The Torah and the Psalter

The last few weeks have been a special time of teaching for me. I have had the chance to teach on the Psalter every Sunday morning and on the Torah every Sunday night.

The busyness of the schedule has kept me from posting comments on books 1 and 2 of the Psalter thus far, but I do hope to provide some general comments before too long. Going through the Psalter has been a humbling experience, as it is for any Sunday School teacher, because the book is so big and complex. There never seems to be a time in teaching it when I truly feel prepared.  The Lord, however, has blessed and the Hope Life Group of Wake Cross Roads seems to have really enjoyed thinking more clearly about this book.

In addition to my normal Sunday School teaching, two other opportunities have kept me very busy. First, I was able to preach on Psalms 19 and 20 on a Wednesday night. It’s a critical part of the book, so I was delighted to help another group of people see the bigger picture of the Psalter. Second, I have been and am teaching a discipleship class on the Torah. We’re 3 weeks through a 6 week discipleship class emphasizing the big picture of the Torah.

The six week class, entitled Tour de Torah (a title borrowed from my my good friend Seth Postell), is an effort to help teach Sunday School teachers, pastors, and “regular lay people” to see the big picture of the Torah. I am essentially applying and summarizing the high-points of Dr. Sailhamer’s approach to the Torah in 6 sessions. My hope is to be able to teach such a discipleship course again and again in as many places as possible. I have no doubt that the ability to read the Bible well hinges on being able to read the Torah well. When the average man in the pew can sit down and understand the intentional gospel message of the Torah, it changes how all of the Bible is read.

While I am still working out the kinks of the class, I have broken it down into six sessions.

Session 1: Introduction and the Poems: The Beginning and the Ending

Session 2: Repetition, the Narratives, and the Poems: The Past and the Future

Session 3: Exodus 19-24 and the Laws of Sinai: Why the Law?

Session 4: Exodus, Leviticus, and Creation: What is the Tabernacle?

Session 5: Numbers and the Prior Stories: Haven’t we Been Here Before?

Session 6: Deuteronomy and the Torah: The Author Interprets His Torah

We are doing these sessions once a week on Sunday nights, but it would be possible to cluster the sessions into Friday night, Saturday morning meetings over two weekends. On the first weekend, session 1 would occur on Friday night with sessions 2 and 3 on Saturday morning. On the second weekend, session 4 would occur on Friday night with sessions 5 and 6 on Saturday morning. It would be a lot of material in a short time, but it is possible.

At any rate, if your church might be interested, please let me know. I would be glad to talk to anyone about the intentional Christ-centered message of the Torah.

To God be the glory!

Thank you.

In one of the longest weeks of my life, I want to say and am saying ‘thank you’ to my many friends who have prayed for us in regards to the passing of our baby. Becky and I as well as our 3 children were never able to see the child apart from one ultrasound last month. He was never born but was alive. And, now we know that he is with the Lord Jesus, holding the hands that formed his frame. God’s will is good even when it hurts. It is good because He is good. His provision is perfect at all times because He provides Himself in the person and work of Jesus Christ. To Jesus be the glory!

Busy is the Season

I intended to have some thoughts posted on psalms 3-9 already, but I have been focused on rewriting my prospectus. I hope to have it submitted (again) early next week, so the Psalter posts will have to wait. In the meantime, for those who are teaching off of Lifeway’s ETB schedule, you might want to refer to the previous Psalter postings to place your lesson within the context of the book as a whole. This book is consumed with the hope of Messiah, that is, Jesus Christ. Please make sure that your lesson does not miss the Psalter’s big message. Good exegesis is worth the extra effort.

Can’t wait to tell you more of what I have seen in the text …

A Great Sunday

It was a great blessing to see the Hope Life Group of Wake Cross Roads Baptist Church today.  Not only did we have a great time learning about the Psalter, we also had a great lunch at Los Treyes. It is a blessing to have the families of Wake Cross Roads and the Hope Life Group in our lives.

The Big Picture of the Psalter, Pt 2

I began the big picture of the Psalter with a look at how its opening (pss 1 and 2) sets the stage for the rest of the book. The characters, conflicts and themes in the first two psalms are built upon, amplified, and clarified throughout the rest of the book. As a symphony builds on a few musical phrases and joins them together in a continuing conversation, so the Psalter moves from “Blessings of the man” to “Praise the LORD” at the book’s conclusion by developing the ideas nascent in Psalms 1 and 2. Each psalm that follows has been specifically ordered and situated in a relationship with the rest of the book. There are no accidents to this order. Indeed, as the conversation moves from psalm to psalm, the poems converse with one another and focus the reader on its core message in a variety of situations. In particular, these movements can be traced by following the division into five sections (books) and by the information placed in the superscriptions (introductions) to most psalms.

