Psalm 100 Overview
His Joyful Flock
Psalm 100
Welcome to the Overview of Psalm 100
This page will introduce and provide orientation to Psalm 100 as a whole. It includes the following sections:
Author
- Unspecified
Book
- Book 4 of the Psalter (Chapters 90–106)
Psalm 100 in a Nutshell
- Psalm 100 opens with the words “A Psalm for a thank offering”... that is, for a thanksgiving ceremony culminating in a thank offering. Thanksgiving was a regular part of Israelite life, because Israel often had reason to give thanks. When their eyes were fully open to the goodness of their God, the one who shepherded them so tenderly, they were one joyful flock.
“His Joyful Flock” This title is a memorable phrase that helps remember the unique character and content of this psalm.
- Psalm 100 belongs to the preparation for thanksgiving ceremonies, reminding Israel where it all starts: with their relationship with their Lord, remembering that he alone is God and they are his people, the joyful flock of his pasture. A way we might then capture the heart of this psalm is with the phrase, “His Joyful Flock”.
Purpose The Purpose was the psalmist's probable intent or reason for writing this psalm.
- To lead people in a thanksgiving celebration of YHWH.
Content The Content is a concise summary of the whole psalm's content.
- We belong to YHWH and YHWH is good, so serve YHWH with joy!
Message The Message is the main idea the psalmist probably wanted the audience to remember upon or after hearing the psalm.
- Being YHWH's flock is reason to celebrate!
Psalm 100 At-a-Glance
These sections divide the content of the psalm into digestible pieces , and are determined based on information from many of our layers, including Semantics, Poetics, and Discourse. The columns, left to right, contain: the verse numbers; the main title of the section; a brief summary of the content of that section (quote marks indicate the text is taken directly from the English text of the psalm (as per our Close-but-Clear translation); and an icon to visually represent and remember the content.
| v. 1a A psalm for a thank offering. | Superscription | |||
| v. 1 Shout joyfully to YHWH, all the earth! | Celebrate the Shepherd | Serve with joy! Enter with singing! |
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joy |
| v. 2 Serve YHWH with joy! Enter before him with exultation! | ||||
| v. 3 Acknowledge that YHWH, he is God. He has made us, and we are his, his people and the flock of his pasture. | YHWH is God, and we are his flock! |  | ||
| v. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, his courts with praise. Give thanks to him! Bless his name, | Enter with thanksgiving! Bless his name! |
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| v. 5 for YHWH is good, his loyalty is forever, and his faithfulness continues through generation after generation. | For He Is Good! | For YHWH is good, loyal, and faithful! |  |
confidence |
The Psalm may be understood with two main sections: the first, a chiasm or nested set of repetitions that celebrate the shepherd and the people’s relationship with him, and the second, the thanksgiving refrain of v. 5. This Psalm lays a foundation of worship that prepares for a specific instance of thanksgiving against a backdrop of an ongoing relationship with God, ever worthy of praise and blessing. The two dimensions are equally important. Shout joyfully today, because he is good and loyal forever.
Celebrate the Shepherd (vv. 1–4)
The first section is built around a chiasm of seven imperative verbs starting nearly every line. Whenever groups of seven occur, there is a sense of completeness or totality, a pattern established already with the seven days of creation. For more on this poetic structure, see our Poetry layer. The center of this chiasm is the confession of the relationship between YHWH and his people. This core affirmation of the covenant relationship is then followed by a repeated call to enter the gates and courts with thanksgiving and praise. Following the call to enter, likely made just outside the temple gates, is the call to give thanks and bless the name of YHWH.
For He Is Good! (v. 5)
The final verse, v. 5, is the fullest expression of the blessings his people receive: experiencing his goodness, loyalty and faithfulness. This trio of terms sums up so much of YHWH’s character and how he interacts with his people. Even in hard times, he shows himself as good. Even through cycles of sin and judgment, he shows himself loyal. Even through the faithlessness of Israel, he shows himself faithful, through generation after generation. His people are people, his flock, and YHWH is their shepherd, whose character is the cause for not just a momentary act of thanksgiving, memorialized in a given ceremony, but also cause for praise at all times, through generation after generation.
Background Orientation for Psalm 100
Following are the common-ground assumptionsCommon-ground assumptions include information shared by the speaker and hearers. In our analysis, we mainly use this category for Biblical/Ancient Near Eastern background. which are the most helpful for making sense of the psalm.
- 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.
Background Situation for Psalm 100
The background situation is the series of events leading up to the time in which the psalm is spoken. These are taken from the story triangle – whatever lies to the left of the star icon.
There are 4 participants/characters in Psalm 100:
- Ceremony Leader(s)
- The most likely setting of this psalm was an Israelite thanksgiving ceremony, including the presentation of a thank offering in the temple. Although the text does not specify a speaker, it is plausible that there would have been some kind of ceremony leader(s) who would lead the people in their thanksgiving and praise. This would likely have been either an individual or group of Levites or priests, as we know from other texts that various priests and Levites had distinct roles in leading the music and worship in the temple (e.g. 1 Chron. 25:1-8). This would be similar to the priestly "chorus leader" of Ps 118, esp. in 118:1-4 (cf. Allen 2002: 165-166).
- All Nations
- For the phrase כָּל־הָאָֽרֶץ "all the earth" referring to all nations, see tracking notes and the exegetical issue The Addressee of Ps 100.