DOCSLIB.ORG

Life-Cycle of the Believer: a Crescendo of Praise

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Life-Cycle of the Believer: a Crescendo of Praise PENINSULA BIBLE CHURCH CUPERTINO LIFE-CYCLE OF THE BELIEVER: Catalog No. 7153 A CRESCENDO OF PRAISE Psalms Dorman Followwill July 18th, 1999 Over the past year, my world has been turned upside- forward, the journey away from the “self” and toward our down. Having embarked on the path of being a vocational eternal God begins, and it is a journey we see traced in the pastor for the rest of my life, and after eight years of walking book of Psalms in the Hebrew Scriptures. Here we find Da- along that path, suddenly the plan changed drastically a year vid, a man after God’s own heart, working out his entire spiri- ago. It became clear to me that my God was calling me back tual life with his Lord, in all its agonies and ecstasies, on into the business world for a season. This past year has been a paper. Through it all he came to know himself very deeply. much different journey than any I have ever taken, and it has But more importantly, he came to know God. And even more forced me to think and pray about what God wants my life to importantly, he grew in praising God, the ultimate end of this look like now. So, since this has been so greatly on my heart life and the preoccupation of the next. and in my prayers over the past year, I want to take the next The path toward knowing God intimately and learning the two weeks to do a short series on the topic, finding God’s vision crucial importance of praising him lies through the Psalms. for your life. David grew mightily through writing seventy-five psalms, When your world gets turned upside-down and you be- half of the book of Psalms. Moses wrote two psalms himself. come lost in a wilderness not of your own choosing, it can Jonah prayed a prayer entirely borrowed from phrases in the rattle you to your bones. It can make you cry out for direc- Psalms while in the belly of the fish, at his crisis point. And tion, a way to get back to reality. When all of this change was Jesus Christ quoted from the Psalter more than from any oth- coming down in my life last summer, my family and I were er work of the Hebrew Scriptures, showing that the way of spending time up in the panhandle of Idaho, while I worked our Lord also lay through the Psalms. All these great heroes, with a friend on a short project at his church in Spokane, and the greatest of all, discovered the way of knowing God Washington. We had the privilege of living in a house on intimately, and praising him no matter what, through the Schweitzer Mountain, a ski resort. This place was quite wild: Psalms. Let us follow along their way. we saw bears on the mountain, and a bald eagle flying about fifteen feet over our heads. While we were there, my wife Overview of Psalms Blythe decided to teach our children about wilderness survi- val, using the book, Practical Outdoor Survival. That book de- What a joy it is to read and study the Psalms! One day a scribes exactly what happens to us when we get lost in the couple of years ago, I was preparing to teach a book study on wilderness. First, we panic. We realize our reality has funda- the Psalms. I sat down to read and take notes on the patterns mentally changed; we aren’t in Kansas anymore. Panic sets in, across the entire book of Psalms. It took about fifteen hours, and the first thing we do is react out of panic: we start scurry- but it was one of the great days of my life. I discovered that ing around, choosing the most likely direction and heading the book of Psalms is called Tehillim in Hebrew. Tehillim that way. But what usually happens is that the panicky per- means “Praises.” That is the title and the point of the book: son ends up walking in a big circle. And when he realizes he’s Praises. back where he started, the panic doubles. Psalms is a master work of diversity. It is composed of five The crucial thing to remember when you are lost in the separate books, each of which is punctuated at the end with a wilderness is to stop and not panic. The best first step is to doxology of praise or blessing (see Pss 41:13; 72:18-19; 89:52; find a compass. When you are in the wild, consult your com- 106:48 and 150:1-6). Because there are one hundred and fifty pass or find some natural way to locate true north. Once you psalms covering every imaginable human emotion and expe- find your compass and identify true north, you have a refer- rience, the book is difficult to classify. Some scholars over the ence point. From there, you can identify your relative posi- past century have decided to lump all the psalms into two tion, and plot your pathway home. categories: psalms of lament and psalms of thanksgiving. Others arrange the psalms in as many as ten different catego- The best thing about the past year is finding my true north ries, complete with sub-categories. There are Messianic once again, and seeing afresh this great compass called the psalms prefiguring Christ; the so-called imprecatory psalms Bible. Our God is our true north, the Ancient of Days, the One where the writer calls upon God’s judgment to fall on his ene- who is the same yesterday, today and forever. His word that mies; there are psalms entirely