How to Read
the Bible for All It’s Worth, Session XI
The Psalms
A teaching by
based upon the book by the same title,
written by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart
INTRO:
A. Review: Purpose of the course
1. Interpreting task: done automatically
…need
to be self-conscious and intentional about it
2. Goal of interpretation: to get to the plain meaning of the text
3. Working definition of scripture:
“The Bible is the Word of God, expressed in
human words in history.”
4. 2 essential tasks of interpretation
a. exegesis: deciphering what it meant there and then
“What
was the intended meaning of the original writers to their original audiences?”
b. hermeneutics: bridging from the there and then to the here
and now
“How
does the original meaning apply to us?”
B. Key
to the course: Different Kinds of genre
1. Some were written as direct teaching for believers of the time
esp.:
letters/epistles
OUR
task: to reconstruct the original situation
à intent of writer
AND then, using common sense
à Distinguish between teachings that are emphatic &
central, vs. teachings that are situational
& peripheral.
2. Some are more narrative: stories
Realize
that they may be illustrating teachings and principles
…but
they do not introduce teachings directly
They
may be setting a precedent that may be repeatable
…but
those precedents carry over to our time only if followed consistently in biblical history and are
taught as such
3. Some:
Gospels
a. Intentionality is
two-fold:
Jesus’
intentionality when encountering people
each writer’s intention when writing about such encounters
b. each writer did
have a particular audience in mind when writing and did have particular goals in mind when
writing.
c. so we read
vertically …each gospel from beginning to ending
AND
we read horizontally, comparing each gospel w/ the others
to look for distinctives
4. Within those
gospels: Parables
a. stories that evoke
a response
like a joke with a punchline
b. THEREFORE:
1)
find the points of reference
2)
Identify the audience
3)
Listen for the “Punch”
5. OT Law
constituting documents for the new nation of
covenant of
…part
of which gets renewed in NT
…part
of which gets supplanted in NT
6.
Last week: The prophets
Not
much foretelling, but lots of Forthtelling
Served
as exhorters and enforcers of the covenant
à God’s megaphone, reminding the
people of their obligations to obedience, promising blessing for
obedience and warning of curses for disobedience.
Interpreting
them is helped enormously when we can locate them in
their exact place in the history of
Be
careful not to look for hidden meanings
C.
Today: the Psalms
1. The most read and most loved portion of OT for many
Christians
2. But difficulty comes in interpreting them:
How
do these words TO and ABOUT God operate as God’s Word to
us?
They
are not propositional truths, such as we get in Epistles
They
are not imperatives to be obeyed, such as in the Law
They
are not narratives, such as we get in so many other places
3. Particular questions: (all from p. 206)
a. “How are we to use
a psalm that seems to be negative
throughout and seems to express the misery
of the speaker?”
b. “Is this something
that should be used in a church service?”
c. “Or is it for
private use only?”
d. “And what of a
psalm that tells about the history of
e. “What about psalms
that predict the word of the Messiah?’
f. “OR what of psalms
that laud the benefits of wisdom?”
g. “What about the
several psalms that discuss the glory of
h. “And finally, what
does one do with the desire that Babylonian infants should be dashed against the
rocks?” (137:8-9)
I. Some Preliminary Exegetical Observations
A. The Psalms as Poetry
“The most
important thing to remember in reading or interpreting psalms
is that they are poems—musical poems” (P. 206)
1. “Hebrew poetry, by its very nature, was
addressed to the mind through the heart” (p. 207)
One
must be careful not to “overexegete” (read too much
into) a text by finding special meanings in
specific words or phrases where the poet probably did not
intended such meanings.
EXAMPLE: Ps. 19
“The
heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day
after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.”
The
text uses synonymous parallelism (where the 2nd line repeats/ reinforces the sense of the 1st
line
Simple
point: ‘God is revealed in his creation,
especially in the heavenly bodies.’
--but
does so in much more beautiful and memorable language
The
lines are not trying to say 4 different things
They
are not differentiating between the heavens & the skies
2. The psalms themselves are MUSICAL poems
They
appeal to the emotions
They
evoke feelings rather than propositional thinking
They
stimulate a response on the part of the individual that goes beyond mere cognitive understanding of
facts
EXAMPLE:
Ps. 51:5 – “And in sin my mother
conceived me.”
not = a commentary on his mother’s moral life not = an explanation of the doctrine of
original sin
not = a belief that sex is sinful
RATHER: a blurting out of his overwhelming sense of sinfulness
so deep in his character it’s as if he were made of sin.
