pSunday Psalms: Sermon on Psalm 146

Today, I had a special opportunity to preach in the Community Church where I served four years ago. The pastor, a dear friend, invited me to come and give a Thanksgiving message from a psalm of my choice. I chose Psalm 146, and gave my message the title, "What Does It Mean to 'Praise the Lord'?"


Here is the text of Psalm 146, from the NRSV.

Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
²I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God all my life long.
Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortals, in whom there is no help.
⁴When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
on that very day their plans perish.
Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God,
⁶who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith for ever;
⁷ who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
⁸ the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
⁹The Lord watches over the strangers;
he upholds the orphan and the widow,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
The Lord will reign for ever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord!

You can read the manuscript of this sermon in PDF format HERE.

pSunday Psalms: The King's Prayers

In his work, An Old Testament Theology, Bruce Waltke gives an overview of the Book of Psalms:

The book of Psalms consists of five books of psalms (1-41, 42-72, 73-89, 90-106, 107-150). Psalms 1-2 are its introduction, and 146-50 its climactic finale of praise. Psalm 1 introduces the individual who submits to God's rule a blessed person, and Psalm 2 introduces the principal subject of the Psalter, the king in prayer. (p. 159)

The king in prayer—this is the main perspective of the Book of Psalms. David and his heirs are the main pray-ers of these worship and wisdom songs. Especially in Books I, II, and V, we see King David himself in continual conversation with God.

Now, remember that this book was written long after the days of David, and after the kingdom had failed and fallen and been taken captive into exile. Those who returned from the Babylonian Exile were without a king to lead and guide them as they struggled to rebuild their lives and nation. Yet the Book of Psalms was given to assure them that, though the nations may rage against them, the Lord himself was reigning in their midst and would one day rule the world through his Anointed (Messiah). Psalm 2 called them to place their hope in the One to whom God would say, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession" (2.7-8).

In order to flesh out the character of this coming Messiah, the Book of Psalms sets forth David as his prototype. As David trusted God, so would his greater Son. As David suffered the opposition of the wicked, so the Messiah. As David persevered and triumphed by God's grace, giving praise to his Lord, so the ultimate King would be vindicated and raised to the throne.

Therefore, when we read the psalms, we are not to simply understand them in the light of David's experiences, rather, these are the prayers of the Messiah himself!

Dietrich Bonhoeffer saw this clearly:

According to the witness of the Bible, David is, as the anointed king of the chosen people of God, a prototype of Jesus Christ. What happens to him happens for the sake of the one who is in him and who is said to proceed from him, namely Jesus Christ. (p. 18)

According to an intriguing passage in 2Samuel 23, David himself may have intended this. The NRSV translates it like this:

Now these are the last words of David:
The oracle of David, son of Jesse,
the oracle of the man whom God exalted,
the anointed of the God of Jacob,
the favourite of the Strong One of Israel:
²The spirit of the Lord speaks through me,
his word is upon my tongue.
The God of Israel has spoken,
the Rock of Israel has said to me:
One who rules over people justly,
ruling in the fear of God, is like the light of morning,
like the sun rising on a cloudless morning,
gleaming from the rain on the grassy land.
Is not my house like this with God?
For he has made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things and secure.
Will he not cause to prosper
all my help and my desire?
⁶But the godless are all like thorns that are thrown away;
for they cannot be picked up with the hand;
⁷to touch them one uses an iron bar
or the shaft of a spear.
And they are entirely consumed in fire on the spot.^*

Verse one may be understood in the sense that David is writing "about the Man whom God raised up, the Messiah of the God of Jacob, the One about whom sweet songs of Israel are sung." The rest of the passage speaks of God's covenant with David concerning an everlasting kingdom in his household.

The Book of Psalms is about the Lord Jesus Christ. It records his prayers, his sufferings and his triumphs. He is the King for whom the returned exiles were to wait with expectation. He is the Savior and Lord to whom the apostolic Gospels and Epistles testify. The Son of David. The Son of God. The King through whom God's blessing will be restored to all the earth.

pSunday Psalms: Bird's Eye View

"As Moses gave five books of laws to Israel, so David gave five books of psalms to Israel." (Midrash on the Psalms)

The Book of Psalms went through several stages of development.

