Psalm 91 is a beautiful and powerful of the psalm. It is a psalm about the love and supernatural protection of God towards us through even the most trying circumstances. The writer of Psalm 91 is not named, which is unusual in itself. Jewish tradition says that the writer was Moses. Some Greek translations of the Old Testament attribute this Psalm to David, but we don't know for sure. One thing we can know from its depth and beauty, that as with all of scripture, this psalm's writer is God, Himself.
Another unusual feature of this psalm is that in just the first two verses, which set up the tone and powerful promises of the whole psalm, the LORD is mentioned four times, using four different names. It is an eye-catching detail for me that makes me want to find out why the writer, inspired by the Holy Spirit, was led to use four different names in such a short interval. I think the specific use of these four names also illustrates the emphasis and promises of this Psalm, as we will see. These are the meanings of the four names of God used in these first two verses:
"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High (Elyon- high, upper: of Davidic king exalted above monarchs; Highest; an elevation, lofty in comparison to another; Root meaning: to go up, ascend, come up, depart, rise, meet, visit, to be taken up, taken away, to cause to ascend, to be carried away, to be led up, to be offered, bring, come)
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty (Shadday/Shaddai- most powerful, strong, omnipotence; Root meaning: deal violently, despoil, devastate, ruin, destroy, utterly lay waste, thieves by night, to bind, to strengthen, to rush on an enemy).
I will say of the LORD (Yehovah- self-existent one, eternal, 4-letter holy name not to be pronounced; Root meaning: to come to pass, to be established, to exist, abide, continue, accomplished; shall be, to breathe; wait longingly, greatly desire, to bend, to inflect, to turn aside, to lodge, to dwell),
"He is my refuge and my fortress: my God (Elohim- plurality or emphasis upon: rulers, judges, divine ones, angels, the true God; Root meaning: plurality of majesty; goodly, great, Immanuel, strong, mighty, a hero);
in Him will I trust."
The purposeful usage of these four names of God in the opening of Psalm 91, not only brings to mind the four-lettered name of God, יְהֹוָה, but I also envision the names creating a four-sided structure or shelter. The psalmist even connects the names with a physical shelter- a refuge, a fortress. It is within this four-sided shelter of His names that we can abide safely.
In the meaning of the name Elyon, we can see the connection to the identity of the Messiah, the Davidic king exalted above all other kings. Since this Davidic king has been exalted above all other kings, we know that there is no spiritual or earthly authority or power that can exceed His. The shelter formed in part by this name, Elyon, is a shelter in which the greatest King of all also dwells. Can there be a safer place to dwell? We are told by the use of this name, that this shelter exists in the highest of the heavenly realms. We know from scripture that this exalted Davidic King, or Messiah, who is Jesus, also ascended to the highest place (Mk. 16:19-20, Phil. 2:5-11), in the same manner as is contained in the name Elyon. Not only has He ascended to this highest elevation, but He has caused us to ascend also, spiritually, even while we are yet here on earth (Eph. 2:6-7). We will also physically ascend to meet Him in the clouds (1 Thess. 4:17). We will be taken away to be in the place where He is. An offering given and received is also associated with the meaning of the name Elyon. Jesus embodied this meaning by His willing death on the cross as a sin offering on our behalf, which His Father was pleased to receive.
Another part of the shelter I am seeing created by these four names of God, is found in the meaning of the name Shaddai. Shaddai is the most powerful in all existence. He is willing and more than able to utterly destroy all enemies for our sake. He is like "a thief in the night", out-waiting, out-planning and out-ambushing His enemies. Jesus' return is also described as being like that of "a thief in the night" (1 Thess. 5:2-3, 2 Pet. 3:9-10), in order to deal with the ungodly, to establish His government, and to seek vindication and retribution on behalf of His Father, and for those who are called by His name. Shaddai calls us into His fortified shelter while He is more than able to confront and defeat all enemies:
"Your hand will find all Your enemies; Your right hand will find those who hate You. You shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of Your anger; The LORD shall swallow them up in His wrath, and the fire shall devour them...For they intended evil against You; They devised a plot which they are not able to perform. Therefore You will make them turn their back; You will make ready Your arrows on Your string towards their faces." Ps. 21:8-12
His power, or omnipotence, is without limit and without parallel. Shaddai can bind up even the strongest adversary (Mt. 12:28-29). There is no enemy that would survive an attack against the shelter created by the name Shaddai.
