Bible 101 - Psalms 24-41

Presented February 27, 2006 by Phyllis Gilbert

Review: Last week, we spent time in two familiar psalms, Psalm 22 and 23. The first is familiar because it's read every Good Friday as a description of Jesus' suffering on the cross. Psalm 23 is of course the psalm we memorized as children, a psalm whose images of shepherd, sheep, pastures and overflowing cups can be visualized without problems.

Psalm 24: This hymn in praise of God is a lovely extension of the images in Ps. 23: "The earth is the Lord and everything in it, the world and all who live in it, for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters." Who made the earth? Who keeps it moving? Who supplies all our needs? God and God alone. And in the final four verses, God is pictured as king, a king coming home in victory to a city whose gates open to praise his greatness. Compare this victorious entrance to Jesus' coming to Jerusalem on a donkey, people waving palm branches and calling to him as Messiah. A few days later the same people had rejected him in favor of Barabbas, crying "crucify him" when Pilate asked what he should do with Jesus. Jesus' victory was on the cross, and his victorious entrance into heaven must have caused the doors and gates to lift up in welcome. In Revelation, we're told that Jesus stands at the door and knocks, and if we open the door to him, he'll come in (Rev. 3:20). When we open our hearts and lives to him, he makes us victorious over the sins and temptations that "flesh is heir to," as Hamlet would say.

Psalm 25 and 27: Many familiar verses fill these psalms. Both speak of trust in God and God alone. David asks God for guidance: "Show me your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths; guide me in your truth, and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long" (25:4-5). This theme of God's guidance continues: "Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. He guides the humble in what is right, and teaches them his way" (25:8-9). If we depend on God, we are depending on the one who created us and the world we live in - and David says, this Creator God responds to our trust. Psalm 27 begins: "The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid?" Once again David uses military imagery to show us a person who needs protection, and who, in the face of an enemy's threat, puts his trust in God. I love v. 8: "My heart says of you, 'Seek his face!' Your face, Lord, will I seek." Isn't this David talking to himself, giving himself a pep talk? It's also a man who's relied on God all his life knowing with certainty that what his heart tells him is based on experience; he has trusted God in the past, he can trust him in the future, and in this present danger. He continues: "Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me" (v. 10). Human beings - even our family - may let us down, but God never will. The writer of Hebrews tells us "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever" (Heb. 13:8). He also tells us that Jesus is the "author and finisher of our faith" (Heb. 12:2) meaning that what Jesus gives us faith to believe, sustains our faith and completes it. We can depend on God. Ps. 27:11 is interesting: "Teach me your way, O Lord; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors." In a sense, David is asking God to keep his head on God's plan and not to take matters into his own hands. It would be tempting to cut corners or do something dishonest; recall that David had opportunities to kill Saul. But David waited for God to put him on the throne. He concludes with "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." The hardest thing for Christians to do is to wait, but when we wait for God's perfect timing, our lives are rewarding for all the right reasons.

Psalm 26: sandwiched between Ps. 25 and 27 is a proclamation of David's faith. Familiar characters are here: "deceitful men" "hypocrites," "evildoers," "bloodthirsty men," "those whose hands are full of bribes." David is challenged and criticized by these men, but he stands fast because he trusts God to lead him and keep him in the truth.

Psalm 27: The chiastic structure of Psalm 27 may be seen in the arrangement below. Note that David begins and ends the psalm with a statement of faith in God as his "stronghold." His final "wait for the Lord" is made even more emphatic by repetition and the addition of "be strong and take heart." A person who has no faith in God as deliverer, or in keeping with v. 1, his savior, would not say "wait for the Lord."

In the middle of the psalm, the hinge at which both parts meet, we hear David's petition: "Hear my voice when I call, O Lord," and the echo of his own heart, "Seek his face." The antithetical parallel to this call for help is in G': "Do not hide your face from me. . ." another way of saying "Hear and answer me."

On either side of the hinge we have the initial and final statements of faith, and the kinds of situations in which David - or any of us - would call on God for help: "when evil men advance against me to devour my flesh" or David's common situation "though an army besiege me, my heart will not fail." David is certain that God is not only his refuge, but that God will point out a literal refuge to him and take him to it.

We also read wisdom here: "One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple" mirrored by "Teach me your way O Lord." At the heart of David is God and a desire to please God, and so that desire to be with him and to meditate on his Word, to be led by his Word and to be secure in God's house is reiterated in this psalm. He makes this even stronger by the "Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me." Here he echoes Moses' thought in Ps. 90: "Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations," Moses camping out in the desert for 40 years making this statement all the more poignant. David, frequently sleeping rough while on the run from Saul, and later, as king with his troops, could though hunted like an animal or in exile from home, call God his refuge, fortress, stronghold, his only permanent home.

