Bible 101 - Psalms 4-16

Presented February 13, 2006 by Phyllis Gilbert

Review: In considering the history of the function of the Psalms in worship and prayer - from the Jews of the Temple to the Jews of the early church, by the monks in their earliest orders until the present, in modern worship of Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican and all manner of protestant denominations - we are struck with their universal appeal. Probably no other part of scripture is embraced by so many different expressions of belief in God. For example, the Jews, whether Orthodox, Conservative or Reform, reject all of the New Testament and debate with Christian scholars over the interpretation of Isaiah and other prophetic books. Christians say Isa. 53 speaks of Christ Jesus; the Jews deny this. And within Christian circles, you'll find as many interpretations of eschatology - end times prophecy which includes Revelation - as you'll find denominations. But on the Psalms, there's a kind of unity which demands our attention. Perhaps it's because the Psalms speak to every human experience and emotion. Perhaps it's because poetry and poetic language reach into the soul as music does, expressing the inexpressible. Perhaps it's because we can reach into the Psalms and read a chapter without having to read the one before or after to understand it or any context other than our own lives. Whatever the reasons, our study of the Psalms should reveal our own interests in them and deepen our appreciation of them.

Psalms 1 and 2: serve as an introduction to the entire 150 psalms. They describe (1) what it means to be righteous before God and (2) who God is. The theme of God's majesty and dominion, holiness and sovereignty pervade the book. It is God whom we worship and adore; it is God who is worthy of our praise; it is God on whom we are dependent.

Psalm 3: This is the first psalm with an identified author: David wrote this when on the run from Absalom. If we remember David's family life, we recall that his adultery with Bathsheba was a turning point for him and his family. God forgave him and blessed his marriage to Bathsheba by giving them Solomon. However, David still had to suffer the consequences of his sin, one of which was, as Nathan the prophet told him, "the sword will never depart from your house." Two of his sons rebelled, trying to usurp the throne. His oldest son raped his half-sister Tamar and was killed by her brother Absalom. And it is Absalom, clearly favored by David, who sharked up an army and advisors to invade Jerusalem after proclaiming himself king (II Samuel 15-17). David could easily have put down the rebellion; he had a core of "mighty men" who were loyal and who would fight to the death to defend their king. But instead of staying to fight, David fled the city. While on the run, he's given aid and comfort by many of his people; they remember all he'd done for the nation. However, Psalm 3 reflects his situation ("O Lord, how many are my foes"), and his faith in God's deliverance ("you are a shield around me, O Lord; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.") He is grateful for the loyal subjects who feed and shelter him, but it is to God David gives credit for preserving his life and blessing him. In unequivocal language, he calls on God to "strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked." Absalom may be his son, but David is God's anointed and God has not chosen to "fire" David and replace him. The last verse of the psalm sums up David's faith: ""From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be upon your people."

Psalms 4 through 7: These four psalms have a similar tone and theme: each is a lament and a prayer. Psalm 5 is of interest for its structure, and we'll look at it in detail. Psalm 4 in summary is a cry for help and a plea to his enemies to look from their false gods to God alone. The situation is unclear; a national crisis of some kind provoked criticism of David. It might have been his handling of Absalom's rebellion; we have no clear indication of the problem. Nevertheless, at the end we have an echo of Ps. 3:5 when David writes: "I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." (4:8).

Psalm 5: This prayer was apparently meant for congregational worship (the superscription says "for the director of music"). Much like the hymns we sing which reflect the pain or joy of a single writer, this psalm may have come from David's own experience, but that experience apparently is a universal one, common enough that he shares his prayer with the people.