• First, psalms, songs and wisdom poems were composed by individuals and liturgical leaders for use in the worship of Israel.

• Second, many of these were put together and preserved in collections, such as the Psalms of Asaph (73-83) and the Songs of Ascent (120-134).

• Third, after the Exile the individual psalms and collections were gathered and shaped into five books that became The Book of Psalms.

This five-fold Book forms a poetic "cantata" about God's covenant with David. Psalms is about God's Kingdom. Here is a simple overview of the contents of the five books and the way they have been put together to tell this story.

• INTRODUCTION (Pss 1-2). Psalm 1 tells us that this book is torah from God, designed to help his people live in the covenant blessings. Psalm 2 tells us more specifically what this torah teaches—that God rules and will rule the world, despite opposition, through his Messiah; therefore, the blessed are those who take refuge in him.
  

• BOOKS ONE & TWO (Pss 3-41/42-72). These are the books of the king. Dominated by prayers of David, these books present him as God's ideal king, who suffers yet trusts in God and triumphs. By the end of Book II (Ps 72), prayers are raised on behalf of David's son and heir, Solomon. Thus these books focus, not just on David himself, but on the house of David, to which God made eternal promises.

• BOOK THREE (Pss 72-89). This is the book of the failed kingdom. It begins with psalms that question God's ways and the triumph of his enemies (Pss 73-74), and ends with the bleakest psalm in the book (Ps 88) and a composite psalm that reviews the covenant with David (Ps 89.1-37) and then laments his kingdom's destruction (Ps 89.38-52). What has become of God's covenant with David? What will become of his people?
  

• BOOK FOUR (Pss 90-106). Book IV is the book of hope. Opening with a psalm of Moses (Ps 90), the exiles who now have no king are encouraged to review the foundations of their faith and remember that the Lord himself is their true Ruler (Pss 93-99). This book provides the main theological answer to the exiles' laments. It assures them that God remains King and Judge of the world, their Rock and Refuge, and a loving Father who remembers their frailties. The book ends with a series of historical psalms, recalling God's mercies to their ancestors and appealing for an end to their exile.

• BOOK FIVE (Pss 107-150). The final book is the book of instruction. Ps 107, which opens this section, shows the exiles at home again. But how will they proceed? How shall they live so that they will not repeat the sins of the past? This book is made up of three parallel panels that each include the following elements: (1) Each panel begins with psalms that call God's people to give thanks, (2) Each panel ends with psalms that call God's people to praise the Lord, (3) Each contains a collection of David psalms, reintroducing him as the model of faith, (4) Each contains a prominent torah psalm, (5) Each contains prominent royal psalms that point to the coming King.

As Moses gave the Torah to Israel, to instruct them about living in God's blessing under the Sinai Covenant, so David gave a Torah to Israel, instructing the returned exiles to hope in the Davidic Covenant and live as kingdom people under the reign of their true King.

pSunday Psalms: The Torah of the King (Pss 1-2)

Psalms 1-2: Doorway to the Psalms
In the final shape of the Book of Psalms, Psalms 1-2 form an introduction. These two psalms are meant to be read together, and as a unit they show us the nature of this book and the primary message it teaches. Today we explore the main themes that Psalms 1-2 introduce.

First, let's examine the psalms themselves and note some parallels between them that bind Psalm 1-2 together:

• Neither psalm has a heading. Headings begin with Psalm 3. This supports the idea that they are introductory.
  
• Ps 1 begins with "Blessed is the man..." while Ps 2 ends with "Blessed is the man..." This "frames" the two psalms into one.
• Ps 1 portrays those who "stand in the way of sinners" while Ps 2 speaks of the kings "taking their stand"
  
• Ps 1 warns against "the counsel of the wicked" while Ps 2 speaks of the rulers that "take counsel together against the Lord."
• Ps 1 speaks of "scoffers" while Ps 2 says that "the Lord scoffs" at those arrayed against him.
• Ps 1 commends "meditating" on God's Torah, while Ps 2 pictures the peoples "devising" (same Heb word) vain things.
• Ps 1 warns that "the way of the wicked will perish" while Ps 2 warns those who may "perish in the way."

Now, let's note what these psalms teach.

Psalm 1 describes how the Book of Psalms should be read:

• We are to read it as God's Torah, in which we should delight, and upon which we should continually meditate.
  
• Those who do are portrayed as dwelling in an Eden-like garden, experiencing God's blessing in the good land (compare 1.2-3 with Joshua 1.8).
  
• Those who fail to do so, who rely on the counsel of the wicked rather than God's Torah, will perish from that good land (compare 1.6 with Deut 30.15-20).

Psalm 2 sets forth the main message of the Book that we should receive:

• The Lord reigns.
• The wicked are engaged in a continuing war against the Lord and his rule.
• The Lord will conquer through his Son, the Messiah, who will be installed in Zion.
• Those who take refuge in him will be blessed.
• Those who fail to do so will perish.

The Book of Psalms is God's Torah about God's King. Originally these songs and poems were words that God’s people spoke to him in worship. Now they function primarily as God’s Word to us, to be studied and meditated upon, that we might follow our Father’s instruction (Torah) for our lives. The main message of this Torah is that we should learn to take refuge in the Lord who rules over all, and take hope in his promise of Messiah and ultimate victory.

As Moses gave us a Torah of five books about the covenant God made with his people on Mt. Sinai, so in the Book of Psalms we have The Torah of the King, a five-fold book about the covenant God made with David (2Samuel 7).

pSunday Psalms: The Shape of the Psalter

Last time we introduced the Book of Psalms, concluding with the observation that this is an organized coherent book with an overall message, not just a random collection of poems and songs.

Today we will share some observations about how the Book of Psalms is organized.

THE SHAPE OF THE BOOK OF PSALMS

• The Book of Psalms is composed of 150 psalms that are divided into five “books"—Book I (1-41), Book II (42-72), Book III (73-89), Book IV (90-106), Book V (107-150)
  

• The whole book has an introduction, composed of Psalms 1-2.

• The whole book has a conclusion, composed of Psalms 146-150.

• Each individual book ends with a benediction, by which the Lord is blessed.

• Books I and II contain mostly individual psalms of David.

• Book III contains mostly community songs.

• Book IV starts with a psalm of Moses. It contains mostly royal psalms and story-telling psalms.

• Book V returns to the psalms of David, beginning and ending the book with a collection of such psalms. This book is also dominated by praise psalms (111-118, 146-150), a giant acrostic wisdom psalm (119), and a collection known as the Songs of Ascents (120-134).

These observations (and many more could be made) show that Psalms is an organized work with patterns of authorship and psalm-types that may be discerned. It is my contention that these patterns have been arranged intentionally to tell a story and communicate a message.

We will begin unfolding that story in the next post. If you'd like to get ready for that, read Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 and ask this question: What is the message of these two psalms, and how might they serve as an introduction to the Book of Psalms?

pSunday Psalms: The Book of Psalms

STEPPING BACK TO LOOK AT THE PSALMS
For our Sunday studies and meditations on the Psalms, I will now step back and take a broader approach. Our first series on the Songs of Ascent (Pss 120-134) grew out of my own desire to review that collection, but before we move on to another portion of the Psalms, it would be beneficial to get a big picture of the entire book.

Few sections of Scripture have been as beloved over the centuries as the Book of Psalms. It is certainly a favorite part of the “Old Testament” for many Christians, for it speaks with a “New Testament” spirit of personal intimacy and relationship with God. Many New Testaments are published with Psalms attached, but I know of none that combines the NT with Leviticus or Nahum!

Eugene Peterson says that the primary Biblical material for teaching believers to pray is the Psalms. He also notes that, because prayer is elemental and not advanced knowledge, the prayers we find in the book are honest, true and personal. Indeed, if we read them correctly we will see that they are earthy, rough and painfully realistic. Psalms helps us face God frankly, in the unadorned reality of our humanness.

In addition to appreciating the devotional value of these texts, the careful Bible student will also note that the individual psalms have been put together into a BOOK that is highly organized and which communicates a message as a whole work. Though many have approached the Psalms as a collection of individual songs rather like a hymnal, in its final, edited form, this is not a haphazard collection of poems and songs.

