Wie woont onder de hoede - Psalm 91 = Whoever Lives In The Shelter Of God (Ps 91), 1967 - 2000

This psalm is a post-Exilic composition, rich in the Wisdom style of literature. It is a poem in two sections: vv 1-13, a Wisdom poem about God's protection vv 14-26 an Oracular poem about God's promise Perhaps it originated within at of a liturgy of lamentation, a prophetic oracle in answer to the distress and petitions of the afflicted individual. It is rare to find intact the text or even gist of any prophetic oracle; Psalm 126 is another example of this literary form. Eventually it appears to have been adapted to form part of the entrance gathering rites of preparation of an even larger liturgy, as was the case with Psalms 15 and 24. Its purpose would have been to express the conditions of discipleship required of all who wished to enter God's presence: trust in God and faithfulness to covenant. As a rite of gathering, it would have been addressed to all who had assembled in the Temple, as an instruction about God's faithfulness and a blessing for God's protection. Huijbers set this in the style of an extended, measured recitative, with a tighly-taut tesitura. This a setting with a remarkable accompaniment flow of sustained and shifting harmonies, with a noted used of major sevenths throughout.