Bernard P. Robinson, «Form and Meaning in Psalm 131», Vol. 79 (1998) 180-197
Psalm 131 displays a subtle play on words. The psalmist has silenced and calmed down his soul/breast (he has put an end to its loud complaints). The two verbs used express or suggest the idea of assimilation (I have transformed it into something silent and something calm), which leads up to the material image which follows. In 2b gamul means a child that has been weaned or is happy (and has stopped crying loudly); instead of kaggamul one should read tiggmol, you have been nice to me. Although the psalm has an unusual form, it has the same structure as Psalm 130. It probably constitutes a literary unit. It may by royal psalm.
others to place their trust in him too. In Ps 62, we find the same situation in reverse: in vv. 1-11, the Psalmist tells the people that he has committed his silent trust to the LORD, and he calls on them to do likewise; then in v. 12 he addresses the LORD.
What is clear above all is that the language of this, as of most other Psalms, is sufficiently general for all to be able to identify with its sentiments and make it their own. That is the beauty of the Psalms: although they for the most part clearly spring from deep personal experience, the language in which they are clothed is so chosen as to make them suitable for use by all sorts and conditions of men and women.
As is widely known, there is no scholarly consensus on the significance of the word twl(m (steps, ascents, extolments?) in the designation of Psalms 120-134 as twl(mh ry#$; nor are scholars agreed on the reason for these Psalms being described in this way. The majority view is that the term characterizes these Psalms as in some sense pilgrimage songs. It is widely accepted, however, to be unlikely that they were all originally composed as such. This particular Psalm was probably not in the first instance created to be sung by pilgrims. As for the phrase wm) yl( "it seems...likely that the metaphor is used as a metaphor, with no factual connection to the speaker" 57. Nevertheless, the Psalm works quite well as a member of a collection of pilgrimage songs. Fyall has written: "The Psalter expresses the emotions and feelings of the pilgrim people of God and, though rooted in particular times and places, speaks to pilgrims in circumstances far removed from those who originally wrote and sang these songs" 58. What this particular poem expresses is the conviction that the true pilgrim must travel in humility, hoping and trusting in God, and is inviting others to do the same: in v. 3, "the confidence in the LORD of one pilgrim is offered to the company of pilgrims" 59.
What has this Psalm to say in particular to those who read it as part of the Christian Bible? From the start Christians have drawn inspiration from the study and recitation of the Psalms. Athanasius, in To Marcellinus on the Interpretation of the Psalms, waxed lyrical on the subject: