Chunks: The Book of Psalms

As he hung dying on the cross, Jesus cried out to God in anguish. It was the opening line of Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” We usually take that as an outcry of abandonment and suffering, and rightly so. But is that all it is? A closer look at the psalm suggests another possibility.

Even a casual reading of Psalm 22 may make you want to say, “This is about Jesus.” Many of the lines of the psalm seem to describe a scene from the crucifixion. For that reason, Psalm 22 has been considered “prophetic,” as if the psalmist had a vision of the future and wrote it down. But is that the best way to understand the relationship between this psalm and the life and death of Jesus?

Some Old Testament texts critique what the whole system of ritual sacrifice had become: an exercise in piety that’s without true repentance. But in Psalm 51, the psalmist acknowledges that God doesn’t want sacrifices; he wants the psalmist’s broken heart.

Psalm 51 is one of the few to begin with a heading that associates it with a specific historical event; in this case, it’s David’s sin with Bathsheba. Some tellings of that story get it drastically wrong. We need to tell the story rightly to understand the depth of David’s guilt, and the corresponding depth of his repentance and the grace of God that met it.

When we were two years old, we may have gone through a period of stubborn rebellion. And even as adults, some of us may not be done rebelling. We don’t know why the author of Psalm 32 hid his sin from God. But he learned a great lesson from the love and grace he found after he confessed. The final verses read like a wisdom psalm, in which the psalmist tries to help God’s people to not make the sam...

You may know the story of Corrie ten Boom, the Dutch evangelist who miraculously survived a Nazi concentration camp. Her biography, The Hiding Place , echoes the Psalms, including Psalm 32. Throughout the collection, God is described as place of shelter and safety. The psalm is not just about confessing sin; it’s about running to God to security.

Like the author of Psalm 32 (it’s attributed to David), we probably all have our private sins, things we’ve done that nobody about knows except God. He tried to cover it up, but suffered when he did. Finally, he confessed his sin to God—and in grace and mercy, God covered it. 

Some psalms emphasize the psalmist’s confession of sin; these are known as penitential psalms. Psalm 32 is a good example of this type. The first part reads like a wisdom psalm, and is quoted by the apostle Paul. These early verses raise an important question: why do we stay silent about our sin, and what happens when we do?

In this episode, we come to the end of our examination of the Egyptian Hallel . We don’t know for certain who wrote Psalm 118 or why. But apparently, by the time of Jesus, it was understood as pointing forward to the coming Messiah. This is important to understanding why Jesus quoted the psalm to the Jerusalem leaders—and what he seems to have intended by doing so. 

Most of us probably go to church in our own cars, by ourselves or with our families. We enter the sanctuary, perhaps greet some friends, and find a seat. But what if everyone gathered in one place, then went together in a procession into the sanctuary instead? The second part of Psalm 118 pictures something like this. The passage contains words that will be familiar to readers of the gospels, and...

We don’t know who wrote Psalm 118, but parts of it read as if written by a king. There is language reminiscent of battles between nations; there is language reminiscent of David. But whoever wrote the psalm, the message is clear: God is the one to trust in the midst of trouble, for he is the place of refuge for the faithful.

On the one hand, Psalm 118 is a personal prayer of gratitude. On the other hand, it is also a summons to God’s people to join in praise and thanksgiving; the psalm contains what seem to be liturgical elements. In a manner reminiscent of Psalm 115, the psalmist calls first all Israel, then the house of Aaron, then those who fear the LORD to praise him for his everlasting love. And as we’ll explore...

In the days just before his crucifixion, Jesus was publicly debating the Pharisees in the temple courts. He asked them if they had read the verse about the stone which was rejected and then became the cornerstone. Of course they had: it was from Psalm 118, and everyone was in Jerusalem for the Passover, at which that psalm would be sung. Later, the apostles Peter and Paul would refer to Jesus as t...

Psalm 119, which comes right after the Hallel , is the longest chapter in the Bible. Psalm 117, which comes just before the final psalm in the Hallel , is the shortest, at just two verses long. It’s not surprising that the psalmist praises God for his love and faithfulness to his people. What is a little surprising, however, is that the psalmist also calls other nations to praise him as well.

How many psalms begin with a personal declaration of love for God? Just one: Psalm 116. The psalmist was in dire distress, cried out for mercy, and was rescued by God. The psalmist therefore pours out words of gratitude—and apparently, intends to go to Jerusalem to pour out a drink offering before God as well. The psalm ends with a call to God’s people to join the psalmist in praise.

As I’ve suggested, Jesus would probably have sung all or part of the Hallel with his disciples at the Last Supper. The link between the Passover and the Hallel may be because of Psalm 116, which explicitly refers to “the cup of salvation,” probably a drink offering. The psalm itself speaks of the psalmist’s own deliverance from death and the grave. How might the disciples have heard the psalm diff...

In earlier episodes, we’ve explored creation psalms the celebrate the sovereignty and majesty of God. By contrast, Psalm 115 declares the “gods” of other nations to be no gods at all. The one who made heaven and earth blesses his people. It is their vocation to trust and praise him. 

The writer of Psalm 115 insists that it’s useless to worship and put your trust in mere idols, which are completely impotent. By contrast, in what reads like a liturgy, the psalmist insists that all God’s people can and should put their trust in God. He alone is their refuge and the one whom the people should glorify and fear.

In Psalm 115, the nations have questioned Israel’s God. The psalmist responds by saying not only that God is the one who rules from heaven, but that the gods of other nations are merely idols, made by human hands. In stark contrast to God, they can do nothing. But even more than this: the psalmist warns that those who worship idols will become like what they worship.

In the Old Testament, a war or other conflict between nations was war between their gods. The second verse of Psalm 115 sets forth the question with which the psalm as a whole wrestles: “Why do the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’” Whether the question was asked in mockery or not, it implies that the God of Israel is insignificant. The psalmist’s response, however, is not belligerent. It begins...

The Hallel is sometimes known as the Egyptian Hallel because of Psalm 114, a short psalm which begins with a reference to the exodus from Egypt. The verses that follow briefly refer to the history that followed, including the conquest of Canaan. But the story is told in a way that draws attention to the power of God, reminding us that we are first at God’s mercy before we are recipients of it.

Psalm 113 comes to us in three parts. In the first, we’re directed to praise God forever and everywhere. In the second, we’re told to praise God for who he is. But at the end of the second part and continuing into the third, we’re also told to praise God for what he has done. Here, we’ll focus on the third part, where the psalmist quotes a song from the past and thereby honors the woman who sang i...

The gospel of Matthew tells us that when Jesus and his disciples finished their Passover meal in the Upper Room, they sang a hymn before leaving for the Mount of Olives. After what Jesus had told them, was anyone in the mood for singing? And what would they have sung? Probably Psalms 113 to 118, which are collectively known as The Egyptian Hallel . Here, we’ll begin our exploration of the Hallel w...

If you’ve ever been unjustly accused, you may understand the sentiment of Psalm 109. But given the teaching of Jesus, and even of Paul, is it ever appropriate for a Christian to pray this way? The psalmist’s enemies deserved to be punished—but because of Jesus, Christians have a new way of understanding God’s justice. How might the psalmist have taken this?

As an example of an imprecatory psalm, Psalm 109 shows the depth to which the psalmists will sometimes go to call for God’s justice and curse their enemies. Read another way, however, it is also a cautionary tale about the psalmist’s enemies. They have not only cursed the psalmist, but have made cursing a way of life—and it has corrupted their character to the core.