Psalm Insights – Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. (Psalm 119:105)

Here is Psalm 100 to introduce Psalm Insights, a series of studies of individual psalms. It has been chosen as it is short and uncomplicated. It is, therefore, a good illustration of the principles of Hebrew poetry. These principles are entwined into the words, organisation and flow of the psalm so are features of the psalmist’s creation and are not a later editorial addition. When taken into account they add helpful insights to the meaning and interpretation of the psalm.

Psalm 100 (NIV)

A Psalm. For giving thanks

1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
2 	Worship the LORD with gladness;
 	come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the LORD is God.
 	It is he who made us, and we are his;
 	we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
 	and his courts with praise;
 	give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the LORD is good and his love endures for ever;
 	his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Notes

1 In Psalm Insights each psalm is introduced, as above, with the psalm as published in the NIV 1984 edition.

2. In the following format, however, the psalm is set out as I think the psalmist intended it to be understood. My comments are then set out in numbered notes as they are primarily study aids. This format aids navigation and facilitates corrections and developments as new insights come to light.

3. Psalm Insights is a work in progress so feedback in the form of comments and suggestions are welcomed.

Psalm 100 – Call to praise

A	1 Shout for joy to Yahweh, all the earth. 2 Worship Yahweh with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.	*Call to praise* addressed to the whole world.
B	3 Know that Yahweh is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.	*Reason to praise* – Yahweh created us and cares for us.
A1	4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.	*Call to praise* in gathering together in a sacred place.
B1	5 For Yahweh is good and his love endures for ever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.	*Reason to praise* – Yahweh’s love and faithfulness characterise his commitment to us.

4. There were no verse numbers in the original Hebrew. These were invented in medieval Europe. Although they are useful in navigating the Bible they are not relevant when considering how psalms were constructed.

5. Hebrew poetry is arranged in lines and each line usually has two parts, but occasionally three, as here, or even four. I follow the custom used in most Bible translations and inset the second and subsequent parts.

6. Each line has a single idea that is paralleled, meaning the idea is repeated, or developed, in the subsequent parts of the line. The idea that I think is being promoted, is shown beside each line.

7. It is odd that NIV has the last line (B1) in two parts while the other lines have three parts. NRSV has 3 parts for all 4 lines so I have adopted that pattern as it looks to be more in keeping with Hebrew poetic structure (see note 9).

8. I prefer to use Yahweh, rather than ‘the LORD,’ as that is the name God gave to Moses to use. It means something like, ‘forever I am.’ It is the commonest way God is addressed in the Old Testament. It reminds us that with Yahweh, every day is ‘today.’ Past, present and future are aspects of the created order and Yahweh lives outside of that, in something like the modern concept of a ‘parallel universe.’ And Yahweh, Forever I Am, who is the Almighty, the Most High God, the Creator and Sustainer of life in its every aspect wants us to know him by name! How stunning is that?

9. Each psalm has a theme and this is shown in the heading – ‘Call to praise’ – and each idea contributes to that theme.

10. Parallelism is a recurring feature of Hebrew poetry so, as well as being a feature of the construction of each line, it also features in parallelism between lines. This is indicated by the letters A-A1 that are about the call to praise and B-B1 that give a reason for praise.

11. Although the imagery in line A1 is of national gatherings in the Jerusalem Temple the psalm is addressed to ‘all the earth’ (line A) so this imagery relates, not to the Temple itself but, figuratively, to the ‘gates’ and ‘courts’ of Yahweh, that we can access whoever we are and wherever we are as we come into Yahweh’s presence to praise and worship.

12. This is a reminder of Psalm 22:3, ‘you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.’ (NIV margin and NRSV) that suggests that Yahweh is present and glorified when His people praise him.

13. It is Yahweh’s presence that turns any place into one that is sacred, holy and set apart for God. No geographical place is innately sacred.

14. Though this psalm was undoubtedly used in Temple worship I suspect it was also used in daily family worship and as clans and tribes gathered in their villages and towns. It is in such gatherings in homes and local communities that I see God’s commands in Deuteronomy 6 being fulfilled in the instruction of following generations (bear in mind there were no such things as schools). And surely the psalms would feature in such meetings.

15. The reason for praise given in line B is that Yahweh created us and cares for us. ‘The sheep of his pasture’ is a reminder of how this metaphor is developed in Psalm 23, though there it is about the experience of an individual sheep rather than a flock of sheep.

16. The idea of Yahweh’s care is developed further in line B1 where love and faithfulness are linked together as core characteristics of Yahweh’s goodness and commitment to his people. They occur together on more than 30 occasions in the Old Testament.

17. This psalm is only about thanksgiving and praise. There are no complaints, confessions or requests. And it all starts as we ‘enter his gates …’ – we are to start with praise when we come into Yahweh’s presence. This will then help keep the right perspective when we move on to make requests, confessions or complaints. And there are plenty of them in other psalms!

18. Psalm 100 has inspired hymns such as:

All people that on earth do dwell.
Before Jehovah’s awful throne.
Let all the world in ev’ry corner sing.
Now thank we all our God.
Praise to the Lord! the Almighty, the King of creation!

This illustrates how Christians have caught on to this custom of Yahweh’s people in generations long ago.

19. The use of imagery is a significant feature of Hebrew poetry. There is a comment about this in note 11 where the psalmist’s words relate to the physical Temple in Jerusalem but the meaning extends further.

20. To understand psalms properly we need, also, to relate them to the psalmist’s life, culture and social circumstances, as in note 14, before we see how they relate to later revelations in God’s word or through the insights that have developed during 2,000 years of Christian culture. A considerable amount of dependable information is available as will be illustrated in other psalm studies.

21. My final reason for using Psalm 100 to introduce Psalm Insights is that it does not change the understanding of the psalm in any significant way, though most commentaries emphasise its role in Temple worship rather than in homes and local communities. However, in other psalms the poetic structure does have a significant impact on how the psalm is interpreted and we find richer truths as psalms are related to the situations in which they were created.

22. Having been introduced to the key features of Hebrew poetry please now check out any of the other psalms as you wish. They are listed in ‘The Psalms.’ If you are not sure where to go I suggest go to the ‘Background’ section and read the first two pages, ‘Introduction to Psalm Insights‘ and ‘Introduction to Hebrew Poetry.’ Then go to Psalm 58 which was the first Psalm analysed according to this model. That introduces other features of Hebrew poetry.

23. May Yahweh speak into your life and bless you richly through his word.

Acknowledgment

Each of the Psalm studies in this website is introduced with the text of the Psalm from the NIV (1984) translation:

Variations such as in the line structure and the use of Yahweh instead of LORD or the LORD only appear in the Notes sections.

Written: 9 July 2020

Published: 19 December 2022

Updated: 8 July 2023