THE PSALMS: ISRAEL'S PRAYERS AND OURS (Part 12)
The Psalms are a collection of inspired Hebrew prayers and hymns. The fact that the Psalms are often appended to copies of the New Testament and that they are used so often in worship and meditation has given this particular book a certain prominence. Yet despite the fact that they are well known, they are also misunderstood. The problem with interpreting the Psalms arises primarily from their nature—what they are. Because the Bible is God’s Word, most Christians automatically assume that all it contains are words from God to people. In fact the Bible also contains words spoken to God or about God, and that these words, too, are God’s Word.
The Psalms are not propositions, or imperatives, or stories that illustrate doctrines, they do not function primarily for the teaching of doctrine or moral behavior. They are profitable when used for the purpose for which they were intended by God. (1) For us to express ourselves to God, (2) and to consider his ways.
Some Preliminary Exegetical Observations: When reading the Psalms you must understand their nature, including their various types, as well as their forms and function.
The Psalms as Poetry: The most important thing to remember when studying the Psalms is that they are poems; musical poems. It is important to familiarize yourself with Hebrew poetry as we did in regards to the Prophetical books, but there are also special points that need to be addressed in connection with the Psalms.
1. One needs to be aware that Hebrew poetry, by it very nature, was addressed, as it were, to the mind through the heart (i.e., much of the language is intentionally emotive). Therefore, you need to be careful in over exegeting the Psalms by finding special meanings in every word or phrase.
2. The Psalms are not just any kind of poem; they are musical poems. It is intended to have emotions, to evoke feelings rather than propositional thinking, and to stimulate a response on the part of the individual that goes beyond mere cognitive understanding of certain facts. While the Psalms contain and reflect doctrine, they are hardly repositories for doctrinal exposition. When you read a Psalm make sure that you do not derive from it meanings that were not intended by the musical poet who was inspired to write it.
3. It is also important to remember that the vocabulary of poetry is purposefully metaphorical. Thus one must take care to look for the point of the metaphor. An inability to appreciate symbolic language (metaphor and simile) and to translate into actual fact the more abstract symbolic notions of the psalm could lead a person to misapply it almost entirely.
The Psalms as Literature: When studying the Psalms it is important to recognize certain literary features. Failure to note these features can lead to several errors of interpreting and application.
1. The Psalms are of several different types. It is important to realize that the Israelites knew all of the types. Therefore, to truly understand the Psalms one must invest the time to learn all of the types as well.
2. Each of the Psalms is also characterized by its form. By form we mean the particular type, as determined by the characteristics (especially structure) that it shares with other psalms of its type. When one understands the structure of a Psalm then one can follow what is happening in the psalm.
3. Each of the types of psalms is also intended to have a given function in the life of Israel. Each psalm has an intended purpose. It is not reasonable, for example, to take a royal psalm, which had its original function in the celebration of Israel’s kingship as God endowed it, and read this at a wedding.
4. One must learn to recognize various patterns within the Psalms.
5. Each psalm must be read as a literary unit. The Psalms are to be treated as wholes, not atomized into single verses or thought of as many pearls on a string. Each psalm has a pattern of development by which its ideas are presented, developed, and brought to some kind of conclusion.
The Use of Psalms In Ancient Israel: The Psalms were functional songs. By functional we mean that they were not simply used as hymns are sometimes used today, spacing material to separate out parts of a worship service in preparation for the sermon. The Psalms served a crucial function of making connection between the worshiper and God. Therefore, the Psalms are very good at remaining applicable in all ages.
Eventually the Psalms were divided into five books. Book 1 (1-41); Book 2 (42-72); Book 3 (73-89); Book 4 (90-106); Book 5 (107-150).
The Types of Psalms It is possible to group the Psalms into seven different categories. These categories serve well to classify the Psalms and thus guide the reader toward good use of them.