This psalm's structure is an elaborate parallel which we can see in a diagram form. But it also contains elements of many other psalms of David: petition, praise, statements of faith and the metaphors of refuge that have become familiar to us.

Psalm 27
Of David

Psalm 28: This is a prayer, and like Ps. 26, it names the wicked and their deeds. David does not share their lot; he trusts in God, calling on "O Lord, my Rock" as the only one to whom he appeals for help. He ends this psalm with a hymn of praise and thanks for God's answers to his prayer. He adds a plea that God continue as the strength of the king and of the people. We hear echoes of Moses who said to God, "You have been telling me 'lead these people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me." And God tells Moses, "My Presence will go with you," and Moses wanting to be extra sure, says "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send me up from here" (Ex. 34). Moses wanted God with him and the people as the moved from Mt Sinai to Canaan, a Shepherd for the people; David requests: "Be their shepherd and carry them forever." (Ps. 28:9b).

Psalm 29: David's hymn of praise to God the creator is rich in imagery and parallels to emphasize just how great God is. Here's an example: "The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon" (vv. 3-5). In this series, "the voice of the Lord" is described in an accumulation of adjectives: thundering, powerful, majestic, piercing. David's voice as king is powerful, but it's nothing to God's. He picks up this theme again in v. 7, "the voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning. The voice of the Lord shakes the desert. . . The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. . ." And what is our response? "Glory to God" is all we can cry, overcome as we are with who he is and who we are.

Psalm 30: The superscription on this one has a curious note: "for the dedication of the Temple." This is David the prophet speaking, since he was not permitted to build the Temple; his son Solomon was the builder. From its "out of the depths" deliverance, it appears that it would have been especially meaningful to the exiles who returned to Jerusalem from Babylon and rebuilt the Temple. For the, "Lord, you brought me up from the grave" would be a metaphor for the physical separation of the exile from his/her home, and especially from the Temple. The contrast of "you turn my waiting into dancing" and "you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy" shows the salvation of God brings praise that's heartfelt.

Psalm 31: You may recognize words of Jesus from the cross in v. 5: "Into your hands I commit my spirit" which bystanders heard Jesus say at the end of his ordeal (Luke 23:46). It was evidence that Jesus was in control and gave up his spirit when his work of redemption was complete. Ps. 31 picks up themes of deliverance and trust that we've seen in Ps. 17, 18, 26, 28 among many others. And as many before have done, it ends with a hymn of praise to God , and a note of confidence: "Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord."

Psalm 32: This is a psalm which depicts a person whose life is physically, spiritually and emotionally painful because of unconfessed sin. And then, by contrast, he repents, and his life is filled with health and joy again. One of the most appealing images is found in v. 7, after the psalmist has found forgiveness with God: "You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance." Imagine feeling songs, music, melody in the air all around, sound that's so tangible it provides a wall of protection. What a glorious image it is! In Zephaniah, we find a similar image: "The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing" (Zeph. 3:17). The prophet's picture of God, the mighty warrior who lifts his people out of trouble when they call to him; but more, we see God as a parent giddy with pleasure over a child: smiling, reassuring, and humming a song to say "it's OK." If you need a good reason to observe the discipline of Lent in making a daily inventory of your life and repenting of all that's out of line with God's will, Psalm 32 is absolute proof that God will forgive and that the rewards of living in fellowship with him are great.

Psalm 33: Here's a liturgy of praise we can imagine a choir and congregation singing enthusiastically. It's filled with reasons to praise. For example, "For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does" (v. 4), or "The eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love" (v. 18). God is the creator, the one who supplies all we need, and in whom we can trust without reservation.

Psalm 34: Another psalm which praises God - "I will extol [or bless] the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. My soul will boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together" (vv. 1-3). There is a theology which suggests that gratitude is our best expression of faith and trust. An "attitude of gratitude" emphasizes thanking or praising God in all things, as Paul tells us in Phil. 4:4: "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" We are not to be thankful for the bad things or setbacks in our lives, but to be thankful in them. By thanking God and praising him even in the direst circumstances, we make know to him and to others that we trust him no matter what. David shows how often in distress he could break into thanks; Paul and Silas were able to sing in prison (Acts 16:25), and Paul could say in Phil. 4:11b, 13: "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. . . I can do everything through him who gives me strength." Paul echoes another idea from this psalm "My soul will boast in the Lord" (v. 2) when he writes "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world" (Gal. 6:14). In Ps. 34, David gives us many reasons to be glad in the Lord - and the psalm was undoubtedly one Paul and the other apostles knew and put to use.

