In my personal studies I have found psalms to be richer and more thought-provoking than I had ever realized. Too often I have swept swiftly through psalms without slowing down to inquire as thoroughly as I should into the depths of meaning and feeling that are expressed by the psalmists. Upon deeper examination and reflection, I find the psalms to be highly relevant to Christians in every age. My most recent foray into the psalms led me to conduct a series of studies in the Psalms recently.
The studies were held in a class environment suitable for pauses for questions and comments, and to discuss “thought questions” where the meanings are not readily apparent, as is often the case in poetry. My notes include suggested points for such pauses. However, I developed the material with the view in mind that the series may be well used as sermons. There is an introductory sermon that describes what psalms are (whether they are in the 150-chapter book or elsewhere) and explains the approach. In brief, I only presented selected psalms that I believe to be representative of the collection in the book of Psalms. The selected psalms were presented in no particular order in the series of classes; however, I suggest that anyone using this material as a series begin with the Introductory sermon and follow it with Psalms 1 and 2 in that order, as the first two operate as a pair. Beyond that, the selected psalms may be presented in any order.
We will not look at every psalm, or every verse of the ones we do.
To get as much enjoyment as we can from our study, I will do some of the reading from the KJV, which I believe is the most beautiful of the English bible translations. For clarity we will also use other versions, mainly ESV, which I have used for several years and the one I have come to prefer.
INTRODUCTION TO PSALMS
A psalm is simply a poem that is - or can be - set to music.
Why study the psalms?
• Because they’re relevant to Christians.
• That is borne out in the fact that the psalms are the source of many songs we sing - far more than one might realize until we undertake a detailed study of psalms.
• There was not one Christian when the last psalm was written, but they contain things we who are already Christians relate to and need to know.
• Psalmists had some of the same types of needs, challenges, heartaches, disappointments, and failures Christians experience.
• Psalms is the Old Testament book quoted most often in the New Testament. In A. F. Kirkpartrick’s book The Book of Psalms, he shows 91 times where psalms are quoted or fulfilled in the New Testament.
• Psalms is the Old Testament book most often quoted by Jesus (11 times).
• The psalms have a lot to do with Christ (as he himself pointed out).
• The psalms help us know what can be known of what God is like. The psalmists saw God as a rock, refuge, fortress, and recognized him as holy (no small thing).
• The psalms contain unrestrained and uninhibited expressions of love and adoration of God.
• I believe the psalms will help you in your relationship with God.
In old England the book of Psalms (called the Psalter) was sometimes printed as a separate volume, apart from the rest of the bible.
Affections and reverence for the psalms has continued down to our present time.
In my youth almost every New Testament printed separately from the Old Testament was followed by the Psalms.
Of course the book of Psalms is not part of the New Testament, but it was (and still is, in many cases) considered by bible publishers important enough to package along with the New Testament.
1. Poetry (set to music)
The Psalms are written entirely as poetry, suitable for singing.
In fact many – if not all – of the psalms were sung.
Why is so much of the bible written in verse?
I see two reasons:
• It is to be sung.
• Poetry lends itself to memorization.
Poetry in the bible
Mark Wenger (professor Columbia International University in South Carolina) wrote a paper on poetry in the bible. He wrote:
Over 8,600 of the verses of the Bible are poetry – nearly 27% of all the verses in scripture. Only seven books of the Bible have no clear poetry within them. One book in the Old Testament lacks poetry. Esther is a narrative without poetry, unusual in ancient literature. In the OT, more than 8200 verses of the Old Testament’s 23,000+ verses are, quite plainly, poetry (slightly more than 35%).
John Piper:
Poetry is an expression of the fact that there are great things that are inexpressible. There is no one-to-one correspondence between the depths of human experiences and the capabilities of language to express them. For the poet, this limitation does not produce silence; it produces poetry.
Hebrew Poetry is not written in rhyming verse like most of our songs.
It is written in rhyming thought, unlike most of our songs, in which the last word of pair of lines has a similar sound but begins with a different consonant or syllable. (e.g., “supernal” is a word we never use except when some song-writer needed a word to rhyme with “eternal.” “Infernal” rhymes but it’s hard to work that into a hymn).
Translation into a language other than the original would destroy the rhyming effect.
Poetry in the bible rhymes not in the sounds of the words, but rhymes in thought.
We will take notice of three kinds of rhyming thought
a) Synonymous parallelism, shown in this example from the 1700’s British nursery rhyme:
Old King Cole was a merry old soul,
And a merry old soul was he (who? Old King Cole of course).
Or more relevant to our study:
Psalms 49:1
Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world.
The same thought is expressed twice with different words.
b) Antithetic (contrasted) parallelism, for example Psa 1:6-
For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
The thought of the first sentence is stressed by the contrasting opposite in the final clause.
c) Synthetic (connecting) parallelism, for example Psalms 22:4-
Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
The final clause completes and expands the thought of the first sentence.
The Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) – read
What a remarkable woman Mary was!
This passage gives us an idea of the character and personality of the woman God chose to be the mother of his own son!
As far as we can see, only two humble women of lowly station, empty of self-righteousness and pride, were present - both pregnant with babies who would change the world down profoundly, to the very roots of human life.
They are in awe that they have been chosen to bring into the world the greatest of all men.
John – last prophet God sent under the old dispensation, and at the same time the first prophet in the new.
Jesus – who would save his people from their sins – wears the name: God with us.
The Magnificat is in verse.
It continues to be sung today.
It is called the Canticle of Mary, or the Song of Mary.
A song or canticle of spiritual derivation is a form of psalm.
So this is a psalm - possibly the greatest, if there is a greatest - of all psalms.
Was the Magnificat delivered to Mary in the form of poetry, or set in verse by Mary or Luke?
Discuss
The book of Psalms in the bible is a collection of some, but not all, of the psalms in the bible.
There are psalms in other books of the bible, some of them practically matching verbatim those that are in the book of Psalms (2 Samuel 22). is practically identical to Psalm 18.
2. Date, authorship, titles and notations
The traditional view is that most of the psalms were written in David’s time - about 1000 BC.
David did not write all the psalms, but his work is dominant.
Psalms 90 "A prayer of Moses the man of God" is probably the oldest psalm.
Moses lived about 1400 BC. Most of the Psalms however have been written at the time of David who introduced the singing in the temple (1 Chronicles 25).
Psalm 137 clearly refers to the Babylonian captivity, which began about 600 years after David.
Many researchers believe Ezra, the priest and scribe completed the final collection of the Psalms about the time the captivity ended. There is some evidence of that in Ezra’s book of prophecy.
If that observation is right, the collection of 150 psalms was written over about a 1000-year period.
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A few years ago the question was asked, “Who is the greatest writer of all time?” I gave a few names - John Milton who wrote Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, maybe Charles Dickens or William Shakespeare, or more recently C.S. Lewis.
But one of the names I offered was King David of Israel.
Someone might say, “But David wrote by inspiration.” Yes.
But the bible writers clearly had some liberty to express what was revealed to them in their own style of expression.
No writer I know more capably expresses the thoughts and feelings of the heart in words, than King David.
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Some psalms have titles.
The titles are very ancient. In the absence of any reason to dispute the titles of those psalms that are titled, in this class we will assume they are true, setting aside the question of whether they are part of scripture or were added by an early compiler or scribe.
Jesus based an important argument on the authorship of Psalm 110, which the title attributes to David (In Mark 12:36 Jesus asks how David could call Jesus - born 28 generations later - “Lord”).
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The titles in the Hebrew bible show David as the author of 73 psalms.
Some of the psalms are also ascribed to David by the New Testament:
Psalms 2 “Why do the nations rage?” (Acts 4:25 ascribes that to David.)
Psalms 95 “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…”
(Hebrews 4:7 ascribes it to David.)
So adding these to the Psalms that bear David's name brings David’s total to 75, meanig David wrote at least half of the Psalms.
But there were other psalmists. Asaph 12, Sons of Korah 11 (one of which is my favorite psalm), Solomon 2, Moses 1, and Ethan 1. The Greek Septuagint (about 200 BC) adds Haggai and Zechariah as authors of 5.
That accounts for 107 of the 150 psalms, including David’s minimum of 75.
Many scholars believe David wrote some of the anonymous psalms, particularly those that immediately follow the psalms that are titled to David.
Psalm 18 - attributed by its title to David - is also said in 2 Sam 22:1 to have been written by David.
Naturally, any study of psalms will be largely about David.
David’s psalms are relevant to us. Act 13:22 says this:
And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’
David was said to be a man after God’s heart.
I want to be a man after God’s heart. God’s heart!
I want to know all I can about God’s heart!
I want to know all I can about how to be a man after God’s heart.
I want you to be a man or woman after God’s heart.
We will learn more about how to be a man after God’s heart by reading David’s psalms than I will discover by reading the books of Samuel and Chronicles.
In the psalms, we enter David’s heart-space.
Some words that appear in Psalms that we don’t use in day-to-day conversation.
Selah seems to be a musical notation - may mean pause, crescendo, or musical interlude
Maskil Possibly contemplative, or didactic psalm
Mikhtam Possibly Epigrammatic poem or atonement psalm
Sheol - the nether world, or the grave or the condition of being dead
3. It is not always easy to know the backstory of a psalm.
The psalms express inward thoughts and feelings rather than outward circumstances.
This is probably by design, because we benefit most by relating to the inner person instead of the writer’s circumstances.
But in some places the heading mentions the occasion or the reason for the composition of a Psalm: Psalms 3; 7, 18, 34, 51, 52, 54, 57, 59, 60, 63, 142.
