Bible 101 - Psalms 17-23

Presented February 20, 2006 by Phyllis Gilbert

Review: The Psalms offer us a smorgasbord of emotions and experiences - sometimes within a single psalms we have raw anger, complaints, confession and praise. And isn't that a reflection of life? In one day we may begin with a calm, peaceful spirit after a good night's sleep - and a cup of Starbucks - fit for the day's work. We pray, asking God to bless, thanking him for the day ahead, and then wham! Something happens to upset our equilibrium. It could be another driver, it could be a chance remark, a letter or a phone call, and a gray fog now covers our early good mood. We may mutter and sputter, and then, another phone call or e-mail changes the picture again, and we're ready to trust our fellow man and God. We're up and down - certainly not in extremes, but our moods do vary. We get discouraged and then encouraged; we feel rejected and then accepted; we are happy and then sad. Life is like that. . . and the Psalms show us a way to balance our ups and downs in God, God who never changes. In our tour of Psalms 1 through 16, we've seen David at peace lying down to sleep in the midst of the threat of war, content in God's care. We've seen his anger at the wicked and the enemies within and without that pursue him. We've heard his "how long, O Lord, how long" cries for help, and his declaration "I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart," and his profession of faith: "But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me." (Ps. 13:5-6) We read his poetic hymn extolling God's creation: "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth" (Ps. 8:1) We can make these words our words. We can use them in our prayers and meditations to learn who God is and who we are in relation to him. Using the Psalms as prayer is a discipline and a faith builder.

Poetic language: I've mentioned the parallelism of Hebrew poetry and the psalms are replete with this device. The psalms are rich in imagery - sensory language appealing to our sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. Psalms are concrete: David asks God to "strike all my enemies on the jaw; beak the teeth of the wicked" (Ps. 3:7). The psalms make use of metaphor, simile, apostrophe and other figures of speech. A metaphor or simile is a comparison. One of the most common and frequently repeated metaphors is "God is my refuge," or "God is my rock, my hiding place." David often says "God is my shield," or a "shield around me." Thus we see God compared to a place of safety. And knowing David's time in En Gedi among the rocks and caves, we can see how rich this comparison is. David compares God's words to "silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times" (Ps. 12: 6). In showing God's words to be valuable and perfect (7 the number of perfection, completion) he contrasts God's words with human speech which "maligns others." In the same 12^th Psalm, David uses synecdoche (the part stands for the whole) when he says: "May the Lord cut off all flattering lips and every boastful tongue" (v. 3); "lips" and "tongue" are used to stand for the whole person, and his/her ability to say things that show confidence in self rather than in God. Another example of synecdoche is "Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God" (Ps. 10:12). God's hand is one of power, one of blessing or punishment, and David is asking that God use his power against his enemies. Apostrophe is speaking to someone or something absent, or not normally spoken to. In literature, a person in love might say "O moon, grant my wish." In Ps. 24, we read "Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you everlasting doors" (v. 9). Ordinarily, we speak to people or animals, but not to inanimate objects like gates or doors. But David's dramatic command shows us the doors of a city opening to the King of Glory. The doors and gates are also personified here; they are given the traits of humans (heads and the ability to move on their own). And of course one of the most well-known personifications is in Psalm 23 which ends: "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life." (Can't you see two sheep dogs, one called Goodness and the other Mercy following the shepherd?) Poetry is a condensed, compressed form of writing. And thus, each word must be well chosen and help the reader see, feel, sense both the concrete and the abstract.

Psalm 17: Here is another prayer for God's protection (the numerous prayers of this type are a clue to how often David needed God's protection). David begins with a profession of innocence: "Though you probe my heart and examine me at night, though you test me, you will find nothing" and in subsequent parallel lines, he emphasizes his faithfulness to God. Then in v. 6, he begins his petition with trust: "I call on you, O God, for you will answer me" and continues to describe the protection he knows God will provide: "keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings," in beautiful imagery. And once again, he asks God to punish his enemies: "Rise up, O Lord, confront them, bring them down; rescue me from the wicked by your sword" (v. 13), and he ends with confidence in God: "And I - in righteousness I will see your face; when I awake I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness."

Psalm 18: This is a hymn to God's power which we first read in II Samuel 22. It is the longest psalm we've so far encountered, and it is full of poetic language. David evokes the drama of Ex. 19 when God in thunder, lightning, earthquake and fire announced his presence to the children of Israel at Mt. Sinai. Here David describes his deliverance from "the cords of death entang[ling] me" by a powerful, all-consuming God. He shows us God's anger in "the foundations of the mountains shaking and trembling," and "smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it." We see God not in a chariot pulled by horses, but "mounted on cherubim flying on the wings of the wind." God uses hailstones and lightening, and God's voice thunders from heaven. We see images that God himself used when speaking to Job. David's faith is in a God who controls nature, and who defeats the wicked with an overwhelming force. God destroys David's enemies, and then, this powerful God, gently "reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters" (v. 16). David's rescue is literal; he's snatched from the jaws of death by a miracle. When this hymn of praise appears in II Samuel, it's near the end of David's life, and so it functions as a summary of all that God has done for him. He gives God the credit for all that he has and is. Look at the end of Ps. 18, beginning at v. 43, where he says "You have delivered me from the attacks of the people; you have made me the head of nations;" and later "The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior! He is the God who avenges me, who subdues nations under me, who saves me from my enemies." David acknowledges God as the author and finisher of his faith, his kingship and his life. He concludes with praise, and a promise to continue to sing of God's love and goodness. His final statement "he shows his unfailing kindness to his anointed, to David and his descendants forever," alludes to God's covenant with David in II Sam. 7. God had said he would establish his throne forever; Jesus as David's human descendant, is the one who fulfills this covenant.

