Monthly Archives: December 2023

The Book of Psalms 1-100

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Love is Not a Victory March by Marie -Esther@deviantart.com

BOOK I  (Psalms 1-41)

Psalm 1: Poetry and Law
Psalm 2: The Lord’s Messiah
Psalm 3: Hope in the Heart of Brokenness
Psalm 4: Finding a Space in the Blessing
Psalm 5: The God Who Hears and Protects
Psalm 6: How Long, O Lord
Psalm 7: The God Who Judges
Psalm 8: The Soul Searcher’s Psalm
Psalm 9: Praising the God of Justice and Might
Psalm 10: Calling on God to be God
Psalm 11: Confident Faith in the Midst of Trouble
Psalm 12: Save Us From Ourselves
Psalm 13: The Cry from the God Forsaken Place
Psalm 14: The Wisdom of Holding to the Covenant
Psalm 15: Entering the Sacred Presence of God
Psalm 16: Remaining Faithful in a Pluralistic Setting
Psalm 17: An Embodied Prayer
Psalm 18: Royal Thanks at the End of the Journey
Psalm 19: Creation, the Law and a Faithful Life
Psalm 20: In the Day of Trouble
Psalm 21: A Blessing for the King
Psalm 22: A Desperate Cry to God
Psalm 23: The LORD as Shepherd, Host and Destination
Psalm 24: The Coming of the LORD
Psalm 25: The Struggle of Faith from Aleph to Tav
Psalm 26: Liturgy of the Falsely Accused
Psalm 27: Faith in an Age of Anxiety
Psalm 28: Can You Hear Me LORD?
Psalm 29: The Thundering Voice of God
Psalm 30: The Life of Praise
Psalm 31: Faith, Questions and the Life of Faith
Psalm 32: A Psalm of Restoration
Psalm 33: The Earth is Full of the Steadfast Love of God
Psalm 34: The Experienced Faithfulness of God
Psalm 35: Lord, Fight for Me in the Struggle
Psalm 36: The Way of God and the Way of the Wicked
Psalm 37: A Song of a Wise Life
Psalm 38: A Cry for Forgiveness and Healing
Psalm 39: There Are No Words
Psalm 40: Experienced Faithfulness and the Hope of Deliverance
Psalm 41: The One Who Cares for the Poor

BOOK II (Psalms 42-72)

Psalm 42 Thirsting for God in an Arid Time
Psalm 43 Calling for God’s Love among a Loveless People
Psalm 44 Demanding a Fulfillment of God’s Covenant Promises
Psalm 45 A Love Song among the Psalms
Psalm 46 A Mighty Fortress
Psalm 47 God Assumes Kingship Over Creation
Psalm 48 God and Zion
Psalm 49 Wealth, Wisdom and Death
Psalm 50 Recalled to the Covenantal Life
Psalm 51 Seeking the Possibility of Redemption
Psalm 52 The Wicked Will Not Prosper Forever
Psalm 53 Reflecting Again on the Unjust
Psalm 54 A Cry for Deliverance
Psalm 55 A Desperate Prayer from an Unsafe Environment
Psalm 56 Trusting God in the Midst of Trouble
Psalm 57 Fleeing to the Steadfast Love and Faithfulness of God
Psalm 58 A Jagged Prayer for Vengeance
Psalm 59 God’s Steadfast Love as an Alternative to the Dog-Eat-Dog Worldview
Psalm 60 A Plea for God’s Return to the People
Psalm 61 A Life Dependent on God
Psalm 62 Truly Faith Surrounds My Troubles
Psalm 63 Hungering and Thirsting 
Psalm 64 Protect the Innocent One from the Words of the Wicked
Psalm 65 A Song of Thanksgiving to a Gracious Creator
Psalm 66 Formed by Steadfast Love
Psalm 67 A Blessing for the Earth
Psalm 68 God as Warrior and Protector of the Powerless
Psalm 69 A Cry for Deliverance from Unjust Suffering
Psalm 70 God Help Me Quickly
Psalm 71 A Prayer for Help Shaped by a Life of Worship
Psalm 72 Leading God’s Covenant People

Book III (Psalms 73-89)

