Parallelism & Metaphor in Psalm 12
From inward to outward focus, God saves the one who turns to Him
Parallelism & Metaphor in Psalm 12
This psalm of David can be broken up into three sections (I will use the Septuagint numbering for the verses): v. 2-3, v. 4-5, and v. 6. Each section has its own particular theme as well as poetic instances of parallelism to bind them together. The first section is David’s cry of anguish in his separation from God and from the torment of the Enemy. The middle section, his prayer to Him for deliverance and for reconnection. And the final section is David’s praise and exultation of the Lord for His mercy and salvation.
The first section starts out with clear parallel lines, each one beginning with How long to express the painful duration of the distress the Psalmist is experiencing. The first two lines feature “unbalanced” lines:
How long, O Lord, wilt Thou utterly forget me?
How long, wilt Thou turn Thy face away from me?
The next line, a long one, has some unbalanced parallelism within it itself:
How long shall I take counsel in my soul
with grievings in my heart
by day
and by night?
The parallelism of counsel with grievings is made more clear by St Augustine of Hippo: “There is no need of counsel but in adversity.” (Schaff, n.d.) Thus the one who is long taking counsel in his own soul is there in adversity, grieving. The last line of this first section seems to push all of the images thus far up to a fine point, that of David’s suffering being attributable to a particular antagonist, “How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?” Thus do both Sts Augustine and Chrysostom interpret this psalm as being one about the grief at being separated from God due to sin, the former saying, “either the devil, or carnal habit” (Schaff, n.d.), and the latter as “living in sin” (Chrysostom 1998, 225).
The second section transitions into a prayer, “Look upon me, hear me, O Lord my God;” with a synthetic type of parallel structure that God hearing the prayer would “Enlighten mine eyes” of the postulant. It then pleads with a linguistic parallel “lest at any time” “I sleep unto death” or “my enemy say: I have prevailed against him,” which makes more explicit that the enemy here desires the death of he whom he is afflicting and would triumph in his death. This is made into an Emblematic proverb image with the next line, “They that afflict me will rejoice if I am shaken.” David here shows that if he is defeated it would mean a victory for the Devil (or demons or personal temptations, all of which I will use pretty interchangeably for the purposes of this reflection). This bare description of the effects of his own personal fall is like a secondary prayer to God, reminding Him of His promises and entreating Him to glorify Himself by rescuing His beloved, which on the literal level would be the Psalmist David, but in more expansive and instructive terms means all of humanity, all who call on His name (Chrysostom 1998, 227).
This helps this section transition to the next where David is looking ahead to the rescue that he knows God has promised. Since the inscription of the psalm is “For the End” we can understand this whole psalm in an eschatological sense, when the totality of God’s work is revealed and consummated in all Creation. The Lord will not be defeated.
Verse 6 has four lines, each one with a form of praise – “I have hoped,” “My heart will rejoice,” “I will sing,” and “I will chant.” It breaks off the darkness of the previous sections with a sharp contrasting conjunction, “But as for me,” showing that what follows is the antithesis of the previous despairing two sections. Mercy is poetically paralleled with salvation indicating that this fight is properly God’s and it is only with His help that anyone can be saved (Schaff, n.d.).
It is also very interesting to see both St Augustine and St John tie this to good works which are like a song, and expression of thanks to Him who offers help. Chrysostom does not distinguish the two different greek words used “sing” and “chant,” but encourages those who do not know a song appropriate for the salvation offered to find one by serving the poor, “call together the poor, employ their tongues and bring them into your service; be assured He will hearken to the song they sing on your behalf as willingly as to the Davidic song.” (Chrysostom 1998, 229). The great Western saint is, funnily enough, the one who notes a linguistic point which would agree with St Gregory of Nyssa’s initial explanations of the Greek Septuagint inscriptions. He says, “if any distinction is to be marked here, I will sing with the heart, I will chant with my works;” (Schaff, n.d.) The first word is ᾄσω and the second ψαλῶ, in Latin Cantabo and Psallam, (“HOLY BIBLE: Psalm 13”, n.d.) which Augustine connects with straight singing and with good works respectively (Schaff, n.d.). The former is related in Greek to the word we translate into English as Ode (“Strong's Greek: 5603. ᾠδή (ódé) -- a song, ode”, n.d.) and the latter is obviously a psalm. In St Gregory’s great work, he identifies an Ode as that which is physically performed by the voice alone, thus signifying apprehension apart from practice, whereas a Psalm is one where the instrument is plucked, or a body doing good works apart from inner contemplation (Heine 1995, 129-130). This interesting emphasis of the need for incorporating our physical actions into our thanksgiving to God further demonstrates the parallelism of the psalm with the last two lines beginning “I will sing (ode)” and “I will chant (psalm)” respectively.
Lastly, about the core metaphors in this psalm, we have already brushed up against them tangentially in our discussion of its parallel structures, but we can focus on them more directly now. The Lord forgetting one, that is, ignoring one, is like Him turning His face away, since the image of a strong, robust relationship with Him is of two persons speaking face-to-face (as in the Garden and as Moses did on Mt Sinai). This turning away of the Lord is also Man’s turning into himself ‘taking counsel in his own soul’ as if imprisoned there below and the Enemy is thus “over” him, “exalting” (which literally means “being lifted over”). You can see in the ‘sleeping unto death’ an image of a buried body, furthering the metaphor of a separation and barrier between the penitent and God. But when His face turns back to him, that is, when He helps, it would be an ‘enlightening of his eyes,’ like the bright change in expression when one sees a beloved friend.
The sins which “prevail” over the afflicted “rejoice” as of a conquering army, bringing the first mention of a musical aspect to the psalm. This is contrasted with the music that utters forth from the Psalmist in the victory wrought by God, quite explicit in the last two lines.
Lastly, the image of crying out to the Lord begins in the first line and the last two lines sandwich it with an imaging of singing to Him, showing a metaphorical change from anguish to joy. This Benefactor is the Lord Most High, bringing our gaze in the opposite direction of the initial turning-inside-oneself and to the grave. St Augustine also draws out “unto the Name of the Lord” as indicating not just a private praise to God, but one that is made known throughout the whole world, thus furthering the image of turning away from self-pitying and inward-despair, but facing outward with a renewed and transformed spirit.
References
Chrysostom, John. 1998. St. John Chrysostom commentary on the Psalms. Edited by Robert C. Hill. Translated by Robert C. Hill. N.p.: Holy Cross Orthodox Press.
Heine, Ronald E. 1995. Gregory of Nyssa's Treatise on the inscriptions of the Psalms. Edited by Ronald E. Heine. Translated by Ronald E. Heine. N.p.: Clarendon Press.
“HOLY BIBLE: Psalm 13.” n.d. New Advent. Accessed October 13, 2023. https://www.newadvent.org/bible/psa012.htm.
Schaff, Philip. n.d. “CHURCH FATHERS: Exposition on Psalm 13 (Augustine).” New Advent. Accessed October 13, 2023. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801013.htm.
“Strong's Greek: 5603. ᾠδή (ódé) -- a song, ode.” n.d. Bible Hub. Accessed October 13, 2023. https://biblehub.com/greek/5603.htm.
I’ve cried out to the Lord deeply, with groans of pain three major times in my life. The last time, I turned in to myself and gave my enemy too much of my focus. Digging out has been difficult beyond my imagination. May I learn to lean on God’s love and never give the Enemy such a foothold in my life again.