541 Read the Bible for Yourself 8: How to Read the Psalms

Posted on by Sean Finnegan

This is part 8 of the Read the Bible For Yourself.

The Book of Psalms is an eclectic collection of poetry that you can use to connect to God. In today’s episode you’ll learn about the different kinds of psalms, who wrote them, and how Hebrew poetry works. The goal, as always, is to equip you to read and understand on your own. Whether you’ve been reading the Psalms for years or are brand new to them, this episode should empower you to get more out of them than ever before. Also, I conclude by recommending a method of reading, called Lectio Divina, which you can use to meditate on the Psalms.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

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Basic Facts

  • Phenomenal for devotional reading, emotional connection
  • 150 total psalms
  • Called psalms, not chapters (Psalm 50:4 not Psalms 50:4)
  • Authors: David (73), Asaph (12), Sons of Korah (11), Heman the Ezrahite (1), Ethan the Ezrahite (1), Moses (1), Solomon (2), Anonymous (49)
  • Book 1: 1-41
  • Book 2: 42-72
  • Book 3: 73-89
  • Book 4: 90-106
  • Book 5: 107-150
  • David reassigned the Levites to develop a music ministry to worship God (1 Chron 16:4-6, 41-42).

Chesed

  • כִּי לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּוֹ (1 Chron 16:41) for his chesed (is) forever.
  • הוֹדוּ לַיהוָה כִּי־טוּב כִּי לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּוֹ (Ps 118:1) O give thanks to Yahweh for (he is) good for his chesed (is) forever.
  • chesed is an extremely important word in the Psalms.
  • “EVV [English versions] translate chesed by expressions such as ‘steadfast love’ and ‘constant love.’  It is sometimes described as covenant love, though in the OT it rarely appears in the company of the word ‘covenant.’  It is used in two connections: when someone makes an act of commitment for which there is no reason in terms of prior relationship, and when someone keeps their commitment when they might be expected to abandon it (e.g., because the other person has done so).  It is the Hebrew equivalent to the Greek agape.”[1]

Walter Brueggemann’s Three Kinds of Psalms

  1. Orientation: celebrate order in creation and in morality (Psalm 8)
  2. Disorientation: complaints about injustice and God’s inactivity (Psalm 88)
  3. Reorientation: renewed sense of trust; thanksgiving for deliverance (Psalm 30)
  • The psalms nicely compliment the various types of wisdom literature we covered last time.

14 Types of Psalms

 

  1. Praise Psalms
  2. Historical Psalms
  3. Torah Psalms
  4. Creation Psalms
  5. Royal Psalms
  6. Enthronement Psalms
  7. Wisdom Psalms
  8. Prophecy Psalms
  9. Trust Psalms
  10. Petition Psalms
  11. Complaint Psalms
  12. Repentance Psalms
  13. Imprecatory Psalms
  14. Thanksgiving Psalms

 

Hebrew Poetry

  • Word play
  • Acrostic psalms
  • Thought rhyming instead of word rhyming
  • Synonymous parallelism
  • Antithetical parallelism
  • Synthetic parallelism

Transliterated Terms

  • Selah (71x) may mean a pause (perhaps for a musical interlude).
  • Maskil (13x), miktam (6x), gittith (3x), alamoth (1x), higgaion (1x), and shiggaion (1x) were probably musical instructions of some sort.

Lectio Divina (Divine Reading)

  1. First reading
    1. Read the psalm or a section of it twice.
    2. Pause to reflect on what you read.
  2. Second reading
    1. Read text once.
    2. Look for a verse or phrase that sticks out to you.
    3. Pause and reflect on that phrase turning it over in your mind
  3. Third reading
    1. Read text once.
    2. Ask God what he wants you to do in relation to the phrase you have been contemplating.
    3. Listen for a response.

Review

  • The book of Psalms contains 150 poems, songs, and prayers written by several different authors, divided into five books.
  • More psalms are associated with David than anyone else (73). He was responsible for tasking the Levites with praising God through music.
  • A key reason to praise God in the Psalms is because his chesed (steadfast love) endures forever.
  • Psalms of orientation celebrate the orderliness of creation and the moral universe.
  • Psalms of disorientation cry out for help amidst times of injustice, persecution, and suffering.
  • Psalms of reorientation thank God for his deliverance in a situation.
  • The many kinds of psalms are for you to use when you go through similar blessings, trials, doubts, and deliverances.
  • Lectio Divina is an ancient meditative practice that you can use to get more out of the psalms you read.

 

Appendix: All the psalms categorized by type

 

#

Types

Description

Psalms

1

praise

extolling God for his character and actions

23, 24, 34, 46, 67, 76, 95, 100, 103, 111, 117, 139, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150

2

historical

overviews of interactions between God and his people

78, 81, 89, 105, 106, 114, 132, 135, 136

3

Torah

poems about the Torah and the benefits of obedience

1, 19, 112, 119

4

creation

songs about the well-ordered creation

8, 19, 65, 104, 148

5

royal

poems about the king; messianic psalms

2, 20, 21, 45, 61, 72, 101?, 110, 144?, 149?

6

enthronment

poems about God sitting on his throne and ruling

9, 24, 29, 33, 47, 50?,  93, 96, 97, 98, 99, 102?, 113, 145, 146

7

wisdom

extolling wisdom and disparanging folly

1, 14, 15, 37, 49, 52, 53, 73, 90, 101, 112, 127, 128,

8

prophecy

words spoken by God to the people

2, 50, 81, 82, 91, 108, 110, 132

9

trust

expressing confidence in what God will do

57, 61, 62, 63, 68, 69, 71, 73, 77, 82, 85, 91, 94, 102, 115, 121, 125, 131

10

petition

asking for deliverance (usually from enemies)

3, 6, 7, 17, 22, 25, 26, 27, 31, 36, 40, 41, 54, 56, 59, 60, 69, 70, 79, 86, 108, 123, 141, 142, 143, 144

11

complaint

complaining, asking “how long?” “why?” etc.

13, 42, 43, 44, 60, 74, 80, 88, 89, 120

12

repentance

repenting from sinful action(s)

32, 38, 39, 51, 130

13

imprecatory

wishing God to harm one’s enemies

5, 10, 11, 12, 28, 35, 55, 58, 69, 70, 79, 83, 109, 129, 137, 140

14

thanksgiving

thanking God for the deliverance he has provided

4, 16, 18, 30, 40, 64, 65, 66, 75, 92, 107, 116, 118, 124, 138

15

Zion, pilgrimage

songs praising Zion/Jerusalem or talking about going there

48, 84, 87, 122, 125, 126, 128, 129, 133, 134, 147

 

[1] John Goldingay, Psalms, vol. 3: Psalms 90-150, Baker Commentary on the Old Testament: Wisdom and Psalms, ed. Tremper Longman III, (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008), 753.  I altered his spelling from hesed to chesed to conform to the actual pronunciation.

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