BACKGROUND OF THE BOOK OF PSALMS

• The Book of Psalms is a collection of many different types of sacred songs and prayers, originally used in Israel’s worship.

• King David wrote many psalms (2Sam 23:1-7) and led the way in organizing the use of the psalms in the temple worship (2Chron 15-16). Under God’s direction, he set up the pattern described in Chronicles and reflected in the various notations we find in the psalm headings.

• The Book of Psalms was compiled during and after the Babylonian Exile. These prayers and songs that had previously been used in temple worship were now gathered into a new form that could be studied and meditated upon by God’s people.

• Therefore we can distinguish between individual psalms and the Book of Psalms. Each psalm is an inspired text of Scripture that stands on its own and may be read, prayed or sung for God’s praise and our edification (Eph 5:19, Col 3:16). However, we must also take the final form of the book seriously. Under God’s providential guidance, the individual psalms were organized into a Book with a coherent message.

• In my experience, this is not how we ordinarily think of the Book of Psalms. We tend to see it like a hymnal or collection of poems made up of “pearls without a string.” But I believe that the Book of Psalms can be read as a whole book, and that there is an overall organization to the individual psalms that can be detected and studied for our edification. Just as the Book of Isaiah is a collection of the prophet’s messages that have been put together and arranged to teach a coherent message, so the Book of Psalms takes the prayers, praises and worship materials of Israel and links them together to form a book with an overall theme.

pSunday Psalms: OVERVIEW OF PSALMS 126-134

THE ISSUES WE FACE IN WORSHIP
When we read these Songs of Ascent together, a flow between them may be detected.

• The first three psalms describe the journey to Jerusalem, from the pilgrim's home (120), to the blessing he receives for his travels (121), to his arrival at Zion (122). They end with the pilgrim praying for the "peace" of the city (122.6-9).

• The second set of three retraces the same themes, from the standpoint of the pilgrim entering Jerusalem. He looks up from his troubles and lifts his eyes to God in trust (123), testifies to God's protection on the journey (124), and expresses his assurance in the security of Zion and God's people (125). The set ends with a blessing of "peace" (125.5).

• Psalms 126-134 describe various issues of life that are addressed for the pilgrim who is participating in the worship at Jerusalem.

What concerns does God help us face and deal with when we come together with His people, and stand before His presence and His Word?

• Restore your people! (Ps 126). Remembering what God has done in the past, we pray that God will bring full and continual renewal to his family.

• Give us our daily bread! (Pss 127-128). Acknowledging that we trust God ultimately for the daily blessings of life in our work and family, we seek his blessing. (Note once more the concluding blessing of "peace" at the end of Ps 128).
  

• Put the world to rights! (Pss 129-130). In these two psalms we pray that the righteous Lord (129.4) will deal justly with those who oppose him (129), and redeem His own people from their sins (130).

• We hope in the Messiah! (Ps 131-132). In Ps 131, David expresses his childlike faith and encourages Israel to hope in the Lord. Then in Ps 132, we respond to David's prayer, and recall God's covenant with David, praying that God will bless His King and provide for those who take refuge in Him.

• Blessed in the Lord's blessing (Ps 133-134). We celebrate the blessing of having worshiped in unity with God's people (Ps 133), and then leave the sanctuary with an antiphonal song of blessing (Ps 134).
  

The collection ends with the main confession of faith in these psalms:

"May the LORD bless you from Zion, He who made heaven and earth." (Ps 134.3)

pSunday Psalms: Psalm 126

Living between Memory and Hope
My daily work is as a chaplain for a hospice program. That means I work with people who are dying, their families, and in our bereavement program with those who have lost loved ones in the past year. Psalm 126 is a song that speaks volumes to these precious folks. It speaks to me too, for we all live in the now, which is between the past and the future. We live between our memories and our hopes. And how shall we then live?

The first three verses of Psalm 126 look in the rear-view mirror at what has gone before:

When the LORD brought back the captive ones of Zion,
We were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter
And our tongue with joyful shouting;
Then they said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."
The LORD has done great things for us;
We are glad.