Psalm 73 When Faith is Challenged
Psalm 74 A Psalm When the World Collapses
Psalm 75 God’s Answer to the Boastful and Arrogant
Psalm 76 The Fearfully Powerful Defender of Peace
Psalm 77 Searching for God in a Shattered World
Psalm 78 Telling History to Change the Future
Psalm 79 Words of Pain and Hope in a National Crisis
Psalm 80 A People Waiting for God’s Forgiven
Psalm 81 Hear! O People
Psalm 82 The God Who Upholds Justice for the Vulnerable
Psalm 83 A Fearful Prayer for Deliverance
Psalm 84 Better is One Day in the House of God
Psalm 85 Waiting for God’s Kingdom to Come
Psalm 86 A Servant’s Plea For Their Lord’s Deliverance
Psalm 87 Mother Jerusalem
Psalm 88 Only Darkness Knows Me
Psalm 89 Shattered Worlds and Broken Symbols

Book IV (Psalms 90-106)

Psalm 90 Remembering the Character of God in Crisis
Psalm 91 Enfolded in God’s Protection
Psalm 92 Song of the Sabbath
Psalm 93 God the King
Psalm 94 Thy Kingdom Come
Psalm 95 Lifting Up Voices and Listening in Silence
Psalm 96 A New Song of God’s Triumph
Psalm 97 The Righteous Reign of God
Psalm 98 A Joyous Song of God’s Salvation
Psalm 99 The Universal King Worshipped by a Particular People
Psalm 100 Know the LORD is God and We are God’s

Psalm 100 Know the LORD is God and We are God’s

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James Tissot, Solomon Decicates the Temple (1896-1902)

Psalm 100

<A Psalm of thanksgiving.>
1 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come into his presence with singing.
3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name.
5 For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

This short psalm of thanksgiving centers the actions of praise around the knowledge that the LORD is God and the peoples’ relation to their creator and shepherd. It echoes the concern of the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) and the first commandment (Exodus 20: 2-3, Deuteronomy 5: 6-7) that the people of Israel would know that the LORD is God alone and their role is to know, serve and belong to their God. The movement of the psalm is centered around seven imperatives: shout (NRSV make a joyful noise), serve (NRSV worship), come, know, come (NRSV enter), testify (NRSV give thanks), and bless. Poetically the repetition of come (obscured in the NRSV translation) focuses the hearer on what is bracketed in between: the command to know that the LORD is God and that the hearers are a part of his people. (Nancy deClaisse-Walford, 2014, p. 736) In response to the knowing the people are enabled to enter into the presence of God’s courts to bring praise and blessing.

Knowing is not just about knowledge of the LORD’s identity in Hebrew thought, it also involves acknowledgment that the community belongs to God and depends upon God. To be autonomous (one’s own law) in a Hebrew way of thinking is to be wicked. The statement that they are the LORD’s people and the sheep of his pasture focus the hearers on their God’s personal responsibility in overseeing the people of Israel. [1]  Although at times there may be an earthly king who rules on behalf of the LORD, when those kings prove to be unfaithful shepherds the LORD removes those shepherds and becomes their shepherd who guides, protects, and keeps them. Their maker and protector is good (echoing the language of creation in Genesis) and provides steadfast love (hesed) and faithfulness (emuna) two of the characteristics of God’s self-revelation to Moses.[2]

The life of praise is a life of service to the LORD. A person who comes to the courts of God is also expected to know that the LORD is their God, their creator and protector. The response to that knowledge is doxology (giving thanks). It is a life that acknowledges one’s dependance upon the LORD. Psalm 100 makes a bold claim for a life of praise, service, and thanksgiving to God in a world that seems to serve many gods. The psalmist points to a life centered on the knowledge of God and praise filled obedience to God’s ways.

[1] See for example Psalm 74:1, 79:13, 95:7, Jeremiah 23:1-4, Ezekiel 34:11-22

[2] Exodus 34: 6-7

Psalm 99 The Universal King Worshipped By A Particular People

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The Temple by Radojavor@deviantart.com

Psalm 99

1 The LORD is king; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
2 The LORD is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples.
3 Let them praise your great and awesome name. Holy is he!
4 Mighty King, lover of justice, you have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.
5 Extol the LORD our God; worship at his footstool. Holy is he!
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel also was among those who called on his name. They cried to the LORD, and he answered them.
7 He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; they kept his decrees, and the statutes that he gave them.
8 O LORD our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.
9 Extol the LORD our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the LORD our God is holy.