It is also important to understand that the author of the Psalter knows his Bible extremely well. He brings contexts from other parts of the Bible, especially the Torah (Gen, Ex, Lev, Num, Dt) and the Former Prophets (Josh, Judg, Sam, Kin) and Daniel and Chronicles, into his book. He understands that the promise made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and to their seed also extended to David. Thus, the book intends to show that the hope for Israel and the world rests in that promise. David, therefore, becomes the central character throughout much of the Psalter. David is a man who trusts in the Man whom Moses promised: the Messiah. His hope is eschatological, far beyond his own day to the end of the days, a day when God’s Son will rule with His people in true peace.

As such, it is very helpful to listen carefully to the echoes from these other parts of the Bible that find a home in the Psalter. The psalms record little “snippets” from other parts of the Bible that the author intends us to recognize. Since we do not know the Bible as well as he did, we tend to miss a lot of them. I miss a lot of them, even though I need only hear a few notes of an 80’s pop song to recognize it. If I will focus my heart and time better upon Scripture, perhaps God will help me (and you) to recognize these references to other parts of the Bible as we can also recognize references to modern music. Now, the technical term for a text referencing another book is “intertextuality.” The Psalter is a book designed to help you think about the rest of the Bible as it moves through its own movements through its use of intertextuality.

In particular, please remember the promise to David and to his seed in 2 Sam 7. David was promised that one of his sons would have an unending kingdom. Shortly thereafter, however, David’s sons failed just as he did. The author of the Psalter, however, works to show that the promise to David endures even when he and his sons fail. He writes the Psalter, in part, to explain that the promise to David is the answer to the dilemma of his day, the answer to the dilemma found at the transition between psalms 1 and 2. Another key section of scripture to keep in mind is Dan 7. Dan 7, in particular, provides an eschatological hope for the true king and his saints in the last day. Victory will be His and theirs.

The author of the Psalter, therefore, infuses his book with a commentary on the Torah and the Prophets, even as it is also the introduction to the third part of the Hebrew canon, the Writings. His understanding of what these texts mean fills the pages of the Psalter because the focus of his hope is found in his understanding of what Moses and the Prophets wrote.

What is the big picture of the rest of the book? Here is a summary of the book’s big movements:

Sections 1 and 2 of the Psalter (pss 1–72) develop the idea of God’s promise to David around David’s life. The promise to David (2 Sam 7) is connected to the hope and the focus found in the Torah for a coming messiah. David, who knew his Torah well, continued to trust in God’s promise even as his sons proved unfaithful and troubles pursued him from every direction. Even the troubles of his own sin do not separate him from his hope in God’s promise because through them he repents and reaffirms his trust in God’s deliverance. David’s hope endures these difficulties because his hope is not in his righteousness but in a promise from God.

Section 3 (pss 73–89), however, continues its hope in the promise to David via the context of those who lived after David’s life, especially in regard to the return from the exile. This promised return will feature the restoration of David’s throne and city. As David waited faithfully for the fulfillment of God’s promise, so must and do the righteous. The author calls the reader to wait patiently for God’s saving hand. Section 4 (pss 90–106) also focus on the hope of the future return from exile, but it does so with the intent of extending the time of waiting necessary until this return and restoration by the work of God’s Anointed will be manifest.

Section 5 (pss 107–150) follows closely on the heels of the sections 3 and 4 by its focus on the return from exile and the continuing need to wait for the promised return and restoration. Even after the seventy year exile, the people of God must wait for His Anointed. This section also ties itself closely to the first two sections of the book with critical groupings of Davidic psalms. These groupings and the messianic ascent psalms that follow psalm 119 connect the return from exile to the promised son of David who will rule as king and priest over God’s house, God’s kingdom. Even the nations and their kings will respond to him in fear. From both Israel and the nations a righteous people will offer praise and worship of the promised Messiah when He comes to establish God’s kingdom. The book ends with a depiction of the true worship of God in His kingdom that is the hope of the promise to David. Hallelujah!

In my next postings, I hope to begin to take a closer look at section 1 of the Psalter (pss 1–41).

