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Introduction
Can you think of a
hymn composed in the last twenty-five years that you believe
people will still be singing one hundred years from now? Some
of today’s music might last that long—but probably not much of
it. In these studies we are going to be reviewing hymns
written not twenty-five years ago, but some of them more than
three thousand years ago. They are used today in worship
services in nearly every nation and in a wide variety of
settings. How remarkable that these hymns of the ancient
Hebrews have persisted across the centuries and that they
still speak with meaning, relevance, and encouragement to
people everywhere.
The psalms
probably were sung and memorized long before they were written
down. They came from people of an obscure little nation with a
unique faith in God. Who would have thought that a song
composed by a shepherd in that little country centuries ago
would so endure that millions would still derive courage,
hope, and inspiration from it!
Consider some vast
differences between the two worlds—then and now. The psalms
were composed by rural people—even their cities would be
villages by today’s standards; we are urban and suburban. Many
of them were simple, nomadic herdsmen; we are sophisticated,
highly literate, and a part of an industrial society. They
were a tightly knit religious culture; today’s Christians span
the gamut from “free worship” to liturgical, rich and poor,
across all social, cultural, economic, and ethnic backgrounds.
The psalms have lived on and on, speaking their messages to
every age and every generation.
The psalms are
universal in appeal because they deal with universal needs and
hungers and experiences. Every generation has to face these
questions: Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going?
What is the meaning of life? Who is God? Why do people suffer?
Why do the wicked seem to prosper? Who cares for me? Where do
I find hope in my despair? What are the purposes of the
Creator of the universe?
As we examine just
a few of these great psalms in some detail, let us try to
discover what has made them enduring and universal in appeal.
Hebrew Poetry
A few reminders of
the nature of Hebrew poetry may help in a clearer
understanding of the psalms.
The psalms come to
us in poetic form partly because they were to be recited and
sung to the accompaniment of musical instruments. While much
of the poetic expression is lost in the translations, even in
the English versions we feel the rhythm, cadences, and vivid
imagery. Hebrew poetry does not depend on rhyme; nor is there
a strong effort for it to fall into carefully measured
stanzas.
A strong
characteristic is parallelism. The first line is balanced by a
corresponding line that further illuminates. Sometimes the
second line repeats the first in slightly different words, as
in Psalm 19:1—“How clearly the sky reveals God’s glory! How
plainly it shows what he has done!” In another kind of
parallelism the second line completes the meaning, as in
146:2—“I will praise him as long as I live; I will sing to my
God all my life.” A third kind of parallelism is called
ascending, as in Psalm 24:7–8—“Fling wide the gates, open the
ancient doors, and the great king will come in! Who is this
great king? He is the Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord,
victorious in battle!” A fourth kind of parallelism is called
contrasting, as illustrated by Psalm 1:6—“The righteous are
guided and protected by the Lord, but the evil are on the way
to their doom.” Our study of the Psalms will be enriched by
our recognition of this characteristic.
The Language of
Worship
A few of the
psalms may be thought of as almost totally individual in
nature, but for the most part they are the literature of the
worshipping community. Many, in fact, cannot be understood
outside the setting of a congregation at worship. Sometimes
the words were to be said or chanted by the priest or
sometimes a soloist. Often the choir gave response, and
usually the entire congregation joined in the chanting or
singing or repetition of certain refrains or responses.
The psalms depend
greatly on figures of speech and on symbolic language to
express feelings, hopes, fears, aspirations, and experiences
common to all people everywhere. They are rich in comparison,
exaggeration, and other imageries. One kind of comparison used
is simile, in which one thing is said to be like another.
Psalm 103:13, for example, says, “As a father is kind to his
children, so the Lord is kind to those who honor him.” In
metaphor, one thing is simply said to be another, as in Psalm
23: “The Lord is my shepherd.” A picturesque exaggeration is
found in Psalm 6:6: “Every night I flood my bed with tears”
(RSV). Many other word pictures will delight you as you read
the Psalms.