1. Lament: Laments constitute the largest groups of psalms in the Psalter. There are more than sixty, including several corporate laments. Individual laments help a person express struggles, suffering, or disappointment to the Lord. Corporate laments do the same for a group rather than for an individual. The laments in the book of Psalms express with a deep, honest fervor the distress the people felt, therefore serving as a valuable tool for expression of concern to the Lord.
2. Thanksgiving Psalms: These psalms expressed joy to the Lord because something had gone well, or circumstances were good, and/or because people had a reason to render thanks to God for his faithfulness, and benefit. There are both community and individual psalms of thanksgiving.
3. Hymns of Praise: These psalms, without particular reference to previous miseries or to recent joyful accomplishments, center on the praise of God for who he is, for his greatness and his beneficence toward the whole earth, as well as his own people. God deserves praise. These psalms are especially adapted for individual or group praise in worship.
4. Salvation History Psalms: These psalms have as their focus a review of the history of God’s saving work’s among the people of Israel, especially his deliverance of them from bondage in Egypt and his creation of them as a people.
5. Psalms of Celebration and Affirmation: In this category include several kinds of psalms, all of which deal with different aspects of celebration and/or affirmation.
Covenant Renewal Liturgies: Designed to lead God’s people to a renewal of the covenant he first gave to them on Mount Sinai. These psalms serve effectively as worship guidelines for a service of renewal.
Davidic Covenant Psalms: These psalms praise the importance of God’s choice of the lineage of David. These psalms provide background for his messianic ministry.
Royal Psalms: There are nine psalms that deal especially with the kingship. The kingship in ancient Israel was an important institution, because through it God provided stability and protection. God works through intermediaries in society, and the praise function of these intermediaries is what we find in the royal psalms.
Enthronement Psalms: These psalms celebrate the enthronement of the king in ancient Israel, a ceremony that may have been repeated yearly. Some believe that they represent also the enthronement of the Lord himself, and were used as liturgies for some sort of ceremony which celebrated this.
Song of Zion or Songs of the City of Jerusalem: According to the predictions of God through Moses to the Israelites while they were in the wilderness, Jerusalem became the central city of Israel. Inasmuch as the New Testament makes much of the symbol of a New Jerusalem (heaven) these Psalms remain useful in Christian worship.
6. Wisdom Psalms: Eight Psalms can be place in this category. Also Proverbs chapter 8 is considered a psalm, praising as all of them do, the merits of wisdom and the wise life. These psalms can be read profitably along with the book of Proverbs.
7. Songs of Trust: Ten psalms that center their attention upon the fact that God may be trusted, and that even in times of despair, his goodness and care for his people ought to be expressed. God delights in knowing that those who believe in him trust him for their lives and for what he will choose to give them. These psalms can help us express our trust on God, whether we are doing well or not.
Some Concluding Hermeneutical Observations: How do these words spoken to God function for us as a Word from God? Precisely in the ways they functioned in Israel in the first place—as opportunities to speak to God in words he inspired others to speak to him in times of past.
Three Basic Benefits of the Psalms: From the use of the Psalms both in ancient Israel and in the New Testament church we can see three important ways in which Christians can use the Psalms.
1. Remember that the Psalms are a guide to worship. The worshipper who seeks to praise God, or to appeal to God, or to remember God’s benefit, can use Psalms as a formal means of expression of his or her thoughts and feelings. It can help express our concerns in spite of our own lack of skill to find the right words.
2. The Psalms demonstrate to us how we can relate honestly to God. One can learn from the Psalms to be honest and open in expressing joy, disappointment, anger, or other emotions. To cry to God for help, or with other emotions, is not a judgment on his faithfulness, but an affirmation of it.
3. The Psalms demonstrate the importance of reflection and meditation upon things that God has done for us. They invite us to prayer, to controlled thinking upon God’s Word (that is what meditation is), and to reflective fellowship with other believers.
(This post is a summary and partial abridgement of Fee And Stuart’s book “How To Read The Bible For All It’s Worth.” It is based solely on Fee And Stuart’s work and any help that this content gives should be credited to God’s grace through their effort. In other words, give God glory, thank Fee and Stuart and buy the book.)