These words were sung by those who had returned from Babylon. The Lord had done great things for them, and now they were home. It was a dream come true, a cause for celebration, and a witness to all nations of God's sovereign grace and power. This memory made them glad.

However, the next three verses look to their future:

Restore our captivity, O LORD,
As the streams in the South.
Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.
He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed,
Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

When the exiles returned, they came home to chaos. A huge rebuilding project awaited them. Think people returning to New Orleans after Katrina, or to Galveston after hurricane Ike. Nor was the devastation only in their environment. A small, weak group without the infrastructure of the kingdom as they had known it, they were still beset by their enemies round about and prone more than ever to spiritual discouragement. In one sense they were back, however, in reality they still faced a long hard road to get all the way back.

And so they cry out to God for a full return, that he will fill them like rains that transform the desert. They cling to the promise that their present tears are like seeds sown in fertile soil. One day they will yield a harvest of never-ending gladness and fruitfulness.

Now may be the time of tears and toilsome labor. Do not despair. Faithfully plant your seeds in the fertile field between memory and hope and look to the Lord of harvest.

pSunday Psalms: PSALMS 123-125

The next three Psalms of Ascent, Pss 123-125, serve as counterparts to the first three songs in the collection—Pss 120-122.

• Like Ps 120, Ps 123 looks to God for grace in a context of trouble and conflict. (Verse 1 also picks up the language of lifting up one's eyes—see 121.1.)

• Like Ps 121, Ps 124 confesses "Our help is in the name of the Lord" (see Ps 121.2).

• Like Ps 122, Ps 125 celebrates the security of Jerusalem and God's people. Note how this psalm also ends with "peace" (see 122.6-9).
  

However, the three psalms also advance the thoughts of the three previous pieces. Let's see how...

PSALM 123: From a World of Contempt to the Place of Grace
It has been suggested that this psalm represents the first prayer in the Temple after the arrival of the pilgrim at Jerusalem (see 122.2). For the first time in the collection, the psalmist addresses God directly. Whereas in Ps 121, he lifted up his eyes to the mountains, here he lifts up his eyes to God himself. Having come from the world of exile, a world of scoffing and contempt for the life of faith, he enters the King's presence and immediately appeals to the King for grace. This word expresses a request for assistance from a subordinate to one in authority. Such relationships are pictured in verses 1-2. This is why we come to the sanctuary—for a respite from the stifling atmosphere of contempt, and to receive gifts of grace from our King to help us stand.

PSALM 124: From Confession to Testimony
This is a direct counterpart to Ps 121. In the earlier psalm, the pilgrim confessed his faith in God as his helper, and the community affirmed his faith by invoking God's promises to keep him on his journey. Now, having arrived in Jerusalem, the psalmist calls all God's people to join him in praising the Lord for keeping his promises! In vivid language he describes how God has proven in their experience the truth, "Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth."

PSALM 125: From Assurance to Prayer
In Ps 122, the pilgrim had arrived in Jerusalem (122.2) and was filled with awe at the meaning of this city for his people. Ps 125 is a further meditation on Jerusalem and how it represents the security of the righteous in God's care. The mountains, which the pilgrim had surveyed on the horizon at the start of his journey (121.1), now surround him in the King's City and assure him that God will never allow the wicked to triumph ultimately. He takes this assurance and goes to prayer in verses 4-5, asking God to accomplish his purposes. The goal, once more, is the final "shalom" (v.5).

pSunday Psalms: PSALM 122

Psalms 120-122 are like a mini-collection within the Psalms of Ascent, taking us from the pilgrim's home, then along the road until he arrives at the place he is going.

• Psalm 120 describes where the pilgrim lives and establishes his hunger for God’s shalom.

• Psalm 121 foresees the pilgrim’s journey and expresses the assurance that God will keep him through all its challenges.

• Psalm 122 anticipates the pilgrim’s destination and looks forward to the shalom and good that come to those who arrive there.