The psalms grew
out of the lives, trials, struggles, and victories of the
Hebrew people across a period of several hundred years. They
speak of deliverance, personal communion with God,
thanksgiving for his goodness and gifts, and a sense of a
special Hebrew heritage. They apparently circulated in smaller
collections before being brought together in their present
form. About half the psalms are associated with David, but
other names appear at the headings of many poems (for example,
Solomon with Psalm 72, and Moses with Psalm 90).
The psalms are
categorized in various ways. We find in them hymns of praise,
prayers in time of crisis, and songs of faith. Another look at
their contents finds nature psalms, praise to the Lord of
history, songs of Zion, personal supplications, penitential
prayers, psalms of thanksgiving, laments, psalms of trust,
psalms of wisdom and communion.
Psalm 1 may be
thought of as introductory to the entire collection, and Psalm
150 the culmination, summary, and postlude. Some of these
psalms go back to a thousand years or more before Christ, and,
as we shall see, were designed to serve different functions.
Yet what remarkable unity there is, starting with chapter 1
and going all the way to 150!
Their use in all
Hebrew worship for some three thousand years, and in all
Christian worship for almost two thousand years, places them
in a unique position among religious literature and music.
Chapter 1
The Person God Blesses
Psalm 1
Psalm 1 exalts
the Law of God (the Torah to the Hebrew people). It would be
interesting to compare this psalm with the Beatitudes of Jesus
in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 ff). In this case, the
word blessed, or happy, has its roots in the idea of one going
forth, one advancing, one leading the way. Truly the happy
person is one who leads the way or opens a path to worship,
service, witness, fellowship, and study of the Word of God. As
the term is often used in the Bible, happiness is not a
self-centered emotion or a static situation. The happy person
is possessed with a dynamic faith that compels one to advance
into areas of witness, service, and meeting of human need.
The simile used is
one familiar to people living in Palestine. A tree needs water
if it is to grow and produce fruit. So this blessed person—the
one who meditates on and obeys God’s Word—is like a tree
planted close to water where it will grow and develop and bear
fruit. Could it be that some “barren” Christians have little
fruit of the Spirit because they do not study and meditate on
the Word of God, or because they are not obedient to God’s
will?
The Person Who
Perishes
The first word of
this psalm is blessed and the last word is perish. Blessedness
comes from obedience to God and following God’s Word. The
disobedient have no alternative—they perish.
Consider the
description of the obedient and happy person in verses one
through three and then notice the contrast of the disobedient
and unhappy person in verses four and five. It becomes clear
that the psalm is referring to people who are poles apart by
their own choices and decisions.
Whereas the
obedient servant is like a growing, fruitful tree, the
disobedient is like the chaff. This figure of speech is from
the rural setting of the farmer who used primitive methods to
separate grain from straw, or chaff. After the grain was
harvested and the stalks were broken and softened, the farmer
would toss some grain into the air; the good grain would fall
to the threshing floor to be gathered for food, but the wind
would blow away the chaff and dust and dry straw. Thus the
disobedient servant is portrayed as worthless, making no
lasting contribution for good.
The living tree is
permanent, enduring, and fruitful. The chaff is wasted, gone
with the wind, to be lost and forgotten.
Are We Trees or
Chaff?
The lesson is
clear for us. Each person, each family, each community, each
nation faces the alternative ways of living. We are the sad
witnesses of many who have chosen the path of disobedience,
and the empty chaff of their lives is a mockery of what might
have been otherwise fruitful stewardship of God-given
resources. The illustrations are on every television newscast,
in every newspaper—and there are thousands that did not make
headlines—immorality, corruption in government, unethical
business and professional life, loose living, and decay in
morals and ethics and values.
The persons who do
not usually make the headlines are those who live by goodness,
integrity, honesty, fruitfulness, giving a full day of good
work for a day’s pay, love, forgiveness, serving others.
Here are the two
ways. We all make our own choices, and then we live with the
consequences of our decisions.
Some Guidelines
for Further Study
These studies are
based in large part on Good News for Modern Man (Today’s
English Version). Each member should be encouraged to have a
copy to mark significant passages as he or she reads. Some
will prefer other versions. A paraphrase will sometimes open a
new window of understanding, but it may be a long way from the
original Scriptures. If you use a paraphrase, why not ask
members to write their own paraphrases of this psalm?
