Psalms
Summary[i]
The simplest description of the
five books of Psalms is that they were the inspired prayer- and-praise book of
Israel. They are revelations of truth, not abstractly, but in the terms of human
experience. The truth revealed is wrought into the emotions, desires, and
sufferings of the people of God by the circumstances through which they pass.
But those circumstances are such as to constitute an anticipation of analogous
conditions through which Christ in His incarnation, and the Jewish remnant in
the tribulation (Psalms 10-21, refs), should pass; so then many Psalms are
prophetic of the sufferings, the faith, and the victory of both. Psalms 22 and
50 are examples. The former--the holy of holies of the Bible-- reveals all that
was in the mind of Christ when He uttered the desolate cry, "My God, My
God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" The latter is an anticipation of what
will be in the heart of Israel when she shall turn to Jehovah again (Deu_30:1-2). Other Psalms are directly prophetic
of "the sufferings of Christ, and the glories which should follow" (Luk_24:25-27; Luk_24:44).
Psalm 2 is a notable instance, presenting Jehovah's Anointed as rejected and
crucified (Psa_2:1-3; Act_4:24-28) but afterward set as King in Zion.
The great themes of the Psalms
are, Christ, Jehovah, the Law, Creation, the future of Israel, and the
exercises of the renewed heart in suffering, in joy, in perplexity. The
promises of the Psalms are primarily Jewish, and suited to a people under the
law, but are spiritually true in Christian experience also, in the sense that
they disclose the mind of God, and the exercises of His heart toward those who
are perplexed, afflicted, or cast down.
The imprecatory Psalms are the cry
of the oppressed in Israel for justice--a cry appropriate and right in the
earthly people of God, and based upon a distinct promise in the Abrahamic
Covenant
See Scofield
- Gen_15:18, but a cry unsuited
to the church, a heavenly people who have taken their place with a rejected and
crucified Christ. (Luk_9:52-55).
The Psalms are in five books, each
ending in a doxology:
1. Book I (Psalms 1-41).
2. Book II Psalms (42-72).
3. Book III Psalms (Psalms 73-89).
4. Book IV Psalms (Psalms 90-106).
5. Book V Psalms (Psalms 107-150).