richcathers.com

Old Testament Survey: Psalms

CCEA School of Discipleship

Winter Trimester: 3:00-4:00pm

Before Class

Be sure to sign in.

Have each student wear a name tag

(We will also be attempting to begin to build a timeline of significant events and where the Old Testament books fit into the timeline.)

Psalms

Author(s)

This was part of your homework. Did you find an answer to this question in Halley’s Bible Handbook?

Halley’s totals:

David (73)

Asaph (12)

Sons of Korah (11) (one was specifically from a man named Heman Ps.88)

Solomon (2)

Moses (1)

Ethan (1)

Anonymous (50)

When

1405 BC Moses

1000 BC David & Asaph

950 BC Solomon

The rest, no later than 500 BC

Why

Israel’s Songbook

This is the music of the nation.

Originally, these were meant to be sung, but we don’t have the melodies anymore. Even if we did, we’d have to sing them in Hebrew for it to work!

I’ve got a few music books in my library that span the last hundred years. I’ve got organ music from my grandfather that dates back to 1911. I’ve got an hymnal dated 1934. I’ve got the original Calvary Chapel songbook (“Rejoice in Jesus Always”), as well as music books by Love Song, Keith Green and others.

These all are precious treasures that tell us a lot about the believers during those years.

Memory

Music has a way of helping us remember things. When we attach a melody to some lyrics, it sometimes sticks.

(Listen to this …

Video: Play “Flintstones theme music”)

Can you complete this sentence:

“Flintstones, meet the Flintstones, they’re the (modern stone age family) … from the town of Bedrock, they’re a place right out of history…

The Psalms have a little more weighty content than those old TV shows.

These songs are the Word of God.

They are going to speak to you as only God can.

Soul

Music touches the soul. It’s “soulish” in nature. It touches the emotions.

Some may say, “I’m not an emotional kind of person. I just worship God with my mind”

Yet worship is the very heart of our relationship with God. It’s the place where our soul, our emotions, connect with our spirit. It’s the place of intimacy with God.

Can you imagine your spouse saying to you as you are getting married, “I just want you to know I’m not a very emotional person. I just want to love you with my mind.”

What kind of intimacy is that?

Elisha understood the “soulish” ingredient to music.

Elisha had accompanied King Jehoshaphat out to the battlefield. Jehoshaphat wanted to hear from God before the battle began. So Elisha said…

(2 Kings 3:15–16 NASB 2020) —15 But now bring me a musician.” And it came about, when the musician played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him. 16 And he said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Make this valley full of trenches.’

It was the music that triggered Elisha to open up to the Spirit of God.

The Psalms are not just about the “good” emotions – love, joy, peace, etc.

They are full of all the emotions.

You will read about sorrow and despair.

You will read about anger and hatred.

You will read about depression … deep depression.

For those of you who are or might be worship leaders – be careful that you don’t give the church the idea that “worship” is all about the up-happy-joyful songs.

From time to time it’s not a bad idea to be singing the songs of “lament”, sorrow, fear, or confession.

Worshipping God in “spirit” and “truth” sometimes means that we need to be “truthful” about what we are going through.

I want to take a minute and talk about some specific aspects of these Hebrew worship songs…

Hebrew Poetry

In English, we tend to make our song lyrics have some sort of “rhyme” based on words that sound the same at the end of the line.

Amazing Grace how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like ME

I once was lost but now am found

Was blind but now I SEE

Hebrew poetry does not work this way.

Their poetry is not a rhyming of sounds, but a “rhyming” of ideas.

Sometimes it is two similar ideas next to each other like:

(Psalm 105:23 NASB 2020)

Israel also came into Egypt;

So Jacob lived in the land of Ham.

Each line describes the same event. Israel and Jacob are two names for the same person. Same with Egypt and Ham.

Sometimes it is in two contrasting ideas side by side:

Moses talks about our lives being fragile like grass…

(Psalm 90:6 NASB 2020)

In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew;

Toward evening it wilts and withers away.

