The Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Creationism (2018)

the LORD, O my soul” — vv. 1, 2, 35), stressing the psalm’s unity; another (“established”) marks off verses 5–8; yet another (“man”/ ’ādām and “labor”/ ‘ a vodāh ) begins the fourth strophe (v. 14) and closes the fifth strophe (v. 23), bracketing and connecting two strophes. Commentators almost universally recognize the structure reflected above (cf. Terrien 2003, pp. 711–718). Barker (1986, p. 64) adopts Allen’s (1990, p. 32) structural analysis, which consists of the following chiastic arrangement producing emphasis on the central (C) section: A vv. 1–4 B vv. 5–13 b 1 vv. 5–9 b 2 vv. 10–13 C vv. 14–23 c 1 vv. 14–18 c 2 vv. 19–23 B’ vv. 24–30 b 1 vv. 24–26 b 2 vv. 27–30 A’ vv. 31–35 2. The Structure of Verses 5–9 and Implications for Verse 10 The previous structural analysis demonstrates that the second strophe ends with verse 9 and a new strophe begins with verse 10. The strophe (vv. 5–9) begins with a reference to “the earth” ( ’erets , v. 5), then switches to “the deep” ( t e hōm ) emphatically placed at the beginning of verse 6. Such a placement could imply that “the deep” refers to something different from “the waters” in the previous verses — and, indeed, to a different event than that of creation. The second half of verse 6 places the adverbial accusative (“above the mountains”) first in word order for emphasis, thus providing a potential hint that “the deep” might refer to Genesis 7:11 rather than Genesis 1:2, and that the event could be the same as described in Genesis 7:19–20. Then, “Your rebuke” in verse 7 offers potential evidence for relating the event to the Flood rather than to creation. The verb “established” ( yāsad ) opens verse 5 and closes verse 8 — both verbs taking as their direct objects either “the earth” or the two forms of dry land: “the mountains” and “the valleys.” In the following translation note the inclusio (literary bracketing) by means of the repetition of “established” (bold font), the independent subjects (underlined), and the plural verbs (arranged in vertical alignment) in verses 5–8 (the author’s own translation). 5 He established the earth upon its foundations; It will not be moved forever and ever. 6 With the deep like a garment You covered it; Over the mountains the waters stood. 7 At Your rebuke they fled; At the sound of Your thunder they ran away. 8 The mountains rose; the valleys descended — To the place which You established for them . In verse 9 the psalmist once again uses emphatic word order to place “boundary” ( g e vūl ) first in the sentence — an apparent juxtaposition with the earlier “deep” ( t e hōm ) starting verse 6. This juxtaposition indicates that God appointed the “boundary” for the “deep,” whatever geographical entity that term might identify. An articular participle (first participle since vv. 1–4), a new term for waters (“springs”), and a partial chiasm all signal the change of stanza at verse 10. Chiasms frequently occur in Hebrew psalms to mark off stanzas (Watson 1986, p. 205). 3. Grammatical Analysis of Psalm 104:5–10 Examining the grammar and syntax of the text establishes the correct relationships between phrases, clauses, and sentences. Accurately establishing grammatical relationships provides the data required to determine the intent of the writer and the meaning of the vocabulary he employs. Grammatical analysis takes into account word order, which in biblical Hebrew can indicate emphasis. Care must be taken, however, in identifying emphatic constructions, since Hebrew poetry can shift word order to set up literary devices such as chiasm (mirror image inverted parallelism: A-B-C-B-A ) or an acrostic (beginning a verse or line with a word selected to provide a letter of the alphabet presented consecutively — well-known in regard to Psalm 119, but no occurrence in Psalm 104). The grammar of verse 5 gives no evidence of anything out of the ordinary. The word order is perfectly normal. The first line’s use of the perfect form of the Hebrew verb indicates, by context, a past action with emphasis on the simple fact that God did indeed “establish” the earth at creation. The second line’s change to the imperfect form of the verb (“totter”) is consistent with the specific Hebrew negative ( bal , “not”) and the progressive or continuing nature of the action as modified by the temporal adverbs (“forever and ever”). In addition, the imperfect form of the verb fits the result clause relationship (“so that”) between the two lines of the verse. Verse 6 opens with the emphatic adverbial accusative “with the deep” ( t e hōm ). Such a placement could imply that “the deep” refers back to “the waters” of verse 3, but potentially introduces a new event. The second person perfect form of the verb (“You covered”) returns to direct address just as the psalm had begun (v. 1). Direct address continues through the rest of this strophe (vv. 6–9). “You covered it” refers to God covering the earth (the antecedent for the pronominal suffix on “covered”). The use of a masculine suffix to refer back to the feminine noun “earth” ( ’erets ) reflects a normal grammatical reality in Hebrew (cf. Joüon 2003, p. 551 §149 b ; Barker 1986, p. 75). The second half of verse 6 places the adverbial prepositional phrase (“above the mountains”) first in word order for emphasis, thus providing a clue that “the deep” refers to Genesis 7:11 rather than Genesis 1:2, and that the covering of the mountains is the same as described in Genesis 7:19–20. Another emphatic adverbial prepositional phrase expressing instrumentality opens verse 7 (“At Your rebuke”). The second half of the verse parallels the word order of the first half, placing “at the sound of Your thunder” first for equal emphasis. The psalmist uses the same imperfect verb form in both lines — a verb form with a final nun suffix (a paragogic nun ), which he employs fifteen times in this psalm. This special verb form occurs when a writer prefers a fuller, emphatic form of the verb (cf. Joüon 2003, pp. 136–137 §44 e ). Sometimes the form indicates a deliberate archaism for poetic reasons. The context here, by using the verb “hurried away” ( chāfaz ), appears to use the verb forms for emphasis — the waters flee in terror, not merely in simple obedience (Lewis 1980, p. 310). Although the Hebrew psalmist could be using the nouns in verse 8 as adverbial accusatives of location, the context indicates normal word order with the nouns as subjects (cf. Barker 1986, p. 77). The psalmist maintains the imperfect form for the verbs, but drops the final nun suffix. This variation in the verb form signals a change of grammatical subject — from “waters” in verse 7, to “mountains” and “valleys” in verse 8. In addition, the closing verb (“established”) returns to a second person perfect form (see v. 6) Barrick ◀ Exegetical analysis of Psalm 104:8 ▶ 2018 ICC 97