Psalm 4/Sections/Relief
The psalm opens with a celebratory recounting of YHWH's help. The psalmist, it appears, was in some kind of "distress" (v. 2b), but he called out to YHWH (v. 2a), and YHWH graciously answered him and gave him relief. YHWH has thus proven himself to be "the God who makes things right" for him.
The nature of the distress and the relief, described in vague, general terms in v. 2, will become clear in vv. 7–9. These final verses describe YHWH's recent blessing in the harvest: "you have put joy in my heart since the time their grain and their new wine multiplied." It appears, then, that the "relief" YHWH gave (v. 2) is related to his gift of rain (cf. "good" in v. 7) and an abundant harvest (v. 8), which resulted in peaceful and secure living in the land (v. 9). The "distress," therefore, must have been some kind of threat to a successful harvest, perhaps a drought. In the land of Canaan, successful harvests were dependent on the right amounts of rain at the right times (cf. Deut 11:11–12; Lev 26:4).
We can imagine the "Story behind the psalm" as something like the following:
The identity of the psalmist as "David," the king, is signficant. The king represented the people, yet he was also distinct from them (cf. the "I" and "they" language in vv. 7–9). The people's relationship to YHWH was, in some ways, mediated by their king,[1] and so the king was held responsible for the land's fertility, for securing divine blessing on the land (cf. Pss 72; 144; 2 Sam 23:3–4).[2] When the people needed a good harvest and the land needed rain, the king called out to YHWH for help (v. 2).