The morning is contrasted to the evening.

Remember these principles.

They will help you interpret Hebrew poetry a little better. Instead two lines of different ideas, the author is usually either talking about similar ideas, or contrasting ideas. The ideas are linked.

You will see the ideas of Hebrew poetry in the book of Job, Proverbs, even within most of the prophets. (pretty much the rest of the Old Testament)

Some of your Bibles will help you by showing each “line” of poetry on a separate line (like here in Job), you can see how its indented – as opposed to a narrative text (like history, here in Judges) that is split up by paragraphs that stretch from margin to margin.

Flip through your Bible in the Old Testament and see if you can tell the difference.

Prophetic

There will be from time to time an element of prophecy in the Psalms as well.

One of the greatest prophetic targets is the Messiah Himself.

Messianic

Halley has a good list of “Messianic” Psalms.

It’s not exhaustive, but it’s a good place to start.

Turn to Psalm 41.

David is complaining about his enemies…

(Psalm 41:9 NASB 2020) Even my close friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me.

We are pretty sure David is talking historically about Ahithophel, one of his close counselors, a man who betrayed David by siding with David’s son Absalom.

Sidenote: Ahithophel was also Bathsheba’s grandfather. It’s possible that the reason Ahithophel turned on David was because of what David did to Ahithophel’s granddaughter.

We’ll talk more about prophecy when we get into the prophets (in two weeks), but note two things:

1. The verse may not stand out.

If I didn’t know any better, and if I knew about what happened to David, I might just think he’s talking about Ahithophel.

Yet Jesus clarified it for us at the Last Supper when He talked about being betrayed:

(John 13:18 NASB 2020) I am not speaking about all of you. I know the ones whom I have chosen; but this is happening so that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’

Jesus is quoting Psalm 41:9.

2. Double Fulfillment

Prophecy may often have more than one “target”.

Here David is talking about Ahithophel, but there was a prophetic sense to this verse that would also apply to Judas.

You will see this a lot with prophecy.

The Psalms will have prophecies about much of Jesus’ life (these are in Halley) including…

His suffering and death (Psalm 22)

Jesus’ resurrection (Psalm 16)

Jesus said the Psalms were about Him:

(Luke 24:44 NASB 2020) Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all the things that are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

You will see a lot of Jesus in the Psalms.

Multiple “Books”

We usually think of each Psalm individually, but at one point they were grouped into five different books.

You should have seen this chart already in Halley.

Subgroups

Notes

Book I

Psalms 1–41

[mostly all David]

Book II

Psalms 42–72

Psalms of Sons of Korah, 42–49

Miktam Psalms, 56–60

Miktam is probably a musical or literary term

Book III

Psalms 73–89

Psalms of Asaph, 73–83

Book IV

Psalms 90–106

[no groups]

Book V

Psalms 107–150

Hallel Psalms, 113–118

Songs of Degrees, 120–134

Psalms of Thanksgiving, 135–139

Psalms for Protection, 140–143

Hallelujah Psalms, 146–150

Hallel = praise

Pilgrim songs

Hallelujah = praise the Lord

Do you see the “Books” in your Bible? Do you see the divisions?

Some notes from the chart above:

Sons of Korah

Korah was a Levite, from the family of Kohath (close to the priests), and he led a rebellion against Moses (Numbers 16).

The group that rebelled against him were all swallowed alive by the earth.

And yet some of Korah’s sons survived and would be worship leaders by the time of David. That’s grace.

Songs of Degrees

Or, “Songs of Ascents”. You should see this phrase with each Psalm, starting with Psalm 120.

I think the general thought is that these are the songs that the Jews sang as they made their way up to Jerusalem for the three yearly feasts.

Those coming to Jerusalem from the north would generally travel south along the Jordan River, then hike up the mountain from -1500 to 2000 feet above sea level.

The songs were short – so you wouldn’t have to memorize much and so you and the family can sing it even if you are running out of breath.

