Old Testament Survey s1

OLD TESTAMENT SURVEY LECTURE 30 THE PSALMS I

Overview The Hebrew title for the Psalter is “cepher tehillim”, which means "book of praises." Almost every Psalm contains some note of praise to God. The Greek word is "psalmos", from the Hebrew word "zmr" meaning "to pluck"; i.e., taking hold of the strings of an instrument with the fingers. It implies that the psalms were originally composed to be accompanied by a stringed instrument. "Psalms are songs for the lyre, and therefore lyric poems in the strictest sense" (Delitzsch). David and others therefore originally wrote the Psalms to be sung to the accompaniment of the harp.

The Key Words of this book are: Worship, praise, and prayer. From this book, we gain a deeper understanding of God’s mercy, justice, the terrible nature of sin, redemption, forgiveness, worship, and hope. As we read the Psalms, we will also learn a lot about the character of God.

There are a number of authors; some known, and some unknown or speculative. David wrote 73 The Sons of Korah wrote 11 Asaph wrote 12 Hezekiah possibly wrote 10 Solomon wrote 2 Moses, Ethan, Heman, Jeremiah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Ezra wrote 1 each The author is unknown for the remaining 35 Psalms.

The Psalms is divided into 5 books: Book One: 1 – 41 “The Book of David” Book Two: 42 – 72 “The Book of Desire” Book Three: 73 – 89 “The Book of Israel” Book Four: 90 – 106 “The Book of Praise” Book Five: 107 150 “The Book of Goodness”

The Psalms is the longest book in the Bible and it contains the longest chapter, chapter 119 (176 verses) and the shortest chapter, chapter 117 (2 verses) (and just 2 chapters apart!). Psalms is the 19th book in the Bible; it has 150 chapters (the most for any book); 2461 verses. The Psalms is the most comprehensive book, covering a wide span from the time of Moses (1410 B.C.) to the post exilic community under Ezra and Nehemiah (400 – 500 B.C.). Its 150 songs run from the Creation through the patriarchal, theocratic, monarchial, exilic, and postexilic periods of the Old Testament. It covers all the great topics of the Bible. Psalm 23 is the most well known and loved psalm.. The Psalms are not in chronological order; the oldest Psalm, written by Moses, was Ps. 90.

The book of Psalms is quoted 81 times in the New Testament, more than any other book. It is quoted by every New Testament writer except James and Jude. Jesus referred more to the book of Psalms than any other OT book.. Out of the 283 direct quotes from the OT, 116 are from the Psalms.

It has been suggested that the Psalms are capable of serving as: The Christian's "hymnal" to assist us in our praise to God The Christian's "prayer book" in which we learn how to approach God in prayer The Christian's "book of evidences" to strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ The Christian's "training guide" for living holy and righteous lives before God

Types of Psalms: Alphabetical: There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. In an alphabetical Psalm, the first verse begins with the first letter of the alphabet and then the second verse begins with the second letter of the alphabet, etc., until finally the last verse begins with the last letter of the alphabet.

1 The most famous alphabetical Psalm is Psalm 119 (some Bibles even have the Hebrew letters printed before each section). This is the longest of all the Psalms. It has 22 sections of eight verses each. In each section, all eight verses begin with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Hallelujah (or Praise Psalm): The word "Hallelujah" is a Hebrew word which means "Praise ye the LORD." The Hallelujah Psalms end with a Praise ye the LORD. The shortest Psalm in the Bible (Psalm 117) is a Hallelujah Psalm. Praise Psalm: How many times do you find the word "praise" in the 6 short verses of Psalm 150 ? Thanksgiving: Focuses on giving ‘thanks’ to God. Psalm 136 is a classic one (read the first 3 verses and the last verse). Historical: These Psalms focus on the history of the Jews to some degree (Read Ps 105:5,8-10). Messianic: Psalms pertaining to the coming Messiah (known as the Crucifixion Psalm) (Read Ps 22:1,12-19) (also, Ps 2 and 110). Imprecatory - These psalms invoke God to bring punishment or judgment upon one's enemies (i.e. Ps 69:21-28). Penitential - These are psalms expressing sorrow for sins that have been committed (Read Ps 51:1-4). Songs Of Degrees - These psalms were possibly sung by pilgrims on the way to Jerusalem to observe the feasts. They are grouped together as Ps 120-134. Suffering - These psalms are cries of those suffering affliction. Psa 102 is a typical example. Didactic - Psalms of teaching and instruction (e.g. Ps 1). Others that have been classified are: meditation, liturgical, praise and devotion, prayer and petition, and ethical Psalms.

