A Prayer for National Victory after Defeat--Psalm 60

It is very difficult to interpret Psalm 60. The Superscription is very complicated and uncertain: To the leader: according to the Lily of the Covenant. A Miktam of David; for instruction; when he struggled with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and when Joab on his return killed twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt. "According to the Lily of the Covenant" may be a well-known tune, but this is uncertain. The references to Aram-naharaim, Aram-zobah, and killing 12,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt apparently have in mind 2 Samuel 8:5; 1 Chronicles 18:5, but 2 Samuel 8:13 says David killed 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt, and 1 Chronicles 18:12 says Abishai son of Zeruiah killed 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt, but neither text has any reference to Joab.

Furthermore, the places mentioned in verses 6-7a (Shechem, Succoth, Gilead, Manasseh, and Ephraim) are in North Israel, while the places mentioned in verses 7b-9 (Judah, Moab, Edom, and Philistia) are in the South. Verses 5-12 are a duplication of Psalm 108:6-13, which may indicate that at least a part of this was originally a much earlier poem which was later incorporated into these two Old Testament psalms. If this is the case, originally this poem applied to the fall of Samaria in 721 BCE and was later reapplied to the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BCE because of the similarity of these two events. Psalm 60 falls into four brief sections.

1. God's People beseech Yahweh to deliver them from their enemies. Psalm 60:1-5.
    a. The people ("we, our, us") implore Yahweh to "restore" them and "repair the cracks" in their land, even though he had rejected them, broken their defenses, been angry for them, caused the land to quake and totter, made the people suffer hard things, and given them wine to drink that made them reel [a common figure for defeat and destruction--see Jeremiah 13:12-14; 25:15-29]. 60:1-3.
    b. Even at that, Yahweh has shown his love to and concern for his people by setting up a banner for those who feared [honored, revered] him so that the scattered troops might rally around. Hence, the people pray that Yahweh will answer their cries, intercede, and give them the victory. 60:4-5.

2. A prophet, priest, or singer responds to the pleas of the people. Psalm 60:6-8.
    a. The poet reminds his hearers that God has spoken words of promise in the sanctuary [apparently long before this crisis]: Like a victorious warrior, Yahweh distributes his spoils and asserts his rule
over lands he has conquered. Here the language calls to mind the allotment of the land of Canaan to the Israelites under Joshua. God promises to divide up Shechem in North Israel and the Valley of Succoth east of Jordan. 60:6.
    b. As his possessions, Yahweh claims Gilead and Manasseh east of the Jordan River, Ephraim in North Israel west of the Jordan River, and Judah in the South. 60:7.
    c. Yahweh also claims his rule over Moab, Edom and Philistia in the South east and west of Judah respectively. Moab as Yahweh's "washbasin" symbolizes that the Moabites are to perform menial tasks for the Israelites. Yahweh casting his shoe upon Edom is a figure borrowed from the practice of passing a shoe to symbolize transfer of property. This calls to mind Ruth 4:7-8, which says that to buy something is to draw off one's sandal. 60:8.

3. The people again complain because Yahweh has rejected them. Psalm 60:9-10.
    Like verse 1, in verse 10 the people complain that Yahweh has rejected them and not gone out with them with their armies. This calls to mind Psalm 44:9 and the account of Israel's battle against the Philistines at Aphek in 1 Samuel 4:1-8. The idea may be that in spite of Israel's having carried the ark  with them into battle, the enemy triumphed. Possibly the individual in verse 9 ("me") is the king or commander-in-chief of the army. The "fortified city" of Edom (Petra? Bozrah?) may mean he wanted to escape there for safety with the remnant of the Judean army after the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BCE, or may mean that at this time the Edomites had joined the Babylonians in overthrowing Jerusalem and thus were the enemies of the Jews as in Psalm 137:7; Obadiah 10-12.

4. The people conclude confident that Yahweh will deliver them. Psalm 60:11-12.
    a. They ask Yahweh to grant them help against the foe, because "human help is worthless." They depend completely on Yahweh, not on any other source, human or otherwise. 60:11.
    b. Thus, they declare that "WITH GOD," they will do valiantly, because Yahweh alone is the one who tread down his foes. 60:12.

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John Willis