Bible 101 - Psalms 42-50

Presented October 16, 2006 by Phyllis Gilbert

Psalms, Book II

Review: when we last visited the Psalms, we found just how accurate it is to describe them as the "hymn book of Israel" and "an anthology of human emotion." All 150 Psalms are songs, prayers or both - many meant to be sung or said publicly, and many others meant for personal communication with God. We discovered that this book was divided into five smaller books, each ending with a hymn of praise or doxology. Book II begins with Psalm 42 and ends with Psalm 72, and it, in keeping with the praise psalm which makes a transition to the next book, is a psalm extolling God as king.

Authors: About half of the Psalms were written by David, one is attributed to Moses (Ps. 90), several to Asaph (David's choir director), and others to the "sons of Korah," another choir director; in fact, the first in this grouping, Psalm 42 as well as Psalms 44-49 are of this latter authorship. A few have no superscription or other clues to tie them to a particular author (see Ps. 43). Several in Book II bear David's clear style and signature, and one in particular, Psalm 51, reveals a broken, repentant David. It is the Psalm most often read on Ash Wednesday and through Lent because of its penitential nature. Many other psalms in this second book are by David and we can trace various events in his life by them.

Subjects: Within this collection (Ps. 42-72), the topics reflect human joy, suffering, anger and humility. Psalm 43 is typical: it begins as a prayer for help, and then switches to praising God as a stronghold, goes back to mourning over supposed rejection, changes once again to asking God for help, and ends with a pledge to praise God. It also contains a wonderful and brief pep talk: "Why are you so downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God." We all need such means of regaining our faith and confidence; Psalm 54 is similar in subject and tone. Psalm 42, it is conjectured, may have been part of Psalm 43 in earlier Psalters since they contain many of the same phrases. Psalm 51, as already discussed, is a psalm of repentance. Several are psalms of anxious searching for God. We can relate some of these to David's times of distress, especially when he was on the run from Saul (Psalm 52 is a good example). Psalm 66 is a hymn of praise; it's labeled "for the director of music. A song," so we can be certain it was meant for a congregation to lift up its voices together in praise of God.

Poetic devices: Whenever we study the Psalms, it's helpful to keep in mind the ways poets express themselves. Whereas a narrative tells a story (Acts 27 is a narrative of the shipwreck Paul and 275 other people suffered on the way to Rome), a genealogy lists the "begats" of the Bible (chapters 1-9 of I Chronicles form an extended genealogy; Ruth 4:18-22 records David's ancestry beginning with Judah's son Perez; Matthew 1 and Luke 3 are lists of Jesus' human ancestors); a Bible history may be more concerned with tying events in Judah, for example, to what occurred during the same time period in Israel; the apocalyptic literary form of Revelation is highly symbolic and is a vision of events still to come - end of the world events. Each literary genre has its own features. In the Psalms, the major compendium of poetry in the Bible, we encounter several figures of speech: metaphors, similes, personification, metonymy and synecdoche, among others. In Hebrew poetry, parallels are frequently used and they can be synonymous, progressive or contrasting in nature. In addition, Hebrew poets liked acrostics, of which Psalm 119 is the best example.

Examples of poetic devices, Psalm 42: Psalm 42 begins with a simile: "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God." The human heart and soul, the innermost being, needs God to survive. The psalmist compares that thirst for God with the deep thirst of a deer searching for water in a semi-desert landscape. Verse 2 then continues the parallel begun in v. 1: "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?" This verse extends the initial image, intensifying the meaning: I "pant" for God and I "thirst" for God to the extent that I'm ready to go anywhere to find that fountain - God himself whose presence and love will slake my thirst. Verse 3 answers why this search: "My tears have been my food day and night while men say to me all day long 'where is your God?'" The speaker is in trouble, crying out to God, and enemies are taunting him, saying God is no help at all. "My tears" as food present a metaphor for complete sorrow. Then the soul is personified again, "Why so downcast O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?" When the psalmist speaks to his soul, he's obviously talking to himself. But he's also saying "it's the soul that needs help; it's the part that longs most deeply for God." Mt. Hermon is mentioned in v. 6, and as the highest point in Israel, a snow-covered peak, it's the source of the Jordan River. The Jordan is also mentioned, the fresh water stream that flows through Israel. Water is clearly the central metaphor of this psalm - and why? A human being can live without food for many days, but without water for a very short time. By comparison, when the soul is thirsty (deprived of the water that keeps it alive), only God and God's reassuring presence will rescue us from death. In v. 9, "I say to God, my Rock," is an example of a metaphor, comparing God to something stable, solid, hard, a secure foundation on which to build. One other poetic device used in Psalm 42 is repetition: notice that v. 3 and v. 11 repeat "Why are you so downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God." That emphasis reveals that in the midst of a drought, a desperate search for the healing water only God can give a human soul, there is hope. The prayer of the psalm is for God to hear and answer, rescue and help, and the speaker is confident God will do so.

Psalm 43: This psalm continues the same thoughts and repeats Ps. 42:3 and 42:11 in 43:5, the ending refrain of hope and confidence.

Psalm 44: Several psalms contain mini histories of Israel, and while this does not contain a history, it does make use of a reference to the past: "We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us what you did in their days" (v. 1). This prayer for protection appeals to what God has done for the nation in the past - defeating enemies, causing cities to fall, delivering his people in order for the Promised Land to be theirs. Joshua led Israel's conquering armies, fighting in God's name, to drive out the enemies then in Canaan, making the land ready for Israel's occupation. The entire first half of the Psalm recites God's work on his people's behalf. And then at v. 9, it turns to "But now you have rejected and humbled us; you no longer go out with our armies." Israel and/or Judah have sinned; God has allowed them to suffer (as during the days of the Judges) for their disobedience to him by substituting other gods for the one true God who is their deliverer. The psalm ends with a plea for help; a remnant at least has remained faithful, and is asking for God's help.