Psalm 8 can wonder, “what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?” and Psalm 99 can focus that wonder on a particular place and people through whom the world comes to know the ruler of the heavens and earth. The LORD is the one before whom all nations tremble and the earth shakes, but whose universal sovereignty is focused on a particular place: the temple in Zion. The description of God being enthroned above the cherubim almost always refers to the ark of the covenant (1 Samuel 4:4, 2 Samuel 6:2, Psalm 80:1) and the references to Zion and holy mountain indicate that the psalm is pointing to the temple in Jerusalem. Even the notation of God’s footstool also refers to the temple as a resting place for the ark (1 Chronicles 28:2, Psalm 132:7). God presence and power becomes known through a particular place.

At the same time the psalm links the knowledge of God to a holy place, it also becomes known through holy people. Book four of the psalter began with Psalm 90, the only psalm attributed to Moses, and it is likely intentional that the final enthronement psalm references Moses once again. Moses and Aaron are lifted up as priests of God, and they are responsible for the construction of the ark where God’s presence is met. Samuel is the other figure lifted up in the psalm, who also harkens back to pre-monarchic Israel. Samuel opposed the people’s request for a king because for Samuel only the LORD is king, a sentiment echoed by Psalm 99. It is possible that Psalm 99 comes from a time after the re-establishment of the temple in Jerusalem after the exile, a time when the line of Davidic kings seems to have ended.

The paradox of the psalmist’s faith is that the LORD the God of Israel is the universal king over all the earth and peoples who has revealed Godself through a particular place (the temple in Zion) and through particular people (Moses, Aaron, and Samuel in the psalm). Yet, the psalm yearns for a universal realization that transcends the particularity of Israel. Israel has the privileged position of being the people to whom the Mighty King revealed not only himself but also the vision of justice and righteousness that God’s kingdom would involve. So, in response to the universal wonder of Psalm 8, Psalm 99 can give the particular wonder of a people who says, “Who are we that the Mighty King, the lover of justice who establishes equity throughout the earth dwells in the temple on our holy mountain, and spoke to use through Moses, Aaron, and Samuel, Israel that you care for us?”

Psalm 98 A Joyous Song of God’s Salvation

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Statue of Watts, Abney Park Cemetery

 

Psalm 98

<A Psalm.>
1 O sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm have gotten him victory.
2 The LORD has made known his victory; he has revealed his vindication in the sight of the nations.
3 He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.
4 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
5 Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody.
6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD.
7 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who live in it.
8 Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills sing together for joy
9 at the presence of the LORD, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.

Isaac Watt’s well known Christmas song “Joy to the World” is inspired by Psalm 98, (Mays, 1994, p. 312) although instead of heaven and nature singing as in “Joy to the World”, the seas and the nations sing in the text of the psalm. The appropriate response of the people of God, the nations of the earth, and the elements and residents of the waters to the victory (or salvation)[1] of God is the boisterous music of praise and worship. The vocal and instrumental music of humanity joins with the harmonic and percussive notes of the earth and the land. The approach of the LORD the God of Israel to judge the world with righteousness and the peoples of the earth with equity is a moment of celebration for all the earth. The faithful ones are the sentinels announcing to the peoples of the world that the time has come to join in the song of creation as the marvel and salvation of God.

The salvation of God and the reign of God’s righteousness is a moment of joyous expectation for all of creation. The house of Israel has experienced God’s steadfast love[2] and faithfulness, but all the nations of the earth also witnessed God’s salvation and the creation itself responds in joy. As Ellen Davis can state,

Judgment is the positive and passionate assertion of God’s will for the world, beginning with the deep foundation of God’s rule in the human heart; therefore, it gives no quarter to deception and self-delusion. (Nancy deClaisse-Walford, 2014, p. 728)

The faithful ones know the internal dimension of God’s reign in their lives and yearn for the revelation of God’s reign in the world seen across governments and nations. Yet, the longing of the faithful is also the longing of the creation for God’s judgement which brings God’s kingdom to earth, so the ways of steadfast love and faithfulness experienced in the heavens may be done on earth. The only response is the joyous song of lyre, trumpet and voice joining the collection of the sounds of the sea, the rains, and the hills. Nature joins the song of heaven and both the faithful and the wicked bear witness to the moment when heaven and nature sing along with the upraised voices of people throughout the world.

