Over the past several years, I have developed a fascination with the book of Psalms. A Charles Simeon Trust online course on poetic literature whetted my appetite for this biblical genre, as did an in-person course on how to preach the Psalms. The more I learn about our great God and King through this songbook of the people of God, the more passionate I am to share these discoveries.
Asking the Right Questions
One of the reasons I’m so passionate about the Psalter is that for years, I read its songs as atomized units that spoke directly into my life and my suffering. And while these precious poems are intended to do just that, we need to begin by interpreting them in their original context. I propose that when we meditate on or study a Psalm, we ask the following interpretive question in this order:
1. What did this mean for the author?
2. What did it mean to the people of Israel?
3. How did New Testament believers understand it?
4. How does this Psalm speak of Christ?
To some, discovering how each psalm speaks of Christ is a new idea. I explore this question further in our next article in this series. Once we’ve answered the above four questions, we can then address the application questions, “How does this speak into my life, trials, suffering, and sin today?”
Poetry and Not Prose
To begin to interpret the Psalms, we need to understand that they’re poetry and not prose. David could have written something like this: “When my enemies were pursuing me, I was so afraid. So I hid in a cave. And God protected me.” But poetry is so different from that. It’s elevated and imaginative language set to verse, which is more dramatic and visually arresting. The psalmists create word pictures that express the deepest of human emotions. In so doing, they help us not only imagine what they must have been feeling but actually enter into their emotional state. And as we do, we find words to articulate our own fears, joys, and hopes. For example, David wrote the following words in Psalm 142:5-6 when he was in a cave (according to the superscription),
5 I cry to you, O LORD;
I say, “You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living.”
6 Attend to my cry,
for I am brought very low!
Deliver me from my persecutors,
for they are too strong for me!
Which would you rather read and sing? The phrase I began with or the song David composed? Which better expresses the words you wish were able to articulate in moments of fear or sorrow?
The Psalter in Context
When we read a novel or watch a movie, it’s easy enough to discern who the speaker is. But with poetry, it takes a bit of practice and attention to detail to determine who is speaking and to whom, and about whom. But this is essential if we want to rightly interpret a psalm in its context. Here are some important facts to keep in mind
1. The Psalms were written over a period of over 1,000 years, with the first being composed by Moses (1450 B.C.), and the last by exilic or post-exilic saints (538 B.C).
2. Tradition holds that Ezra compiled the Psalter in the canonical order we have today. While we cannot be certain of this, we can be certain that the Lord inspired not only the authors of each Psalm, but also the person or people who placed them in their final canonical form.
3. The book of Psalms is a collection of five books, each of which contains a doxology in the concluding psalm. The entire book begins with an introduction, Psalms 1-2, and with a conclusion, Psalms 146-150.
4. Many scholars believe that the Psalter is organized thematically in chronological order. That doesn’t mean, however, that the psalms themselves appear in the order they were composed. Psalm 90, for example, is the oldest, written by Moses.
A Survey of the Psalms
Introduction: Psalms 1-2
Psalm 1: God’s LAW
Psalm 2: God’s KING
Two major themes of the psalter emerge: Torah & kingship.
These opening psalms introduce two types of people: Those who love the law/the king and those who reject them.
Book 1: Confrontation
David’s enthronement and persecution by his enemies (1-41)
The LORD and his Messiah are in continual conflict with the wicked, unjust and ungodly who oppose God’s rule. Book 1 traces the development of this conflict.
Book 2: Communication
The reign of David and Solomon’s succession (42-72)
The conflicts continue. The difference lies in the fact that David turns to his enemies and wishes to communicate with them and invite them to repentance.
Book 3: Devastation
The tragic failure of David’s royal line and the exile (73-89)
The central character is no longer the King/Messiah David, who struggles to establish his throne despite opposition. Book 3 deals with God’s people collectively, who are devastated by foreign powers. We find “I” and “me” much less frequently in Book 3.
Book 4: Maturation
The Lord of old still reigns as king (90-106)
If in Book 3, God’s people are devastated by their circumstances, in Book 4, they hold a more mature perspective. If Jerusalem and the temple are destroyed, and even if they will be rebuilt, God himself is their home. And if they have no king, Yahweh himself is their King.
Book 5: Consummation
The return of the king (107-150)
In Book 5, God’s people express a sustained hope in a future exodus when God will redeem his people.
Conclusion: Psalms 146-150
These songs of praise are often called the Hallelujah songs because each begins and ends with this term, which means, “Praise the Lord.” This resounding explosion of praise in the closing psalms recounts Israel’s history and hope and is an apt finale to this storytelling through song we find in the Psalter.
Implications
1. Our ultimate goal is not mere knowledge for the sake of knowledge. Our heart’s desire is to know, treasure, and reflect Christ more. Martin Luther once said that the psalms were not words to read, but words to live.
2. Most psalms fall into two major categories: Lament and praise. That teaches us that lament is an appropriate response to the sin and suffering we see in the world. Let’s allow ourselves to be honest with God when we are angry, afraid, sad, or anxious. He can handle it. He knows our hearts, so it’s not as if we can hide these feelings from him anyway. What’s more, the psalms are his gift to us, giving a script for the feelings we might not find words for on our own.
3. As the book progresses, we find more and more psalms of praise and fewer and fewer psalms of lament. This teaches us that we don’t need to deny the pain in our lives or the injustices in the world. But as we cast our burdens before the Lord, we can look with expectation to his deliverance and the future Messianic kingdom that the psalms point us to. That is where our hope lies, and that is an essential theme in the book.
4. The psalms were intended to be set to music and memorized by oral learners. Over the course of church history, a rich tradition emerged of setting psalms to music and singing them verbatim in worship. Could it be that we who don’t come from high churches have lost something by not singing more Scripture? What better way to hide God’s Word in our hearts than by singing it and teaching it to our children? Allow me to conclude with another quote by Luther: Come, let us sing a psalm, and drive away the devil.
