THEOSISAugustine of Hippo
I believed that Psalm 108 did not necessitate commentary since I have already interpreted it in Psalm 57 and in verse 1 of Psalm 60, which comprises parts of this psalm. The concluding section of Psalm 57 is the initial part of this psalm, highlighted by the line: "Thy glory is above all the earth." The remaining verses lead to the final segment of Psalm 60, paralleling how the last part of Psalm 135 mirrors that of Psalm 115 with the phrase: "The images of the Gentiles are but gold and silver." Similarly, Psalms 14 and 53 maintain consistent themes throughout their entirety, despite minimal variations.
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Therefore, any slight discrepancies within this Psalm 108 compared to its two constituent parts are easily recognizable; for instance, in Psalm 57 it states, "I will sing and praise; awake, my glory," while here it denotes, "I will sing and praise my glory." In the former, it instructs to "Awake" so that praise can ensue, and it proclaims that "Thy mercy is great" (or, in some translations, "exalted") "unto heaven," while here it is phrased as "Thy mercy is great above the heavens." Both express the vastness of God's mercy in relation to the heavens. In Psalm 60, “I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem,” is expressed here as “I will exalt, and divide Shechem,” through which the anticipated division of Shechem is clarified, a division foreshadowed following the Lord's exaltation, indicating that the rejoicing pertains directly to this exaltation. Thus, He rejoices due to His being elevated. This is echoed in another passage: “Thou hast turned my heaviness into joy; Thou hast removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.” There it refers to Ephraim as “the strength of my head,” while here it is “Ephraim, the lifting up of my head.” This denotes that strength arises from acceptance—Christ empowers us through His acceptance of us, enabling us to bear fruit, as the name Ephraim signifies “fruitful.” Acceptance reflects our reception of Christ, or conversely, Christ, the Head of the Church, who elevates us. The terms that may perplex us in the earlier psalm are echoed here, identifying our adversaries.
This psalm instructs us to perceive titles that may initially seem historical as fundamentally prophetic in their intended purpose, particularly in the composition of psalms. This psalm comprises the concluding sections from two psalms, each bearing distinct titles, yet they both coalesce around a central theme, not merely at a historical level but deeply within the essence of prophecy, aligning their subjects into a singular focus titled "A Song" or "Psalm of David," which stands apart from past titles aside from the name David. As noted in various forms, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets in times of old, as the Epistle to the Hebrews articulates (Hebrews 1:1); these words anticipated the coming of Him whom He would later send, ensuring the fulfillment of the prophets’ declarations, for in Him all the promises of God are confirmed—yes. (2 Corinthians 1:20)