Sermon Tone Analysis

Personal Observations:

(Cut and Paste observations to points of discussion when beginning outline)

A Maskil of the sons of Korah, what is that?

v. 1-2a, The psalmist compares their need for God to a deer thirsting for water.

In fact the Psalmist goes so far as to say their very soul thirsts for God; not just any God, but THE LIVING GOD

v. 2b-3, The Psalmist seeks an audience with God; this absence from God causes utter despair, they eat their very tears and are surrounded by “they,” who mocks the Psalmist with reminders of God’s absence

v. 4, What is the Psalmist remembering?

v. 4, The Psalmist used to lead worship among the nation

v. 5, The Psalmist begins to comfort themself, asking why is their soul in despair.

The Psalmist calls themself to hope in God; hope leads to praise

v. 6, The Psalmist tells God how their soul is in despair.

In response to this despair, the Psalmist forces themself to remember God’s presence in the land.

v. 6-7, there is a bit of heavy reference to God and the land, significance?

v. 8, ???

v. 9-10, The Psalmist is really going back and forth on this issue of abandonment and determination to praise.

As per v. 9, the Psalmist is afflicted by an enemy and is feeling forgotten by God.

v. 11, Psalmist repeats the same question from v. 5 and concludes with praise.

This is somewhat comical in jumping back in the Psalms, as this very psalm reflects all of the Psalms together.

Highs and lows, back to back

Subject: What am I talking about?

What does the Psalmist tell his soul to do in the midst of despair?

Complement: What exactly am I saying about what I’m talking about?

The Psalmist tells his soul to hope in God

The Big Idea:

In the midst of despair, we must secure our hope in God.

Prayer Requests & Praise Reports

Read Passage

Intro:

Book Two of the Psalter consists of .

So a couple of important things to note as we dive into Book Two:

The second book varies more significantly in authorship.

As the Davidic collection of Book I closes with a doxology (41:13), a new collection of authors in this section, with the descendants of Korah being the first to open Book II.

Book I is composed of thirty-seven Davidic psalms and several anonymous psalms.

Book II has eighteen Davidic psalms, seven psalms of the descendants of Korah (42–49), several anonymous psalms, one psalm ascribed to Asaph (50), and one attributed to Solomon (72).

Thus we observe that in the Elohistic Psalter (Psalms 42–83), in many instances the name Elohim occurs instead of YHWH; in some instances the name YHWH occurs instead of Elohim; and in other instances, no difference exists between the psalm(s) within the Elohistic Psalter and the duplicate psalm(s) outside it.

The origins and shaping history of the Elohistic Psalter are unclear to modern students of the Hebrew Psalter.

While many scholars understand the Elohistic Psalter as the product of a postexilic editing (by a community that no longer found it acceptable to vocalize the personal name of the deity), others maintain that it is simply impossible to state with certainty its origins.

Theories abound, but no single one is compelling.

We can simply observe the phenomenon of the use of the divine name in Psalms 42–83 and continue to wonder.

• Psalm 53, “a Maskil of David,” is almost identical to Psalm 14.

The only difference between them is that wherever the name YHWH (Lord) occurs in Psalm 14 (vss.

2, 4, 6, and 7), the reader finds Elohim in Psalm 53.

• Psalm 70, a psalm “of David,” parallels vv.

13–17 of Psalm 40, also “of David.”

But unlike Psalm 53, where the only divine name used is Elohim, Psalm 70 uses Elohim only in the first line of each poetic bicola.

Compare, for example, Ps. 40:13 with 70:1:

Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me.

O Lord, make haste to help me.

(40:13)

Elohim, deliver me!

Lord, as my help, hurry!

(70:1)

In addition, where Elohim appears in the second line of the poetic bicola in Psalm 40, in Psalm 70 it occurs as YHWH (Lord).

Compare Psalm 40:17 with 70:5:

But I am poor and needy, may my Lord take thought for me!

You are my help and my deliverer; O my Elohim, do not be slow!

(40:17)

But I am oppressed and needy; Elohim, hurry to me!

You are my helper and my deliverer!

Lord, do not delay!

(70:5)

• Psalms 57:7–11 and 60:5–12 are taken from Psalm 108, or Psalm 108 is made up of Pss 57:7–11 and 60:5–12.

Interestingly, the divine names used in Psalms 57 and 60 occur exactly as they do in Psalm 108.

Thus we observe that in the Elohistic Psalter (Psalms 42–83), in many instances the name Elohim occurs instead of YHWH; in some instances the name YHWH occurs instead of Elohim; and in other instances, no difference exists between the psalm(s) within the Elohistic Psalter and the duplicate psalm(s) outside it.

The origins and shaping history of the Elohistic Psalter are unclear to modern students of the Hebrew Psalter.

While many scholars understand the Elohistic Psalter as the product of a postexilic editing (by a community that no longer found it acceptable to vocalize the personal name of the deity), others maintain that it is simply impossible to state with certainty its origins.

Theories abound, but no single one is compelling.

We can simply observe the phenomenon of the use of the divine name in Psalms 42–83 and continue to wonder.

Like Book One, Book Two consists mainly of laments (twenty out of thirty-one psalms or 65 percent)

So a good question might be, “Who are the sons of Korah?”

According to 1 Chronicles, the Korahites were temple keepers and temple singers during the reigns of David and Solomon (; ).

The Korahites are listed in as one of the five major levitical families, but in the book of Chronicles, they generally appear as a subgroup of the Kohathites (, ; ).

Book Two opens with a collection of Psalms of the Sons of Korah (Psalms 42–49), and the Korahites, in fact, sing the first community lament of the Psalter:

Yet you have rejected and you reproach us;

you do not go forth with our armies.

You cause us to turn back from an oppressor,

and the ones who hate us have plundered for themselves.

You give us like a flock of sheep as food,

and among the nations you have scattered us.

(44:9–11)

is a psalm of Asaph.

Asaph was, according to , the eponymous ancestor of a guild of singers and musicians who, along with the Korahites, served at the temple in Jerusalem during the reigns of David and Solomon.

When the priests came out of the holy place (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves without regard to their divisions), and all the levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, their sons and kindred, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar with one hundred twenty priests blowing trumpets, then the trumpeters and singers made themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord.

(2 Chr.

5:11–13)

Fifteen psalms of David appear in the middle of Book Two (Psalms 51–65).

Fourteen of them are laments.

Eight are connected, in their superscriptions, with particular events in the life of David.

These psalms remind readers once again that David’s life was one of turmoil and strife; but they also depict for readers a king who loved the Lord and strove to serve the Lord with great fervor.

O God, you are my God, I seek you;

my soul thirsts for you;

my flesh faints for you;

like a dry and weary land with no water.

So I envisioned you in the sanctuary;

beholding your power and glory;

for your hesed is better than life;

my lips shall praise you.

So I will bless you all my life;

and in your name, I will lift up my hands.

(63:1–4)

Not all scholars agree.

James Sanders maintains that the editors of the Psalter purposefully drew attention to very specific events in the life of David, situations with which they expected their readers to be familiar:

Book Two ends with Psalm 72, a psalm “of Solomon.”

It is classified as a royal psalm, and its words call on God to bestow upon the new king all of the attributes required to make the king successful in his reign.

Does not such editorial work indicate the intense interest of redactors in date lines and historical contexts?

They seem to be saying fairly clearly, if the reader wants to understand the full import for his or her (later) situation of what Scripture is saying, he or she had best consider the original historical context in which this passage scored its point.

Therefore, according to Sanders, the superscriptions do matter, especially in the case of the thirteen psalms that refer to specific events in the life of David.