consisting of praise; others en- stands forever while the grasses fade is our compass. And in tirely consisting of lament; some are psalms of instruction that word is a book that traces the life cycle of every believer, which are not even prayers at all, and in many of them the what our lives should and ultimately will look like. It is the chief theme is the hesed, or the loyal love of God. If nothing book of Psalms, the book we will study together this morning. else, this book is a collage of diversity, where virtually any at- A believer’s life is a long journey from self-preoccupation tempt at classification seems to fall short. to God-preoccupation and praise. As babies and children all One of the more persuasive classifications I have encoun- the way through high school and college, we are consumed tered is the comparison between each of the five books of the with ourselves. For some of us, this self-preoccupation contin- Torah with the five books of the Psalms. Thus, Book One is ues much longer. But when the believer is indwelled by the analogous in topic and theme to Genesis (man and creation); Spirit of God when he or she becomes a Christian, a new Pres- Book Two to Exodus (deliverance and redemption); Book ence is asserted in the very center of our lives. From that point Three to Leviticus (worship and sanctuary); Book Four to Numbers (wilderness and wandering), and Book Five to Deu- Psalm 42: “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul teronomy (Scripture and praise). While this has some merit, pants for Thee, O God.” The problems have not disappeared, there is a more living, exciting way of classifying the Psalter. I with such questions as, “Why are you in despair, O my soul?” believe the book chronicles the spiritual life cycle of the be- still lingering in Psalms 42 and 43, and there is a deeper liever, from self-preoccupation to praise. searching going on. There is the realization of the deeper truth of resting in God himself discovered in Psalm 46: “cease Psalms: The Spiritual Life Cycle of the Believer striving, and know that I am God.” There is the remarkable observation of David in Psalm 51 that “the sacrifices of God I believe Psalms surveys the life cycle of the believer based are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, Thou on observing the flow of the psalms from Psalm 1 through wilt not despise.” There is the growing confidence based on Psalm 150. Psalms begins with a definitional description of experience that if you “cast your burden upon the LORD…He the man or woman who knows God, in Psalm 1: who is a be- will sustain you,” in Psalm 55. There is the dawning of under- liever and who is not. Then it chronicles the coronation of the standing in Psalm 56 that “This I know, that God is for me.” believer into life as a king or queen before the Lord in the cor- But there is also the continuing suffering encapsulated in such onation psalm of ancient Judah, in Psalm 2. This starting lines as “O God, Thou hast rejected us. Thou hast broken us,” point in Psalm 2 is crucial: the believer is crowned a king or in Psalm 60, and “Reproach has broken my heart, and I am so queen immediately upon inviting the Holy Spirit to live in- sick” in Psalm 69. As with book one, there are only two side. The kingdom of heaven is a fine thing: everyone is psalms devoted exclusively to the praise of God, Psalms 48 crowned a king or queen from the outset. As C.S. Lewis used and 65. to say, every believer is a king or queen under wraps.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Psalm 42 As an Independent Lament and Synecdochic of the Elohistic Psalter
    “Turning the Tempest for God’s Forgotten:” Psalm 42 as an Independent Lament and Synecdochic of the Elohistic Psalter A Dissertation Proposal Presented to the Joint Doctoral Committee of The University of Denver and the Iliff School of Theology In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Doctor of Philosophy Degree Submitted by David Pettit Biblical Interpretation: Hebrew Bible September 17th, 2018 Denver, Colorado Thesis Psalm 42 is an independent psalm of lament, and as an independent composition is the lead psalm of the Elohistic Psalter (Pss 42-83), and synecdochic of the whole. Statement of the Problem This dissertation argues for a way of reading Psalm 42 that is rooted in Psalm 42’s own poetry as well as in the synecdochic relationship between poems set in juxtaposition and incorporated into collection(s). This dissertation engages questions of how we discern the boundaries of a poetic unit such as a psalm and how we understand or experience the poetry in light of those boundaries, and how a particular psalm relates to other psalms in a collection. This is of particular interest given the comparative evidence from Mesopotamian prayers and collections, as well as collections at Qumran. Psalms or prayers can be compiled or utilized in a number of different contexts. Psalms scrolls at Qumran demonstrate variability in order and in composition. This dissertation is attentive to how individual compositions relate to the literary context and/or collection in which we find them and to the somewhat complex and fluid relationship of parts to wholes where parts reflect the whole and yet retain their distinctiveness.