Hallelujah Psalms

The Hebrew word “Hallelujah” means Praise (hallel) Yahweh (jah)

In Greek, the word is Alleluia, but it’s the same word.

Each of these songs (Ps. 113-118) starts in Hebrew with the word “Hallelujah”, and ends with the word “Hallelujah” (even though some Bibles actually translate the phrase as “Hallelujah”.

Song Subtitles

Some of the Psalms have a “subtitle”.

These subtitles were probably not part of the original song, but added not too long after the song was written.

We don’t consider them as part of the “inspired” text, but they do contain some interesting background or directions to the song.

Probably the most famous subtitle is … and please turn to…

Psalm 51

(Psalm 51:title–1 NASB 2020) — For the music director. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. 1 Be gracious to me, God, according to Your faithfulness; According to the greatness of Your compassion, wipe out my wrongdoings.

If you are studying or teaching Psalm 51, you may want to also be spending time in 2Samuel 11-12, which is the account of David’s adultery and his subsequent confrontation by Nathan the prophet.

If you are teaching through 2Samuel, you may want to stop at …

(2 Samuel 12:13 NASB) Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has allowed your sin to pass; you shall not die.

And flip over to Psalm 51.

In fact, you may want to go to 2Samuel 12:13 right now and right “Psalm 51” in the margin if it isn’t there already.

You may want to write 2Samuel 11-12 next to the subtitle in Psalm 51 if it isn’t there already.

Bonus Note:

Do you remember last week when I told you that 1&2Chronicles gives us a history of David and the southern kingdom from God’s perspective?

You won’t find the story of David and Bathsheba in 1Chronicles.

It should be in 1Chronicles 20, between verses 1&2, but it’s not there. Ezra left it out of the account.

Why? I like to think it’s because from God’s perspective, David was forgiven.

I’ve talked about making “connections” in the Bible. This is what it’s all about…

Pericopes

Let me introduce you to a Bible scholar’s term: “Pericope”.

No, I didn’t misspell that thing the submarine captain looks through.

This is different than these “subtitles” we have in the Psalms.

A pericope is a short title or summary that a modern Bible editor will insert in the text, either at the beginning of a paragraph, or the beginning of a chapter, or sometimes just at the top of the page.

Some of your Bibles have a “pericope” before each Psalm.

Psalm 34

Look at Psalm 34.

Do you see the “subtitle”? It says

“A Psalm of David when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed.”

Does your Bible have a “pericope” at Psalm 34 as well?

In my New King James it says “The Happiness of Those Who Trust In God”.

In my NASB it says, “The LORD, a Provider and the One Who Rescues Me”

Pericopes are a great tool to help you navigate your Bible.

They can give you an idea of how to find a passage if you’re flipping through your Bible looking for a particular story.

But these are not inspired. They are just a good tool given to you from the person who was editing your particular Bible edition.

If you are a teacher, you might consider writing a “pericope” for each passage you teach.

When I’ve taught folks how to teach, we’d often start there – to write a three or four word description of a paragraph that gives you the general idea of the paragraph.

When I was in college, we learned to do this at both the paragraph and chapter levels.

If you write a “pericope” for each chapter of a book, then you could memorize those pericopes and you have memorized the outline of the entire book.

I can pretty much tell you today about most of the flow of the Gospel of John, chapter by chapter, because of that exercise.

Quiz Answer:

1. What is a “pericope”?

a. It is an angular device used by submarine captains.

b. It is a short summary of a paragraph, chapter, or page

c. It is a misspelling of the word “periscope”.

The answer is “b”

Types of Psalms

Different teachers and scholars classify the various Psalms in several ways.

The Psalms are not just about giving God praise.

Here’s a screenshot from my Logos Bible software and it’s “Psalms Explorer”.

They group the Psalms as:

Praise

Lament

Royal

Wisdom

Thanksgving

Hymn

Trust

Yet you will find with different commentaries, the Psalms are classified in different ways. When I taught through the Psalms in 2015, I had nine different categories – which I didn’t really hold to by the end of the book.

