For my weekly quiet time this week, I will write about Psalm 9. Psalm 9 expresses confidence that God will judge the wicked and the nations that forget God, even as he vindicates the oppressed.
The superscription on this Psalm contains the words Almuth labben. What exactly does this phrase mean? It depends on how one divides the words!
1. One way to divide the words is as Al Muth La-ben. That means "concerning death to the son." And so some believe that this Psalm is about the death of a son. What son? Here are some possibilities that people have proposed:
a. Absalom. The idea here is that David was rejoicing over the defeat of his son, Absalom. The problem here is that David was sad when Absalom died (II Samuel 18:33).
b. David's son by Bathsheba. In the medieval Midrash on the Psalms, we read an opinion of the Rabbis: "As long as that [other] son of his was alive, David knew that the heart of the Holy One, blessed be He, was angry with him, but when the son died David knew that the heart of the Holy One, blessed be He, became tender toward him" (Braude's translation). If the rabbis are taking into consideration the overall Psalm in their interpretation of its superscription, their idea may be that David now has assurance that God will deliver him and Israel from their enemies, for David had already experienced the worst of God's chastisement when his son by Bathsheba died. That would give David strength through the hard times that were coming up.
c. Israel, God's son (Exodus 4:23). The Midrash on the Psalms says that God decrees death for his son, Israel, and yet that decree is revoked when Israel repents. When Israel is assured of God's mercy to her, that may comfort her with the realization that God will deliver her from her enemies.
d. Jesus, the son of God. This is an interpretation that some Christians have, though, interestingly, John Gill rejects it because he does not think that it fits the Psalm's subject matter (not that this has stopped him from making Christological applications before). The idea here may be that God in 70 C.E. judged the religious system that put Jesus to death, and that God will judge other enemies of Jesus.
e. God's people, who are his children. Both Jews and Christians apply this Psalm to the martyrdom of holy people. I see in Augustine, John Gill, and Jimmy Swaggart a belief that Psalm 9-10 are about God's judgment of the Antichrist, who persecutes God's people.
2. A related view is that the phrase concerns the death of Labben. That could be an enemy of David named Labben, or David's enemy Nabal, who was supposedly like the vile Laban (according to one interpretation). Then there's the opinion that the Psalm concerns the death of la-beyn---to the one between. In this interpretation, the Psalm is about the defeat of David's enemy, Goliath, who stood between the camp of Israel and that of the Philistines.
3. Another approach is to treat Almuth as one word, which means "secret," from the root ayin-lamed-mem. Here are some places where interpreters have gone with that:
a. The Midrash on the Psalms presents a view that it means a fault is hidden to God's son, Israel, but God forgives that unwitting sin on Yom Kippur. Again, Israel receiving forgiveness from God indicates that she has his favor, and thus can trust that he will deliver her from her persecutors.
b. Luther says that the Almuth are saints who have hidden faith and are dead to the world. He may mean that Christians' lives are hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3), and that they have died to the world (Galatians 6:14). The idea may be that Christians are secure and hidden in Christ, whatever or whoever may come against them. I wonder if Psalm 9:9 can be relevant to this sort of view: God is a refuge for the oppressed, which means that he hides them and keeps them safe from the oppressor.
c. Psalm 9:12 says that God makes inquiry about blood, and that he does not forget the cry of the humble. Could that be related to Almuth? Interpreters talk about the wicked committing their murders and their oppressive acts in secret, but they do not explicitly tie that concept to the word Almuth. Maybe the idea is that God is uncovering secrets concerning his children, namely, their being victims at the hands of the powerful, who can cover their deeds. Or it could be that God takes notice of those whom society normally overlooks---who are hidden to the world---the poor, the vulnerable, the humble, etc.
4. There are other ideas. Some think that the superscription is merely saying that the Psalm should be sung to a certain tune. Another idea is that the "Ben" of the superscription is a Levitical singer named Ben, who appears in I Chronicles 15:18. Then some repoint Almuth as Alamoth, "virgins," asserting that the Psalm is sung by female singers (see Song of Songs 1:3), or that Alamoth refers to a musical instrument (I Chronicles 15:20). Psalm 46 is a Psalm with a superscription that contains the word Alamoth.