What the Old Testament Means to Us. . . No.1

WE BEGIN IN PSALMS

In this series on what the Old Testament means to us as Christians our main concern will be its spiritual value. Problems such as dates, authorship, form criticism, historical analysis all have their place and are dealt with in commentaries. Our aim in this study is to better appreciate what the Old Testament meant to Jesus, the apostles, and the early church, who knew of no “Old Testament,” for to them it was “the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise unto salvation” (2 Tim. 3:15). Or they were “the things written before for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Rom. 15:4).

Wisdom, courage, hope, salvation. These pregnant terms express what the old Scriptures meant to the early believers, and they are the stuff for the living of these days. This series assumes that they should mean as much or more to us. It is tragic that so many of us have followed a hermeneutics that has left us indisposed to what our Lord always referred to as “the Holy Scriptures” and who spoke of them in such trenchant terms as “the Scripture cannot be broken” (Jn. 10:35). Yet we often denigrate such writings with such a putdown as “But that’s in the Old Testament.”

The Old Testament should be precious to us if for no other reason because it was the Bible of our Lord. He heard it quoted in the family circle and read in the synagogue. He studied it in the synagogue school and memorized extended portions of it. He announced himself as Messiah to his home congregation by reading from the scroll of Isaiah. He taught his disciples again and again that his mission was “that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.” The Scriptures were constantly upon his lips—when he was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, when he was crucified, when he was raised from the dead. He followed the rabbis of his day by dividing Scripture into “the law, the prophets, and the psalms,” but unlike the rabbis he saw in those Scriptures things concerning himself. It is evident that he saw his passion and resurrection as foretold in these writings (Lk. 24:45-46).

We begin our series with installments on the Psalms, for this is the place to start in realizing the spiritual value of the Old Testament. The Psalms are the heart of the Old Testament. In reading them one soon sees that, like the Methodists on the American frontier, Israel sang their religion. So, the psalter, as it can be called, is first of all a hymnal. It is also a prayer book. Ps. 72:20 refers to them as “the prayers of David the son of Jesse.”

And yet the Psalms are more than hymns and prayers. They are history in that they often refer to Israel’s historic past. They are prophetic in that several psalms point to the coming of the Messiah. They are rich in theology in that they delve into such profound subjects as the nature of God and man, sin and salvation, covenant love, eternal life.

We will only notice in passing some things that are interesting but not crucial, such as the fact that David is credited with writing less than half of the 150 psalms, 73 in all according to the editors’ note to each psalm. Ps. 72:20 presents a slight problem in that it states that the prayers of David are ended at that point, but some psalms prior to that were not by David and some that followed were. This is explained in part by the fact that the psalms were written over a period of some eight hundred years and were gathered and edited at different times. There are numerous psalmists beside David. At least eleven psalms are attributed to Asaph. One is’ attributed to Moses. Many are anonymous. Still we can refer to David saying such and such in the Psalms when it may not have been David, for he was the principal author. Jesus and the apostles seem to have done this.

Who wrote them is not as important as that they were written and that they came to be regarded as holy Scripture by God’s people in times of crisis. The psalter has a character all its own among Old Testament writings, and it will serve our purpose to list some of its unique features.

1. In the Psalms men are speaking to God instead of God speaking to men.

This means that the Psalms are not a revelation of God in the same way most of the rest of the Bible is. While we learn much about God and his will for us, it comes not from what God says but what men say in their struggle to know God and enjoy his fellowship. Take Ps. 19:14 for example, which C. S. Lewis esteems as the greatest lines in the history of literature:

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

Be acceptable in Your sight,

O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

This Scripture is as compelling as if it were from the mouth of God himself, but it is a prayer of David, a sinful man. It teaches us the nature of true religion: a heart and tongue attuned to God.

Another sublime instance of this is Ps. 139:23-24:

Search me, a God, and know my heart;

Try me, and know my anxieties;

And see if there is any wicked way in me,

And lead me in the way everlasting.

David realizes that God already searches his heart and knows all about him, and yet he pleads for God’s scrutiny. It is a prayer for mercy and forgiveness. It is a plea for intimate fellowship with God. It teaches us that we cannot harbor wickedness and be acceptable to God. And yet this great lesson comes not from the mouth of God as much as from the longing heart of man.

2. The Psalms hold out hope for eternal life.

While such hope is generally absent or at least ambiguous in the Old Testament, the psalmists believed that they would “dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” One can hardly find a more encouraging passage anywhere in Scripture than Ps. 73:23-24. After confessing how foolish and ignorant he once was, living on the level of a brute beast, Asaph says:

Nevertheless I am continually with You;

You hold me by my right hand.

You will guide me with Your counsel,

And afterward receive me to glory.

One can hardly be more definite about going to heaven than that, but David in Ps. 16: 10 expresses equal certainty:

For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,

Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.

The apostle Peter quotes these lines on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, contending that in this passage David was not talking about himself but the Christ who was to come after him. But this passage shows that David was referring both to himself and to “the Holy One,” for he goes on to say, “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” This psalm indicates the joyous faith of the Old Testament believers, using such language as, “My heart is glad, and my glory rejoices. My flesh also will rest in hope.”

If we learn nothing else from our study of the Old Testament, we now know that a joyous hope of life beyond this world is not restricted to the Christians of the New Testament.

3. The Psalms declare that God is worthy of praise and He is to be praised lavishly.

More than anywhere else in Scripture God is exalted not only as praiseworthy but One who is to be praised extravagantly. The Psalms are full of praise to God, not only from his chosen people but from all human kind, from all animals, from all creation, from all of nature, things animate and inanimate. Praising God goes on and on, psalm after psalm, as if there is no way to praise Him enough. The birds of the air and the fish of the sea are called on to praise God, as are all the hosts of heaven. Even the mountains clap their hands with joy because of His mighty works. But it is His own covenant people who are to praise God most of all. Ps. 103:1-2 is an outstanding example:

Bless the Lord, O my soul;

And all that is within me, bless His holy name!