    [Show full text]
  • Psalms Psalm
    Cultivate - PSALMS PSALM 126: We now come to the seventh of the "Songs of Ascent," a lovely group of Psalms that God's people would sing and pray together as they journeyed up to Jerusalem. Here in this Psalm they are praying for the day when the Lord would "restore the fortunes" of God's people (vs.1,4). 126 is a prayer for spiritual revival and reawakening. The first half is all happiness and joy, remembering how God answered this prayer once. But now that's just a memory... like a dream. They need to be renewed again. So they call out to God once more: transform, restore, deliver us again. Don't you think this is a prayer that God's people could stand to sing and pray today? Pray it this week. We'll pray it together on Sunday. God is here inviting such prayer; he's even putting the very words in our mouths. PSALM 127: This is now the eighth of the "Songs of Ascent," which God's people would sing on their procession up to the temple. We've seen that Zion / Jerusalem / The House of the Lord are all common themes in these Psalms. But the "house" that Psalm 127 refers to (in v.1) is that of a dwelling for a family. 127 speaks plainly and clearly to our anxiety-ridden thirst for success. How can anything be strong or successful or sufficient or secure... if it does not come from the Lord? Without the blessing of the Lord, our lives will come to nothing.
    [Show full text]
  • The Psalms As Hymns in the Temple of Jerusalem Gary A
    4 The Psalms as Hymns in the Temple of Jerusalem Gary A. Rendsburg From as far back as our sources allow, hymns were part of Near Eastern temple ritual, with their performers an essential component of the temple functionaries. 1 These sources include Sumerian, Akkadian, and Egyptian texts 2 from as early as the third millennium BCE. From the second millennium BCE, we gain further examples of hymns from the Hittite realm, even if most (if not all) of the poems are based on Mesopotamian precursors.3 Ugarit, our main source of information on ancient Canaan, has not yielded songs of this sort in 1. For the performers, see Richard Henshaw, Female and Male: The Cu/tic Personnel: The Bible and Rest ~(the Ancient Near East (Allison Park, PA: Pickwick, 1994) esp. ch. 2, "Singers, Musicians, and Dancers," 84-134. Note, however, that this volume does not treat the Egyptian cultic personnel. 2. As the reader can imagine, the literature is ~xtensive, and hence I offer here but a sampling of bibliographic items. For Sumerian hymns, which include compositions directed both to specific deities and to the temples themselves, see Thorkild Jacobsen, The Harps that Once ... : Sumerian Poetry in Translation (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987), esp. 99-142, 375--444. Notwithstanding the much larger corpus of Akkadian literarure, hymn~ are less well represented; see the discussion in Alan Lenzi, ed., Reading Akkadian Prayers and Hymns: An Introduction, Ancient Near East Monographs (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2011), 56-60, with the most important texts included in said volume. For Egyptian hymns, see Jan A%mann, Agyptische Hymnen und Gebete, Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1999); Andre Barucq and Frarn;:ois Daumas, Hymnes et prieres de /'Egypte ancienne, Litteratures anciennes du Proche-Orient (Paris: Cerf, 1980); and John L.
