Psalms

The Psalms: An Introduction

In order to understand properly interpret and understand the Psalms you must understand that they have a particular nature and type.

As beloved as the Psalms are in both our daily devotional life as well as times of worship and significant occasions we must understand that they were originally intended to be used in very particular ways.

The Psalm were intended to be used in very particular ways.

Because of their beauty many people look at the Psalms as a nugget of poetry or truth and as a consequence, often times misinterpret their meanings and occasion. One must not read the psalms in the way that we read the books of wisdom: one little nugget at a time - more on that later.

First of all let’s look at the Psalms as Poetry

Psalms as Poetry

The Psalms, by nature, are poetry and most often times set to music therefore there are some principles that we need to remember when reading them.

First of all,

1. Hebrew poetry is, by it’s nature, addressed to the mind through the heart.

Meaning that it intentionally uses emotive language. This means that we must take great care in exegeting the text. It would be wise not to read too much meaning into the symbolism and other poetic tools used by Hebrew poetry.

Each portion of Hebrew poetry must be read together in order to ascertain the meaning of the entire text. Where many people derail is when they look at each individual line as separate instead of a small part of a greater whole. It is only when we look at the whole that we can come away with an understanding of the text.

For example:

We talked in the past about how parallelism is an extremely common poetic tool used in Hebrew poetry and recognizing those parallels will give us a better understanding of the meaning of the text.

Let’s take a look at Psalm 19

English Standard Version Psalm 19

1  The heavens declare the glory of God,

and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

2  Day to day pours out speech,

and night to night reveals knowledge.

We can see how this interpretation tries to help us understand this passage by capitalizing the first word in each sentences but we can see that they are two different sentences. However the NIV helps us a little more.

The New International Version Psalm 19

1 The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

2 Day after day they pour forth speech;

night after night they reveal knowledge.

Here we can see they added a semicolon to help us understand that these two stanzas go together.

From looking at this passage - what do you thing the author is trying to convey to us?

Secondly,

2. They are, in fact, musical poems.

The Psalms are intended to evoke emotion just like poetry and music. It also makes them memorable, intentionally.

So while the Psalms do contain some doctrine they are not meant to be dissertations of religious doctrine and so we cannot treat them as such when we interpret them.

Let’s take a look at another example:

Example:

Psalm 51:5 ESV

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

The author isn’t trying to comment on the idea of original sin at birth or the sinful nature of conception or anything like that. He is simply trying to convey that he is a sinful person.

Look at how the NIV translates the text:

The New International Version Psalm 51

5 Surely I was sinful at birth,

sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

In the NIV they have done some interpreting of the text to help the reader understand the intent of the scripture.

The psalmist is using poetry to convey his point, not demonstrating a theological viewpoint.

We must remember that we are reading poetry and most of the times, lyrics to songs. They have a rhythm, which is lot in it’s translation and are meant to provoke an emotion as music often does.

The third thing to remember is:

3. The vocabulary is intentionally metaphorical.

If you can recognize the metaphors and and similes and understand their significance you will understand what the psalmist is trying to communicate about themselves, others, their circumstances and God

Take time to pause and reflect on the metaphors and similes in the text

We should also not take these tools literally. You must recognize and appreciate the symbolic language in the Psalms for what it is meant to be and then translate it into the reality it is intended to express.

So those are some things to remember regarding reading the Psalms as Poetry.

To review

The Psalms are written to the Head through the Heart

They are, in fact, musical poems (songs)

Their vocabulary is intentionally metaphorical

Now let’s take a look at the Psalm as a form of literature.

In the same way that we need to remember some key points when reading the Psalms as poetry we need to remember some things regarding the literary features of the Psalms

Psalms as Literature

1. There are several different types of Psalms.

In order to more appropriately read and interpret the text it is a good idea to ask yourself: What type of Psalm is this?

2. Each psalm is characterized by it’s own unique structure.

Since the Psalms are written by different people at different times and for different purposes they will have their own unique structure.

Recognizing the unique structure will help you see how the author emphasizes certain points and switches from topic to topic.

3. Each psalm was written for an intended purpose

Each psalm was written for a reason and meant to be used at a specific time.