Remember that
Psalm 1 introduces the whole book. Praising God for his mighty
acts in history, meditating on the Law, and seeking to know
and to do God’s will, are really what the psalm is all about.
Finally, read the
psalm in unison, if possible, and reinforce the idea that each
of us chooses to be either a fruitful tree or dry straw,
obedient and happy as servants of God or rebellious and lost
to God’s purpose.
Chapter 2
What Is Man?
Psalm 8
Thirty
centuries or more separate two men who had the same idea. One
was a nomadic Hebrew in rough clothing of goatskin or camel’s
hair, never traveling more than a hundred miles or so from the
place where he was born, a herdsman with time for reflection
on life and its meaning, living in the most primitive
condition. The other wore a space suit, had just been shot
into space to orbit the earth in a space ship equipped with
fantastic, unimaginable, sophisticated controls and means of
communication. Yet astronaut John Glenn was moved to quote the
ancient psalmist as he considered the heavens, the stars, the
creator of it all, and the nature of humankind, the created.
The opening and
closing words of this psalm are identical:
“Lord, our Lord,
your greatness is seen in all the world!”
It is likely that
for centuries this psalm was used as a hymn of praise, the
congregation singing with reverence, awe, and wonder their
sense of the majesty of God. The feelings outdistance the
words. No language expresses adequately the wonder of God’s
created universe—whether seen by the Hebrew in the still,
clear night under the Oriental sky, or by an astronaut gliding
at fantastic speed through the vastness of space, looking down
at this small planet called Earth. Words fail to express the
grandeur and majesty of God. The heart bursts forth in song.
Verses 3 to 8 may
have been sung by a solo voice; a voice inspired by these
lofty thoughts of God’s creation could surely lift the
worshipping congregation to the height of reverence. Can you
imagine how you would respond if you were a part of that
throng that was praising God when a clear tenor or soprano
voice burst forth in joy, exultation, gratitude, and wonder!
After the solo,
the congregation would again repeat the refrain, perhaps
chanting in reverence the same words that opened the hymn.
Small wonder that such a hymn of praise has endeared itself to
three thousand years of men and women who found it an
expression of their own wonder, awe, and praise.
As we consider the
mysteries of God’s created universe, either the tiniest atom
or the expanding horizons of space exploration, we may in
humility bow anew before our Creator. We may yield to a new
sense of reverence and find renewed purpose in the life God
has given us. Can we believe, also, that the God of the vast
universe is also concerned about each of us and is at the very
center of the struggle we all find in our hearts?
The Insignificance
of Human Beings
When the singer
turns to the majesty and glory of God, human beings seem small
and unimportant. The contrast between God’s greatness and
human frailty is overwhelming indeed!
This idea of our
insignificance is not foreign to our age, and it has crept
into the thinking of people of all the centuries. Sometimes we
feel that one person is so tiny and fragile in this world and
that the earth is so small among the whirling planets and
distant stars. People may seem very small as measured against
the forces of nature, for what can they do to change the
seasons, end a drought, stop an earthquake, soothe a tornado,
or dry up the monsoon rains or raging floods?
Is a person only a
mere speck of protoplasm in this vast universe of unimagined
power and space and distance? Theodore Roosevelt is said to
have periodically walked out onto his porch late at night to
contemplate the stars in order to remind himself of his proper
place in the universe.
Even in our own
order, our own society, it often seems that one mere person
can do nothing—absolutely nothing—to change the course of
events. This is one view of humanity, which can result from
doing just what this singer did—consider the created universe.
It may lead to pessimism and futility.
The Significance
of Persons
But the singer
does not end his hymn on a note of pessimism. He goes beyond
superficial appearances to see the real worth of a person, any
person. For we are created in the image of God. We are made to
have fellowship with God. We are not equal with God. But
neither are we merely animal. We have dominion over all
things, a power granted to us by God.
So of all created
beings, a person is the only one who can stand up to God and
say yes or no. We alone can make moral choices. Only we can
discriminate between good and evil. Only we can be held
accountable to God as stewards over all other created beings.
