From desperation to adoration : reading Psalm 107 as a transforming spatial journey

Abstract

Critical spatiality opens avenues to investigate the transforming power of the authors/redactors of the Hebrew Bible’s spatial imagination. I read Psalm 107 as a spatial journey bridging the divide between the desperation of the exile and the longing of the Psalter’s post-exilic authors/ redactors for Israel’s complete restoration and the universal adoration of Yhwh. Psalm 107 plays a crucial role in the transition between Books IV (Pss. 90-106) and V (Pss. 107-145) and acts as a “bridge” between the desperation of the exile and the call to the universal adoration of Yhwh in the post-exilic period. Psalm 107 hints at a continuous transforming spatial journey between present realities and the longed-for eschatological establishment of a universal, divine kingdom.