The Big Picture of the Psalter, Pt 1

The Psalter begins with a simple phrase: “Blessings of the man.” This psalm and the whole Psalter want to introduce us to this man, to teach us about him. It, then, describes this man first by what he does not do and second by the passion of his heart that consumes him day and night: the Torah of the LORD. This Torah-centered man is strengthened, sustained, and made fruitful by God’s word. It is the Torah that contains the promise to Abraham and to his seed that God would bless him and the whole world to make them fruitful. The author contrasts this Blessed man with the wicked who will face God’s judgment in the last day. He promises that God will destroy the wicked; their way will perish.

And, then, the author directs the reader to the first of many tensions and conflicts within the Psalter. In fact, every conflict and concern in the Psalter comes back to this central dilemma. What is this dilemma?

God has promised to judge the wicked in Psalm 1 and in the Torah, but the wicked are prospering. Psalm 2 begins with the personification of the wicked as the nations (goyyim) and peoples (ammim) and their rulers, the kings of the earth. They are not being judged as Psalm 1 promised. God’s people are not prospering. The goyyim and the peoples, instead, are prospering as they fight against God and His Anointed. Psalm 1 promises judgment of sin and psalm 2 depicts the present absence of that judgment.

(ESV) 1:5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

1:6 for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish.

2:1 Why do the nations rage

and the peoples plot in vain?

2:2 The kings of the earth set themselves,

and the rulers take counsel together,

against the LORD and against his Anointed,

saying,

2:3 “Let us burst their bonds apart

and cast away their cords from us.”

Will God keep the promise of 1:5, 6? Why hasn’t God judged these wicked? Why have the goyyim (the nations) and their kings prospered? Psalm 1 offers God’s word as a promise. Psalm 2 presents the gap between what God promises and what our eyes see. Ultimately, psalm 2 moves from the dilemma to its answer: worship God’s Anointed.

The Psalter, following this pattern, intends from beginning to end to direct us to live as His people with only His word and promises in the midst of a world that fights against Him. The book answers this central question: how should one live in a world that hates God? Its answer is to focus on the meaning of the Torah itself: we should trust in the man promised by Moses.

Moses promised the coming of a King (see Gen 49, Num 23, 24, Deut 32, 33) as the answer to the promised seed of Abraham. The Psalter connects the man of that promise to the promise made in 2 Samuel 7 to David’s son: Abraham’s seed, David’s son, God’s anointed. The Psalter’s author is consumed, therefore, with helping us understand the Torah and the Prophets. He connects his work not only to the person of David but to that promise made in 2 Samuel 7 that David’s son would one day have an everlasting rule. God’s promise will endure even though all of David’s physical sons who ruled in Jerusalem fell because a true son of David is coming one day as God’s Anointed.

Psalm 2, in particular, depicts God pouring out His King on His Holy mountain: Zion. Zion is the place of the temple built by David’s son. It is the place of God’s throne among His people. The Psalter joins the Prophets (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the 12) in looking for God to keep His promise to Abraham’s seed through the promise to David despite the exile. The Psalter proclaims that God will judge the wicked, but His people must wait. It not only answers how we should wait but for whom we should wait: God’s Anointed. That is, the book is about teaching us to wait for Jesus Christ, God’s Messiah.

The prophet who authored the book waited for the first coming of God’s anointed. We wait for the second. The Christian life, according to the Psalter, cannot be separated from waiting. Waiting is the fundamental dilemma for those who have believed God’s promises. We wait for God to keep His promise in the last day, and the waiting reveals the dark spots upon our hearts, the stains upon our faith. The Psalter instructs us to worship God, to praise His name, to trust Him in every and all circumstance. Psalm 1 and 2, therefore, set the stage for the book’s conclusion: hallelujah, that is, praise the LORD.

Psalm 2, itself, directs us to the pattern that the book follows from dilemma to worship. The problem of the mocking kings and nations is answered by God installing His King on Zion. This king, spoken of by the statute (choq) of God, is God’s son, begotten of God who will inherit the nations and crush the kings. This Torah-centered truth becomes what Moses meant it to be: a warning to trust God’s anointed King because the only way to blessing is found in trusting this man. In other words, the reader is called to trust this man. The ultimate act of worship is to trust Him.

Psalm 1 begins with the blessings of a Torah-centered man. Psalm 2 ends with many men being blessed through God’s Anointed. The first psalm focuses on a man of the Torah. The second psalm features a man who is God’s Anointed. The opening of the Psalter connects a Torah psalm to a Messianic psalm. John H. Sailhamer recognizes that this same pattern occurs elsewhere in the Torah (NIV Compact Commentary, 318, 319). Psalms 19 and 119, in particular, work together with the several messianic psalms that follow to extend the pattern begun with psalms 1 and 2. Together, they suggest that the love of Torah, the meditating on it day and night leads to the realization that the Torah itself is about God’s promised man, His anointed, who is coming.