3. The
vocabulary of poetry is purposefully metaphorical
Need
to look for the intended meanings of the metaphors
e.g.,: “the Lord is my
shepherd:
intent – God watches out for us as shepherd do sheep
NOT
intent – For us to act like sheep
B. The
Psalms as Literature
1. The Psalms are of several different types of
poetry
…more
to be said shortly
But
point now; We
may need to ask ourselves regularly,
“What TYPE of psalm am I reading?”
2. Each psalm is also characterized by its
formal structure
` topical
categories tend to be matched by structural categories
3. Each type of psalm was intended to have a
given function in the life
of
For example: royal psalms were sung at the celebration of
4. Some psalms are written in a literary
pattern:
e.g.,
some phrases repeated over and over again, per refrain
e.g.,
acrostic psalms: each one beginning with
the letters of the Hebrew alphabet (e.g., Ps. 119, each 8th
verse that way)
5. Each psalm has its own integrity as a
literary unit.
often portray a flow of thought that move from presentation,
to development to conclusion
some times terms used in one part of the psalm are defined
in another part of that psalm
II. Some basic facts on
the Psalms
A. These were FUNCTIONAL SONGS for use in
worship
i.e.,
they served the function of helping make connection between worshiper and God
B. Some were sung by soloists, but many became
as familiar to the populace
as Top-40 songs get familiar to some teenagers
C. Five books of the psalms:
1-41;
42-72; 73-89; 90-106; 107-150
D. Dating the psalms is near impossible, BUT
unlike the prophets, the psalms
do not need to be tied to immediate history to be understood
à again, they are emotive not
propositional
E. Authorship
73 – by
David
1 by
Moses
2 by
Solomon
several by “sons” of Asaph and of Korah
where “sons” = students of
F. Collection was done after return from exile
…became their hymnal
III. The Types of Psalms
A. Laments
The
largest group: more than 60
some are individual laments; others are corporate
express deep trust in Yahweh—but also report great suffering
A great
resource for our praying in time of our suffering
B. Thanksgiving Psalms
Thanks
for things that have gone well
C. Hymns of Praise
Praise
of God’s character, God’s greatness, God’s mercy
D. Salvation History Psalms
recount history of God’s interventions with
E. Psalms of Celebration and Affirmation
1. Covenant renewal liturgies
2. Royal psalms:
celebrating God’s anointing of Kings
or lamenting royal troubles
3. Enthronement psalms: celebrating enthronement of kings
…may
have been done annually
4. Songs of
F. Wisdom Psalms
8 of
them: operate like Proverbs
G. Songs of Trust
10
psalms focus attention on fact that God can be trusted.
IV. An Exegetical
sampling – see pp. 215-220
V. A Special Note on “Imprecatory Psalms”
i.e., psalms
of judgment on foes
Given that
we are to “be angry but sin not” (Ps. 4:4)
and given that words do not do quite the damage as do swords
--especially
when the words are verbalized when we are alone
…Imprecatory
psalms recount the verbal tirades of David, et al, while in prayer
They
redirect our anger toward God and away from other humans
“Imprecatory
psalms harness our anger and help us express it (to God) by using the same
sorts of obvious, purposeful exaggeration known to us from other types of psalms.” (p. 220)
NOTE: Nothing in scripture suggests that even if
these judgments were carried
out on enemies, that doing so would bring eternal damnation.
LESSON: “We should honestly express our anger to God,
no matter how bitterly
and hatefully we feel it, and let God take care of justice against those
who misuse us.” (p. 222)
VI. Some Concluding
Hermeneutical Observations
A. 3 basic benefits
from the Psalms
1. as a guide to worship
both by quoting from the psalms
and by following the example of bold praise to God
2. as a model of how to relate honestly to God
open expressions of joy, disappointment, anger, etc.
3. as an encouragement to reflect and mediate on things God has
done for us.
B. Caution:
Psalms
DO NOT guarantee a pleasant life
They at
times seem to suggest that …but they do not!