    [Show full text]
  • The Book of Alternative Services of the Anglican Church of Canada with the Revised Common Lectionary
    Alternative Services The Book of Alternative Services of the Anglican Church of Canada with the Revised Common Lectionary Anglican Book Centre Toronto, Canada Copyright © 1985 by the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada ABC Publishing, Anglican Book Centre General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada 80 Hayden Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4Y 3G2 [email protected] www.abcpublishing.com All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher. Acknowledgements and copyrights appear on pages 925-928, which constitute a continuation of the copyright page. In the Proper of the Church Year (p. 262ff) the citations from the Revised Common Lectionary (Consultation on Common Texts, 1992) replace those from the Common Lectionary (1983). Fifteenth Printing with Revisions. Manufactured in Canada. Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Anglican Church of Canada. The book of alternative services of the Anglican Church of Canada. Authorized by the Thirtieth Session of the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada, 1983. Prepared by the Doctrine and Worship Committee of the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada. ISBN 978-0-919891-27-2 1. Anglican Church of Canada - Liturgy - Texts. I. Anglican Church of Canada. General Synod. II. Anglican Church of Canada. Doctrine and Worship Committee. III. Title. BX5616. A5 1985
    [Show full text]
  • (1Qha XX 7–XXI 39[?]) a NEW SUPERSCRIPTION-ORIENTED APPROACH
    ASSESSING THE GENRE OF THE MASKIL THANKSGIVING-PRAYER (1QHa XX 7–XXI 39[?]) A NEW SUPERSCRIPTION-ORIENTED APPROACH by MICHAEL BROOKS JOHNSON A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES BIBLICAL STUDIES PROGRAM We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard ................................................................................. Peter Flint, Ph.D.; Thesis Supervisor ................................................................................. Martin Abegg, Jr., Ph.D.; Second Reader TRINITY WESTERN UNIVERSITY August 28, 2013 © Michael Brooks Johnson To Stanley C. Johnson, a gardener, carpenter, and father. Memory Eternal CONTENTS Table of Contents i Acknowledgements iii Sigla, Terms, and Abbreviations iv Abstract vii Chapter 1: Introduction: Thesis Question, Plan of Study, and Definitions of Key Terms 1 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Thesis Question 1.2 The Problem and Solution for the Thesis Question 1.3 The Contents of the Maskil Thanksgiving-Prayer 1.4 Plan of Study 1.5 Definitions of Key Terms Chapter 2: Review of Scholarship on the Maskil Thanksgiving-Prayer 26 2.0 Introduction 2.1 Review of Hodayot Scholarship: From E. L. Sukenik to A. K. Harkins 2.2 Editions of Hodayot Manuscripts 2.3 Dating the Hodayot Manuscripts 2.4 Observations, Proposals, and Conclusions Chapter 3: Genre Criticism: A Method and a Model for Maskil Superscriptions 53 3.0 Introduction 3.1 A Working Definition of “Genre” and “Genre Criticism” 3.2 Three Phases of
    [Show full text]
  • WEEK 84, DAY 1 KNOW the WORD PSALMS 42, 43, 73, and 88 Good Morning. This Is Pastor Soper and Welcome to Week 84 of Know the Wo
    WEEK 84, DAY 1 KNOW THE WORD PSALMS 42, 43, 73, and 88 Good morning. This is Pastor Soper and welcome to Week 84 of Know the Word. We have just about 1/3 of the Book of Psalms left to read, so this week we will focus our attention there before progressing to the remaining portions of the Book of Leviticus and the New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews. Today we read four Psalms: 42,43,73, and 88. Now I am rather certain that some of you were trying to figure out why I chose these particular Psalms for our reading today. They are not connected by author. Psalm 43 is one of only 34 Psalms that do not have any superscription at all and therefore we have no clue whatever as to who might have written it. Psalms 42 and 88 are attributed to the sons of Korah - the Levites who led worship in the Temple that Solomon built. Psalm 73 is, according to its title, from the pen of Asaph. Nor can we link these four Psalms by means of identifying the situations out of which they emerged. This much they have in common - they are all prayers. Most of the Psalms are either hymns or prayers - though perhaps we could say that they all are prayers for all hymns rightly understood are prayers, aren’t they? But these four Psalms are prayers of a particular kind - they have at least 2, maybe 3, common characteristics. First, they are personal prayers - personal prayers that somehow came to be prayed very publicly, but personal prayers nonetheless.
    [Show full text]
  • Outline of Psalms
    Outline of Psalms We hope this overview and outline of Psalms will assist you as you study God’s Word. General Background: The Book of Psalms is a book to be sung. It is Israel’s and the Church’s songbook. We have seven named authors. David wrote 77 of the Psalms (2 [Acts 4:25], 3-9, 11-32, 34-41, 51-65, 68-70, 86, 95 [Hebrews 4:7], 96 [1 Chronicles 16:23-33], 101, 103, 105:1-15 [1 Chronicles 16:7-22], 108-110, 122, 124, 131, 133, 138-145); Asaph wrote 12 (50, 73-83); the sons of Korah wrote nine (42, 44-45, 47-49, 84-84, 87); Solomon wrote two (72, 127); Moses wrote one (90); Heman wrote one (88); and Ethan wrote one (89). We do not know the authors of the other 47 Psalms. The Psalms span from Moses in the late fifteenth century B.C. until the late sixth century B.C. (126, 137), covering the entire national period of Israel in the Old Testament. The Book of Psalms is about God. God is mentioned by name in the Psalms 1,220 times, and appears in each Psalm. “Yahweh” (LORD) is found in 132 of the Psalms and “Elohim” (God) is found in 109. Psalm 68 contains the name of God 42 times; Psalm 133 only once. Yet, merely counting the mentions of His name does not tell the full story. Pronouns referencing Him abound throughout the Psalms. For instance, in Psalm 119, the name of God is found 24 times, but a personal pronoun referring to God is found 347 times.
