Somebody Else’s Mail (3)

Before we dive further into our sequential exposition of the Psalms, it’s probably a good time to set out what my objective is in devoting every Saturday for more than the next three years, Lord willing, to one of the longest books in the Bible.

An aside: You may be surprised to realize Psalms is not the lengthiest by any standard other than total chapters and verses. I was. It’s actually third-longest. By Hebrew word count, both Jeremiah and Genesis exceed Psalms by a fair margin. (Translating Hebrew poetry into English apparently requires more words than does prose. The original is quite succinct.)

In any case, it’s a very long book and a major project. Why invest the time?

Making an Investment

For me, the most obvious reason is personal: I’ve never done it and I’d like to. I’ve studied numerous books of the Bible in depth, but not the Psalms. It seems prudent to remedy that. Also, Christ is all over the place in the Psalms. I’d like to shine the spotlight on him.

The second reason is practical: Christians love the Psalms. A survey of believers in Quora asked readers which book of the Bible is their favorite. The Psalms came up repeatedly, provoking comments like these:

“There is a huge amount of material in Psalms, and some of it is the most moving literature in the entire Bible.” (James Oppenheimer-Crawford)

“Many people find comfort when they discover their own deep feelings are given voice in the beautiful words of the Psalms.” (Kelly Grace)

“I would say Psalms because most people read that regularly and quote from it.” (Terri King)

“There is no other part of the Bible that will speak to you like the Psalms do. Every human emotion is in the Psalms, no matter how dark you think your thoughts are.” (Jenny Hawkins)

“The entire book of psalms is the most used book of the Bible as the psalms are repeated by priests, religious, and laypeople reciting the Breviary. Plus there is a psalm recited at every Mass.” (James Hough)

With all that to commend the Psalms, we would be unwise to overlook them, though I must say I’m a little curious to discover how much of ourselves there really is to be seen in the Psalms. While not wishing to take away from anyone the comfort they might derive from identifying with David, Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon or even Moses, I find many people read their words far too casually and apply them to their own lives and experiences far too freely, not recognizing that ancient Hebrews and Christians had and have very different callings, privileges, and rules of engagement. I’m curious how much of the affection for Psalms is actually a form of projection. Poetry excites our emotions. But when we look at the text carefully and objectively, does all of it really bear our weight or (as I am convinced) are we reading someone else’s mail as if it were our own?

Don’t get me wrong: it’s fine to read other people’s mail, provided we are not confused about who is being addressed. “Every promise in the book” is not mine. Many were made to others at specific times and places. Psalm 91 is my favorite example of egregious Christian promise-lifting, but there are definitely others.

The Object of the Exercise

Apart from all that, for me an in-depth study of the Psalms serves two additional purposes: (1) to cover comprehensively the New Testament quotations from Psalms and analyze how the writers used them; and (2) to create a spreadsheet analyzing the content of each Psalm to get a big-picture overview of the purpose of the book.

The Psalms in the NT

As to (1), I’ll be working my way through this list of references as we go, asking myself questions like:

• Do the NT writers apply the Psalms to the Christian life? If so, in what ways?
• What sort of prophetic fulfillment do we find the NT writers documenting: literal, figurative, partial or complete? What kind and how much of each?
• Are the quotations from the psalmists primarily gospel-oriented or teaching-oriented? Jew or Gentile?
• Do the writers of the NT primarily quote the Psalms directly and authoritatively, or did their knowledge of the OT inform their writing more frequently through allusions?

I’m also very interested in how often the Lord used the Psalms, in what way, and why. Sixty-four of the quotes and references on our list come from the gospels. Primarily, I expect to find these in the words of Christ, though Matthew at least uses them editorially (“that it might be fulfilled”). There will of course be many duplicates in the synoptics, but that’s still a lot of material to digest.

The Overview

As to (2), I’m mainly interested in categorizing, cataloguing and comparing. I can think of a number of types of Psalms off the top of my head. These are set in different times and places. Some are historical. Others are timeless. Some are personal. Others take the personal and apply it more broadly. Many are first-advent Messianic; the Lord specifically pointed his disciples to the Psalms “written about me”. We also have millennial psalms and tribulation psalms, and psalms that seem to me to speak for the nation rather than any specific individual. There are certainly other types as well.

I also have a strong impression that the Psalms as a whole are deliberately and persistently Jewish in character, provided we take them literally. There’s no getting around the fact that my eschatological views are going to intrude here. That can’t be helped. A supersessionist reading the same Psalms will immediately start allegorizing and applying them to the Church rather than to Israel. I obviously will not be doing that. I’ll be taking the Psalms literally whenever it seems feasible.

With all that in mind, let’s get going!