What the Old Testament Means to Us. . . No.2

WE LINGER IN THE PSALMS

In our first installment on what the Old Testament means to us we began with the Psalms, and in this second installment we linger still in the Psalms. We do this not only because the Psalms are a substantial part of the OT but also because they are the essence of the OT. If we catch the spirit of the Psalms we will see from that book alone that the OT means a great deal to us. It should not escape us that our Lord made more use of the Psalms than any other part of the OT. He took its prayers and prophecies and related them to himself. In teaching the people about himself and his mission he would draw upon the Psalms. It might well be that the Psalms were his favorite part of the holy Scriptures.

A word about how to study the Psalms might be in order, but I am not sure anyone can answer that for everyone else. There is more than one way to go at it. Since there is no order to the Psalms it does not matter where one starts. I once wrote a piece for this journal on “Reading the Psalms Backwards.” Or one might start in the middle and go both ways! I would suggest that one start by identifying and studying the more important psalms, for some of them are clearly more significant than others. Some psalms will mean less to us and some may appear irrelevant; and a few will have verses that will appear distasteful to the Christian.

So we are to “make a difference” in reading them, which is what we do with all the Bible. We all have our favorite passages, and there are some parts of the Bible that seem meaningless to us. Romans is clearly more important than Jude, and Isaiah than Zephaniah, and some things in Romans and Isaiah are more significant than others things in those books.

This is true of the Psalms, so it is appropriate for one to look first to “the great psalms.” There is a selection made in Leslie Weatherhead’s The Busy Man’s Old Testament of approximately half of the psalms that I have used with appreciation. I read each psalm he selected in more than one version along with a commentary. Since you might like to do likewise I will pass along Weatherhead’s list: Ps. l, 3, 4, 5, 8, 13, 15, 16, 19, 22-24, 25, 27, 29, 30, 32-34, 36 (vs. 5-10), 37 (vs. 1-11), 40 (omit 14-15), 42, 43, 45-48, 51 (vs. 1-17), 55 (vs. 1-8, 11-14, 22), 56, 57, 63 (vs. 1-8), 65-67, 71-73, 84, 89 (vs. 1-9, 14-21, 34-37, 49-52), 90, 91 (with reservations), 95, 100, 102, 103, 107, 111, 113, 115, 118, 121-125, 126, 127, 130, 131, 137 (omit 8-9), 138, 139 (omit 19-21), 142, 143, 145-148, 150.

You will notice that he omits some verses in psalms that he selects. This is because he considers them offensive to Christian ethics, such as Ps. 137:9: “Happy shall he be who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock,” and in Ps. 139:22 where David talks about hating with a perfect hatred. The worst is probably Ps. 109 which Weatherhead omits altogether. There David wants Satan to stand at his enemy’s side, his wife to be a widow, his children orphans, and he wants creditors to seize all his property. He even wants his enemy’s prayer to become sin. That is like Hamlet not wanting to avenge his father’s death by killing his murderer while he is in prayer at church, lest he go to heaven!

Weatherhead is right that this is a problem to a Christian reading the Psalms. C. S. Lewis, who is tolerant of these deprecatory psalms, may have the best answer, Conceding that they do not measure up to Christian standards, he first sees humor in them, as in Ps. 143 where David for eleven verses praises God in a strain that brings tears to the reader’s eyes, and then suddenly in verse 12 he asks God “in Thy goodness slay my enemies.” Then there is Ps. 139 where in the midst of moving prayer David says, “Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God!” But Lewis finds the worst in Ps. 23 where David says, according to Moffatt’s translation, “Thou art my host, spreading a feast for me while my enemies have to look on.” Lewis finds this sentiment petty in an otherwise sublime psalm.

Lewis admits that these cursings are indeed devilish and that they were against their own law which said “If thine enemy hunger, give him bread, etc.” (The New Testament says this but it is a quote from the OT!), and so they are without excuse in their cursings. But Lewis recognizes they were reacting against severe injustices perpetrated by their enemies, and he finds it refreshing that the psalmists could be so incensed against wrongdoing. They knew how to hate! They identify God’s enemies as their own, and they want God to squash them. It isn’t Christian, Lewis admits, but it is understandable.

A study of the Psalms can be rather overwhelming. There are so many of them and there is much repetition. If we could make but a few of the psalms really ours by knowing them so well that we virtually have them memorized, that would be better than to have only a superficial understanding of all of them. To this end I have selected ten that I will list as “the greatest psalms” and invite you to make them your own. While you will occasionally read the other psalms, these you could read over and over, year after year, until they become part of you. While there are many other psalms I love, here are the ten I select if I limit myself to but ten. That is about the right number for someone who may have difficulty getting into the Psalms. These are, more or less, listed in order of their significance to me.

Psalm 19. I agree with C. S. Lewis that this is probably the greatest of the psalms, and he esteems it as the greatest verses of all literature. And the last lines give us a model prayer: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer The psalm is beautifully balanced with an exultation of God’ s creation (“The heavens declare the glory of God, etc.”), vs. 1-6; and of His law (“The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul, etc.”), vs. 7-11; and personal penance and prayer (“Cleanse me from secret faults, etc.”), vs. 12-14.

Psalm 23. Even if this psalm is marred by the petty line (vs. 5) about David’s enemies, it is one that we should memorize both for its literary beauty and its spiritual depth. If for no other reason it has to be included in this list because it is the most loved psalm for Jews and Christians alike in all the Psalter.