Psalm 19: I love this psalm; I can see heavenly skywriters in David's words: "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands" (v. 1; an example of personification). Paul echoes this in Romans 1 when he says "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse" (Rom. 1:18-20; emphasis mine). Nature speaks of God; nature speaks for God. David continues Ps. 19 with a progressive parallel to explain this phenomenon of the "heavens declaring the glory of God." In succeeding verses, we read that everyone can understand this message, and it's visible and audible throughout the earth (wherever one is on earth, he/she can look up and see God's handiwork.) David compares the sun to a "bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion" and also to a "champion rejoicing to run his course." To ancient man, the sun was the most obvious symbol of heavenly power. The Egyptian sun god, Ra, was thought all powerful. Think of the role of the sun and rain in raising crops and you'll see why. And then Psalm 19 switches from nature's great signatures of God's work to God's words: "The law of the Lord is perfect" (v. 7). We can see what David is doing: he's comparing God's work in nature to his work in salvation. God is all powerful; he's created the heavens and they show us his design and his benevolence. But more powerful still are God's law, his precepts, his statutes and commands. We as human beings can know God through his word, and what he's revealed of his character to us through his words. For us, Jesus, the Word made flesh, reveals God in a human body. Paul tells us "[Christ] is the image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15); John said "The Word became flesh and tabernacled (dwelt, lived) among us, and we beheld his glory, full of grace and truth " (John 1:14). In Psalm 19, then, David emphasizes that wisdom, truth, a relationship with the Creator of the heavens, is possible by following his word. "The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward" (vv. 9b-11). Remember Job's great poem to wisdom (Job 28) in which he compared mankind's quest for precious metals under the earth to the desire for wisdom. And that while man has to work hard to get gold and silver in places not obvious from the surface of the earth, we also must look for wisdom in uncommon places - not in earth's philosophies and teachings, but in God's word. The final verses are worth memorizing: "Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer" (vv. 12-14). It is only by God's grace and strength that we are made righteous.

Psalm 20: A prayer for success in battle with Israel depending on God: "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God" (v. 7). This is a battle cry, a hymn to God's gracious deliverance in the past and a plea for his continued presence with them. David was an experienced military leader, but he knew all the strategy and weapons in the world were not as powerful as one man plus God.

Psalm 21: A continuation of Psalm 20, with the addition of thanksgiving and praise for God's deliverance. It concludes: "Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength; we will sing and praise your might." Can't you see David gathered after the battle with his generals and officers, celebrating their victory, and pausing to say "God did it!" He wants his men to be certain that it was not their power, but God's that gave them the victory that day and will do so again in the future.

Psalm 22: This is one of the most poignant psalms in the Bible, a picture of Jesus on the cross. And note that it is followed by Psalm 23, the shepherd's statement of faith in God. What a contrast these two are! Jesus quotes the first verse of Ps. 22 from the cross, and it is the most wrenching of his "seven words" for it epitomizes the great divide between him, the bearer of all the sins of the world, and God. From Jesus' perspective, we have a powerful description of the mental, spiritual, emotional and physical suffering he endured on the cross. It's no wonder that this is the psalm read on Good Friday. The horrors of "all my bones are out of joint," and Jesus' thirst ("my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth") put us there with him, but they are nothing to the first words expressing separation from God. But when his work of salvation is complete, he says "it is finished," and the Temple curtain is torn from top to bottom, giving us access to God through Jesus' once-for-all sacrifice. And so the last verses of the psalm look at the results of Jesus' sacrifice and pain: "the poor will eat and be satisfied; they who seek the Lord will praise him. . . All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. . . They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn - for he has done it" (vv. 26-28, 31). We are those "people yet unborn" for whom Jesus died. Paul echoes this in Phil. 2, contrasting Jesus' humility as a servant in a human body with his majesty in heaven both before and after his time on earth. He ends with "and at the name of Jesus every knee will bow" because of what he's done in redeeming us from sin and sin's power.

Psalm 23: Do you remember memorizing this as a child? It's best in the KJV:

It's no surprise that entire books have been written on this psalm. It's a perfect gem of poetry because it contains an entire world: a pasture, a stream, a shepherd, food, and comfort. All the pastoral colors and textures are there, and we're given a sense of peace and time to be in nature just for the sake of communion with God. Even in the face of death, God, as the shepherd is with us. Jesus in John 10 calls himself "the good Shepherd" whose sheep know his voice. Sheep need a shepherd; by themselves, they are unable to avoid trouble. The Psalm reminds us of the need to depend on God and God alone for our welfare.

Next week, we'll finish this book of the Psalms with Ps. 24-41.

Homework for those who want to go deeper:

Let's close in prayer.