Psalm 122 focuses on Jerusalem, the destination of the righteous pilgrim. Jerusalem is described here as:

• The place where the house of Lord is

• The place where God’s people dwell together

• The place where all Israel goes to give thanks to God

• The place where God’s Davidic King rules and renders judgment

If, as is likely, this collection in its final form was meant to encourage the exiles returning from captivity, the second part of the psalm makes perfect sense as an expression of their longing for peace and prosperity within the city which had been ruined but was now being restored.

Jerusalem is a powerful image in Scripture. From Genesis, as the place where the priest-king Melchizedek appears, to the Book of Revelation, which describes a New Jerusalem, this city upon Mt. Zion has been at the heart and center of God’s plan for history. King David established it as the place of God’s rule, and his son, Jesus, faced the climactic events of his ministry there, weeping over the city that crucified him.

According to the Bible, the destination of the Christ-following pilgrim is the New Jerusalem, the city that will one day descend from heaven and fill the earth with God’s glory. On that day people from all nations will flow to the mountain of the Lord to worship and learn from the King of kings. The world will be put to rights and peace will cover the globe.

Today, as so often through history, Jerusalem is a place where conflict and strife reign—it represents the rest of the world that is groaning as it awaits its deliverance. And so, on our journey through this world, we continue to pray and work for the things that Jerusalem has always idealized, and that the New Jerusalem will bring to fulfillment—the worship of God through his Messiah, the unity of all nations, justice, true prosperity and goodness, and above all, shalom.

pSunday Psalms: PSALM 121

MAY THE ROAD RISE UP TO MEET YOU

Psalm 121 is the best known psalm in the collection of Psalms of Ascents. It is a song about traveling and trust.

Many have memorized the familiar strains of verse one in the KJV, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help…” These words are more accurately translated in newer versions with a question mark after the second line. The pilgrim’s help does NOT come from the hills. The high places are the abode of false gods. However, the one living and true God made, not only the mountains, but also the skies and land—all creation. Thus, the hills are not so much a symbol of God’s power in this psalm as a picture of how the greatest metaphors of might in creation are as nothing in the light of the Creator’s greatness. Nothing, no one in the universe can help us like the living God.

The main structural feature of Ps 121 is the change of pronouns, from first person in verses 1-2, to second person in the rest of the psalm.

• The pilgrim himself speaks in the first two verses.

• The community of faith that supports the pilgrim in his journey answers him in verses 3-8.

Picture, if you will, a man standing with his bags packed, prepared to set off down the road. Gathered around him are his family and friends. They have come together to wish him Godspeed and to assure him of their confidence in the Lord’s blessing on his journey. First, the pilgrim addresses his friends, expressing his own faith in God’s help. Then, in a refrain of agreement, his brothers and sisters express their faith that the Lord will indeed continually care for him and protect him from the dangers that often beset travelers.

What do we learn from this psalm?

• The journey requires faith in a God who is bigger than the creation in which we find ourselves, with all its mysteries and challenges.

• The faith we hold is both personal and communal. We must be able to speak our faith to one another in ways that support and encourage one another on the journey.

We do not travel alone. Our God keeps us. Our friends support us.

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Traditional Gaelic Blessing

pSunday Psalms: PSALM 120

A PERSON OF PEACE IN A LAND OF LIES

The first psalm in the collection of “Psalms of Ascent” is not about the journey, but about where the journey begins. In Psalm 120, the pilgrim going to Jerusalem describes where he lives and laments the spiritual conditions there.

The general situation is one of “trouble” (1) and “war” (7). Where he lives, the person of faith feels continually opposed and oppressed. Specifically, he lives in a community that promotes lies and deceit (2-4). He likens his situation to living in “Meshech” and “Kedar,” places known for continual warfare and hostility (5).

In the Book of Psalms, the "Songs of Ascent" are found in Book V, the book of hope for returned exiles from Babylon. Strategically placed in Book V, these psalms call them to look to Jerusalem, the place where God will provide shalom as he regathers his people and establishes his rule over all nations. Ps 120, with its emphasis on the difficult circumstances of the faithful in exile and return, sets the stage for the rest of the collection, which calls God's people to a pilgrimage of hope in Messiah's coming reign.