Now, the pressing question is how the author is connecting God’s Anointed in 2:6–12 to the Blessed man of 1:1. It is clear that the psalms are meant to be read together and do influence each other, but what is the nature of the connection between the man of 1:1 and the God’s anointed 2:12? Two answers present themselves. I prefer the later of these answers, but I respect the other answer also. I will leave it to you to decide.

The first answer is to see the Blessed man of 1:1 as a man who has read the Torah as described in 2:12. He is, in other words, among the ones blessed by trusting in God’s Anointed. The second answer, which I prefer, is to see the Blessed man of 1:1 as God’s Anointed himself in 2:12. While it is clear that there is a connection between the blessings of 1:1 and 2:12 since they form an undeniable parallelism, it is not clear how to understand the connection.

It is the interpretation of such parallelism which should humble us all. We need to get it right, and we need to think carefully about why we prefer one answer over the other. I prefer seeing the man of 1:1 as God’s Anointed Son in 2:12, but I do admit that the other reading is possible. Both readings are faithful to the text, render the Psalter as Christ and grace centered, and take account of the obvious parallelism. The only way to decipher between these two readings and to move beyond preference, I suggest, is to measure how the ideas are developed throughout the rest of the book. In other words, I recommend that one keep reading and re-reading this whole book. It may be that the first or the second reading bear mores fruit or that the author has intentionally left us with a tension between the two possibilities.

Why might God leave us with a tension? Let me suggest that an intentional tension may be in play between the Blessed man as God’s Anointed and the blessed man as one who has trusted God’s Anointed because those who trust Christ are called to be like Christ. In other words, God intends that those who are called by His name to also reflect that name. Perhaps, the author has allowed this tension because as God completes His plan of redeeming the world through His Son, many sons will be formed who will be like him. The blessed man will one day be like the Blessed man whom they have trusted.

However, you explain the connection between 1:1 and 2:12, you should humbly recognize that the author has crafted a complex book with a unified message: trust in God’s Son who is coming to judge the world. I hope to speak more about how the book develops some of these big ideas in the next posting ….

What do I do with the Psalter? Part 2

In my last post I began a survey of some core background issues to teaching the Psalter as a book. We considered in that post:

1. Psalms are Hebrew poems.

2. Most psalms have a superscription that provides its context as a part of the book.

Now, I would like to turn to some equally important considerations for the Bible Study teacher:

3. The Psalter is divided into five sections as 5 “books.”

4. The Psalter’s storyline is like a symphony.

5. The first two psalms are the opening or introduction to the whole book.

3. The Psalter is divided into five sections as 5 “books.” I use the term “book” here very loosely. The Psalter itself divides into five major sections. Here is the break-down of these sections:

Section 1 (Book 1): Psalms 1-41

Section 2 (Book 2): Psalms 42-72

Section 3 (Book 3): Psalms 73-89

Section 4 (Book 4): Psalms 90-106

Section 4 (Book 4): Psalms 107-150

Why do these divisions matter?

Just as there is an intention and design in how the individual psalms were arranged into the book that is the Psalter, the section breaks also indicate the author’s intention and design. The section divisions frame the interpretation of the Psalms. They indicate a change in emphases, marking the resolution of one section’s issues and the introduction to the questions and concerns that will drive the next.

Within each section, therefore, we find significant patterns to the superscriptions. The sectioning of the whole books works in unison with the authorial strategy of the superscriptions. Each section demonstrates certain tendencies in the superscriptions. It is important to notice when the break in the superscriptions patterns occur. You can rest assured that something significant is happening in the book at this point.

The endings of the sections, in particular, provide a significant clue to the meaning of the breaks between the sections as a part of the book.

Section 1 (Psalm 41) ends with “Amen and Amen.”

Section 2 (Psalm 72) ends with “Amen and Amen. The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.”

Section 3 (Psalm 89) ends with “Amen and Amen.”

Section 4 (Psalm 106) does NOT end with “Amen and Amen.” It ends with “Praise the LORD.”

Section 5 (Psalm 150) ends with “Praise the LORD.”