One person is of
uncounted worth. One person does make a difference. One
person—with God—can always change the path of history. Isn't
this one of the great truths revealed in the Bible and in all
human history, that one person surrendered to the power of God
can be pitted against the whole stream of society and can be a
change-agent in the hands of God?
The Community of
Worship
Gazing into the
starry skies, we marvel at the universe and the creator behind
it, but we quickly realize that the responsibility God gave us
as individuals exists within the community God has brought
into being. This sense of corporate worship appears more
clearly in other psalms than in this one. Within the
congregation or the worshipping body we find the door to true
worship; we join with others in praising God and in responding
to God’s call to service.
Can Dominion Be
Trusted?
Most religions in
the ancient world held that the gods were natural powers and
that human life with its rhythmic cycles of fertility was
somehow caught up in this mysterious relationship with nature.
Psalm 8 declares differently. God is not a natural power but
maker and sustainer of all persons and is supernatural. As
creator he has commissioned persons, his highest created
beings, to be his representatives, or stewards, to have
dominion over all else God has created. Think of the way this
concept has affected our development in such fields as
education, transportation, medicine, communication, concern
for human welfare, conservation of natural resources. What
responsibility God has entrusted to us!
Also, what a risk
God has taken! In placing people in this position of power and
honor, is it possible that their lordship over natural
resources will tempt them to assume the role of God? This is
precisely what has happened so many times and has led to
warfare, chaos, enmity, despoiling of resources, depletion of
energy, and exploitation of others for the benefit of a few.
Yet this is a risk God has taken.
Here is a central
theme of the entire Bible: humankind’s high possibility and
their low achievement, their grandeur and misery, their use or
misuse of the tremendous power God has entrusted to them. What
has this to say to our own day? Will we rise to the capability
of one created “a little lower than the angels,” or will
humanity sink to the level of the beast in the jungle?
Notes on the
Biblical Text
“Our Lord” (8:1).
In the Hebrew custom a name not only designates, it contains
the nature of that for which it is named. The Lord’s character
is glory, majesty, an authoritative presence that fills the
whole earth. “Heavens … ,children … ,babies” (8:1–2). The
whole creation, even babies and children, sings spontaneous
hymns of praise to God, whose glory is evident in both his
handiwork and his power to defeat the forces of evil.
“Look at the sky”
(8:3). There were no blinding city lights, no heavy smog to
obscure the clear vision of the poet who contemplated the
starry night heavens. It has been suggested that this psalm is
a hymn to be sung out of doors at night.
“Inferior only to
yourself” (8:5–8). Humankind have been given both honor and
responsibility over all God has created.
“What is man?”
(8:4). Those who today are puzzled by this question would do
well to accept the songwriter’s answer. We are God’s creation,
made in the image of God, highest of all created beings, small
and insignificant compared with the vastness of the universe,
yet endowed by God with stewardship responsibilities for
developing all these resources. Each individual is of
inestimable value.
“Our Lord” (8:9).
Such contemplation should lead to humility, reverence, and
awe. It should inspire truer worship and adoration of God.
Some Guidelines
for Further Study
Perhaps this week
families or small groups could have a brief worship experience
out of doors at night. Spend some time stargazing in
meditation. Using flashlights, read the entire psalm together.
Or let the group sing “Praise God from Whom All Blessings
Flow”; then let one person read verses 3 through 8 slowly, and
finish with the group responding with the same doxology.
Discuss some of the various ideas of what humanity is and the
influence of these ideas on society. For example: Are we high
animals whose appetites are to be satisfied in any way
possible? Hitler said the human was born to die for the state;
consider the implications of that philosophy.
Discuss the use
and misuse of the power God has given us. This may lead to
consideration of disregard for spoilage or depletion of many
natural resources. It may lead to discussion of political and
social power. How should power be used?
Discuss how some
persons have allowed power to overcome their sense of
stewardship and have assumed the role of gods themselves.
What has modern
space exploration and related technology added to our concept
of the majesty of the Creator and the stewardship
accountability of people given “dominion” by
God?
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