Tehillim 66 | “Refining us as Silver is Refined”

The poet offers praise and exaltation to God for a great deliverance. In the first part of the psalm, the praise is in the plural form, suggesting a national salvation. In the second part, the poet shifts to the singular. He might be linking together two separate songs of praise for different events that share a common theme of gratitude to God; or perhaps the singular speaker is a nationally significant figure, such as a military leader or a king; It is also possible to suggest that the second part of the psalm represents the personal application that each individual in Israel is expected to make in response to the national deliverance and praise described in the first part.

The psalm traces God's praise all the way back to the stories of the splitting of the Sea of Reeds and the crossing of the Jordan: “He turned the sea to dry land; they crossed the river on foot” (66:6). In doing so, it places the current deliverance along the same historical continuum — part of the same chain of significant redemptions.

The psalm also highlights an important perspective on calamity. The poet recognizes that the source of the affliction was God Himself: “You led us into a trap, placing shackles around our waists” (66:11), yet he still gives thanks to God for delivering them from the very trouble He imposed upon us. According to the psalm, these hardships serve a purpose: “For You, God, have tested us, refining us as silver is refined” (66:10). Suffering is meant to refine us. Alongside our cries for deliverance, we are also expected to improve and "refine" ourselves. With that in mind, a crisis we emerge from isn’t just a bad thing that has passed, but a profound encounter with God, one through which we emerge closer to Him.