First, we notice that the first three sections follow an identical strategy in ending the book. The repetition of Amen occurs only at these three points in the Psalter. It does not seem like an accident. These transitions, therefore, signal that the resolution achieved at the end of sections 1, 2, and 3 are being left behind for another searching into the questions that spurred the writing of the Psalter.

Second, we notice that section four’s “Praise the LORD” sets the stage for the continual “Praise the LORD” statements that dominate the book’s ending. If these section breaks are significant, we should expect to find that the book itself moves towards the ending of the overall book: “Praise the LORD.” It is the final counsel and answer that the Psalter gives to its pressing question. The whole book is structured to move the reader to worship in the midst of the dilemmas that fill the book.

What does all of this information mean to the Bible Study teacher? It means that the story that is the Psalter has a movement to it that must be traced to understand the book. Every teaching of every Psalm or verse must be tied to the book’s larger message and to the sections’ role in that message. As sections 1 and 2 end, an answer is given that announces trust and confidence in God’s plan. Sections 2 and 3 begin with a return to a dilemma. The ending of the later sections anticipate the ending of the book and confirm that the fundamental response to life’s struggles is worshiping the True God and His Anointed One.

4. The Psalter’s storyline is like a symphony.

One of the keys to teaching the Psalter, I suggest, will be to understand how the storyline moves from Psalm to Psalm and section to section from beginning to end. The storyline of a movie, novel, or play is easy to follow and understand in most instances. Because the Psalter is a complex fusion of many different poems, however, its storyline is not so simple. The best analogy in considering the movement of the storyline is that of a symphony.

In a symphony, the opening of the piece announces the main theme and the rest of the music develops and fills out these themes. There is, therefore, a continual return to basic music phrases and moods throughout the symphony. The Psalter is no different. These Psalms are selected and ordered to be a “musical” or “poetic” conversation about some very important concerns. The introduction to the Psalter produces the basic themes, characters, conflicts, and resolutions that the other Psalms fill out. Thus, important thoughts are repeated and returned to throughout the book. The resurrection, for example, is not discussed only once, but the idea of resurrection is utilized throughout the book in different contexts. The rage of the gentile kings and the promise of God’s victory are other themes and elements that appear throughout the book.

When the repetitions occur, please consider looking at not only what is the same as before but what is different. These repetitions, following Bar Efrat’s four categories, can occur at the level of  1) individuals words (and letters), 2) story-telling techniques, 3) narrative world, and/ or 4) thematic concepts (Shimon Bar-Efrat, “Some Observation on the Analysis of Structure in Biblical Narrative,” VT 30 (1980):157). The easiest repetition to follow is the literal repetition of words such as with psalms 14 and 53. While the detection of repetition becomes increasingly subjective with the other three levels, the interpreter must seek to find these various types of repetition because they represent new versions on the same tune. They show further consideration on the topic and concerns. Ultimately, their detection becomes important because the psalms are in a guided conversation with each other. The interpreter must listen to how psalms interact, how they question, answer, and develop. Seeing such repetition, therefore, is the key to interpreting the Psalter as a book because the psalms are meant to be read together. The author uses the arrangement of the psalms to help us interpret.

What should we look for in detecting the repetition and the conversation from psalm to psalm, section to section? How should we try to understand the story and movement of the book?

I suggest considering the following questions and observations as you read:

1. Is there an answer to a question from a prior psalm? This is especially important in adjacent psalms. The juxtapositioning of psalms can often be traced to the desire to let the later psalm provide a new or more complete answer to a prior psalm’s question.

2. What common themes occur? What differences in theme also occur? How do the differences demonstrate a development of theme?

3. What common key words occur? What differences also occur? How do the differences demonstrate development? The differences are intentional and help us better understand why the repetition comes into play when it does.

4. What common phrases occur? When you find the commonalities always qualify what is different.

5. Across a section, what is most frequent issue that the psalms deal with? How does the answer to this question or concern develop or change across this grouping? What is the climactic answer given at the end?

6. Look for changes in ideas (questions, answers, themes, etc) where you also have changes in superscriptions, especially in the transition from one section to another.

7. Consider the beginning and ending of a section. The development within a section is usually clearer if you can observe the commonalities between the beginning and the ending. This principle applies for the book as a whole, the sections, and even sub-groupings of psalms such as the ascent psalms.

8. Keep reading and thinking about the text. This book is very big. All of us, myself included, must be focusing our energies on reading and rereading to measure our conclusions against the weight of the text.