4. There are specific patterns within the Psalms

Parallelism

As we stated before, a poetic tool in Hebrew narrative is parallelism.

We also see a significant use of patterns within the psalms as a form of poetic tool.

Acrostics

You will even see some acrostics (where the first line of each verse or section will begin with a Hebrew letter in ascending order)

5. Each psalm is a literary unit.

As we stated before the Psalms need to be read as a whole not verse by verse, pulling each verse out of context.

Each Psalm has a flow and very often times an arc. To disrupt that flow and that arc would mean to destroy the meaning of the text.

This is especially the case when trying to perform hermeneutics on the text.

Many verses in the psalms are horribly misinterpreted because they are taken out of context and read as a part of the whole.

We has stated that each word in scripture gets its meaning from the sentences and the sentences get their meaning from their context.

For example

Psalm 51:16 ESV

For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

This text is only correctly interpreted when read in the context of the entirety of the text including it’s ending.

Looking at just verse 16 - without reading ahead, what could this passage mean?

But reading the rest of the text opens up its true intention and meaning.

The whole text:

Psalm 51:17–19 ESV

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

So we need to remember that there are some literary considerations that we must take into account as we read the Psalms.

Review:

There are different types of Psalms

Each Psalm is characterized by it’s own unique structure

Each Psalm was written for it’s own purpose

There are specific patterns within the Psalm

Each psalm must be read as a complete literary unit

So as we read we should jut be aware of the poetic and literary nature of the psalms, they are songs, poetry meant to evoke emotion and they do so in individual ways to paint a picture or set a tone for different occasions and use different patterns and poetic tools to convey its message in a memorable way from beginning to end.

The Psalms in Ancient Israel

For Israel the psalms were actually very functional in worship.

They served an important role in making the connection between the divine and the worshipper.

While some of them were very personal and were used by individual worshippers most of them were more commonly used in corporate worship.

Think of them as a Temple Hymnal.

Sometimes sung by the congregation sometimes sung or led by professional singers during worship.

All were well known by the people and sung during worship and on individual circumstances in their own personal life.

As with all great music and hymns their use was instructive but not confining. They are meant as a reference point but not intended to confine us to the worship of a past age. Paul even encourages the early church to use them in worship but doesn’t limit worship to their use.

The 5 “Books”

They are collected into 5 “books”

Laments - Psalms designed to express a deep trust in Yahweh and help a person express struggles, sufferings, or disappointment to the Lord.

They are divided into 2 groups - individual and corporate

It is interesting that these are the largest of all the groupings or books. I think that says something about what we can expect in life and how God is big enough to handle our stressing and struggles.

These are great when you are dealing with difficult circumstances in life either corporately or individually.

Many times we feel guilty going to God with our issues. We feel like in order for us to talk to him we must first be in the right place, but we can see a journey in the Psalms of lament where the writer’s perspective and faith goes on a journey.

We forget, sometimes, that God made our emotions and understands that we are emotional people. Our spiritual journey’s are not just a pursuit of intellect but rather a journey that includes our emotions and how we interact with them.

In the Psalms of lament we see struggle, disappointment, lack of faith, and anger, but we also see that God is faithful as we struggle to navigate life in a very fallen and chaotic world.

Psalms of Thanksgiving - Expressing gratitude for God’s blessing and faithfulness in a particular circumstance.

For example: God is awesome because he brought me through that circumstance. They are very different from laments.

These are great for an individual or corporate body to use to encourage a thankful heart after a blessing or deliverance from a difficult situation

Psalms or Hymns of Praise - Expressing general gratitude for God’s blessings and faithfulness without regard to a particular circumstance.

Used in very much the same way as Psalms of Thanksgiving but are grouped differently because they don’t reference a particular situation. They are centered on praising God for who He is and His general welfare for His people and creation.

Salvation-History Psalms - Focus on the history of God’s saving works among His people especially in regards to the Exodus and the promise of Abraham.

Psalms of Celebration and Affirmation - Misc. group of Psalms including:

Covenant renewal liturgies - meant to lead God’s people to renew their covenant after disobedience.

Royal Psalms - dealing specifically with the Kings of Israel.