Prayer structure: The NIV Study Bible offers this outline of elements contained in many of the prayers found in the Psalms:

1. Address to God
2. Initial appeal
3. Description of distress
4. Complaint against God
5. Petition
6. Motivation for God to hear
7. Accusation against adversary
8. Call for judicial redress
9. Claims of innocence
10. Confessions of sin
11. Professions of trust
12. Vows to praise for deliverance
13. Calls to praise
14. Motivations for praise

Let's see how this applies of Psalm 5: (1) Address to God: "Give ear to my words, O Lord." (v.1) David wastes no time calling on anyone whose power is weak or who cannot help him; he calls on God. (2) Initial appeal for help: "Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God. . . " (v. 2) (3) Description of distress: this is only implied by "my sighing" (v. 1) and "my cry for help" (v. 2). We can assume David is not sighing or crying for help without a reason, but he does not describe it. (4) Complaint against God: absent entirely from this psalm, but present in Psalm 6 by implication when David says "I am worn out from groaning; all night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears" (v. 6); God is not answering him quickly enough. (5) Petition: "Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies - make straight your way before me" (v. 8). David needs guidance and he depends on God to show him the way. (6) Motivation for God to hear: "In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation" (v. 3). David prays in faith, believing God will answer. He prays regularly "in the morning." (7) Accusations against adversary: This is first by implication: "You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell" (v. 4) David's enemies are evil and wicked. In the next verse, he's more explicit: "The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong. You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men the Lord abhors. . .Not a word from their mouths can be trusted; their heart is filled with destruction. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongue they speak deceit." (v. 6, 9). Now we know: deceitful men are spreading lies about David perhaps to destroy him in an attempt to take his power. (8) Call for judicial redress: "Declare them guilty, O God! Let their tongues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you" (v. 10). Without hesitation, David asks God to punish them. (9) Claims of innocence: only implied in "surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous" (v. 12), not a direct claim as in "Give ear to my prayer - it does not rise from deceitful lips. . . Though you probe my heart and examine me at night, though you test me, you will find nothing; I have resolved that my mouth will not sin." (Ps. 17:1,3). (10) confessions of sin: absent from Psalm 5, but present in Ps. 7:3-5. (11) Professions of trust: "Let all who take refuge in you be glad. . . For surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield" (v. 11,12). David knows he can trust in and depend on God to deliver him. (12) Vows to praise for deliverance: "But I, by your great mercy, will come into your house; in reverence will I bow down toward your holy temple" (v. 7). (13) Calls to praise: "let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy" (v. 11a) (14) Motivations for praise: "Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you" (v. 11b). In verse 11, David speaks first to those whom God protects and then to God, and in both cases, promises praise in response to God's protection.

Psalm 6 and 7: These, too, are prayers which show the structure outlined in Psalm 5. Themes are similar: the wicked and evil are subject to God's wrath, while the righteous are subject to God's blessings.

Psalm 8: A beautiful poem of praise, this psalm is one which Jesus quoted on what we know as Palm Sunday (Matt. 21:16). Remember that the religious leaders criticized the crowds for their enthusiastic welcome of Jesus as the Messiah, and he replied "have you never read?" and quoted "From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise." We can see David looking up to the heavens on a bright starry night and musing: "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place. . . " David is amazed not only by this evidence of God's creation, but more ""what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?" He is conscious of just how small mankind is in relation to the galaxies of the universe. Our size, a microscopic spec when considered in relation to heavenly bodies like the sun, makes God's concern for us all the more humbling. David begins and ends this Psalm with the same verse: "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth." And in between, we have a hymn of praise to God's wonderful works - work that God turned over to Adam in the garden and to his descendants as David and us. How awed we too should be by this responsibility - and how conscious of our stewardship of it.

Psalm 9: This is a hymn of praise and thanksgiving for God's deliverance; in it, David also extols God's power and his eternal reign. David may be a human king, but it is to God the King he swears allegiance. Since the superscription on this one is "for the director of music," we can assume that this, too, is a hymn for the entire nation. If David has been delivered, so have they. One detail we can infer from this psalm is just how often Israel felt threatened by neighbor nations (vv. 13-20). We know that David often fought the Philistines (Goliath was the first Philistine enemy he defeated), but he also had battles with the Jebusites to take Jerusalem, with the forces aligned with his own son, Absalom; he fought the Moabites, the Edomites, the Arameans (later the Syrians), and further north to the Euphrates River, conquered other kings and nations. The wars David fought gave his son Solomon the largest land territory Israel ever occupied, and 40 years of peace. Notice in Psalm 9 that David gives God the credit for his victories; he asks God to "strike them [the nations] with terror. . . let the nations know they are but men." (v. 20).