5. The first two psalms are the opening or introduction to the whole book.

The most practical insight into understanding the Psalter is the recognition that Psalms 1 and 2 are written together as an introduction to the whole Psalter. The rest of the book is an answer to the dilemma that starts in these verses. While there is plenty of debate on the final meaning of the first two psalms and, therefore, the Psalter as a whole, there is no doubt that the main ideas of the book stem from these foundations.

You must know these psalms well. You must, also, consider just how they set-up the rest of the book that in the end bids us all to worship God and His Anointed.

In my next post, we’ll look at Psalms 1 and 2 …

Genesis and Liberty

I am very proud to announce that I am teaching two sections on the book of Genesis for Liberty University online this session.

The team at Liberty has proven to be first-class in all that they do. I wish I could describe how much I enjoyed the interview process this past spring with them. It was a blessing in so many ways. They are passionate about ministering to their students, and I am dedicated to helping them in this important mission. I look forward to meeting through the classes some of the finest undergraduate students in the world.

You can learn more about Liberty at http://www.liberty.edu/

To God be the Glory!

What do I do with the Psalter? Part 1

In my first post on the Psalter I considered how we should read this critical portion of Scripture. My answer was that we should read it as an intentionally designed book. Now, in this post I hope to build on this discussion by looking at the Psalter (the book of Psalms) itself. What should we do with all of the material in the Psalter?

Here are some important questions, concerns, and observations to frame our interpretation of the book:

1. Psalms are Hebrew poems.
2. Most psalms have a superscription that provides its context as a part of the book.
3. The Psalter is divided into five sections as 5 “books.”
4. The Psalter’s storyline is like a symphony.
5. The first two psalms are the opening or introduction to the whole book.

1. Psalms are Hebrew poems. There are a variety of aspects to Hebrew poetry, but the most important features of Hebrew poetry are 1) terseness, meaning much but using few words, and 2) parallelism, creating meaning through comparisons.

As you read these poems, you must always ask yourself, “What is the author comparing?” The text may make a comparison from one word to another, one line or phrase to another, or even one poem to another. To parallel something is to take two different elements and place them in a mutual relationship. The relationship is a comparison that involves some degree of continuity and some degree of dis-continuity. In other words, every comparison is by nature also a contrast. Every contrast, also, is by nature a comparison. You couldn’t form a contrast without some continuity and you couldn’t form a comparison unless there is some difference between the two.

The second element, in particular, forms a relationship that either extends, broadens, or clarifies the first element. It says “A and what more B” when A is the first element and B is the second. The second element, therefore, provides commentary on the first just as the first provides commentary on the second. They form a meaning together both in how they are the same and in how they differ.

These comparisons can happen on several levels, but in dealing with the English translation you should focus on the parallels that occur on the levels of individual words (lexical-semantic) and phrases (grammatical). When you study the Hebrew text, as you should one day, it becomes much easier to spot the sound (phonological) comparisons that operate within the words and phrases. You should start learning Hebrew for this reason alone!

Let me give you an example of spotting parallels.

In Psalm 1:1 there are several parallels, comparisons, at work.

Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

First, three activities are compared through parallelism: walking … standing … sitting. These activities are similar but not exactly the same. The second element (standing) extends the meaning of the first (walking) while the third (sitting) provides an even greater extension. The author combines together the commonalities and differences of these words to paint a picture of the blessed man (by describing what he does not do). The comparisons occur not only with these words themselves but also with the phrases that they head.

Second, the author in these phrases parallels the wicked, sinners, and scoffers. In particular, the near semantic repetition of wicked, sinners, and scoffers provides clarity as to how each of the words and their phrases should be understood individually and as a group.

Third, this second parallelism provides a contrast that is at the heart of the whole poem by paralleling these three terms with the blessed man who is at the head of the poem. The poem intends to contrast (compare) the righteous with the wicked. This relationship is reinforced in spotting the parallelism between the righteous (verses 1-3) and the wicked (verses 4-6).

There are many, many more comparisons at work in this one verse and psalm, but this will help you how these phrases and individual words contained therein form meaning through parallelism.

For a more detailed explanation of Hebrew poetry, I recommend reading Adele Berlin’s The Dynamics of Biblical Parallelism, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985). While the bulk of the book becomes technical, the opening 30 or so pages are sufficient to help most anyone read Hebrew poetry better.

2. Most psalms have a superscription that provides its context as a part of the book. A superscription is usually a short phrase that introduces the poem. In particular, superscriptions function 1) to provide the context for an individual psalm, 2) to provide continuity for a number of similar psalms that have similar superscriptions in a sequential order, and 3) to mark off differences between sequential psalms. In other words, superscriptions provide us clues as to how we should read the book.

