<p> 2014 GCTS BibleJourney – Winter Term</p><p>The Mission of the People of God in the Promised Land: Interpreting the Historical & Poetic Books</p><p>6. (2/27) Psalms</p><p>Readings: Psalms; Arnold/Beyer chps. 19 & 21; Grasping God’s Word chp. 20 (credit students) or Journey Into God’s Word chp. 15 (audit students) Recommended: Out of the Depths (B. Anderson); How to Read the Bible for all its Worth (G. Fee & D. Stuart) Praise and Lament in the Psalms (C. Westermann)</p><p>In the Text</p><p>“Poetry” and the “poetical books” (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs)</p><p>Images and figures of speech </p><p>Structural features</p><p>Parallelism </p><p>Synonymous: </p><p>The heavens declare the glory of God; The firmament proclaims his handiwork. (Ps. 19:1) </p><p>Antithetic: </p><p>Hatred stirs up strife; Love covers all offences. (Prov. 10:12)</p><p>Synthetic: </p><p>Better is a little that the righteous have than the abundance of the wicked. (Ps. 37:16)</p><p>Chiasm </p><p>Praise the Lord (a) With the lyre (b) With the 10-stringed harp (b’) Make melody to him (a’) (Ps 33:2)</p><p>1 Psalm 103</p><p>1-5 Exhortation to bless (a) 6-7 Gracious goodness (b) 8 Merciful goodness(c) 9 Sparing goodness (d) 10 Pardoning goodness (e) 11-13 Pardoning goodness (e’) 14-16 Sparing goodness (d’) 17-18 Merciful goodness (c’) 19 Glorious goodness (b’) 20-22 Exhortation to bless (a’)</p><p>Acrostic (119)</p><p>Psalm types </p><p>Laments </p><p>Address, Complaint, Trust, Deliverance, Assurance, Praise</p><p>Individual (e.g., 3, 22, 31, 39, 42, 57, 71, 120, 139, 142)</p><p>Community (e.g., 12, 44, 80, 94, 137)</p><p>Penitential (51)</p><p>Imprecatory (137, 139)) </p><p>Trust (11, 16, 23, 27, 62, 63, 91, 121, 125, 131)</p><p>Hymns of praise </p><p>For God the Creator (e.g., 8, 19, 104, 148)</p><p>For the God of Israel (e.g., 66, 100, 111, 114, 149)</p><p>For the Lord of history (e.g., 33, 103, 113, 117, 145-147) </p><p>Thanksgiving </p><p>2 Introduction, Distress, Appeal, Deliverance, Testimony</p><p>Individual (18, 30, 32, 34, 40, 66, 92, 116, 118, 138; cf. Jonah 2)</p><p>Community (65, 67, 75, 107, 124, 136) </p><p>Historical (78, 105, 106, 135, 136; cf. Exodus 15, Judges 5) </p><p>Royal (2, 18, 20, 21, 45, 72, 101, 110, 144) </p><p>Enthronement (14, 19, 47, 93, 95-99)</p><p>Zion (46, 48, 76, 84, 87, 122)</p><p>Wisdom (36, 37, 49, 73, 112, 127, 128, 133)</p><p>Torah (1, 19, 119)</p><p>Psalm themes</p><p>Covenant</p><p>Creation</p><p>Sacrifice, praise, and worship </p><p>The five books of the Psalter (1-41; 42-72; 73-89; 90-106; 107-150) </p><p>3 Behind the Text</p><p>Music and worship in the ancient Near East (Canaan, Egypt, Babylon)</p><p>Themes in the Psalms</p><p>4 In Front of the Text</p><p>God’s sovereignty over nature and history</p><p>Place for honesty</p><p>Place for individual and community</p><p>Place for images and figurative language</p><p>Interpreting and using the psalms</p><p>5</p>