Psalms

							Psalms
 Israel’s Hymnbook
               Psalms
  Book 1            Book 2           Book 3
Psalms 1-41      Psalms 42-72     Psalms 73-89
   David         David/Korah      Asaph/Misc



                             Book 5
          Book 4
                         Psalms 107-150
       Psalms 90-106
                         Ascent/Hallel/
       Kingship/Misc
                           David/Misc

              Israel’s Hymnbook           2
           Form of the Lament
• Address to God - A brief cry for help
  – Always recognizing God as the source of help and
    strength
• Complaint - lay out lament to God
  – community: military crisis, drought, famine,
    scourge 1 Kings 8:33-40
  – individual: sickness, enemies, threat of death
  – penitential: awful awareness of sin Psalm 38:4, 18
• “Confession of Trust
  – Stating confidence in God despite circumstances.


                                                 3
• Petition - Appeal to God to intervene
  – sometimes with reasons/grounds
• Words of Assurance
  – probably spoken by a prophet or priest
    • represents God’s word for the situation
• Vow of Praise 7:17, 13:6
  – vow to praise God and to testify before
    others when God delivers.


          From Bernard W. Anderson, “Out of the Depths”   4
         Penitential Lament
• Basis: not an external threat, but a deep
  sense of conviction of sin.
• Sign of right relationship with God: a
  sensitivity to personal sin.
  – The seriousness of sin to a holy God.
  – The depravity of the human condition
• Lament paradox (Psalms of Innocence/Penitence)
  – Confident of “righteousness” before God
     • Righteousness is not sinlessness
     • Declaration that evil man actions not justified
  – Conscious of sin against God.
• Psalm 130
                                                         5
1     Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!    Cry for Help
2     O Lord, hear my voice!
    Let your ears be attentive
    to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
3     If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,    Complaint/
    O Lord, who could stand?                     Confession
4     But with you there is forgiveness,
    that you may be feared.                      Confession
5     I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,        of Trust
    and in his word I hope;
6     my soul waits for the Lord
    more than watchmen for the morning,          Petition
    more than watchmen for the morning.
7     O Israel, hope in the Lord!
    For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
    and with him is plentiful redemption.        Assurance
8     And he will redeem Israel
    from all his iniquities.
                                                      6
          2 Samuel 12 – David’s Sin
• Verses 1-6: And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to
  him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the
  one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many
  flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little
  ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it
  grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his
  morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was
  like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich
  man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd
  to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the
  poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to
  him.” Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man,
  and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has
  done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold,
  because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”
• Verse 7: Nathan said to David, “You are the man!”

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                        Psalm 51
                                                      Cry for
• Have mercy on me, O God, according to your           Help
  steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy
  blot out my transgressions.
• Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse
  me from my sin! 
• For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever
  before me.                              Complaint/Confession
• Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is
  evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your
  words and blameless in your judgment.
• Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did
  my mother conceive me.
• Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and
  you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
                                                       8
• Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
  wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
• Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones
  that you have broken rejoice.     Petition
• ide your face from my sins, and blot out all
  H
  my iniquities.
• Create in me a clean heart, O God, and
  renew a right spirit within me.
• ast me not away from your presence, and
  C
  take not your Holy Spirit from me.
• Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and
  uphold me with a willing spirit.
                                           9
• Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and
  sinners will return to you.
• Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my
  salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your
  righteousness.
• O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare
  your praise.
• or you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
  F
  you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
• The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken
  and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
• o good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the
  D
  walls of Jerusalem;                    Confession of Trust
• then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt
  offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be
  offered on your altar.
                                                     10
       Praying the Laments
• When crises come, find an appropriate
  biblical lament and vent to God.
  – Type: Community, Personal, Penitential
  – Theme: enemies, threat, calamity, etc.
• Write your own lament:
  – Address, Lament, Confession of Trust,
    Petition, Words of Assurance, Praise.
  – Use scripture for Words of Assurance
• Praise God: All laments end in praise.



                                             11
       The Imprecatory Problem
• Out of deep hurt, the Psalmist calls on God
  to avenge him against his foes, even asking
  God to destroy the enemy. 69, 109, etc.
Psalm 109: 9 May his children be fatherless
        and his wife a widow.
   10 May his children be wandering beggars;

        may they be driven from their ruined homes.
   11 May a creditor seize all he has;

        may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
   12 May no one extend kindness to him

        or take pity on his fatherless children.
   13 May his descendants be cut off,

        their names blotted out from the next generation.
   14 May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD;

        may the sin of his mother never be blotted out.
   15 May their sins always remain before the LORD,

        that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
                                                                       12
     Imprecatory Perspectives
• They arise out of a deep sense of hurt and
  bitterness.
  – Emotion is poured out before God
• They are a call for God’s justice
  – “Naqam” avenge, vindicate, save in crisis
  – God is the Righteous Judge who defends and
    upholds righteousness: Naqam is his right!
  – Not really imprecatory (calling down a curse)
    but appeal to a righteous God to bring justice
  – Psalmist calls for God’s justice, does not act
• They demonstrate abhorrence for sin
                                              13
• They are “under the sun” - asking God to
  bring justice in this world
  – wisdom books temporal, not eternal
• They represent OT ethical framework
  – OT - Enemies of God’s people (Israel) are to
    be destroyed.
  – NT - Enemies of God’s people (Church) are
    to be evangelized. Love, bless, pray.
  – Jesus’ “higher ethic” (Sermon on Mount)
• We may turn to God with our hurts and
  pain and seek his justice, but must also
  love and bless our enemies.

                                             14
           Praying in Pain
• When a person is causing you pain
  – Take your hurt and pain to God
  – State your concern to the Father honestly
    and plainly
  – Pray for God’s activity in the situation
  – Let God and his Word shape your thought
• Remember New Testament perspective
  – Pray for the person causing you pain
  – Love and forgive
  – Vengeance is the Lord’s, not yours.



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