Psalm 100/TPN/Overview

The following gives a basic Overview of the Psalm, answering the following questions:

• Title – what title best describes this unique psalm?
  "His Joyful Flock"
• Purpose – why was this psalm written?
  The purpose of Psalm 100 was probably to serve as a guide during part of the liturgy (that is, the ritual performance) of a thanksgiving celebration at the Jerusalem temple. The psalm would likely have been recited by one or multiple chorus leaders (probably priests/Levites) who were addressing the gathered crowd of the people of Israel (see Story Behind below).
• Content – in summary, what is said in this psalm?
  The content combines three central elements in the psalm: covenantal belonging (We belong to YHWH - verse 3), YHWH's good character (YHWH is good - verse 5), and the resultant celebration, praise, and devotion (Serve YHWH with joy! - verses 1b-2 and 4).
• Message – what is the main point or theme?
  The message expresses the interplay between the covenantal belonging of YHWH's people and their resultant joyful celebration.

Every psalm has a coherent story behind it. However, many psalms are not written in typical "story" format, with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Here, we attempt to understand the story and background that prompted the psalmist to write.

Story Behind

Summary triangle-what is the summary of the story of the whole psalm? What is the main message/theme conveyed by the story-behind?

• In ancient Israel there was a specific temple sacrifice known as a thank-offering (Hebrew: תּוֹדָה), which would be performed to give thanks to YHWH for his loyalty (חֶסֶד) to Israel and all of his blessings (Jer 17:26; 33:11, 2 Chron 29:31; 33:16).
• After victory in military conflicts or any rescue from trouble, ancient Israelites would go up to Jerusalem to give thanks to YHWH for his salvation. For example, in 2 Chron 20, King Jehoshaphat is surrounded by enemies and cries out to YHWH, and YHWH answers and grants victory. Jehoshaphat and the people then "came to Jerusalem with harps and lyres and trumpets, to the house of the LORD" (2 Chron 20:28) to give thanks to YHWH and probably offer thank-offerings in the temple.
• A temple ritual gave structure to these thanksgiving ceremonies, including a ceremonial entrance through the temple gates (cf. Ps 100:2, 4), songs of thanksgiving (cf. esp. Ps 100:4-5), and the presentation of a thank-offering on the altar.

Psalm 100 is a psalm of joyful thanksgiving and praise, probably composed to be part of an ancient Israelite thanksgiving ceremony.

Knowing the layout of the psalm by sections helps us to understand the progression of thought as the poem progresses. The picture below shows the main “chunks” or pieces of the poem. Verse numbers appear on the left. The second column has a title for each section. The large third column contains a brief summary of the section’s content. As you read through the content column, you will see important words and ideas highlighted in similar colors. The icons on the right may be used as memory aids.

Progression–what is the flow of thought and emotion as the poem progresses?

• Verses 1b–4 are structured around seven commands given progressively to the audience: shout joyfully, serve, enter (x2), acknowledge, give thanks, and bless. The expectation is to be both joyful and grateful in obeying these commands.
<il>The final section (verse 5) provides the reason for the preceding celebration, focusing on God's character as “good, loyal, and faithful”.

Part of poetry is communicating emotion. Each section, and even each verse, can contain a number of different emotions. Here are the main emotional themes of each section:

The dominant emotion of this psalm is clearly joy (e.g. “shout joyfully” in verse 1, “serve YHWH with joy” verse 2, “exultation” in verse 2, and more...).

However the final verse adds to this joy a sense of confidence in the good character and faithfulness of God.

In poetry, it is important to keep track of who is speaking, who is the audience, and what it is that the speaker is trying to do with his words. In the chart below, the left-hand column identifies the speaker, the right-hand column identifies the audience, while the middle column tells what the speaker is trying to do with his words (his speech acts) in each section.

Poetics–what kinds of artistic beauty did the psalmist incorporate into the poem to reinforce its message? (See Poetic Features video and layer for more details.)

We have two interesting poetic features that bring out the artistic beauty of Psalm 100. Both poetic features follow the structure of the psalm around seven commandments.

1. The Sheep and their Shepherd at the Center

   Verses 1b-4 are arranged according to the structure ABCB’A’, with line A parallel to line A’ and line B parallel to line B’. Verses 1b and 4c share similar word order and therefore serve as the A and A' lines. Verses 2 and 4ab share similar word order and serve as the B and B' lines. This ordering of the lines, with C (that is, verse 3) sandwiched in the middle, makes line C prominent and central to the psalm's structure. See the table of the prominence section already given.

   

2. Complete Worship: All that God requires

   Psalm 100 is constructed around a chain of seven clause-initial commands calling Israel to worship YHWH, arranged in the AABCB’A’A’ where A is parallel to A’ and B parallel to B’. The outer lines AA’ center on honoring and worshipping YHWH. B and B’ lines include matching commands to enter into God’s presence. Line C is prominent and has to do with the right understanding one is expected to have about God. The structure of the psalm is thus as follows:

   

Prominence–what words, phrases, or ideas are most important in this psalm? It is also important to consider how the author chose to draw attention to certain parts of the psalm. Here are the parts of the psalm that we believe are most prominent, and thus should be most prominent in a performance of the psalm.

Verse 3

Verse 3 is central to psalm 100 (for at least nine reasons, see our verse by verse notes. One can see the central position of verse 3 in the following visualisation. The verse is framed by the matching lines on either side of it: Enter before him with exultation (verse 2b) and Enter his gates with thanksgiving (verse 4a). These two verses repeat the same initial command enter, which is the only word in the psalm that is repeated twice with identical form and meaning. The rest of these two lines also closely match each other. The result of this framing is as if there were a gradual incline rising and falling on either side of the peak height of prominence in verse 3.

Verse 3 contains the psalm's central theme of joy/celebration and the central image of God’s people as his flock. This is the only image in the psalm. YHWH is prominent throughout the psalm. He is referenced both by his proper name and with pronouns (him, his, he) many times throughout the psalm. This prominence is strengthened by the fact that the whole psalm is a thanksgiving to YHWH.