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

And forget not all His benefits.

One psalmist supposes that even the dead will rise to praise God (88:10), while another ventures that the wrath of man praises God (76:10). Another opines that the dust (of the grave?) will praise God (30:9), while still another calls upon the poor and the needy to praise Him (74:21). God is praised in song, in word, in the dance, and with instruments of music. He is praised for His mighty works, for His lovingkindness, and for being the God of Israel. David praises Him “because I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (139:14) and “because Your lovingkindness is better than life” (63:3).

While God appears to demand praise from His people, it is an indirect kind of demand, just as a great painting demands praise. Once a person realizes even a semblance of the majesty and glory of God he or she cannot help but praise Him. It is more out of spontaneity than out of duty.

This is what the Psalms can mean to us in terms of praising God. As we linger with the psalmists and become intoxicated with both their love and awe of God, we too will praise Him as if it were the natural thing to do. It is interesting how they speak to themselves in their call for praise —“Praise the Lord, O my soul”—as if it is the one thing they cannot help but do, God being who He is. It can be the same way with us.

4. The Psalms tell us what God wants above all else and what is the essence of religion—a humble and contrite heart.

Even though most of the psalms were composed during the time of temple worship and animal sacrifices, the psalmists make it clear that God really desires “clean hands and a pure heart” (24:4). Now and again the question is raised as to what one must do to be saved, or as Ps. 15:1 puts it, “Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle?” Not once is there a reference to the sacrifice of animals which was so much a part of the Jewish system. The answer is centered in doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly before God as it is in the prophets. A key reference is Ps. 51 where David is penitent of the sins committed against another man’s wife, and where he says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.” He also says some remarkable things about what God expects of His people:

O Lord, open my lips

And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.

For you do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;

You do not delight in burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,

A broken and a contrite heart—

These, O God, you will not despise.

In the same psalm David allows that God will accept the likes of burnt offerings, but only in reference to a heart attuned to God. This is a crucial lesson to learn about the nature of true religion, one that we are slow to learn even as Christians with all the light we have that they didn’t have. As the poet Robert Bums put it:

In all the pomp of method and of art,

When men display to congregation’s wide

Devotion’s every grace, except the heart.

5. The Psalms are full of the grace of God.

They arc the book of Romans of the Old Testament. God is a forgiving God who looks with mercy upon sinful man. Justification is by faith, not of works. Ps. 103 lines all this up: God forgives all our iniquities, heals all our diseases, redeems us from destruction, crowns us with lovingkindness and tender mercies. It also says, “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.” Moreover, He is a God who does not deal with us as our sins deserve. Some passages exude God’s grace, such as Ps. 32:1-2: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity.” Then there is 37:5:

I acknowledged my sin to You,

And my iniquity I have not hidden.

I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”

And You forgave the iniquity of my sin.

The sons of Korah, who are given credit for Ps. 84, go so far as to describe God as one who not only gives grace and glory, but also “No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.”

However we explain it in terms of Christian theology, there is no question but what the Old Testament saints were justified by grace through faith apart from works of the law. No one has ever been saved any other way. It is the same God and He has always saved the same way—through His grace and mercy.

6. The Psalms are certain that God will in the end triumph overall His enemies and that His purposes will be realized.

Ps. 29 pictures God sitting as King forever and blessing His people with peace. Ps. 24 makes it clear that “the earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof.” Ps. 19 depicts God as in complete control over nature and the universe. He has even pitched a tent for the sun. Ps. 62 describes him as our refuge, one who can be trusted at all times and in every crisis. Ps. 63 shows there is never a cause for worry, for His hand always upholds us. The psalm also says:

I meditate on You in the night watches.

Because you have been my help,

Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.

7. The Psalms point to the coming of the Messiah.

A number of poems known as “royal psalms,” which had to do with the coronation of Israel’s king also came to have Messianic import. They are interpreted as such by New Testament writers and are applied to Christ, especially Ps. 2, 72, and 110. Ps. 110 (“Sit at My right hand till I make Your enemies Your footstool”) is the most often quoted in the New Testament, including a quotation by Christ himself. While Ps. 45 is a wedding song, it is quoted by the writer of Hebrews and applied to Christ. Our Lord quoted the Psalms from childhood until his agony on the Cross, applying their Messianic import to himself, such as Ps. 22: “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me.” Two other New Testament writers quote other lines from that psalm and apply them to Christ.

8. The extensive use of instrumental music in the Psalms in praising God is impressive.

Those of us in Churches of Christ who sing only acappella and never use instrumental music cannot help but be impressed by the emphasis given to instruments in the Psalms. Virtually every instrument known to the ancient world is used in the praise of God. An entire orchestra of instruments is listed in Ps. 150. That they sang along with the playing of instruments is apparent from 149:4: “Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and the harp.”

The argument we have always made that instruments were authorized in the Old Testament but not the New hardly applies to the Psalms, for it is not a matter of the instruments being “authorized” or legislated. They were used out of the spontaneous devotion of the people. They praised God in every way available to them, which would of course include instruments of music. We need to question a hermeneutics that keeps saying, “But that’s in the Old Testament.” We should at least be able to understand how our Christian friends who choose to use instruments consider it odd that we elect to make use of all the spiritual values in the Psalms except “Praise Him with stringed instruments” (Ps. 150:4).—the Editor