Psalm 45: The superscription calls this a wedding song, and all 17 verses praise the king and his bride on their wedding day. He is a warrior king; he is a king who serves God ("God, your God has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy," v. 7). The king has many wives, and this new bride is from another nation; she is advised to "forget your people and your father's house" and look forward to the sons she'll have that will make her rejoice in her position as this king's wife. Since we know Solomon married a number of foreign women to form political alliances, and altogether had 700 wives, this could easily have been meant to celebrate one of his many weddings. In that regard, it is a ceremonial psalm rather like the speeches written to praise someone when inducted into a hall of fame. In the NT, the church is the bride of Christ. In Rev. 19:7 we read of the wedding of the Lamb, celebrated by the "wedding supper of the Lamb" that future time when the church will be joined to Christ forever to rule and reign with him.

Psalm 46: this is a psalm of comfort for anyone worried or concerned: "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in time of trouble" And it ends with "Be still and know that I am God." All through this psalm, the metaphor of God as a refuge, a hiding place, a secure fort against the world and all it throws at us is repeated. God's strength is shown in such phrases as "he lifts his voice and the earth melts" and "He makes wars to cease. . . he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire." God is greater than any nation, nation's army, or manmade weapons. God made the earth; he is the Lord Almighty. And he is our refuge.

Psalm 47: A praise hymn, it begins "Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy," and the psalm continues with reasons to clap and shout.

Psalm 48: Another psalm of praise, listing in detail God's greatness and majesty, and after all the great and wonderful things attributed to God, we're told "For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide, even to the end." For the nation Israel, God had made a promise to be their God and they would be his people to the end of time. And for us as individuals, that is true. Paul says, "the promise and the gifts are irrevocable." God doesn't go back on his word.

Psalm 49: this Psalm reminds us a bit of Job in that two kinds of people are compared: the evil or wicked and the God-fearing, who are considered wise. This, too, is inscribed as a song directed to the choir director, so we can assume that it was for public use. Perhaps Israel needed to be reminded that even though their neighbors appeared to be healthy and wealthy in spite of their sin, it was a mistake (foolish) to see them as wise. In the end, God will punish them, and will protect and care for those who obey him. Notice that for the wicked, "their tombs will remain their houses forever" a wonderful metonomy that says they can expect no other reward. "This is the fate of those who trust in themselves," the Psalmist writes. "But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself" (v. 15). Here's the life ever after with God that the Sadducees rejected (because they did not believe in the resurrection), but the Pharisees accepted. And of course, for us as Christians, we have Jesus' word that "I go to prepare a place for you" (John 14).

Psalm 50: This psalm takes up the idea of consequences of disobedience, since God is judge of the world. Here, a summons from God the judge is issued in the first verse, and a scene that reminds us of Ex. 19 when God came to deliver the law is created: fire, a storm, and great noise ("he will not be silent"). It's worth keeping in mind that God created us to be in fellowship with him. But when man disobeyed God, he broke that fellowship. God gave human beings choice: we can choose to obey or disobey; Adam and Eve disobeyed. God, the infinitely holy creator, pure and undefiled, cannot have fellowship with sinners; but because God wanted to restore us to a relationship with himself, he gave the law (a standard against which his people could measure themselves and thereby recognize their sins) and system of offerings (the way to achieve forgiveness and reconciliation) to his people. Then Christ fulfilled the law and became the single offering needed to atone for sin.

We have a choice: we can believe in and accept Christ's offering on our behalf and be restored to fellowship with God, or we choose not to accept. There are consequences for either choice: if we accept God's gift of life, we have a relationship with our creator and we will one day live with him; if we reject that gift, we remain in sin and sin leads to death. Judgment follows death. Those who have accepted Christ move into his presence forever more; those who have rejected his gift move out of his presence and into punishment forever more. Those are the consequences. God has the right to judge us, and that is what he is expressing in Psalm 50. His primary right comes from his place as creator: "The Mighty One, God, the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets. From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth. Our God comes, and will not be silent. . ." (vv. 1-3a). He is the one who makes the sun rise and set; nature is in his hand. And so are we: "Gather to me my consecrated ones who made a covenant with me by sacrifice." (v. 5) Israel was God's chosen nation; he made a covenant with them when he called Abraham as the patriarch of that nation, and the covenant passed down through Isaac, Jacob and Jacob's 12 sons, to the nation itself when the law was given on Mt. Sinai. That covenant was ratified by a sacrifice. God's new covenant with mankind is made through Jesus' sacrifice. God says he does not rebuke Israel for following the law and offering sacrifices (though he has no need of such animal gifts). But what God wants is a heart that is committed, a heart of thanksgiving, and "fulfill[ment] of vows." Israel has been worshiping God and offering sacrifices, but in a ritual form. God wants their hearts to be in this worship.

Then God condemns the wicked, those who repeat the law, but whose actions don't match their words. God sees and hears; he will "rebuke you and accuse you to your face," he vows. (v. 21b)

The psalm ends by saying "He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God." Who saves us? God. What does he want from us? A surrender of all we are to him: hearts, mouths, ears, eyes, hands - all given to God for his service.

Next week: We'll begin with Psalm 51, the Psalm David wrote following his sin with Bathsheba.

Homework for those who want to go deeper:

Let's close in prayer.