    [Show full text]
  • Through the Bible Study Psalms 42-49
    THROUGH THE BIBLE STUDY PSALMS 42-49 Tonight’s psalms, Psalms 42-49, are evidence of God’s amazing grace. They’re labeled, “A contemplation of the sons of Korah.” In Numbers 16, Korah leads a revolt in the wilderness against Moses and Aaron. Korah was a Levite - a member of the tribe God raised up to help in the Tabernacle worship. But Korah took too much upon himself. He began to question Moses’ authority and leadership. Numbers 16:32 recounts God’s judgment, “the ground split apart under them, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah…” And who the ground didn’t get verse 35 tells us, “A fire came out from the LORD and consumed…” God put down the rebellion with a mudslide and a lightning strike… Korah, his sidekicks, and their families all died in God’s judgment that day… with one exception… the sons of Korah! Later in Numbers (26:11) we’re told, “Nevertheless the children of Korah did not die.” Why Korah’s sons were exempt and preserved we’re not told, but we know their response to God’s grace... They were appreciative! They determined to never again allow rebellion to spoil their worship. They were faithful to God and played a key role in Israel’s spiritual life. !1 Notice too, these psalms are called “Maschils” or contemplations. How ironic that some of the Bible’s most insightful psalms were written by the descendants of one of the Bible’s most blatant blasphemers.
    [Show full text]
  • Songs of Summer: Psalm 42 for the Downcast Soul Pastor Carlos Sibley Sunday, June 4, 2017 Today's Message Is an Invitation
    Songs of Summer: Psalm 42 For the Downcast Soul Pastor Carlos Sibley Sunday, June 4, 2017 Today's message is an invitation - an invitation in a way to come to the altar. We get lots of invitations. We get invitations this time of year especially. We get invitations to weddings, we get invitations to graduations, we get invitations to birthday parties and retirement parties, and we get invitations to Bible school. And there's always an expectation with those invitations. That expectation is that we would participate - that we would respond in some way, that we would react to that invitation. Today, I want to continue in that thought by inviting you to do some things. I want to ask you today to move something, and I want to ask you today to remember someone. The first invitation though is for you to open your Bibles to Psalm 42. I believe, best I can tell that this is the sixth summer that we have journeyed through Psalms. We've not done that in consecutive years; we’ve done other things some summers. But back in 2007, we began with Psalm 1. Today, we open our Bibles to Psalm 42, and unless the Lord has a change of plans or change of direction, I look forward to the day that together we can say one summer “Let's open our Bibles to Psalm 150.” Today, we go from Psalm 42 and next week will be Psalm 43, and it will go on through the summer. We have targeted Psalm 50 as being the last Psalm for our summer.
    [Show full text]
  • Psalm 42:1–43:5 Psalms 42-43
    PSALM 42:1–43:5 BOOK II me, and my prayer unto the PSALMS 42−72 God of my life. 9 I will say unto God my d. Remember Him even when PSALM 42 rock, Why hast thou forgot- you feel He is distant & has ten me? why go I mourning forgotten all about you When You Are Deeply Dis- because of the oppression couraged or Depressed of the enemy? in Life, 42:1-43:5 10 As with a sword in my e. Remember Him even when bones, mine enemies re- enemies oppress you… To the chief Musician, Maschil, proach me; while they say 1) Causing you great anguish for the sons of Korah. daily unto me, Where is thy 2) Scoffing at your faith & ques- God? tioning where your God is 1. Tell God how deeply you yearn As the hart panteth after 11 Why art thou cast down, f. Remember Him even when for His presence the water brooks, so panteth O my soul? and why art you are downcast & dis- my soul after thee, O God. thou disquieted within me? turbed within a. Bc. you feel alienated from 2 My soul thirsteth for hope thou in God: for I shall 1) Put your hope in God Him, cut off from His presence God, for the living God: yet praise him, who is the 2) Praise Him: He is your when shall I come and ap- health of my countenance, Savior & your God pear before God? and my God. b. Bc. your heart is broken by 3 My tears have been my unbelievers taunting & ridi- meat day and night, while PSALM 43 culing you they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? For the director of music.
