Psalms 65:10

PRAISING GOD FOR AN ABUNDANT HARVEST

"Thou waterest its furrows abundantly;

Thou settest the ridges thereof:

Thou makest it soft with showers;

Thou blessest the springing thereof.

Thou crownest the year with thy goodness;

And thy paths drop fatness.

They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness;

And the hills are girded with joy.

The pastures are clothed with flocks;

The valleys also are covered over with grain;

They shout for joy, they also sing."

The theme here is not so much, "Thank God for a bountiful harvest," as it is, "Thank God for making this planet so that it would feed God's human creation." The fertile fields, the sun, the rain, grain itself (a gift of God) -all these are due solely to the built-in, created characteristics of the earth. God has arranged this planet so that it will give man bread.

Back of the loaf is the flour,

And back of the flour the mill;

And back of the mill is the wheat

That waveth on yonder hill;

And back of the hill is the sun

And the shower and the Father's will.

Leupold mentioned half a dozen so-called "interpretations" of this psalm: "(1) that it was written for some great festival, (2) or after a drought had been averted, (3) or as a liturgical piece for the congregation, (4) or as a reference to a sickness from which the writer had recovered."[10] He then added that, "All such approaches stand upon too insecure a footing and should not dominate the trend of interpretation."[11]

Perhaps the most glaring example of false interpretations is that favored by some of the radical critics who try to associate this psalm with the pagan annual festival of "The Enthronement of Yahweh." This interpretation is loaded with the superstition and magic of Babylonian mythology; and we do not believe that the religion of the Old Covenant was tainted with any such nonsense.

"The wilderness ... the hills ... the pastures ... the valleys" (Psalms 65:12,13). Yes, the crops are mentioned here also; but these words speak of the earth itself as being the provider for man's needs, being designed so to do by the loving Father in heaven. We think the emphasis on "that bountiful harvest" usually mentioned in discussion of these verses is simply misplaced. Of course, there was a bountiful harvest; but that is not the point here. The point is, "Where did they get it?" It came from God's providential arrangement of the mountains, the seas, the wilderness, the hills, the pastures, the valleys, the sun and the rains, as well as giving men the seeds that produced the grain.

"They shout, they also sing" (Psalms 65:13). Hills, valleys, and pastures do not literally shout and sing for joy. These are metaphors of what men should do. "All this rejoicing is because of the goodness of God"[12]

Delitzsch pointed out that, "These closing words lock themselves as it were with the beginning of the psalm, speaking of the joyous shouting and singing that continue even to the present time."[13] This also indicates that the "bountiful harvest" evident in the last paragraph should be understood, not as the `big thing' celebrated here, except in the sense that it is the "end result" of God's providential arrangement of the entire planet.

We consider the following lines from Leupold as a fitting conclusion of this wonderful psalm. "We venture the claim that Psalms 65:13 is the most eloquent and beautiful description of the blessings that God bestows upon fields and meadows to be found anywhere in such brief compass."[14]