By Fred Gilley
Retired minister
The Psalmist provides a worthy example in saying, “I will bless the Lord at all times… praise shall continually be in my mouth.” (34:1 The Psalms Commentary, Artur Weiser, Philadelphia, Westminster Press. Translated from German by Herbert Harrwell, 1962.)
Neither original authors, nor commentators, nor translators delayed thanksgiving until a special occasion or a red letter calendar day. Any day, every day, was considered an opportunity to be grateful for abundant blessings and to express personal thankfulness. In my opinion, most blessings before seated meals are repetitive recitations rather than prayers of thanksgiving. Being thankful is far better than “saying thankful words,” however commendable the gesture.
Another German biblical scholar, Hermann Gunkel, divided the Psalms (or Psalter) into five major types, of which thanksgiving is one. Gunkel’s other types—hymns, laments, royal psalms, and wisdom (living advice)—were recognized by Weiser and included in the commentary’s “Introduction.”
Sub-types and less important titles also were included. Individual psalms of thanksgiving, for instance, are separated from community or congregational psalms.
Few Psalms are devoted entirely to thanksgiving. A thanksgiving psalm can be sandwiched between a hymn and a lament. The latter often is the dominant subject of a psalm, ending with expressions of thanksgiving for forgiveness or deliverance, or personal triumph.
Psalmists do not pass up many opportunities to recommend his (or possibly her) one, powerful, universal God to a polytheistic people, probably including some fellow tribal citizens.
Gunkel’s individual thanksgiving psalms include 8, 30, 32, 34, 40:2-12, 41, 66:1-7, 92, (100), (107), 116, 118, and 138. Congregational songs are fewer, due primarily to overwhelming influence of hymn poems. Could have been used is hardly a guarantee a psalm was composed for that purpose. Psalms 66:8-12, 67, 124, and 129 could have been composed for and used by a temple congregation.
Psalms 66 has both thanksgiving sub-,types. A congregational example appears in verses 8 and 9 below, from The New International Version, followed by verses 16-19, representing an individual’s song.
Praise our God, all peoples,
let the sound of his praise be heard;
9 he has preserved our lives
and kept our feet from slipping.
Come and hear, all you who fear God;
let me tell you what he has done for me.
17 I cried out to him with my mouth;
his praise was on my tongue.
18 If I had cherished sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened;
19 but God has surely listened
and has heard my prayer.
For a benediction, let us turn to the non-poetic lines of Psalms 103:2, translated by King James as “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”
