחַלֵּק שָׁלָל

אִם־תִּשְׁכְּבוּן בֵּין שְׁפַתָּיִם

 

כַּנְפֵי יוֹנָה

נֶחְפָּה בַכֶּסֶף

וְאֶבְרוֹתֶיהָ בִּירַקְרַק חָרוּץ

 

בְּפָרֵשׂ שַׁדַּי מְלָכִים

בְּהִתֹּשׁ שֶׁלֶג* בְּצַלְמוֹן

 *MT emended; cf. BHS.

 
The Lord bestows the promise,[1]

      the women who bear the news are a great host.

 

Kings of armies

      run away, run away,

 

and the housewife

      shares in the spoils,

            even you who dwell among sheepfolds:

 

wings of a dove,

      sheathed with silver,

            with pinions of shining gold,

 

when Shaddai scattered kings,

      when snow crashed down on Zalmon.

 הַר־אֱלֹהִים הַר־בָּשָׁן

הַר גַּבְנֻנִּים הַר־בָּשָׁן

 

לָמָּה תְּרַצְּדוּן

הָרִים גַּבְנֻנִּים

 

הָהָר חָמַד

אֱלֹהִים לְשִׁבְתֹּו

אַף־יהוה יִשְׁכֹּן לָנֶצַח

 

רֶכֶב אֱלֹהִים רִבֹּתַיִם

אַלְפֵי שִׁנְאָן

 

אֲדֹנָי בָם

סִינַי בַּקֹּדֶשׁ

 

עָלִיתָ לַמָּרוֹם

שָׁבִיתָ שֶּׁבִי

 

לָקַחְתָּ מַתָּנוֹת בָּאָדָם

וְאַף סוֹרְרִים לִשְׁכֹּן

יָהּ אֱלֹהִים

O mount of gods, mount Bashan,

      o mount of many peaks, mount Bashan;

 

why are you hostile,

      o mount of many peaks

 

toward the mount desired

      by God for his dwelling;

            where YHVH dwells in perpetuity?

 

The chariots of God are myriads,

      thousands in abundance.

 

The Lord is among them,

      Sinai in holiness!

 

You ascended the heights,

      you took captives;

 

You received the tribute of men,

     of those adverse to the abiding

          of God Yah.

---

[1] Cf. Ps 77:9.

Comments

[Bob MacDonald]

I think I like the emendation of the text - can you elaborate more on your reasoning - especially as related to the prosody. What I am seeing is a missing letter restored - right? What I would expect as reasoning is: a conformity to your general rule, and some confirming pattern elsewhere in the psalm itself.

[JohnFH]

The proposed emendation presupposes a haplography of one letter, you're right.

Emendations metri causa used to be common, but are rightly avoided today. If MT is retained in 68:15, it is treatable as tripartite. BHS treats it thus in its printed text (but note the apparatus).

[Lingamish]

Wings and pinions, kings and snow. Hidden symbols we'd like to know.

[JohnFH]

I don't know of any special symbolism, but 68:14b (Hebrew numbering) will click with most readers better if they first read Judges 5:30; and 68:15 after reading 2 Sam 23:20; Ps 68:15; not to mention Josh 10:12-13; Judg 5:20-21; Hab 3; Pss 29, 104; Isa 30:30.

[Lingamish]

Phew. That's a lot of homework. Thanks...

[JohnFH]

You're right, I piled on too many texts.

My basic point with regard to the battle and the snowstorm is that when God rumbles in the Bible, nature joins in.

Ps 104: 32, specifically; Hab 3:3-7, but especially verse 10.

[Lingamish]

Very true.

The snow image is suggestive of many things: the kings fell like snow, white bones on the black mountain, the spoils of war scattered as the defeated flee, and simply a very poetic image akin to the 2 Sam. verse you referenced.

Was it meant to suggest one of those things or all? We probably can't tell but that's one of the things that makes AHP fun.