A third level of understanding comes when we read Ps 120 as “a prayer of the king." In this light we are reminded of the hostile environment to which Messiah Jesus came. “He came to his own, and those who were his own did not receive him” (Jn 1.12). Hebrews calls us to “consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself” (Heb 12.3). Jesus was the ultimate person of peace in a land of lies. Yet ironically, in the midst of continual opposition, and by laying down his own life under a sentence of unjust lies, he provided ultimate peace (Rom 5.1).

Peace, or shalom, plays an important part in these psalms, appearing at key points in the collection to describe what the pilgrim seeks in and for Jerusalem and God’s people. This is, indeed, what all people long for. Shalom means wholeness, health, freedom from all oppression and trouble, relational harmony and complete wellbeing.

The new creation will be God’s Peaceable Kingdom, a place of universal shalom under the Messiah’s rule. No more trouble, lies, deceit, injustice, hostility, conflict. The feasts in Jerusalem enjoyed by the First Testament pilgrims were foretastes of that shalom. As temporary reprieves from the daily disorientation of living in Meshech and Kedar they provided a great hope and hunger for ultimate peace.

The challenge of this psalm for Christ-followers in the NT era is to be shalom-makers in the midst of our troubled world as we continue to await the coming Kingdom of peace. At times we cry out to God and lament our circumstances, yes. However, our daily faith journey with Jesus also calls us to arise, walk out into our world and say, “I am for peace.”

pSunday Psalms

Today I will begin a series of studies, posted each Sunday, on Psalms 120-134. These are known, from their inscriptions, as the "Songs of Ascent." This post explores what that title means, and then gives a brief summary of my interpretive approach to the Book of Psalms.

SONGS OF ASCENT
The following quote from James Limburg in his Westminster Bible Companion commentary on the Psalms, gives a good overview of Psalms 120-134:

Psalm 120 is the first of a series of psalms running from 120 to 134, each of which is identified as "A Song of Ascents," literally, "A Song for the Going Up." This expression appears to refer to "going up" to Jerusalem; the same Hebrew word appears in the reference to the tribes who "go up" to Jerusalem in Psalm 122.4. This group of fifteen psalms seems to have been used for going up to Jerusalem for one of the festivals held there (see Deut 16.16), and thus these have been called pilgrimage psalms. These psalms were likely gathered together as a special collection to be used on such pilgrimages.

The Songs of Ascents are what we might call "folk psalms"—songs that reflect everyday matters like family, work, the seasons and rural life. They paint a picture of spiritual life from the perspective of the common person who experiences God's blessings in his daily routines among his neighbors in his own community. However, he also looks forward to special seasons of festive worship within the larger community of faith in Jerusalem.

READING THE PSALMS
Without offering a full explanation of how I came to these conclusions, here are the principles by which I approach reading and studying the Book of Psalms.

• Psalms contains many individual psalms and collections of psalms that were composed by David and other Israelite worshipers. The headings sometimes clue us in on a historical setting that should guide us in reading the psalm.

• These psalms were also used in worship settings. There are various types of psalms, and understanding the characteristics of these types can help us in our interpretations.
  

• Psalms is a unified book that has a coherent message as a book. The Book of Psalms has five main divisions, and each individual psalm and collection should be read in the context of the whole book and the division in which it is found.

• Psalms 1 and 2 introduce the book and make clear that, in its final form, its primary purpose is to serve as Torah for God's people (Ps 1) and to portray the Messiah as the Son of God who will come to rule the nations of the earth (Ps 2).

• 2Samuel 23.1-7, correctly understood, teaches that David understood himself to be writing about "the man who was raised on high, the Messiah of the God of Jacob" (23.1).
  

• The Book of Psalms, therefore, is a book that sets forth the prayers of the Messiah in order that God's people might receive instruction (Torah) in living under God's rule as they await the day when all nations will come together under his reign.
  

So, based on these principles, when reading a psalm, here is the approach I take:

• Read and understand it first according to its original historical setting and psalm-type.

• Read and understand it in the context of the entire Book of Psalms and see how it contributes to that message.

• Read and understand it as a prayer of the Messiah. What does it tell me about him?

• As a follower of the Messiah, one called to walk with him in his ways and under his rule, what instruction does it give me for my faith journey?

And so we will begin! As always, I'd love to have your comments.