Some well known passages in Psalms Ps 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. This sets the tone for the book of Psalms. It’s theme surely is centered around the love for the law of the Lord (the Bible). Psalms 119 is the ‘word of God’ chapter. If you want to be blessed by God then don’t listen to this world’s views of how things should be…rather, get excited about the Bible and study it out and then meditate on it day and night…and watch the blessings of God flow into your life!

Ps 8:3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? When you study the ‘cosmos’ and understand that our best telescopes and computers have ‘discovered’ that there may be more than a billion galaxies and that each galaxy is over 100 million light years in depth, you realize just how great our God is! And, you should also realize just how ‘puny’ man is! Why would God care about a speck on a dot on a larger dot ?..... Well, because Earth is the only habitable planet; the only place in the universe where there is life…where there are humans that have a living soul. Just think, though, if every planet had ‘living souls’ on it!... We would be fairly insignificant indeed!

Ps 8:9 O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Is it? Wherever you might live, His name is wonderful! But, so many on this planet don’t seem to think so. How sad. Though, there are those in China who love the Lord, and in Hungary, Malta, Venezuela, Antarctica, Philippines, Panama, Siberia, and even Libya! His name is praised in every country on the planet! Praise the Lord!

Ps 12:6 The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. 7 Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever. This is the number one passage in the Bible solidly teaching the ‘preservation of the Scriptures’. The ‘Bible-deniers’ say that verse 7 is dealing with the Jewish people group, not the Bible. This is a completely unsupported conclusion. We learn from these 2 verses the following: all the words of the Lord, the Bible, are pure, very pure, in fact as pure as any word can be (silver gets to be like a mirror upon the 7th purification). Some believe that since the King James Version was the 7th purification of an English translation of the Bible that it fulfills verse 6’s proclamation here. God is going to keep and preserve them (these pure words of our Bible) from that generation in which they were ‘originally’ written to today’s generation and forever more! If God is able to keep and preserve those who are saved forever, He certainly can preserve His word wholly intact and without error. After all, it would be ‘unfair’ to judge we Christians today on rules and principles that we might not have available to us to be known, if the Bible were not supernaturally preserved; for the Devil’s number one attack is, and has been, on the Bible. Without God’s protection here, there would be nothing even close to a ‘Bible’ today! 2 Ps 14:1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. 2 The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. 3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Every Atheist is automatically a ‘fool’! Their whole premise is foolish. Those who deny that there is a God are ‘corrupt’, and they do ‘abominable works’, and none of them ‘doeth good’. God’s view of the world as He looks down from heavenly grandeur is pretty pathetic, sad, almost hopeless. There are so few that seek God. It is said that 33% of the world calls themselves Christian…but, the vast majority of these are classified as Catholic or Cults; and most of the small remainder remaining are Protestant. It could be that less than 1% of the world’s population actually ‘understands’ and ‘seeks God’! Without God seeking us, there would be absolutely no-one seeking Him…on the whole planet…ever! Without God pursuing us, we would never seek Him and would never, ever do anything ‘good’…no, not ever!

Ps 16:11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Oh the pleasures and joy that awaits each child of God upon arriving in Heaven! The ultimate is to be in the presence of God! Have you ever been completely full of joy?.... These gifts, rewards, blessings, will last forever… the pleasure of them will never fade away! Glory!

Ps 19:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. How can anyone not believe in a Creator God?! It is foolhardy to say that all this grandeur around us happened by ‘chance’…through some process termed ‘evolution’! Some call it ‘Intelligent Design’; well, there definitely was a Designer of all this! How could there not have been…everything shows intelligence, complexity, care to the minutia, efficiency, etc.. Chance doesn’t produce such…chance produces disorder, not order… and definitely not highly complex, efficiently functioning order like we see with the our Solar system, the weather patterns, plants, animals, and humans!

