9 O Israel, trust in the LORD!
He is their help and their shield.
10 O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD!
He is their help and their shield.
11 You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD!
He is their help and their shield.
It’s hard to miss the point. The call to trust Yahweh is found in every verse in this stanza.
As to the occasion behind the composition of this psalm, we may have a clue in verse 2: “Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” (in quotation marks). This could have been a taunt in the context of a battle. When do you taunt? Taunting is usually done when you are winning— when you have the upper hand. It could be that the background of this psalm was a military crisis (Longman, TOTC). Israel in engaged in war and the enemies are temporarily winning.
What was Israel’s response to the taunt? They responded by saying that Israel’s God is in the heavens and he does whatever pleases his (verse 3). “He has all power, authority, and knowledge… and acts in his own time and in ways he chooses” (NLT Study Bible). Then Israel proceeds with mocking the idols of the enemies in verses 4-8, which could be read as a counter taunt: they have mouths but are unable to speak, they have ears but can’t hear; with noses but can’t smell, they have hands but unable to feel, with feet but cannot walk, with throats but can’t produce a sound out of it.
In our stanza (verse 9-11), along with the threefold call to trust Yahweh is the threefold use of the metaphor shield. Yahweh is their help and their shield. This metaphor of course is again military inspired. In the midst of this military crisis, they have a defender— a protector.
In the next two verses (12-13), they expressed their confidence that the Lord remembers his people and that he will bless them. He will bless Israel. He will bless the descendants of Aaron the priest and lastly, the category where we belong: he will bless those who fear the Lord, both the small and the great.
Brothers and sisters, we may not be in a military crisis right now but we are all facing song crises in some other shapes and forms. It may be a financial crisis. It may be a relational crisis. It may be a health crisis. But in whatever crisis you may be facing, never forget that your God is in the heavens. And though we may not understand what he is doing for he does whatever he pleases, we trust that he who sits on his throne possesses perfect wisdom, and if we remain in the fear of God, we could have the same confidence as ancient Israel had. The Lord shall surely bless.
