Asaph, the author of this psalm was the Levite musician King David appointed to serve in the Tabernacle until the Temple was completed. (1 Chronicles 6:39) He was the father of the clan of Temple musicians who served throughout the history of the Temple – Solomon’s and the rebuild. (1 Chronicles 9:1, 15, 15:19, 16:7, 37) Musical service including writing psalms is considered prophesying. (1 Chronicles 15:1-7) Prophesying is being carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:21) The entire book of the Psalms derives from the intervention and leading of the Holy Spirit upon unique individuals.
Asaph’s first psalm to appear in the book is noteworthy because it uses seven names for God, three of which are in verse 1. God having several names is no different than me. I have a first, middle, and last name. My family and friends call me by a shortened version of my first name. I even have a secret confirmation name.
The Hebrew “El” is the first name of God to appear in this psalm. El is a simple base noun for deity in the Old Testament Hebrew (238 times), in Aramaic, Arabic, and used for the high god in Canaanite culture. El implies majesty and power. El is a synonym for the more frequent noun for God: “Elohim”. The English noun God is used similarly.
The Hebrew “Elohim” is the second name of God to appear in this psalm. Elohim is the first name for God to appear in the Bible with the phrase, “In the beginning God…” (Genesis 1:1) Elohim is an interesting Hebrew noun for the “im” at the end implies plural. Yet, the sentence structure of Genesis 1:1 makes it a singular noun implying three-in-one. Indeed, Genesis chapter 1:2 mentions the Spirit of God, Genesis 1:26 has God speaking to himself saying, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…”, and Genesis 2:4 has YHWH (LORD in some English translations).
The Hebrew “YHWH” is the third name to appear in this psalm. YHWH is the covenant name of the God of Israel used more than 6,000 times in the Old Testament. The four letters are only consonants. Reverence for the divine name led to the practice of not writing the vowels because of the Commandments found in Exodus 20:7 and Leviticus 24:16. This led to the practice of not even pronouncing his name at all. Instead, the Israelites began using “Adonai” (Lord in most English translations). YHWH vowels were forgotten millenniums ago. In the Middle Ages Jewish scholars began using the vowels from “Adonai” in between the consonants to help them remember not to pronounce “YHWH”. “Jehovah” is a Latinized form never used by the Jews to this day and wasn’t even a real word in Latin when someone invented it. The true spelling for YHWH is believed to be “Yahweh”, but no one knows for sure.
The action ascribed to God in verse one is that he speaks to and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets. In other words, the whole earth.