A few weeks ago some of the Calvary Senior pastors were having a discussion about a passage in the Psalms and one of them said, “That can’t be a prophecy because it’s not on my list of Prophetic Psalms”.

I hate to say this, but all these lists are arbitrary depending on the fellow who makes them.

Any Psalm can have a “prophetic” passage.

That’s the nature of prophecy. It doesn’t often announce itself, but you will often find that some obscure line is taken by one of the New Testament writers as a fulfilled prophecy.

Imprecatory Psalms

This is a common classification (even though my “Logos” page lumps these under “Lament”.

“Imprecatory” is the idea of calling down a “curse” on someone or something.

Like these…

(Psalm 10:15 NASB 2020) Break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer…

(Psalm 58:6 NASB 2020) God, shatter their teeth in their mouth; Break out the fangs of the young lions, Lord.

What do you do when you read David’s words like this when you know Jesus said,

(Matthew 5:44 NASB 2020) But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you

These Psalms are a little uncomfortable when you wrestle with them.

I’m sure other teachers might have a much better way of handling them, but for me I see this –

The author is being honest with his emotions. He’s not pretending that he’s above being angry or vengeful.

And in most instances, the author is expressing these things to God and putting that evil person into God’s hands.

Paul wrote,

(Romans 12:19 NASB 2020) Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written: “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.

Interesting Psalms

The book of Psalms contains many interesting Psalms.

Psalm 117 is the shortest chapter in the Bible.

Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible.

Some songs are meant to be sung antiphonally, where one person or group does one line, and the other group answers with the next.

(Psalm 136:1 NASB 2020) Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, For His faithfulness is everlasting.

Through the entire song, the first group says the first line, and the second group always repeats the line “For His faithfulness is everlasting”

Some songs are written with the Hebrew alphabet in mind, kind of like a code.

In Psalm 119, each group of eight verses starts with the same Hebrew letter, starting with the first letter in the alphabet, and then progressing through the end of the alphabet.

It’s like the first eight verses all start with a word that starts with “A”, then the next eight all start with “B”, and so on.

There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and 22 x 8 = 176 verses.

And every verse is about the Word of God.

There are other Psalms that follow the same pattern, but with just one line per Hebrew letter.

They are Psalms 9, 10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, (119), 145.

Specific Psalms

Psalm 110

(Psalm 110:title–1 NASB 2020) — A Psalm of David. 1

(Matthew 22:41–46 NASB 2020) —41 42 43 44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Until45 46

First Lines

We talked about this concept in our first week.

The original text did not have the same book titles we have, nor did they have chapter numbers.

Often, what we would call the title of the book was simply the first few words of a book.

So picture yourself at Golgotha the afternoon that Jesus was being crucified.

Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 27:45

(Matthew 27:45–46 NASB 2020) —45 Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “eli, eli, lema sabaktanei?” that is, “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

If you read on, you will see that there were several things that people thought He was saying. Some thought Jesus was calling for Elijah (“Eli, Eli”). Some thought He was thirsty.

I don’t want to take away from the idea that Jesus was experiencing separation from God the Father for the first time in eternity, but I think there was something else going on as well.

Turn in your Bibles to Psalm 22. What is the first line of the Psalm?

(Psalm 22:1 NASB 2020) My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my help are the words of my groaning.

Jesus is quoting the Hebrew directly from Psalm 22.

I think that Jesus was hinting that we should all stop and read Psalm 22. Some might be thinking of singing that song.

It would be like me saying to you, let’s stop and sing, “Amazing Grace! How Sweet the Sound”.

And let’s sing the first verse…

We could spend a lot of time studying Psalm 22, but let’s skip down to…

(Psalm 22:14–18 NASB 2020) —14 I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It is melted within me.

When Jesus’ side was pierced, out came blood and water … kind of like His heart melting.

One of the things that happens at crucifixion is the bones becoming disjointed. It happens as they raise the cross and drop it in the hole.

In class we’ll watch a clip on this from The Passion of The Christ.