Psalm 35: David is under attack and appeals to God as a warrior to defend him and destroy his enemies. Again we see military images: "Take up shield and buckler; arise and come to my aid. Brandish spear and javelin against those who pursue me" (v. 2-3). David goes back and forth between rejoicing in his faith that God will rescue him, and his despair that he's in a situation like this one. For example, we read "Do not be far from me, O Lord" in v. 22 and a few verses later, he's praising God and can end the psalm with "My tongue will speak of your righteousness and of your praises all day long." David like Peter is so human! That his emotions go up and down makes him real to us.

Psalm 36: "An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes," David begins. An oracle is a generally a revelation from God, a term associated with prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah. So perhaps David is saying "God's given me an insight on why some people behave as they do," and it is that "they do not fear (respect, have awe for) God." This is true today; don't we hear blasphemy against God, or read opinions showing arrogance toward God in news, movies and music? Many of the precepts of this psalm are echoed in Proverbs.

Psalm 37: Another wisdom psalm, it is an acrostic or alphabetic psalm with two verses devoted to each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Basically, the theme is in the first four verses: don't worry about the evil person because he will not always be around. Instead, trust in God and follow his will. It's a lovely psalm with several verses to plant in one's life and live by: "Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." (This is the reason we are not to "fret because of evil men." A much more satisfying life is lived for God). "Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this. He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. . ." (vv. 3-7). Like Psalm 18, this psalm summarizes David's faith in God, reiterating his trust and the reasons for it. The psalm shows he was truly a "man after God's own heart."

Psalm 38: What a litany of suffering is in this psalm! A person whose health is failing, whose hope is failing, who grieves over his sin is pictured for us. Perhaps this was David before he confessed his sin with Bathsheba (Ps. 51). He is truly penitent here, and it is a psalm to remember during Lent. Note that even in his despair he can say "I wait for you, O Lord; you will answer, O Lord my God" (v. 15). Some trust remains - enough that he can wait for God.

Psalm 39: This is a psalm that I need to memorize and repeat daily - especially the first verse: "I said 'I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth. . . " James must have been thinking about this psalm when he wrote "My brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry" (1:19) and "the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire. . . no man can tame the tongue. . . With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father and with it we curse men who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be" (3:5-6, 8-10). Can we assume that David has not "tamed his tongue" and it's gotten him into trouble? I can relate to that! At the end, David prays for God's relief and forgiveness.

Psalm 40: Here's a psalm whose imagery contrasts a desperate situation "out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire" with God's rescue: "he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God" (vv. 2-3). Can you think of anything more wonderful than to be out of a "slimy pit"? No wonder the one rescued has a new song to sing. The psalm continues with additional wisdom and praise, pleas for help, and a pledge: "I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart" (v. 8). If we want to do God's will, we must read, mark and inwardly digest his words. The Bible reveals God; it is a Christian's guidebook. At the end, we see someone who feels small compared to God: "I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay." We may feel just like that: "Poor and needy," but we can also trust that God thinks of us and responds to us.

Psalm 41: As the final psalm in Book I, it begins with a beatitude similar to those we find in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the Lord delivers him in times of trouble" and the psalmist continues to describe God's deliverance. And at the end, we read a doxology typical of the praise passage that ends each of the five books; in fact, the 5th book ends with an entire psalm of praise. In between, David prays for protection and help, sure that God will answer, asserting: "you, O Lord, have mercy on me; raise me up that I may repay them."

Reflections on Book 1 of the Psalms: Praise, prayer, confession, happiness and gloom, victory and defeat are to be found in these first 41 psalms. A few thoughts. David is in trouble much of the time from the sound of these psalms. Many were written in times of stress such as his flights from Saul, his running from Absalom, and before battles with enemy nations. David had little peace in his life, judging from the psalms we've read. And yet, he can and does praise God in such eloquent poetry that we're left with admiration for a man who can be in danger and yet proclaim his love of and trust in God. In that way, David is a model for us. One commentary I read on Psalm 23 was entitled "Sheep on the Run," and the writer's theme was that when we get into trouble, instead of calling on God, we run from him. David ran to God rather than away from him. He felt the joy of his faith; he was said to have danced when the Ark was safely delivered to Jerusalem. He also felt the despair of one who was an object of criticism, undercutting, gossip and even outright rebellion. Through it all, he could say "Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him. . . For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. . . the earth is full of his unfailing love." (Ps. 31:1,4,5).

Next week: We begin Luke, the third of the synoptic Gospels, written by a Gentile writer who wrote for a specific person named Theophilus.

Homework for those who want to go deeper:

Let's close in prayer.