Lesson Two
Introduction to the Book of Psalms: Psalms 44, 90
III. Contents and Compilers of the Five Books of Psalms
As we begin today, we continue our study of the Contents and Compilers of the Five Books of Psalms. We are looking at the oldest Psalm (90).
D.
Psalm Statistics
6.
Our oldest Psalm is 90 and most recent Psalm is 126 …
b.
In Psalm 90, Moses looks back on a long period of history:
(2)
Verses show that man is consumed by God's wrath. “We have been consumed by Your anger” (vs. 7). The psalmist now interpreted the reason for man's transitory nature and his suffering. He realized from history and personal experience that God's face is as the light of the sun in its power to probe into the depths of man's being. Compared with God's timelessness, a lifetime of seventy or eighty years seems pitifully short. Furthermore, this span of years is filled with sorrow and suffering. Out of this pessimistic view of life comes the plaintive cry for teaching and wisdom to help a man discern the true meaning of life.
(3)
Verses have man seeking the favor of God . “Do return, O Lord ... Satisfy us” (vss. 13-14). The appeal introduced in verse 12 is continued throughout the poem. The writer desired God to grant his people happiness in proportion to the suffering they have endured under His wrath. The psalm closes with a plea that God's favor may be the basis of the Lord's preparing and establishing (cf. all the daily tasks ahead (; ; and define these daily tasks as “the work of our hands”).
7.
We have a time span of 946 years between the first psalm and the most recent one: 1446 to 500 B.C. The book of Psalms was developed during this 946 -year period. One was written by Moses, many by David , some by Levites (Korah, Heman [Kohath], Asaph [Gershon]), one by Ethan of Judah, and many by unknown individuals. They were originally a loose collection of five books. Sometime after returning from the captivity, the Jews assembled all 150 psalms into one collection, called a Psalter . It’s a Hebrew songbook. God has seen fit to preserve these songs over a 946 -year period, then to oversee the collection into the Psalter.
Categories of Psalms
I.
Three Major Forms and Categories of Psalms
Each Psalm has its own vocabulary and motif, but an amazing thing is that the Word of
God itself gives us the three primary categories of Psalms.
A.
outlines the general worship system at the ark. For a number of years during the last years of Samuel, the reign of Saul, and the first seven years of the reign of David, the ark was not centrally located for the Israelites.
B.
When David became king over Israel in Judah, one of the things he did was to return the ark to a central place of worship. Following that, it was necessary for him to develop this whole worship system , and he did that (a combination of sacrifices and priests to get the system underway again).
C.
gave instructions to the priests concerning the psalms that existed at that time. “He appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the LORD, even to petition [Hebrew and NIV], and to thank, and praise the LORD God of Israel.”
D.
Three functions: petition, thank, and praise. Now that the ark was returned and the tabernacle was up, Levitical choirs sang psalms and a full-scale religious service was instituted. During the religious service, the Levites were to carry out these three functions as they worshipped. We do something similar in our worship services today. This worship service was in the outer court; began by David.
E.
If we have the psalms committed to memory (any Psalms memorized?), thought-patterns own feelings toward Him.
F.
Most psalms (% of all of them) fall into one of these three categories:
1.
Petition (Lament) Psalms
a.
A better rendering of this word is to “invoke” or “remind.” It comes from a root word that in Hebrew means, “to remind .” These psalms are to remind God. , and expect what? persecution. These are reminder psalms. Psalm 38 is a psalm of David to bring to remembrance the need of deliverance from enemies. Psalm 70, ditto, reminding God not to delay help. Granted that God does not need reminding.
b.
Since God doesn’t need to be reminded, why remind Him? We use the term anthropomorphically (ascribing the human characteristic of being reminded to our infinite God). We remind God of our need, but He knows our need so He doesn’t need to be reminded . However, as part of the dialog between the believer and God, we call on Him to be reminded , because it seems to us that He is not keeping up with our needs. This type of psalm is usually a petition, a lament that reminds God of your need . The psalmist pours out his heart in complaint to God and then petitions God for some relief . He thinks God needs a reminder because relief has been delayed longer than he expected it to be.
c.
There are two types of lament psalms:
(1)
National Lament Psalm
(a)
The entire nation petitioned and lamented before God.
(b)
Examples are Psalms 44 (vss. (vss. (vss. ), 80 ( vss. ), and 83 ( vss. ). Others are Psalms 60 ( vss ), ( vss. ), 129, and 137. The Psalter contains how many? 13 National Lament Psalms, which is almost 9
(2)
Individual Lament Psalm (These occur far more often than National Laments.)