Ps 19:7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. 8 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. 9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. 11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. Oh look at what the Bible can do for you! It can convert a wicked, eternally lost soul to become saved from Hell and Heaven bound! Average ‘Joe’ fishermen can become the wisest of all men on Earth! Knowing that you have God’s Word perfectly preserved should make you jumping up and down rejoicing! And, oh how it helps you see and figure out things; you have God’s wisdom on every major subject that there is for mankind! The Bible is perfect…without error; it is sure…without any reason for doubts; it is right…always; it is pure…purified 7 times; it is clean, true, and righteous altogether! How much do you desire this most blessed KJV Bible that you have?! It should be more desired than $1 Billion ! But, is it?..... Is it sweet to the taste, or bitter…or is it like cardboard?.... The Bible warns you of error and if you follow the Bible’s warnings, there is great reward…both here on Earth, and surely in Heaven!

Ps 19:14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. This would be very prudent and wise to pray to God first thing every morning. Oh how many times we offend others by the ‘words of our mouth’. If one can control the tongue, you can control the whole body. And, oh, the wicked ‘meditations’ of our heart; lusts, covetings, anger, sin, sin, sin! We need to make sure our words and the thoughts of our heart are acceptable to God…not to us or to our ‘buddies’ around us or to societal norms!

Ps 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. Potentially, the most well known and loved ‘passage’ in all the Bible. David took comfort during difficult times and wrote this ‘song’. If we have God guiding us, we shouldn’t desire anything else. God is going to lead us to peaceful, healthy places. The paths of life we go down will always be based in righteousness. Even in the darkest times, we don’t need to fear evil. If you are following God, your 3 needs will always be met, even if you are ‘in a mess’. Following close to God will guarantee goodness and mercy and one ‘dwelling in the house of the Lord for ever’! (New Jerusalem?)

Ps 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord: and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. Is America a ‘Christian nation’? We are at best a ‘pluralistic’ nation; one that accepts all religions… but, nowadays, seemingly discriminating against the one religion she was based upon, Christianity! America will be blessed if our laws and freedoms are based upon Christianity. It may be, though, that America becomes Hamerika in the next few years, and we fade away into oblivion. Some key issues to watch are: abortion, homosexuality, and Israel.

Ps 37:4 Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. 5 Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. How to get anything your little heart desires!... simply ‘delight thyself in the Lord’! You see, if your heart is focused on the things of the Lord, then God will surely give you those. The problem is that many of us delight ourselves in the things of the world…. If you have a big decision to make, commit it (the way) to the Lord (submit to do it His way, to follow His principles, to line it all up with the Bible), fully trusting Him, and He will have His will come through on it.

Ps 40:1-2 I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. 2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. You might be going through a miserable time right now; know this, that the Lord wants you to be patient and wait for Him, wait on Him, give it to the Lord; He hears your cry; He is going to take you out of this horrible mess that you are stuck in and soon, very soon, set your feet on a solid, stable rock and get you going smoothly in the right direction again. Can you simply wait patiently for the Lord?....

Ps 42:1 To the chief Musician, Mas'-chil, for the sons of Ko'rah. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. This was the verse placed on the cover of A.W. Tozer’s book, ‘The Pursuit of God’. Is your soul panting after God? We tend to ‘enjoy’ going to church, reading the Bible, prayer, etc., but are we ‘panting’ after this?.... Can you go a day without the Bible or prayer? Can you go a week without ‘church’? How about, can you go 1 hour without talking to the Lord? Can you go 3 days without meeting with the body of Christ?....

Ps 51:1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. 5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. A Penitential Psalm. This was written by David after his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah. This would be a great passage to ‘pray’ to the Lord every time you sin. Sin is serious business and needs heartfelt words like these….not just a quick simple ‘sorry, God’. The blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed us from all sin, and ‘cleanses’ us from all our sin…it took care of the judgment of Hell concerning our sin, and also takes care of the restoring of a broken fellowship with our God every time we sin. We need to think on the blood of Jesus Christ every time we sin and ‘get right with the Lord’. We need to know that we have sinned against God, and God only…the Holy God of the Universe! We need to beg Him to create a clean heart and right spirit within us after every episode of sinning. David didn’t have the Spirit permanently indwelling him; certain key O.T. saints had the Spirit ‘upon’ them, but not in a permanent state (e.g. Saul had Him taken away). When you sin you often will lose the ‘joy of your salvation’; sin is very destructive; it makes you feel ‘yucky’; it makes you feel dirty and far from God. The term ‘holy spirit’ is with small case first letters because, I believe, God is focusing on the actual ‘quality’ of Him and not on it being a ‘title’. Thus, ‘holy’ and ‘spirit’ each are descriptive terms about the Holy Spirit.