BOOK OF PSALMS 6

CONTENT INTRODUCTION It is more helpful to describe the psalms in categories than to explain them one by one in canonical order. The psalms can be categorized as follows: Psalms of praise Royal, messianic psalms Passion psalms Psalms about Zion Laments Imprecatory psalms Penitential psalms Wisdom psalms and historical psalms Psalms of trust PSALMS OF PRAISE The Hebrew title, “Praises,” defines accurately a large part of the contents of the book. Each of the first four sections concludes with a doxology, while the fifth section concludes with five psalms, each of which begins and ends with one or two “Hallelujahs.” The last of these, Psalm 150, sounds the call to total praise. God is to be praised for his being, for his great acts in creation, nature, and history on both the individual and the communal level. 1. Individual praise. In comparison with the number of individual laments, there are relatively few psalms in this category. Those normally included are Psalms 9; 18; 32; 34; 116; and 138. This may, in part, be due to the universal tendency to complain rather than to express thanks. But a number of the laments do, in fact, include the note of thanksgiving for the anticipated deliverance, and the normal round of congregational thanksgiving would allow the individual to express his personal praise. However, it was customary in temple worship to give a verbal act of thanksgiving before the whole assembly whenever a vow offering or a thank offering was made. Such public testimony, and the communal meal associated with this type of sacrifice, is indicated in Psalms 22:22-26; 66:13-20; 116:17-19. The inclusion of such opportunities for personal praise and testimony must have added warmth and significance to worship. Each act of deliverance and every experience of God’s mercy became part of salvation history, which was a cumulative, ongoing concept, not simply a recital of God’s deeds in earlier centuries. 2. General communal praise. This is sometimes entitled “hymns” or “descriptive praise,” its main feature being linked to a particular act of deliverance. God is usually referred to in the third person, not directly. Psalm 103 may be taken as representative of this group. It begins and ends with individual references (verses 1-5, 22b), but the central section (esp. verses 6-14) shows that the psalmist was part of a worshiping community. There is first of all the imperative call to praise God for the full range of his mercy to each individual, including physical and spiritual deliverance and his sustaining and satisfying grace. Then the focus changes to his great works in history (verses 6-7). This forms a natural basis for the recital of those gracious qualities revealed so consistently during the course of the national history, especially his tender, fatherly care (verses 8-14). The frailty of humanity contrasts with God’s constancy (verses 15-18), and his rule, being universal and absolute (verse 19), merits the praise of all things, living and inanimate, in heaven and on earth (verses 19-22). There is, however, a great number of possible variations in the way in which God is celebrated, as Psalms 113 and 136, which come within this class, illustrate. 3. Specific communal praise. Occasionally termed “declarative praise,” this type of psalm connects with a particular outstanding evidence of God’s mercy and would most naturally follow soon after the event itself. Deliverance from an enemy provides the occasion for most of the psalms in this category (e.g., Psalms 124; 129). Psalm 66:8-12, now the nucleus of an expanded recital of God’s goodness, was possibly once complete in itself. Psalms 46–48 may form a trilogy connected with the remarkable deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib’s Assyrians in 701 BC (2 Kings 18:17–19:37). Psalm 67 was probably composed in gratitude for a particular harvest. It is easy to see how psalms of this type could, in the process of time, acquire a more general usage. 4. Praise for the God of nature. The first part of Psalm 19 pictures the praise of God sounding from the heavens; Psalm 29 celebrates him as the God of the thunderstorm, which, sweeping in from the Mediterranean near Lebanon, pursues its awe-inspiring path southward into the wilderness of Kadesh, with the result that “in his temple” (the created world?) all are praising, “Glory, glory to the LORD” (verse 9). His sovereignty and self-sufficiency in this world are celebrated in Psalm 50:10-12; he is the God of growth and harvest (Psalm 65:9-13); in Psalm 104, often called the “Hymn of Creation,” he sustains and supplies everything on the earth and in the seas and is the absolute Lord of all life (verses 29-30). There is no confusion between God and his creation; even the seemingly permanent heaven and earth will perish, but “you go on forever” (Psalm 102:25-27). Nature’s role is to proclaim the glory of God (Psalm 19:1) and to praise him (Psalm 148). People see themselves as insignificant when set against those forces of nature, which are themselves dwarfed by God—hence, the awareness of the immeasurable gulf between God and people that God has bridged by his grace (Psalm 8). 5. Praise for God’s kingship. A relatively small group of psalms (Psalms 47; 93; 96–99) celebrate the kingship of God in a way that goes beyond the ascription of praise noted in the foregoing groups. They are marked by acclamation, by both shouting and clapping when God “ascends.” Presumably, the reference is to his throne (Psalm 47:1-5; cf. 99:1-2). “The LORD reigns” (Psalms 93:1; 97:1; 99:1) is the frequent cry, and the nature of his reign is extolled (Psalm 99:4-5). ROYAL, MESSIANIC PSALMS Psalms 2; 18; 20; 21; 45; 61; 72; 89; 101; 110; 132; and 144 are usually included as the royal psalms. They do not form a literary category, since psalms of various types are included, but they all have some reference to the king, the nature of his rule, and his relationship to God. Since the Davidic monarchy was terminated in 586 BC, these psalms, almost certainly, were composed before that date. The language in these psalms often shows the king as being God’s vice-regent. For example, Psalm 45, a royal marriage psalm, contains the assertion “Your throne, O God, endures for ever and ever”