(Video: The Passion of the Christ – Raising the Cross)

15 My strength is dried up like a piece of pottery, And my tongue clings to my jaws; And You lay me in the dust of death.

Another common thing in crucifixion was the intense thirst. You can read that Jesus experienced this as well.

16 For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet.

You can also read about all the people standing around Jesus mocking Him. Most of His friends had left.

Piercing the hands and feet – this is crucifixion.

Crucifixion was invented by the Persians. Around 800 BC. Two hundred years AFTER David wrote this.

17 I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; 18 They divide my garments among them, And they cast lots for my clothing.

And you know the soldiers cast lots for His clothing. You can see it in the picture.

I think that one of the things happening on the cross was Jesus giving His disciples a clue they wouldn’t pick up until later.

The cross wasn’t a tragic accident.

It wasn’t a triumph of the Jewish leaders or the Roman occupiers over the good guys.

This was part of God’s plan all along.

God planned on Jesus taking on human flesh.

God planned on Jesus dying on the cross as a sacrifice.

God planned on Jesus laying down an eternal, sinless life in order to pay for the sins of the world.

This is how much God loves YOU.

When you are tempted to think that you’ve sinned too many times, that perhaps God can no longer forgive you…think again.

Jesus died for all your sins.

Making Connections…

We talked last week about the value of reading through your entire Bible over and over again.

I talked about how you will begin to see the “connections” between passages.

Sometimes it’s the connections between the Old and New Testaments.

Sometimes it’s connections just within the Old Testament…

The Chorus

I touched on this last week.

When the first Temple had been completed, the priests sang a specific song:

(2 Chronicles 5:13b NASB 2020) “He indeed is good for His kindness is everlasting…”

God responded by filling the Temple with His presence.

When the Second Temple was completed, guess what they sang?

(Ezra 3:11b NASB 2020) “For He is good, for His favor is upon Israel forever.”…

Look at what’s repeated over and over in the Psalms…

(Psalm 100:4–5 NASB 2020) —4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving, And His courtyards with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. 5 For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting And His faithfulness is to all generations.

(Psalm 106:1 NASB 2020) Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His mercy is everlasting.

(Psalm 107:1 NASB 2020)

(Psalm 118:1–4 NASB 2020) —1 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His mercy is everlasting. 2 Let Israel say, “His mercy is everlasting.” 3 Oh let the house of Aaron say, “His mercy is everlasting.” 4 Let those who fear the Lord say, “His mercy is everlasting.”

(Psalm 136:1–2 NASB 2020) —1 2

I’ve only scratched the surface. As you read, look for this chorus.

The Blessing

Have any of you chosen to memorize this verse for your final?

(Numbers 6:24–26 NASB 2020) —24 The Lord bless you, and keep you; 25 The Lord cause His face to shine on you, And be gracious to you; 26 The Lord lift up His face to you, And give you peace.’

Once you’ve memorized it, and you use it as you pray for others, you will begin to notice fragments of it throughout the Bible, including the Psalms.

(Psalm 31:16 NASB 2020) Make Your face shine upon Your servant; Save me in Your faithfulness.

(Psalm 119:135 NASB 2020) Make Your face shine upon Your servant, And teach me Your statutes.

(Psalm 80:7 NASB 2020) God of armies, restore us And make Your face shine upon us, and we will be saved.

Significant Verse

If you are still looking for a verse to memorize for your final, here’s one.

As I’ve said with other books, there are hundreds of verses I could have chosen.

(Psalm 56:3 NASB 2020) When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You.

I wrote a song once based on the King James version, which reads –

(Psalm 56:3 KJV) What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.

If you choose this verse to be your final’s memory verse, you could memorize it in either version.

The point is this – When I am afraid, I have a choice. I can choose to stay terrified, or I can choose to trust in God.

Homework:

Read HBH section on “Wisdom” (found before the book of Job).

Read the introductory material to the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes (HBH)

Don’t forget to think about what verse you are going to memorize for the final.