On reading the Psalms

Psalm 91v3

I guess we could spend a lot of time and energy de-coding the multiple imagery of this and the other Psalms.

What does it mean to say “he will save you from the fowler’s snare?”

The fowler is a more powerful enemy.

He has set a trap, showing a certain amount of forward planning and cunning. 

His attack is presumably sudden and unexpected, likely painful, perhaps deadly.

And so we could go on. 

But it seems to me that the real idea is not to crack the code and extract the information, not to get rid of the word picture and replace it with pure propositions but to let the image do its work: to imagine ourselves for a moment as a bird rescued from the fowler’s snare. 

Perhaps our schooling has not served us well if we are too preoccupied with spotting and labelling techniques. "Ah, a personification in v6 - the pestilence that stalks". Okay, but let us dwell with the powerful picture.