The name Yehovah is also used to construct this shelter that I have envisioned. It is an appropriate name to use here because the name means that God is the dwelling place for His people. The name Yehovah tells us that God is self-existing. He doesn't rely on any person, time, place, or circumstance to exist. He is the breath of life Himself. The shelter built of this name is the same. It is an eternal dwelling place, as eternal as God Himself. It cannot be destroyed. It is a shelter built, like the meaning of His name, from God's longing and great desire for us as He waits for us to come into it. Yehovah also includes the meaning "to abide". Jesus told us repeatedly to abide in Him, and to abide in His Word (Jn. 15:4, 6-7, 10). The psalmist wrote, "I will say of the LORD...", and I believe that the LORD waits with longing for us to say His most holy name. He bends, inflects and turns aside at the sound of His sheltering name in our mouths. He encloses us in the shelter established in this holy name. It is a place wherein we are longingly awaited by the One who desires to dwell with us above all else (Ex. 25:8, 29:45, Rev. 21:2-3). You will not be rejected, or turned out (Jn. 6:37) of this shelter built from the name Yehovah, for "whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD (Yehovah) shall be saved." (Joel 2:32, Acts 2:21, Rom. 10:13). Yehovah told us His holy name, which He commanded Moses to say to the children of Israel (Ex. 3:13-15), so we could know it, love it, believe it, and be delivered by it. In fact, this commandment to Moses concerning the name Yehovah was a divine restoration of that name to Israel. Men's calling of that great name occurs even earlier with the birth of Seth's son, Enosh (meaning "man, mankind") (Gen. 4:26). I will call upon this wonderful name, Yehovah, and its eternal self-existing power to deliver us, and to provide shelter for us.
The fourth name, Elohim, of which my envisioned shelter is also built, indicates plurality and emphasis in its meaning. It is the plurality of the greatness of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which in an unbreakable unity (Deut. 6:4, Jn. 17:21-23), adds up to a glorified majesty beyond what we can think or imagine:
"...to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above (Grk: hyper perissos hyper- over, beyond, above/beyond measure, out of measure, superadded, extraordinarily, magnificently/over, beyond, above) all that we ask or think..." Eph. 3:20
The name Elohim is also associated in meaning with the name of the Messiah, Immanuel (Isa. 7:14), which means "God with us", and also refers to the head, the top, the summit. If God be with you and for you, enclosing you in the shelter of His name, Elohem, who then can be against you (Rom. 8:31-33)? He rules and judges, and He is the mighty Hero within whose name we can shelter.
The plurality of the name Elohim also includes the innumerable angelic beings of heaven. A shelter composed of the name Elohim brings with it all of the heavenly host. An account in scripture tells of the enemy Syrian army searching for Elisha the prophet of Israel, who had prophetically seen and revealed the secret plans of the Syrian king against Israel. The prophet's servant was terrified when he saw the Syrian army approaching to capture himself and his master. Elisha said, "Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." The servant's eyes were opened, and he saw. "And behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha." (2 Kings 6:8-17). Elisha and his servant were in that spiritual shelter, a secret place, surrounded by the fiery heavenly host told of in Psalm 91 (v. 11-12), created in part by the name of God, Elohim.
We do not take these names of the LORD lightly, or tempt God with our misuse of His merciful protection and deliverance by having an attitude of foolishness, pride and arrogance. Jesus taught us that as He confronted the Devil's temptations with the Word of God (Mt. 4:5-7), but Jesus also assured us of this shelter of God, saying that He, Jesus, has prepared a place for us (Jn. 14:2-3), and that our place is with Him (Jn. 17:23). He encouraged us to enter into the secret chamber when we pray to our Father who is also in a secret place (Mt. 6:6 NKJV, Mt. 6:6 KJV). Could Jesus have been speaking of the same secret place as the writer of Psalm 91? I think so.
The LORD promises us in Psalm 91 that His shelter, even though it exists in the highest heaven, is a spiritual, eternal shelter which is also available for us while we are still on earth. This shelter is created within four names of God:
"He who dwells in the secret place of Elyon
Shall abide under the shadow of Shaddai.
I will say of Yehovah, "He is my refuge and my fortress;
My Elohim, in Him will I trust."
Our Father has created a shelter for us out of His own names.
