Psalm 46/Participant Analysis/Notes

• vv. 1–10, 12: A Community of God's People as Participants throughout the Psalm.

• • In all the three sections (vv. 2–4, 5–7 and 9–10, plus the refrains in vv. 8 and 12), the community of God's people is the 'speaker'/'narrator'; in this capacity, they “stand outside” the text and can be seen as a non–agentive participant.
  • They receive proper agency in vv. 2, 3, 8, and 12, where they become both a subject participant (e.g., as the recipients of God's roles and actions [for us, to us, our] and as the grammatical subject of the verb "to fear" [v. 3]).
  • Additionally, they could be included in the addressees presupposed by the imperatives "Come! Perceive; Be still! Acknowledge!" in vv. 9 and 11.

• The Community as the City of God.

• • Furthermore, given the instructions in the superscription in v. 1 ([to be performed] "as/in the manner of young women"), the singing community as a participant should be understood as merging with another prominent entity, i.e., the city of God (vv. 5-6). In fact, they could be singing the hymn on behalf of or as a city personified as a woman.

• Rationale for Seeing Community as the City of God:
  • The word ʿalamoth (lit. “maidens, young women”) could refer to the type of a tune or musical setting, indicating the manner of the psalm’s performance (cf. 1 Chr 15:20, where it appears with “harps”).
  • In terms of its genre or literary type, Psalm 46 could be added to the ANE and HB traditions which feature the practice of urbicide, i.e., the ritualized killing of cities. Within this category of texts, Psalm 46 can be understood as an anti-urbicide (an inverted urbicide) poem, whereby the "killing" of God's holy city is attempted but prevented, and the groups which threatened its well-being are subjected to destruction. Given that the "urbicide" motif often appears in ANE and HB city laments, as a poetic text, Psalm 46 could further be viewed as an ideological reversal of these compositions...." (on this, see The Raging Waters in Psalm46:2-4 and The River and Its Streams in Psalm 46).
  • Given that a.) ANE city laments were composed as if they were sung by patron city goddesses and were performed in the emesal dialect (a dialect associated with women, but used by cultic priests); b.) ancient cities were viewed as females (e.g., Isaiah 47, Lamentations 1; 2 Sam 20:19; ANE sources; etc.); c.) war iconography which depicted cities as women, etc.; the instruction al alamot/in the manner of "young women" could indicate that the psalm (an anti-city lament, a song about the city's inviolability) needs to be performed as a choir of young women. Singing as a choir of young women, the singing community, collectively, would stand for the city itself.
  • Cf. Jdg 11:24, 1 Sam 18:7, where women sang about men's military success.
  • Cf. Psalm 68, which speaks of the singers and musicians, and with them are the young women/alamot playing the timbrels (v. 25). Relatedly, the timbrels accompanied songs of victory (e.g., Exod 15:20; Pss 68:11, 25-26; 149:3), and all these texts deal specifically with military victories. Note also that alamot in 1 Chr 15 appears as part of a ceremony for the relocation of the ark of the covenant (a cultic object, which among other things, was carried into battles) to Jerusalem.
  • And Psalm 46 is a song about God's military victory(ies).
• Natural forces in vv. 3-4 and the Nations:
  • See The Raging Waters in Psalm46:2-4.
  • vv. 3-4: the natural forces (the raging waters and quaking mountains) have proper agency in vv. 3-4, where they serve as subject participants (e.g., as the grammatical subjects of the verbs "to ferment", "to foam/rage", "to slide/topple", etc.).
  • Additionally, they merge with the nations and kingdoms later in the text (v. 7). Hence, on a metaphoric level, the image of raging, foaming waters signifies the raging, hostile nations.
• The Nations and Kingdoms:
  • The "nations" and "kingdoms" have agency in v. 7, where they serve as subject participants (e.g., as the grammatical subjects of the verbs "to rage" and to "slide/fall down"). In v. 11, they are the addressees of God's direct speech (i.e., of the imperatives "Be still! Acknowledge that I am God").
  • Although the nations fall in v. 7, the fact they reappear in v. 11, where God is exalted among them, indicates that some may have survived.
  • Notably, some commentators do think that the nations could be in view in both vv. 9 and 11.
• God (YHWH, YHWH of Hosts, the God of Jacob):
  • In sections 1, 2 and 3 (vv. 2–4, 5–7, and 9–11, and the refrains [vv. 8 and 12]), God functions as the grammatical subject in a variety of nominal clauses and as the grammatical subject of the various verbal forms.
  • In v. 11 (which contains direct speech), he also delivers a few utterances.
• The River and its Streams:
  • In v. 5, God is closely associated with the river and its streams (for this, see The River and Its Streams in Psalm 46).
  • The river's role in the psalm and its close association with YHWH indicate that it is an “instrument” in YHWH’s “arsenal”; it is one of YHWH’s agents, who nourishes God's city and its populace and defends it.
  • Thus, the river and streams should be taken as participants related to God.