What do any of us want from life? Security and happiness, belonging and purpose. Peace and love etc.
David, whose name shows up in this psalm wants nothing different, and his fervent prayers to the God with whom he is engaged in conversation returns to these themes from different days, situations and crises.
Unclear what’s provoking our daily pslam today yet once again he yearns for the divine protection that will be a tower of strength and a cozy tent at the same time. But then half way through this short chapter a strange line appears, appealing for long life to the ruler, referred to in the third person - a prayer for the king:
יָמִ֣ים עַל־יְמֵי־מֶ֣לֶךְ תּוֹסִ֑יף שְׁ֝נוֹתָ֗יו כְּמוֹ־דֹ֥ר וָדֹֽר׃
Add days to the days of the king;
may his years extend through generations;
Ps. 61:7
Is this David praying on his own behalf? Did the authors of this text, pretending to be him, added this coda from elsewhere? Or is this a different king whose life will hopefully extend - forever?
Robert Alter comments that:
“This petition on behalf of the king, which turns the supplication into a royal psalm, is puzzling because the speaker until this point appears to be making an entreaty about his own personal plight. Either he identifies the fate of the nation with his own fate, so that the enemies threatening the nation are imagined as menacing him personally, or these two verses have been spliced in from another psalm.”
Other commentators over the centuries were also alert to this anomaly and resolved it in a variety of creative ways.
Rashi, writing in France in the 11th century, accepts the authorship of King David, and adds fantastic legends to explain the verse. There is a rabbinic story, perhaps some sort of myth, that Adam was supposed to live 1,000 years but only lived to 930 because he donated 70 years of his life - to a baby boy named David who was supposed to die a stillborn. In homage to that intergenerational generosity, the poet alludes to the years of the king and the eternal life beyond them. Meanwhile, Radak, the Italian-Jewish commentator who lived a century after Rashi, suggested another route, writing that “If this is David speaking of himself, having been anointed king he prayed that he lives longer than his allotted lifespan. However, if he was speaking about the Exile, the king is the Messiah.”
In this reading - the messiah will appear at the end of time, of David’s line and loins, and will rule the world until eternity.
And one more reading comes from earlier yet, as the rabbis in the Babylonian Talmud in Tractate Gittin, 62a read this text and claim the crown for themselves, suggesting that this verse refers to themselves, since“the rabbis are now called kings.”
The bottom line of this curious insertion is that we all want to live long and healthy lives, and for our names and deeds to be remembered once we’re gone.
King or rabbi, pauper or poet, deep down we share sentiments and dreams, fears and visions for futures that include the best that we can get. Is long life always a blessing? That’s debatable, but for David, who lived 70 years of action, each and every day can be a blessing. He concludes this psalm with gratitude - “I will sing hymns to Your name forever, as I fulfill my vows day after day.”Is it wise to have our elders live so long as rulers when new leaders may be better suited to lead? That’s a debate much on our minds at the moment, but at least we can all agree that everybody deserves the chance to live, and perhaps to lead, for as long as possible, as long as it is a blessing for themselves and for everybody else as well. Long live the king? As long as it’s a blessing.
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