Enthronement Psalms - Related to the Royal Psalms and were used to celebrate and memorialize the coronation of the Kings

Songs of Zion (Songs of the City of Jerusalem.) - Songs celebrating Jerusalem and focusing on it’s importance in the life and promise of Israel

Wisdom Psalms - Praising wisdom and living wisely.

It is also good to take note that Proverbs 8 is also a psalm itself

Songs of Trust - Centered on the reality that God can be trusted even in times of distress and despair

Form and Structure

Each Psalm has a form and structure.

As you read the Psalms you will start to notice each of these forms.

To help us see how the different types of psalms we will show two examples of the structure of the psalms.

The Lament

Address - The psalmist identifies the one to whom he/she is praying (God)

Complaint - The Psalmist lays out his complaint, honestly.

Trust - The Psalmist expresses trust in God which is presupposed in the complaint.

Deliverance - The Psalmist cries out to God for deliverance.

Assurance - The psalmist expresses assurance that God will deliver

Praise - The Psalmist praises God and thanks him for blessings past, present and/or future

Example

How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth Psalm 3

Psalm 3

1LORD, how many are my foes!

How many rise up against me!

2Many are saying of me,

“God will not deliver him.”

3But you, LORD, are a shield around me,

my glory, the One who lifts my head high.

4I call out to the LORD,

and he answers me from his holy mountain.

5I lie down and sleep;

I wake again, because the LORD sustains me.

6I will not fear though tens of thousands

assail me on every side.

7Arise, LORD!

Deliver me, my God!

Strike all my enemies on the jaw;

break the teeth of the wicked.

8From the LORD comes deliverance.

May your blessing be on your people.

Thanksgiving Psalm

Introduction - Testimony of how God has helped them

Distress - Explanation of the situation from which God delivered them

Appeal - Reiteration of the appeal that was made to God

Deliverance - Description of how God delivered them.

Testimony - A proclamation of praise for God’s mercy.

Example:

How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth Psalm 138

Psalm 138

1I will praise you, LORD, with all my heart;

before the “gods” I will sing your praise.

2I will bow down toward your holy temple

and will praise your name

for your unfailing love and your faithfulness,

for you have so exalted your solemn decree

that it surpasses your fame.

3When I called, you answered me;

you greatly emboldened me.

4May all the kings of the earth praise you, LORD,

when they hear what you have decreed.

5May they sing of the ways of the LORD,

for the glory of the LORD is great.

6Though the LORD is exalted, he looks kindly on the lowly;

though lofty, he sees them from afar.

7Though I walk in the midst of trouble,

you preserve my life;

you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes,

with your right hand you save me.

8The LORD will vindicate me;

your love, LORD, endures forever—

do not abandon the works of your hands.

A Couple of Final Thoughts

Angry Psalms

We have talked about the Psalms of Lament and within those are moments of cursing and hatred.

What do we do in those moments. How do we receive those moments as God’s word for us.

It is hard to consider those moments in light of Christ’s teaching.

As we stated before God made you an emotional being it isn’t the feeling that is the issue as much as it is what you do with it.

Sadness nor gladness is sinful, they are just feelings, but anger, bitterness and hatred can lead to thoughts or actions that are sinful.

We will have those moments, moments of anger, some of the Psalms show us that to get that out verbally is certainly better than in actions, but also, in the Psalms being directed towards God as well as those that are causing offense we are saying that any actions taken must be God’s.

These Psalms show us how to give those moments and people over to God. To express it to God and allow him to work in the situation.

But shouldn’t we love as Christ directed us. Of course but understand that love is not a feeling it is action based.

Love is expressed more than felt especially when it comes to Hebrew and Greek writing.

This is one of the greatest misinterpretation issues with scripture. For our culture love is warm and fuzzy happy feelings. But for scripture it is an action.

On the other side of that issue hatred for scripture while it may sometimes men to despise someone, it is more often referring to an unwillingness to put up with someone and their continued sin.

If we are to correctly read, interpret and apply we must understand these historical gaps between us and the writers of the scriptures.

So for us the Psalms help lead us into worship, demonstrate how we can be honest with God in moments of difficulty and