Psalm 139. This one comes near being my favorite, especially certain verses. It gives us a prayer that any believer would do well to memorize and include in his own prayers:

Search me, O 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.

This psalm is movingly soul-searching (“You understand my thoughts afar off’) and exults in the magnanimity of God (“Where can I go from Your Spirit?”). The psalmist even sees God knitting him together in his mother’s womb and describes himself as “fearfully and wonderfully made.” It has some of the most enrapturing verses of all the Bible. If you memorize parts of it and say them to yourself when things go wrong, it will change your life. It is powerful!

Psalm 46. For Martin Luther’s sake I have to include the psalm that inspired his “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” and it is surely one of the great portions of all Scripture. This is a most comforting psalm during this time of international crisis. I love its great therefore—“Therefore we will not fear. . .” It also says that it is God that makes wars cease, and it gives us one of the great lines of the Bible, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

Psalm 110. For our Lord’s sake I must include this one, for when he read it he saw himself in it (Mt. 22:33). And Jesus says that David was “in the Spirit” when he wrote it. He identifies himself (Messiah) as the one David was referring to when he said, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand till I make Your enemies Your footstool’” This psalm also identifies the coming Messiah with that mysterious figure Melchizedek introduced back in Gen. 14, “You arc a priest forever of the order of Melchizedek.” This priestly king appears to come out of nowhere or from another world to bless Abraham and to receive tithes from him. So, the writer of Hebrews uses this psalm and the Genesis account to establish Christ’s eternal priesthood (Heb. 5:6). This makes this psalm one of the most significant to New Testament writers, who often quote from it.

Psalm 51. I include this psalm because it shows that the OT recognizes that religion is basically a matter of the heart and that salvation is always by grace and not by our own goodness or our own works. David wrote it amidst his agonizing repentance following his sin of both adultery and murder. He comes to terms with his sin as we all must (“My sin is ever before me”) and he realizes that forgiveness is only by God’s grace (“Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow”). He comes to see that it is not ritual sacrifices that God wants but “a broken and contrite heart.” This is not simply a beautiful psalm, but one that we need in that it shows what religion is all about.

Psalm 90. I include this one for Moses’ sake. By tradition it is “A Prayer of Moses,” the only one by him in the Psalter. It is also a “Wisdom” psalm, one of several, in that it lays out common sense advice about life and time and stuff. Time? “We finish our years like a sigh” (vs. 9); “A thousand years in God’s sight are like yesterday when it is past” (vs. 4, quoted in 2 Pet. 3:8). Life? “The days of our lives are seventy years, and if by reason of strength they arc eighty years” (vs. 10); “So teach us to number our days that we might gain a heart of wisdom” (vs 12). Stuff? “Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy that we may rejoice and be glad all our days” (vs. 14). This psalm also gives us a wonderful doxology which begins with “Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations” (vs. 1). We should memorize large portions of this psalm.

Psalm 15. I choose this psalm because it is one of the few places in the Bible that tells us who is going to heaven and who isn’t. It asks “Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle?” The answer is clearly given with no if’s nor and’s nor but’s. So, if you want to know how to go to heaven read this psalm. Since ten conditions are given, this psalm is sometimes referred to as “another Ten Commandments.” One of the commandments especially impresses me: “He honors those who fear the Lord.” What a contrast to worldly honor!

Psalm 119. Some will disagree with me for including this among the ten greatest psalms. It is not named by either Weatherhead or Lewis. But I see it as one of the most remarkable portions of all the Bible. It is not only a literary masterpiece but it is chock-full of goodies. It is not only the longest psalm but the longest (by far) of any chapter in the Bible. It is divided into 21 sections of eight verses each (probably for memorizing purposes), each prefaced by a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. There are 176 verses and every verse refers to the word of God. The many synonyms for the word of God are impressive: law, statutes, precepts, commandments, judgments, testimonies, ordinances. But we are not to suppose that the psalmist was talking about what we call the Bible, including what he was then writing, such as, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my pathway.” He was referring to oral tradition and to the revelation that he received in his own communion with God, some of which eventually became Scripture.

Among some of the spiritual goodies in this remarkable psalm are:

Your word I have hidden in my heart,

That I might not sin against You. (vs. 11)

Open my eyes, that I may see

Wondrous things from Your law. (vs. 18)

Before I was afflicted I went astray,

But now I keep Your word. (vs.67)

Forever, O Lord,

Your word is settled in heaven. (vs.89)

As you linger in the Psalms you will expand your list of great ones, such as Ps. 1, 8, 24, 32, etc., but this will serve as a good start. Another way of mining the Psalms is to identify some of the more relevant verses, those that reach out and really touch your heart and mind, wherever they appear in the Psalter. A good way to do this is to underscore them in red (Try to find at least one for each psalm), and then return often and read them again and again. Here is an example of what I mean, taken from psalms beside the ten already listed.

For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand.

I would rather be a door keeper in the house of my God

Than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. (84:10)

Mercy and truth have met together;

Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. (85:10)

Precious in the sight of the Lord

Is the death of His saints. (116:15)

I was glad when they said to me,

Let us go into the house of the Lord. (122:1)

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,

The fruit of the womb is his reward. (127:3)

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is

For brethren to dwell together in unity. (133:1)

If you linger long with the psalms searching for such gold nuggets, you will in time have hundreds of such verses as these underscored. You will soon find yourself saying with the psalmist, “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day” (119:97).

Those passages underlined in red and deposited in your heart and mind will be evidence enough of what the Old Testament means to us. They might even lessen the sin in your life as Ps. 119:11 indicates, “Your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you.”—the Editor