[1] The Hebrew verb ysh is typically translated salvation and it occurs in each of the first three verses (victory in NRSV’s translation).

[2] Hebrew hesed.

Psalm 97 The Righteous Reign of God

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Supercell Thunderstorm over Chaparral, New Mexico on April 3, 2004

Psalm 97

1 The LORD is king! Let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!
2 Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
3 Fire goes before him, and consumes his adversaries on every side.
4 His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles.
5 The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth.
6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness; and all the peoples behold his glory.
7 All worshipers of images are put to shame, those who make their boast in worthless idols; all gods bow down before him.
8 Zion hears and is glad, and the towns of Judah rejoice, because of your judgments, O God.
9 For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.
10 The LORD loves those who hate evil; he guards the lives of his faithful; he rescues them from the hand of the wicked.
11 Light dawns for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart.
12 Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!

One of the losses of our modern, technology filled world is the patient hope of the psalmist and the prophets for the arrival of God’s kingdom. James L. Mays notes that Psalm 97 shares several key images and ideas with the portions of Isaiah most scholars attribute to Judah’s time in exile.[1] (Mays, 1994, p. 311) The psalmist’s proclamation of God’s reign causing the earth, Judah, and the righteous to rejoice were always contested claims. Israel and Judah lived in a world of multiple religious options and empires who exercised military, economic, and political might over Israel or Judah. Yet, the psalms and the prophets exhibit a persistent faith that despite the evidence to the contrary the God of Israel reigns over creation, is chief among the gods of the nations, and continues to sow joy and righteousness in the upright in heart. It is only through the eyes of faith that these poets can rejoice with the earth and the coastland because their vision has revealed to them that the LORD, the God of Israel and Judah, is king.

The vision of God in the psalms and the prophets may, as Brueggemann and Bellinger comment, retain the “remnants of a storm god.” (Brueggemann, 2014, p. 418) but as in Psalm 29 the use of the language of clouds and darkness, fire, lightning, and earthquake takes the primary language for the power of the Canaanite god Baal and now uses it to describe the power of the LORD the God of Israel. This imagery also resonates with the appearance of the LORD to the people at Mount Sinai in Exodus 19:16-19. The psalmist longs for the day for all the people to see what the eyes of faith trust: that the idols of the nations are worthless, that the kings of the earth and the gods of the nations are powerless before the LORD who is king, and that the power of the wicked over the faithful will end as God rescues them.

God’s righteousness and justice are the foundation of God’s throne, and they are also the foundation for the hopeful imagination of the psalmist. The heavens can proclaim God’s righteousness and the people of Judah can find reasons for rejoicing and gladness because of God’s judgments. Because God’s reign is based on righteousness it opens the possibility that people in Judah and beyond the borders of Judah can live as righteous ones rather than adopting the ways of the wicked. The response throughout the poem to the righteousness and justice of God is joy and gladness. The earth can rejoice, and the coastlands can be glad because the creation bears witness to the just reign of God. Zion can be glad, and the towns of Judah can rejoice because God judges with righteousness. The ones loving the LORD will hate evil[2] and God will guard their lives and sows[3] light and joy in these faithful ones of upright hearts. These righteous ones planted with light and joy in the rejoicing earth now join the earth’s joy at the celebration of God’s reign.

[1] See for example Isaiah 40: 5, 9-11; 42:17, and 52: 7-10

[2] In both the MT (Hebrew) and LXX (Greek translation) the direct translation is “The ones loving the LORD hate evil” as the NIV captures. The NRSV follows the translation of scholars who in their attempt to smooth our the translation change the subject to God, but there is no reason to make this change to the original text. (Nancy deClaisse-Walford, 2014, p. 724)

[3] Some change this word to a similar Hebrew word for ‘rise, shine’ (hence the NRSV translation) but the metaphor of sowing light fits with the imagination of the psalmist. (Nancy deClaisse-Walford, 2014, p. 724)