A Psalm a Day Keeps Satan Away: The Podcast

Psalm 11 – Seek His Face As one reads this psalm, it seems disjointed. It doesn’t follow the standard formulaic structure of the laments that we have seen so far. And did you notice? YHWH is referred to in the third person, not the second person. This psalm is like a conversation between two brothers or sisters of the faith; they are talking about YHWH not to Him. And the setting seems to be the t...

Psalm 10 – Good Things for Bad People? This psalm could be entitled “Why Do Good Things Happen to Bad People?” and it includes another great question in v. 13: “Why does the wicked man revile God?” If we really dig deep into our souls (and keeping in mind the difference between human and Godly justice that we discussed yesterday), we really want “human” answers to these types of questions! We do o...

Psalm 9 – Righteousness/Justice … pursue it Our comments on Psalm 9 start at the most logical place, which is, Deuteronomy 16:20. This text says in Hebrew צֶ֥דֶק צֶ֖דֶק תִּרְדֹּ֑ף “tza-DEAK tza-DEAK tor-ah-DEAK.” ‘Tza-DEAK’ should sound familiar to you; we discussed this word in conjunction with Psalm 7. It is the Hebrew word for ‘righteousness’ and alternatively, justice. Most (not all) translati...

Psalm 8 – How Majestic is His Name Finally! Something other than a lament psalm! Psalm 8 is top five on everyone’s list. It is a Creation psalm and another example of the ‘inter-textuality’ of the Scriptures. The links to Genesis 1 and 2 are pretty clear. This psalm also comes to mind in Job’s conversation with his friends in Job 7:17-21. The psalm utilizes a very tight structure and employs an ‘i...

Psalm 7: Righteousness and Justice Surprise, surprise! Psalm 7 offers us yet another lament with enemies pursuing the psalmist! Many of the lament elements that we previously discussed are present, including a clarion call for G-d to judge and decree justice according to His righteousness . In fact, there are five references to righteousness (along with one reference to wrath). And so, we have the...

A Brief Comment on Superscripts Superscripts are brief informational notes that PRECEDE many of the psalms. Sometimes they deal with historical references (i.e., Ps. 3); sometimes they are instructions for worship (like yesterday’s Ps. 5 and today’s Ps. 6); sometimes they are “by-lines” or “tributes” to an historic figure like King David. Psalm 6, today’s psalm, has a superscript geared towards wo...

Psalm 5: Disorientation/Reorientation Psalm 5 is the third consecutive individual lament psalm placed at the beginning of the psalter after the initial two “introductory” psalms. Walter Brueggemann, a notable Old Testament scholar, describes these psalms as songs of “disorientation.” Life isn’t working out the way it is supposed to (especially when you put your faith in YHWH). And so, the psalmist...

Psalm 4: Be Good Psalm 4 starts with an aggressive demand from the psalmist that G-d must answer the psalmist’s call and prayer. This aggressiveness seems too harsh for those of us who have been instructed to approach G-d with reverence and respect. But, as elsewhere in the psalms, we see a true and totally transparent relationship between G-d and His people. Of course, we should approach G-d with...

Psalm 3: A Lament After two introductory psalms that set the stage for the rest of the psalter, we get the first of many, many lament psalms. About one-third of the Psalter consists of this genre. In Psalm 3, the psalmist cries out to God about his predicament (enemies that are arrayed against him). The writer demands deliverance by G-d (v. 7) and affirms his belief that his fate is in the hands o...

Psalm 2: Responsibility A fun fact to start today’s reflection: Psalm 2 is quoted four times in the New Testament, making it one of the most quoted psalms in those texts. As we saw in yesterday’s commentary, Psalms 1 and 150 complement each other as bookends to the psalter. Psalm 1 exhorts the reader to a life of obedience to G-d’s law/guidance/education/instruction, which if accomplished, leads t...

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