4. Content
There are several ways of describing the overall content of the psalms:
• An undulating variety of inner thoughts and feelings - sometimes bouncing from discouragement and turmoil to joy and praise.
• The psalms are the most sentimental, emotional, and passionate book in the bible, followed closely by Lamentations and, in an altogether different kind of emotions, the Song of Solomon.
• About half of the psalms are prayers of faith in time of trouble (23, 91, 121, and others sustained the author in times of deepest need.
• Psalms are dominated by feelings, not doctrine
• Some of the most sublimely beautiful thoughts and language that has ever been expressed
• The Psalms speak powerfully to the Bible-reader because those innermost thoughts of God-fearing people in prayer, confession, praises or grief are reflective of our own, and are expressed more eloquently than anywhere in scripture.
• The psalms include important prophecies of Christ, called Messianic psalms.
Examples are:
Psalm 2:7 - "Thou art my Son: this day have I begotten thee" (Acts 13:33)
Psalm 8:6 - "Thou hast put all things under his feet" (Hebrews 2:6-10)
Psalm 41:9 - "Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me." (John 13:18)
Psalm 45:6 - "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever." (Hebrews 1:8)
Psalm 110:1 - "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand."(Matthew 22:44)
Many more references could be added. We find Christ throughout the Messianic psalms
But this does not exhaust the substance of the psalms. For the psalmists not only described their own feelings.
The Spirit of Christ was working in them and was sharing in their distresses and joys and was at one with them. Isa 63:8-9-
For he said, “Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely.” And he became their Savior. In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
We see in this spiritual link of Christ with the believing Israelites (who wrote the Psalms), the true character of the book.
The Spirit of Christ unites with the experiences and feelings of those believing Israelites.
When David - or other psalmists - suffered, Christ was there, suffering with them.
At some early time the 150 psalms in this collection were organized into 5 books according to subject matter. Those 5 divisions are probably marked in your bible.
Book One (Psalms 1-41 puts forward the principle of separation of the just from the unjust among the people of God.
Book Two (Psalms 42-72) is about the sufferings of the just ones, who - separated from any blessing - live in great tribulation and who cry to God.
Book Three (Psalms 73-89) describes the return of Israel as a people and God's mercy towards His people.
Book Four (Psalms 90-106) begins with the reign of God.
Book Five (107-150) contains a summary of God’s ways with His people Israel and the praise, which is due to Him for His mercy.
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I am struck by the recurring words and expressions in psalms.
Foremost are references to God:
YHWH (Jehovah in some translations) - 687 times out of 6521 in the entire OT!
Elohim - 365 out of 2601 in the OT.
El - 77 out of 242 in the OT.
Psalms makes a total of 1,129 references to God out of 9,364 in the OT!
1/12 of the references to OT reference to God are in the psalms!
Apart from the extremely frequent references to God, the most recurrent theme I could find by doing numerous searches is “steadfast love,” that exact word pair occurring 123 times.
We will encounter that expression as we examine some of the psalms individually.
Now I would like to look at something that leaps from the pages as we read the psalms.
Enemy, enemies, enmity, foe foes appears 109 times.
Wicked & forms 97 times
Evil - 75 times
Iniquity iniquities sin sins transgressions 74 times
Afflict, afflicted, or affliction appears 35 times.
Cry, cried, or crying appears 49 times
Deliver or one of its forms - 78 times
“Deliver me” or “Deliver my soul” - 24 of those 78 times
Was the man after God’s heart a miserable, brooding, wretchedly unhappy person - consumed by his failures and misfortunes - someone who in today’s parlance we might call a “whiner?”
Discuss
Clearly, David was a man of great faith and consuming love for God, who exulted in thoughts of God.
But the psalms reveal David to be a man who struggled…
He struggled because of
...his enemies
…his conflict with Saul, not of his making
…his love for Jonathan, and the dilemmas it created
…his family problems
…most of all, he hated his sins
…what else?
David does not write just for himself; he writes for others.
Many of the things that afflicted David afflict us.
The psalmists wrote for all of us, and we may take their prayers and praises as our own.
As a counterweight to the many references to crying, pleading, fretting about enemies, wickedness - David’s own wrongdoing and that of adversaries who brought evil upon him…in Psalm after Psalm, David turns those morbid thoughts into prayers, trust, thanksgiving and praise.
Salvation 72
Save or Saved 43
Righteousness 59
The Lord is 56
Blessed is … and blessed are and Blessed be … 53
Glory 50 times
Refuge 47 times
Faithfulness 42
Joy 41 times
Rejoice rejoicing rejoiced 40
Trust 36
Your face 21
Justice 21
Teach me 17
Redeem, redeemed, redemption 17
Heritage 17
David had a consuming love for God that seems to have gone ahead of everything else he valued in life.
When he turned to God, God invariably delivered.
Is that a lesson for us?
