"...and not we ourselves"

Comments on Psalm 100

Part of my morning routine is to read a psalm or two or three, cyclically, and usually before getting up. It helps with getting up. This morning brought Psalm 100, and I noticed something.

Now quite a few of these psalms leave me scratching my head. I’ve see the theological rationalizations for why so many of them read the way they do, but I don’t apologize for anything I read in this book. I scratch my head, and I notice similarities with my own thoughts and frustrations. But this psalm contains a rather clear phrase that I have been repeating in my my Substack comments (on other blogs), but without realizing that it was also found here.

For context, here is the entire psalm. It is short, as psalms go. (NASB 2020 translation; italicized words are translator insertions for clarity)

A Psalm for Thanksgiving

Psalm 100:1 Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Serve the LORD with jubilation;
Come before Him with rejoicing.
3 Know that the LORD Himself is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving,
And His courtyards with praise.
Give thanks to Him, bless His name.
5 For the LORD is good;
His mercy is everlasting
And His faithfulness is to all generations.

Viewing it as a whole, the first thing I notice is that it describes a scene — a procession — that is not likely to be seen in our culture, other than perhaps in movies, although it would have been familiar to the cultures of that day. You have to use your imagination.

The words that stood out to me are in verse 3, highlighted here in bold:

3 Know that the LORD Himself is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

This statement, while largely uncontested in many cultures in earlier times, runs against the conventional wisdom of our day that says we were not made, but that all that we see, ourselves included, somehow made itself. Such a claim doesn’t even make sense, although if it did it might clarify why things are such a mess, but it underlies much of the thinking I encounter when reading about what to do about the present world situation.

I find that rather unfortunate, because many intelligent and dedicated people whose words I read and whose videos I watch appear to be overlooking something of fundamental importance that could render all their work in vain.

Not everyone I come across makes this assumption, but then there are other assumptions that can stand in the way of success as well. I do not, however, see those assumptions called out in this psalm, and I will save them for another day, perhaps another psalm.

The importance of the distinction, “and not we ourselves”, can be seen in the next line:

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

The balance of the psalm then complements this statement. My point is that we are not left alone to potentially destroy ourselves, but we have a merciful and faithful caretaker that looks after us, whether we see that or not, and whether we believe it or not. There is, obviously, more to this because there is evil in the world (had you noticed?) and it must be dealt with somehow, but again, that is for another day and perhaps another psalm.

For someone that understands this reality and who is not dedicated to evil and destruction, what would be an appropriate response?

4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving,
And His courtyards with praise.
Give thanks to Him, bless His name.

Or, you can think for yourself and try as hard as you can to fix things yourself, with odds worse than those of sheep defending themselves against wolves. But I said I would save those assumptions for another day.

That is really all I have to say, but for completeness one more matter of note is that some translations say something different in verse 3, and there is a reason for that. The words “not we ourselves“ are footnoted in the NASB with the comment “Some mss [manuscripts] His we are“. There are two different versions in the ancient texts, and some translations use one and some the other. Those using the alternate reading include the ESV, NRSV, CSB, NIV, and NLT, while others including the KJV, NKJV and the Septuagint (LXX, ancient Greek translation) agree with the NASB. The only one I can directly attest to is the LXX — αὐτὸς ἐποίησεν ἡμᾶς καὶ οὐχ ἡμεῖς (literally “he made us and not we [nominative case implying ‘not we made us’]“).

The CSB footnotes the words with “Alt[ernate] Hb[Hebrew] tradition, some Hb mss[manuscripts], LXX[Septuagint], Syr[Syriac], Vg[Vulgate] read and not we ourselves“.

My preference for the above translation (and the others that agree) comes from the observation that the opposite is very much a part of contemporary thinking, and also from noticing (using the NIV as an example) that “It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture“ is a bit redundant. “We are his” is repeated. You can pick either rendering.