(a)
One person petitioned and lamented before God.
(b)
It usually begins with direct address to God. Psalm 22 is an example of both an Individual Lament Psalm as well as a Messianic Psalm (it prophesies the suffering of the Messiah). We will study Messianic Psalms in Lesson 3. Other Individual Lament Psalms are 3-4, 6-7, 10, 12-13, 17, 28, 31, 38-39, 41, 52, 54-59, 61, 64, 69-71, 77, 88, 102, 108-109, 123, 140-142, and 144. The Psalter contains 36 Individual Lament Psalms, which is 24 % of the entire book. Laments fill almost 1/4 of the entire book. Read Supplementary Text: (#4)
d.
A good lament psalm will have within it four basic sections:
(1)
Confidence Section — where the psalmist expressed his belief that God was capable of doing all the things He was asked to do; where the psalmist expressed from biblical precedent and his own heartfelt knowledge his awareness of the majesty of God and awareness that God had performed before and would perform now .
(2)
Lament Section — usually the confidence section of a lament psalm leads into a lament section, where the psalmist was really lamenting what had happened to them or him. This was a reminder to God of the tragedy that had taken place.
(3)
Protest Section — sometimes in lament psalms, a protest section will be included. This is a section where the psalmist actually protested what occurred.
(4)
Petition Section — Lament psalms end in this section. God was asked for mercy or for some particular favor about the object of the lament.
e.
Psalm 44 is a good example of a four-step lament psalm. Though not obvious in English , it is very obvious in Hebrew. This psalm is built like a ziggurat (a stepped-pyramid). This consists of a large block of stone foundation (), with successively smaller blocks resting on that. It is a Psalm of the Sons of Korah in the late history of Judah when they suffered a major enemy attack. Book 2 was compiled in the name of or by Solomon; Psalm 44 was “in his name.” Read Supplementary Text: (#2)
(1)
Verses in the original are 10 lines forming a confidence section. This is a ten-line base-block for our step-pyramid. They’ve heard from the past. They knew that God drove out the heathen in times of old (Joshua’s time). These people drew confidence from the past, from history, even as we do today.
(a)
We know this psalm was written before 586 BC because Israel at this time had an army. Israel’s army ended after Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem.
(b)
The psalmist looked back to the Conquest of the Promised Land. He said that, knowing what God did in the past, according to his ancestors in the Bible, he had every confidence that God would do the same in the present.
(2)
Verses form an 8-line lament section. Note the lament . The psalmist pointed out to God how they had suffered. Notice some examples of their suffering they said God caused:
(a)
Verse : “Yet You have rejected us and brought us to dishonor, and do not go out with our armies.”
(b)
Verse : “You cause us to turn back from the adversary; and those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.”
(c)
Verse : “You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and a derision to those around us” ( Synonymous Parallelism — another way to say in line 2 what is stated in line 1).
(3)
Verses form a 6-line protest section. Notice some examples of their protest because of what God caused:
(a)
Verse : “Yet You have crushed us in a place of jackals and covered us with the shadow of death.”
(b)
Verse : “But for Your sake we are killed all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” This verse is plucked out by the Holy Spirit and made an integral part of
(4)
The final section is made up of verses — a 4-line block that is a petition section. Notice some examples of this:
(a)
Verse : “Arouse Yourself, why do You sleep, O LORD? Awake, do not reject us forever.”
(b)
Verse : “Rise up, be our help, and redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness.”
f.
David gave instruction for a certain number of the Levites to lament , using these lament psalms, during the worship service. They were to pour out their hearts to God in complaint , petition Him for relief, and do so on a communal basis.
2.
Thanks Psalm
a.
Psalms 20; ; ;; ; : ; ; ; ; ; and are Thank Psalms (a total of 14 and almost 9 % of the book). (Those that indicate verses above have “thanksgiving” mentioned or implied in them. Each Thank Psalm is the entire Psalm chapter listed above.) A certain number of Levites were to thank God. This Hebrew word for “thanks” has no private thanksgiving in view, but only that which is public in nature. The Hebrews knew nothing of private thanksgiving. When God answered prayer, the fulfilled request was not kept secret. It was made public before all the congregation. It magnified the Lord, letting everyone know what He had done. Read Supplementary Text: (#6)