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Lesson 2 The Psalms

Background: Wisdom Books and Hebrew Poetry

The section in the Bible titled the Wisdom Books contains a wide variety of literature. The Book of Psalms consists of religious hymns, many written for use in Jewish worship. The Book of Job is a debate on why innocent people suffer.  The Song of Songs is a love poem.  The Books of Wisdom, Proverbs, and Sirach give advice on moral and virtuous living. And the Book of Ecclesiastes is a sort of journal on the purpose of human life.  The most obvious common element among these books is the use of poetic language to convey their message. Not that these are the only books of the Old Testament that use poetry. But they make such extensive application of it that a little background on the nature of Hebrew poetry is helpful for reading them.

The most important feature of Hebrew poetry is parallelism. Parallelism involves the repetition of words or ideas in successive lines of a verse. Sometimes the second line contrasts with the first:

The Lord Watches Over The Way of the just,

but the Way of the Wicked leads to ruin. (Psalm 1:6)

Other times, the second line completes the thought of the first:

The Lord looks down from heaven upon the human race,

to see if even one is wise, if even one seeks God. (Psalm 14:2)

Still other times, the second line seems to restate the first line more forcefully:

For I know my offense;

my sin is always before me. (Psalm 51:5)

In its many forms, parallelism - not a rhythmic pattern or rhyming words - is the organizing principle of Hebrew poetry.

Hebrew poetry also uses symbolic language that is characteristic of poetry in any language. This includes metaphors (“Lord, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer”)  and similes (“As a deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, Oh God”).  To appreciate the beauty of Old Testament poetry and feel its impact, we must be willing to wrestle with symbolic ways of interpreting words and phrases. 

Write two original poetic lines using parallelism:

The Lord blesses those who follow his rules.

And punish those who fail to do so

Background: Book of Psalms

Rock! Pop! Salsa! Rhythm and blues! Hip-hop! Rap! Jazz! Country! Alternative! We each have our favorite music that somehow resonates with our being, and maybe even expresses our attitude and philosophy towards life. So much so that we often refer to it as our music, even though it was written by someone else. In the same way we can say that the Psalms are Israel's music. They are the hymns or songs that Israel used in its Temple worship. They give voice to the souls of the Israelites and tell about the ups and downs of the Israelites relationship with Life and God. 

There are different types of Psalms that scholars often group into different categories:

  1. Psalms of praise and thanksgiving sing of God's Majesty, awesomeness, and wisdom.

  2. Psalms of lament or petition include both individual and communal cries to God for help.

  3. Psalms of wisdom sing of Israel's insight into how to live according to God's law in what brings true happiness.

  4. Liturgical Psalms are used for entrance hymns at liturgies or during worship services at the Temple.

  5. Historical Psalms sing of the great wonders God has worked throughout the history of Israel.

Scholarly Exegesis Essentials - Book of Psalms

Author: Many and various, sometimes called “psalmists”

Time: The composition and collection of the Psalms occurred over several centuries - both pre-exile and post exile

Place: Majority were in the southern Kingdom of Judah, as they were associated with the Temple in Jerusalem.

Original Audience: Again, given they were composed and collected over several centuries, the time, place, and circumstances of the original audience varied.

Psalm Assignment:

  1. Read the Psalm assigned to you to get a sense of its basic message and content.  Read any footnotes in your Bible about the Psalm.
  2. Find two significant quotes from a biblical commentary that discusses your Psalm in detail.   
    1. First, write down the basic bibliographical information (Title, Author, Edition) of the commentary you are using.
    2. Second, write down, word for word, two of the most significant quotes from the commentary. Include the page number in the book.  Do not be afraid to ask if the quote you are choosing is significant or not. In general, significant quotes go beyond mere facts (e.g. the psalm was written around the year 500 BCE) and focus on interpretation (e.g. the primary purpose of this psalm is to express gratitude to God for deliverance from evil.)
  3. Write an exegetical paragraph in which you interpret/explain your Psalm. Be sure to include:
    1. What kind of Psalm is it?
    2. What is going on in the Psalm? (perhaps include a direct quote from the Psalm to demonstrate what is going on in the Psalm) 
    3. What is the Psalm suggesting to the reader about life? 
    4. The two quotes you selected from the commentary - be sure to “set up” each quote and “analyze/explain” each quote.
    5. Directly apply any aspect of the Psalm to your life today
    6. 2-3 direct quotes/words/phrases from your Psalm
  1. Read the psalm
  2. "The peoples plea is that God not allow the present danger to wipe out the community that has been graciously established" - "after confidently invoking god(Ps 90:1), the psalm turns to a complaint contrasting God's eternity with the brevity of human life(Ps 90:2-6)
    1. Written By Moses, Title: "Gods Eternity and Mans Frailty", Edition 1
Psalm 90 is a lamenting psalm about the eternity of life of god and not of the humans he created. `"after confidently invoking god (Ps 90:1), the psalm turns to a complaint contrasting God's eternity with the brevity of human life (Ps 90:2-6)"`, The Psalm laments about how god brings life to his people but also takes it away just as fast. `"though a thousand fall at your side, || ten thousand fall at your right side, || near you it shall not come(Ps 91-7)"`. This shows that even though death plagues humanity, it will never catch god. In addition, the psalm contains `"The peoples plea is that God not allow the present danger to wipe out the community that has been graciously established"`. It was written after the exodus, meaning that the people of the new Israel believed that their community was sacred and should be spared from the cold hand of death. This Psalm suggests that god agrees that all life is sacred but it is not indefinite. It sends a message that you have a limited number of days, making life worth living is worth the effort. `"Seventy is the sum of our years, || Eighty if we are strong, || and most of them are fruitless toil, || for they pass quickly and we drift away.(Ps 90:10)"` By showing that the years of fruitless toil amount to nothing, the author further heightens the point that life is precious and should not be wasted in fruitless toil. In my life, I want to make the most of the time I have been given.
Last update: June 5, 2023
Created: June 5, 2023