    [Show full text]
  • With Letters of Light: Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Early Jewish
    With Letters of Light rwa lç twytwab Ekstasis Religious Experience from Antiquity to the Middle Ages General Editor John R. Levison Editorial Board David Aune · Jan Bremmer · John Collins · Dyan Elliott Amy Hollywood · Sarah Iles Johnston · Gabor Klaniczay Paulo Nogueira · Christopher Rowland · Elliot R. Wolfson Volume 2 De Gruyter With Letters of Light rwa lç twytwab Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Early Jewish Apocalypticism, Magic, and Mysticism in Honor of Rachel Elior rwayla ljr Edited by Daphna V. Arbel and Andrei A. Orlov De Gruyter ISBN 978-3-11-022201-2 e-ISBN 978-3-11-022202-9 ISSN 1865-8792 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data With letters of light : studies in the Dead Sea scrolls, early Jewish apocalypti- cism, magic and mysticism / Andrei A. Orlov, Daphna V. Arbel. p. cm. - (Ekstasis, religious experience from antiquity to the Middle Ages;v.2) Includes bibliographical references and index. Summary: “This volume offers valuable insights into a wide range of scho- larly achievements in the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Jewish apocalypti- cism, magic, and mysticism from the Second Temple period to the later rabbinic and Hekhalot developments. The majority of articles included in the volume deal with Jewish and Christian apocalyptic and mystical texts constituting the core of experiential dimension of these religious traditions” - ECIP summary. ISBN 978-3-11-022201-2 (hardcover 23 x 15,5 : alk. paper) 1. Dead Sea scrolls. 2. Apocalyptic literature - History and criticism. 3. Jewish magic. 4. Mysticism - Judaism. 5. Messianism. 6. Bible. O.T. - Criticism, interpretation, etc. 7. Rabbinical literature - History and criticism.
    [Show full text]
  • THE PSALMS… Calls for Thanksgiving and Praise for God’S Deliverance
    PSALM 107-150 • 15 composed by David • 1 composed by Solomon (Psalm 127) • Psalm113-118 are known as the “Egyptian Hallel”, recited and sang during the Passover celebration • Psalm 120-134 are known as the ”Psalms of Ascent” • Book Five contains the shortest chapter in the Bible (Psalm 117) and the longest chapter in the Bible (Psalm 119) THE PSALMS… Calls for Thanksgiving and Praise for God’s Deliverance “…Moses gave Israel five books of law, and David gave them five books of Psalms…” CLASSIFICATION PSALM DESCRIPTION Book 1: Psalm 1-41 Penitential 6,32,38,51,102,130,143 Psalms seeking the forgiveness Book 2: Psalm 42-72 of God Acrostic 9,25,34,37,111,112,119,145 Helpful in teaching Book 3: Psalm 73-89 Book 4: Psalm 90-106 Hallelujah 106,113-118,135,146-150 Each begins with “hallelujah”, meaning “praise the Lord” Book 5: Psalm 107-150 Imprecatory 5,28,35,40,55,58,69,83,109 Expressions of anger against enemies and those who do evil Psalms of Degrees or 120-134 Often sang by Jews as traveled Ascent toward Jerusalem to participate in national feasts Messianic 2,8,16,22,23,24,40,41,68, These depict every aspect of 69,72,87,89,102,110,118 the life of Christ “ PSALM 109 “A Psalm of David” (I Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22) “For the Choir” “…In the awfulness of its anathemas, this Psalm surpasses everything of the kind in the Old Testament…” “…utterly repulsive maledictions inspired by the wildest form of vengeance, make this one of the most questionable hymns …” “…All Scripture is inspired by God (God breathed) and “…carnal passion that is utterly inexcusable…” profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for “…The sudden transition in the psalms from humble devotion to fiery imprecation create an embarrassing problem for the Christian…” training in righteousness so that the man of God may be “…The bitter imprecations of this psalm appear to us as wholly antithetical to the true adequate, equipped for every spirit of Christianity…” good work…”.
    [Show full text]