Behind | Psalm 104 and the Great Hymn to Aton

The psalmists describe YHWH as sovereign over all life and the natural world. It was also common in Sumeria and Babylon, for example, to refer to gods as “lords of life.” But the type of connection the Bible makes is unique. YHWH is a personal deity, who engages with His world in dynamic and varying ways.

We see a very close parallel to biblical Psalms in the Egyptian Hymn to Aton. The first line is strikingly familiar: “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name.” But even as it shows remarkable correspondence with the biblical text, it highlights the Bible’s uniqueness in the ancient world. Aton (or “Aten”), the “lord” in this hymn, was the sun-god in Egyptian mythology. In other words, the divine being is somehow part of the physical world rather than a personal deity standing over and above it, as we find in YHWH.

One of the many parallels between the Hymn to Aton and Psalm 104 is given below. 

Source: Bernd U. Schipper, “Egyptian Backgrounds to the Psalms,” The Oxford Handbook of the Psalms, edited by William P. Brown, 4, pp. 68-69; and An Introduction to Wisdom Literature and the Psalms, edited by H. W. Ballard and W. D. Tucker, 2000, pp. 70-72. 

Psalm 104:24-30 (NRSV)	The Great Hymn to the Aton
24 O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.  29-30 When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.	How manifold it is, what thou hast made! They are hidden from the face (of man). O sole god, like whom there is no other! Thou didst create the world according to thy desire, whilst thou wert alone.  (Those on) earth come from your hand as you made them, When you have dawned they live, When you set they die; You yourself are lifetime, one lives by you. (125-128)

While the similarities between the two texts are obvious, the differences are also readily apparent. The deity in the Bible is not a force of nature or distant source of impersonal benefits, but a personal God who engages humanity and creation in a dynamic and ongoing relationship. Hans-Joachim Kraus says:

Yahweh is not some impersonal life force, the solar deity, of whom it is said in the Hymn to Aton, “When thou hast risen they live; when thou settest they die. Thou art lifetime thine own self, for one lives (only) through thee” (ANET2, p. 371). Psalm 104 does not deal with a static deity …. 

Psalm 104, which was so strongly influenced by the language of the Hymn to Aton, shows that the entire world is supported and ruled by the activity of Yahweh. His activity involves all the elements and creatures of the created world. Like the father of a family, Yahweh stretched out the tent of the heavens (Psalm 104:2). Like a master builder He “laid the beams” of His chamber (v 3). Like a wise manager He takes the fertility-bringing, life-giving water to the fields (Psalm 104:13-15). Like the head of a family He portions out the goods and gifts needed in daily life (vv 27f). Therefore all creation turns expectantly to Yahweh. It is dependent on Him and dies without Him (v 29). It lives by His creative acts that continue their work of renewal (v 30).

Source: Hans-Joachim Kraus, Theology of the Psalms, 1992, pp. 163-164.

The God of Psalm 104 is not a natural phenomenon, but a personal creator who tends to His world in lovingkindness. And, as we saw In the Text, the life He brings is not confined to biological existence. It draws His people up into relationship with him. This relationship takes priority over any other benefits received from God:

Because your steadfast love is better than life,
    my lips will praise you. 
Psalm 63:3 (ESV)

When a psalmist cries out for life in the Psalms, the priority is reversed from the Mesopotamian prayers. His relationship with YHWH is not something he uses to get life; his relationship with YHWH is life. It’s a subtle shift, but it’s a revolution in ancient Near Eastern thought. And it is a deliberate confrontation with traditional notions.

The psalmist isn’t crying out for physical survival or pleasures, but for the Lord. His complaints aren’t merely about cattle or offspring or the longest possible earthly life. He wants to draw nearer to YHWH and relate on the best possible terms. The significance of this shift is difficult to overstate, and we’ll see it continue through the Old Testament and into the New.