In particular, when a superscription is absent it brings the two psalms together to be read almost as single psalm. In contrast, when a superscription proves similar to the prior psalm’s superscription, it suggests continuity between them so that differences between superscriptions also signal changes and differences. Thus, a superscription not only introduces a psalm, but it also helps to determine the relationship between two or more psalms as a part of the book.

Recognizing just what is a superscription and what is not one is complicated in our English Bibles because the publishers have added comments to explain the psalm. These modern comments stand side by side with the superscriptions in many modern Bible as they show us how the publisher believes we should read the psalm. Such modern comments are clearly not Scripture. They are commentary on Scripture. The tougher question is whether the superscriptions themselves are Scripture or just “an ancient publisher’s comments.”

The English Bibles, by not numbering the superscriptions, do not treat them as an actual part of Scripture, but the Hebrew text (the Masoretic Text) does number them. This numbering suggests that the Hebrew text regards them as Scripture proper and not an interesting sideline. While there is room for some debate (but not much), the presence in the Hebrew text seems to make the wiser and safer decision to regard these superscriptions as Scripture. If superscriptions are Scripture, therefore, it becomes critical to distinguish between the modern publisher’s comments and the superscription.

Here’s an example of the issue from my printing of the New American Standard Bible’s rendering of Psalm 18:

PSALM 18
The LORD Praised for Giving Deliverance.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD, who spoke to the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.

First, recognize that after the psalm number, the publisher has added the sentence, “The LORD Praised for Giving Deliverance.” This sentence explains how the modern publisher wants the reader to understand the big idea of the psalm. This comment is not Scripture. It is commentary and not the Word of God. It may be (and usually is) a great explanation of one or more aspects of the poem, but it is only the publisher’s vantage point on the text.

The superscription itself, however, begins with “For the choir director …” (NASB) or “To the choirmaster” (ESV). This term “choir director” emphasizes that technical and non-technical musical terms populate the Psalter’s superscriptions. Some terms are understood and interpreted such as this one as “choir director,” while others are not understood. In these situations, the translator does not translate the term. Instead, he replicates the sounds of the Hebrew word in English letters. He transliterates the word. The term “Amen” is a classic example of a transliteration that occurs throughout the Bible.

Immediately after this text, the NASB writes, “A Psalm of David …” Most of you know that such italicized words are not in the original text. It is added by the translator because it is implied by the text or is necessary in our language. The text literally reads, “To David.”

Most superscriptions are very brief, but this one is long and its text ties the psalm to the narrative found in Samuel. This long superscription that clearly references Samuel highlights the need to understand that the author of the Psalter is guiding not only in how we should read his text, the Psalter, but also how he wants to read Samuel. The superscription of psalm 18 places the poem in an exegetical relationship with Samuel. In other words, the psalm is part of a larger strategy within the Psalter to comment on David and God’s promise to him.

This final point prepares us for some more observations that will be dealt with in the next post about the structure and meaning of the whole book.

3. The Psalter is divided into five sections as 5 “books.”
4. The Psalter’s storyline is like a symphony.
5. The first two psalms are the opening or introduction to the whole book.

How Should I Read the Psalter? (the Book of Psalms)

There are at least three ways of reading The Psalter (The Book of Psalms):

1)      As the song book of the second temple, emphasizing its religious (cultic) usage in that day.

2)      As individual types of poetry and music jumbled together, emphasizing the meaning of the individual psalms isolated from each other.

3)      As a book intentionally put together into a unity, emphasizing its unified message that emerges from reading the psalms together as an organized conversation.

 

I, naturally, prefer this last way of reading and interpreting this book. My hope today is to explain the big picture of why we should read the Psalter this way before posting later on the actual interpretation of the book.

 

I read the text as a book because Scripture is divinely inspired, arguing that God’s spirit moved the hearts of men to author the psalms into a book (2 Pet 1:19-21). Inspiration, specifically, is the process whereby God ensures that the authoring of Scripture, especially its final form, involves no error.

 

Scripture is inerrant (without error),

infallible (will not lead you astray),

authoritative (the rule for the Christian),

and sufficient (complete in teaching man how he must worship God).

 

Revelation, on the other hand, is what is revealed in the book. The contents of the book prove to be inerrant, infallible, authoritative and sufficient because of God’s work of inspiration God protected the authoring of the text so that we can trust it fully.

