Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

Psalm 66. This is a thanksgiving for God's answer to the prayer of a particular member of God's people. Perhaps it was especially suited to the occasion on which a worshiper brought various sacrifices to express his thanks and consecration (cf. vv. 13-15). The marvel of this psalm is the way in which the first half (vv. 1-12)--with its references to "us" (i.e., to the people of God as a whole) and to "all the earth," and its recounting of God's "awesome deeds" for Israel (v. 6 describes the exodus and the crossing of the Jordan)--sets God's deeds for the particular person into the context of his commitment to the people as a whole (indeed, to mankind as a whole, for whose sake the people exist). The biblical worldview does not require a choice between "corporate" and "particular": rather, the particular person experiences God's love as a member of his people. Psalms 66-67 represent a break in the pattern of Davidic authorship that began in Psalm 51; Psalms 68-70 resume the pattern. At the same time, there are connections between Psalms 65 and 66, such as the mention of vows and sacrifices (65:1-4; 66:13-15).

66:1-4 Let All the Earth Worship God! The psalm opens with a universal call (Shout for joy to God, all the earth), and this section closes by declaring how all the earth worships the true God (v. 4). The biblical story line has the one true God creating all that there is; every human can genuinely express his or her humanness only by loving and worshiping this one God. Even now the nonhuman creation honors its Creator (cf. 19:1-6), and the OT nurtures the hope that one day all mankind will do so as well (e.g., 117:1, cited in Rom. 15:11 as part of Paul's rationale for his efforts among the Gentiles).