Psalms 10-13: These 4 psalms are in the main laments. Psalm 10 begins "Why, O Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?" Can you hear Job speaking there? It's a human trait to regard the troubles of the moment as overwhelming, and to forget all of God's blessings and help just the day before. The Israelites in the wilderness did this over and over. Remember how they sang and danced after crossing the Red Sea, and turning, watching Pharaoh and his army swallowed up by the Red Sea's waters. They celebrated this victory, and a day later, they are complaining to Moses "If only we had died in Egypt . . you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death" (Ex. 16:3). How soon we forget! And yet there are times, as we saw in Job's life, when God does seem distant. And David laments one of those times in Psalm 10. In Psalm 11, he professes his trust in God's protection and deliverance: "In the Lord I take refuge. . . The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne. . . For the Lord is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his face." Or "God's in his heaven; all's right with the world." All around us may be chaos, but because God is God and in charge, we can lie down in peace. Psalm 12 could be written by a modern believer. Listen to the first two verses: "Help, Lord, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men. Everyone lies to his neighbor; their flattering lips speak with deception." Do you ever feel that way? Just look at the headlines in the daily newspaper; watch a TV drama or comedy. You'll be singing with David, "Help Lord, for the godly are no more!" But David knows they will be "cut off" by God; in fact, in God's voice, we hear: "I will arise, says the Lord. I will protect them from those who malign them." And David assures us that "The words of the Lord are flawless." We can trust him to do what he says he will do. Psalm 13 returns to the lament of Psalm 10: "How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?" In between this and the final verse, David confesses that he is in turmoil and needs God's guidance as well as his protection from "my enemy." At the end, he's returned to trust and can say, "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" (vv. 5-6). Unlike David, we do not fight human enemies very often. We are not too concerned with the neighbors firing arrows over the fence or with Arizona or Nevada declaring war on California. However, we do have enemies like David's that are within. He asks God "How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and ever day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?" We can interpret this as David's pride or jealousy getting in the way of his relationship with God, his anger with himself over this failure to allow God to speak to him and give him peace. Don't we fight similar battles? We are asked to surrender every part of ourselves to God's control, but it's a hard thing to let go of self and our desires for things, for control, for esteem. With David we must keep saying "I trust in your unfailing love, Lord."

Psalm 14-15: These two could be called "wisdom" psalms because they teach through imagery what the unrighteous do, and then by contrast, what the righteous do. In a sense, they are together an extended picture of Psalm 1. Beginning with "the fool has said in his heart there is no God" we again see a picture of our own society. This might remind us of Gen. 6 when God decided to destroy the earth by flood because "all the thoughts of all the men were evil all the time." David is impatient with those who fail to recognize that God is in control, but he is glad that there are righteous people with whom God is present. Psalm 15 presents the antidote to the situation in Psalm 14. Here David describes people who walk before God, who honor and fear God. These are people who obey God's law: "who keep his oath even when it hurts, who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe . . ." (vv. 4-5) and he concludes "He who does these things will never be shaken." An uncompromising allegiance to God and to the law is the foundation of the righteous, David concludes.

Psalm 16: This is a beautiful song of faithful dependence on God. Here David asks God to keep him safe, and to keep safe the people who are faithful to God. He contrasts those who honor God with those who do not: "The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods" (v. 4). David is grateful that God has given him a secure place, a place that is pleasant, and God is the provider of all the good things that he enjoys. In the middle of the psalm, we see David at night, awake perhaps, concerned about the people, concerned about running the nation, and knowing God "counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken." Recall that in Deut. 17, Moses said that when the people demanded a king, the king was to abide by God's law. It was to be his only guide to ruling the people; in fact, the king was to write out a copy of the law and keep it with him day and night, never to turn from it to the right or to the left. It was to be his law book, his instruction manual and the nation's constitution. David has apparently followed this decree, and because he has, the words of the law remain in his heart and consciousness even when he's not looking at them. This is a model for us to follow: memorize God's word, and in sleepless nights, we can be comforted by God's counsel. The psalm ends with praise of God, anticipation of life with God forever.

Next week, we'll continue to look in detail at selected Psalms and to skim others. We'll finish our study of this first book of the Psalms on Feb. 27.

Homework for those who want to go deeper:

Let's close in prayer.