 

This inerrant Scripture is a book, a book authored by a man or men. Every book has, at least, a singular (although complex) message, a beginning, and an ending. Our approach should recognize this beginning and ending and its interactions with the other parts of the book so that we may continually consider and re-consider the book’s singular message, its big idea.

 

A biblical writer puts together his book with an intention behind it, a desire to say something important as an answer to a critical question. His activities in shaping the book should define our understanding of this message as an answer to the pressing question revealed through good interpretation. Specifically, the author selected material, arranged it, and added to it according to the moving of God’s spirit because he wants his reader to know something as an answer to his question and concern. Our interpretive crosshairs, therefore, must be focused on understanding the whole book, subjecting the meaning of its parts to the meaning of the whole and understanding the meaning of the whole by examining and re-examining its parts. We will continually read, re-read and re-consider the book’s big idea and how each part fits into the communication of its message.

 

We do have one special challenge confronting us, however. How do we know where one book ends and another begins? If, for example, you interpret Psalm 1 as a “book” unto itself, it will read very differently than if it is the beginning of a book of 150 psalms. Interpretation, therefore, requires a commitment to the beginning and ending points of the book. My answer to this dilemma is to look at the arrangement of Scripture itself to provide us that answer. I am arguing here that Scripture has already clued us into the scope and size of a book via the shape of its contents. Scripture itself demands a particular way of reading it that accords to how it was written. The biblical author signals to the reader a book’s beginning and ending because he wants his message understood. We must listen for the clues and read accordingly.

 

The Psalter provides many clues as to how it should be read, as I hope to show in the coming weeks. We are not left on our own to define the shape of the book. In particular, the arrangement of Scripture, especially its repetitions, points us to understand Psalm 1 as the beginning of a complete book of Psalms. There is a cohesive movement from beginning to end that highlights common strategies to make a whole book. Scripture, therefore, pleads with us to read Psalm 1 as the beginning to the next 149 psalms. To read Psalm 1 as Scripture, I am suggesting, is to read it as the beginning of the book of Psalms. A Christian should strive to read the parts of Scripture, the parts of the books that make up the book that is the Bible, as Scripture. It is according to God’s spirit that it was written, and it should be read according to those same intentions.

 

To read Psalm 1 in isolation or as a sample of a style or religious mood of its day is not to read it as Scripture. Scripture provides an arrangement that orders how we should read it and understand the relationships between the parts. If we interpret through rearranging the psalms according to a style or form, we create a new Psalter that redefines the relationships and meaning of the psalms.

 

The most pressing scholarly example of such is form criticism. Form criticism reorganizes the psalms according to common content, its common forms. Such reading can have benefits, but it pulls the reader away from the big idea and singular meaning that God embedded in the book. In essence, it creates a new book by pulling apart all of the book’s pieces and placing them in a new order.

 

Let me offer a quick illustration. My children love the beach. They especially love to take the sand and make various shapes out of it. The sand itself is about the same every time they play with it, but each child takes the sand and makes something fun out of it for him. Jackson will use sand to make a fort while Mary might take a similar mound of sand to mold a cake. The meaning of their sand is not merely in the contents of the sand itself but in how they shaped it. As their playtime progresses, one of the children will no doubt make that point abundantly clear. Sam or Jackson or Mary will “borrow” sand from another. In the process of initiating World War III, the borrower shall create a new meaning in the sand. The lender tends to oppose such changes because it changes what he meant the sand to be.

 

Any interpretation of the book of Psalms that reshapes its order according to perceived themes or common features is borrowing Scripture to make a new meaning separate from that of the author. He made his book his way. God made sure that the human author made it according to His purposes, so we must resist the temptation to reorganize the Psalter. We must listen to how he selected, arranged, and added to his material to shape his book. Good interpretation strives for recognition of such. We look for his meaning in how he put his parts together.

 

The Psalter (the book of Psalms), therefore, is an intentionally arranged book that answers a question with a singular message. Our reading and especially our teaching from the pulpit or the lectern must emphasize this meaning. To do otherwise is to merely use the text rather than to listen to the voice behind it.

 

There are some related and complex issues tied to what I have written here. My hope in this post is not to answer all the questions, but to help the teacher of the book of Psalms, the Psalter, to consider just how and why he is reading and interpreting this text. It is no accident that God placed this book in the Bible. It is Scripture. There is also no accident that God asks us to read, meditate, and teach on it today. The God who authored the Psalter can bring its meaning to light.