If Psalm 108 is “a recipe for an hour of need,” what are its ingredients?
Background
Book 4 of the Psalms (90-106)
As we noted last week, Book 3 contained “problem psalms” that would fit with scholars dating its compilation during the Exile. Book 4 follows with the great encouragement needed to move forward and rebuild after the Exile, whether dated shortly before or after their return. (Remember that the date of compilation does not indicate when each psalm was written.)
We have been learning about the structure of the book of Psalms from Toni little by little over the past year. These two psalms are the “bookends” of Book 3. Many scholars believe that this portion of the psalter was compiled during the Exile. This would explain the following:
It contains many problem psalms, in which, both at individual and at national levels, the psalmists are wrestling with difficulties of theodicy.
Geoffrey Grogan, Prayer, Praise and Prophecy: A Theology of the Psalms, p. 209
theodicy : defense of God’s goodness and omnipotence in view of the existence of evil
merriam-webster.com
In other words, the main question seems to be, “What is going on here?!?”
Prepared for Psalms Group, September 27, 2020
As I was working through Psalm 40 last week, these words on p. 84 of The Songs of Jesus leaped off the page into my mind and heart:
Lord, praying for your glory is indeed the way of liberation. If I pray, “Glorify yourself in my needs,” that frees me to receive whatever you send as your wise will. For I know that your glory includes your love. In my life, Lord, be glorified. Amen.
Tim and Kathy Keller, The Songs of Jesus, p. 84, italics mine
Prepared for Psalms Group, 9/20/20
Our current lectionary readings in I Kings, the minor prophets, and Hebrews, coupled with Judaism’s high holy days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur triggered my curiosity about actual worship in the tabernacle and temple (original and second). How do the Psalms, eventually the hymnbook of the Second Temple, inform us about and lead us in God-focused worship?
Prepared for Psalms Group, August 30, 2020
Psalm 136 is the only psalm in the whole Psalter which has a repeated refrain in every verse. It is a far-reaching celebration of the love and covenant faithfulness of YHWH to his people, for steadfast love is the love which honors and works within the covenant. (Grogan, Prayer, Praise and Prophecy, p. 236)
Psalms Group, August 23, 2020
Okay, guys…when I chose these two eight verse sections of Psalm 119 as our focus, I didn’t notice the rhyming Hebrew letters. But it makes this lesson more fun…and hopefully more memorable.
Prepared for Psalms Group, August 15, 2020
Psalm 112 is a wisdom psalm that partners with the hymn of praise to YHWH in Psalm 111. Psalm 112 showcases how one whose core essence (“heart”) trusts steadfastly in YHWH becomes increasingly “YHWH-like” in attitude and action. This transformation happens by YHWH’s works and word. Look for what Psalm 112 show us about how to experience this “blessed” transformation.
Prepared for Psalms Group, August 9, 2020
Overfamiliarity may rob these two vibrant psalms of creation of their energy, their ability to describe and create experiences of the glory of God in God’s creation. May the Holy Spirit fill us and the words of these psalms with Life-giving grace as we read, reflect on, and receive these hymnic psalms as spiritual nourishment.
Prepared for Psalms Group, August 2, 2020
Psalm 87 is one of the “Songs of Zion,” psalms celebrating the city of Jerusalem with Mount Zion and the Temple, built in the Davidic dynasty, as the dwelling place of God. It was the place on the planet where YHWH chose to be reliably present in the midst of his people. Making pilgrimages to “the city of God” with its temple worship was, to the Jews and God-fearers, what our Christian celebration of Eucharist now is to the Church—a worship experience that transcends governments, geography, race and ethnicity, even time and space.