The Year of the Bible s1

Psalms – Sing to the Lord a New Song!

The book of Psalms will sometimes allow you to say what you cannot speak on your own. Poetry and music are often like that – a good poem leaves the reader thinking, “that’s what I wanted to say.” So it is with Psalms. There are Psalms of every type: praise, thanksgiving, prayer, devotion, instruction, confession of sins and confession of faith, there are even Psalms of condemnation of God’s enemies and our enemies.

A chief feature of the Psalms is there Messianic nature. Many of the Psalms find their fulfillment in Christ alone. Some may speak to you in time, but they have their ultimate completion in the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Examine Psalms 22 and 23 to illustrate this. It may be easier to begin with the familiar, Psalm 23. It speaks to us in time: the Lord is our shepherd, but the final completion of that Psalm is Messianic – the Good Shepherd who is coming. Psalm 22, on the other hand, does not speak to us in our own lives. I’ve often wondered how the Old Testament people considered it, because it cannot be about David or any of them. None of them had their hands and feet pierced, none of them had people gamble for their clothing. This Psalm is a clear forecast of the Messiah, from its opening words, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

As you read Psalms, keep this Messianic nature of the Psalms in mind. As with all of the Bible, the message is Christocentric. What’s the Big Idea?  Christ’s work and Kingdom are always poking into view.  The life of a believer expresses prayers, petitions and praise.

The arrangement of the Psalms This book if divided into five sections or books; each clearly marked in your Bible text. Notice also that each book ends with a doxology. The collector of the Psalms appears to have imitated the number of the books of Moses.  Book I – Psalms 1-41 (doxology: 72:18-19)  Book II – Psalms 42-72 (doxology: 41:13)  Book III – Psalms 73-89 (doxology: 89:52)  Book IV – Psalms 90-106 (doxology: 106:48)  Book V – Psalms 107-150 (Psalm 150 is the doxology)

From the Lutheran Study Bible:

Blessings for readers:  The Israelites used two different names for the Psalms as a collection of holy writings: tepillot (“prayers” – see Ps. 72:20) and tehillim (“praises”). These are the chief uses of the Psalms in all ages …. The Psalms have a way of connecting with the daily concerns of our lives and guiding us in heartfelt prayer and worship. For these reasons, they remain the most devotional portion of Scripture and the inspiration for hymnals and prayer books.  A third important use for the Psalms is instruction. They teach so much about the blessings and challenges of walking in the Lord’s ways. The constantly point forward to the appearance of Jesus for our salvation. NT interpreters saw the life and words of David as foretastes and prophecies of the Son of David, the Messiah. Psalms with especially strong Christological content include Psalm 2, 22, 41, 45, 69, 110.

Challenges for readers:  Organization – The authors, dates, and circumstances for a number of Psalms are not clear. These lapses in our knowledge can make it difficult to understand certain passages. Though the Psalms should be thought of as a single book, attempts to provide a comprehensive explanation for their arrangement and relationships have not been fully convincing.  Poetic Format – Psalms at times express themselves in difficult ways. (The Lutheran Study Bible has a more thorough analysis of this on pages 777-78.) Various notes hint at their musical format and use.  Violence – The most difficult Psalms are the imprecatory (“cursing’) Psalms (35, 55, 59, 69, 79, 109 and 137), which express surprising anger and violence. Some Psalms use curses and express themselves so violently that modern readers find them shocking and wonder even how they could appear in the Sacred Scriptures. Consider an example: Psalm 137:1-2 shows the context for the horribly violent statement that ends the Psalm in vs. 9: “Happy shall be he who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!” The Psalm opens with the Judeans enslaved in captivity and mocked by their captors. With zeal and envy, the psalmist relished the truth that the Babylonians were doomed to destruction (137:8). Christians should understand that the violent outbursts in these Psalms are not prescriptions of how God’s people are supposed to behave, but descriptions of emotions that God’s people will indeed experience. Christians who lose loved ones to violent criminals or terrorists may have these same feelings of anger and revenge. Praying the imprecatory Psalms rather than act out their feelings in an unjust way can guide troubled hearts through the feelings they cannot escape. (See also The Lutheran Study Bible, p. 879) Did you know . . .  … there are seven Penitential Psalms that will allow you to confess your sins when you don’t know how to speak to God. They are Psalm 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130 and 143. Reading them often will help you know true confession and absolution.  … many of the Psalms are in the form of an acrostic – each verse of the Psalm begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet: aleph, beth, etc.

In Ten Words or Less: An expression of every part of a believer’s life.

Reading Plan for Psalms Reading the Psalms will be a lifelong project. You may want to read all of them in short order, but a better plan might be to begin at the beginning, and simply use a bookmark to track your progress. A psalm a day would be a very good plan! From time to time, you may want to read a couple of Psalms, or a particular Psalm may call for you to re-read it several days. Consider reading Psalms and Proverbs the same way. You may find that even a whole chapter of Proverbs is too much to digest at one time. But return to these books with regularity to grow in the Word.