Psalms
Title: Psalms - from Greek, usually
translated as “instrumental music”. Hebrew – Tehilim – praises (though more
than 30% of psalms are the psalms of sorrow and distress).
Date of writing: goes between 1450 BC to 586-536 BC
Authors: from Moses to David, sons of Korah,
Asaph and others
Structure: Five books
Book I: 1 –
41 [41:13] (9+10 and 32+33) = 39 total = 22+17
Book II: 42
– 72 [72:18-19, 20] (42+43) = 29 total = 12+17
Book III: 73
– 89 = 17
Book IV: 90
– 106 = 17
Book V: 107 –
150 = 44 = 22+22
22 – number
of the letters in Hebrew Alphabet (cp. Ps 111, 112, 119)
17 – number
related to the nations of the world
12 – tribes
of Israel
Main
themes: First two
psalms lay out the landscape of the psalter: the word of God, ways of righteousness
and wickedness, God’s creation as an image and reflection of life, spiritual
warfare – distress and victories, worship of the Son, surrender of the earthly
authorities to the King of kings.
Main
Characters: godly
man, Son of God, wicked ones, stars, trees, rocks, Levites.
Reflection
in other parts of the Bible: Singing hymns on semi-regular basis became a part of Israel’s life
during exodus – Ex. 15, Num. 21, Deut. 32 and 33. But, overall, the worship was
“silent”, we have prescribed ritual, but not a prescribed “liturgy”. Only with
the coming of king David we get “songs”. Interesting to see this development in
the Book of Revelation ch. 4 the throne is empty; therefore, four living
creatures say the words of Holy, holy, holy (4:8). Then in ch. 5 we see
the ascension on the throne of Lion-Lamb – then the four living creatures and
the elders immediately begin to sing (5:9-10).
The Book of
Psalms is the most quoted OT book n the New Testament. The liturgical usage of
psalms made it very familiar for the people of God. Lex orandi – lex credendi.
Lutheran
teaching: The Book
of Psalms holds one of the longest list of quotations in the Book of Concord
(the Confessions of the Lutheran Church). Therefore, I’ll point out only a few
themes: godly rulers, human bodies as God’s creation.
Reflecting
on the Ps. 2:10 A treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope states: the chief
members of the Church, the kings and princes, should especially guard the
interest of the Church [54]. This statement anole shows that the relationship
between the civil and spiritual authorities is more complicated than a simple
“separation of the church and state”.
Based on the
creation of any human (139:14-16) Formula of Concord states: Scripture
testifies that God has created human nature not only before the fall, but that
it is God’s creature and work also since the fall (SD, I:34-36).
NB: the
first lectures of Luther on the Bible were not lectures on Romans and
Galatians, but the lectures on Psalms (1512,13 – 1515), discovering the Gospel.
Lutheran
hymnody:
LSB 656, 657
– A Mighty Fortress is our God.
LSB 709 – The
King of Love My Shepherd is.
Relevancy
of the Book: Epistles
of Paul (Eph. 5:18-19; Col.3:16) teach that it is important to sing psalms to
overcome the spiritual, emotional, and communal struggles. The “psalms and
hymns and spiritual songs” – are types that can be found in the inscription of
the psalms.
Peter (Acts
2:34-35) and the author of the Letter to Hebrews (1:13; 5:5,6) base their
Christology on psalms – especially Ps. 2 and 110.
Memory
verses:
1:1-2:
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, not stands in
the way of the sinners, not sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in
the law (Torah, teaching) of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
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