These materials were shared with the Psalms Group, a fellowship group with a special interest in learning about, reading and praying the Psalms daily.
Adapted from Out of the Depths: The Psalms Speak for Us Today by Bernhard W. Anderson, pp.225-225.
“Echoes of Old Testament psalms are heard in more New Testament passages than those included in this list, which is confined for the most part to direct quotations or specific allusions.”
Prepared for Sunday, April 26, 2020
The fifteen Psalms of Ascent are placed in the Psalter after Psalm 119, Israel’s love letter to YHWH for his Torah, his instructions for life in YHWH’s mercy, grace, steadfast love, and faithfulness. (See Exodus: 34:6.)
It was a blessing to look at the Psalms of Ascent (120-134) in their triads as laid out in Toni’s lesson for 4/26/20. On our neighborhood walk today Toni suggested that the pattern–Facing Distress, Recalling God’s Power, Resting in God–would be a fitting way to review the events of our own lives as believers.
Midweek supplement to Psalms Group, April 22, 2020
1. God’s Word to His People:
The Book of Psalms is first and foremost God’s Word to his people. We hear the voice of God in each psalm, through the many moods of the Psalms, and the through the varied themes of the Psalms. The purpose of the Psalms is the same as that of any part of Scripture: the Psalms are “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the person of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim. 3:16-17)
Commenting on Psalms that celebrate the installment and victory of God’s chosen king, NT. Wright calls Psalm 110 “short and startling.” (Wright, The Case for the Psalms, p, 44.) He further comments:
A Psalms Group email preparing for Sunday, April 19, 2020
In addition to reading chapter 3, “History,” of Open and Unafraid, please prepare for our time together tomorrow by reading Psalm 110 from several translations, including a study Bible. Psalm 110 is the most frequently quoted psalm by New Testament writers. It is also the psalm Jesus talks to his critics about in the last days of his earthly life.
The Psalter teaches us about the life of faith, about honest dialogue between us and our Creator. The Psalter gives us hope that the life of faith is worth the effort, often by contrasting the righteous and the wicked. Themes from the Wisdom literature of the Bible (Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon) are prominent in some psalms. (Examples: Psalms 37, 49 and 73)
People in whom God is acting to make them like Him are contrasted with
people who deny God and live like He doesn’t matter.
During Advent, our group’s focus is on the psalms traditionally selected by the Church for the Sunday worship liturgy. You can see these 9 psalms listed in the Sunday Lectionary on page 717 in our revised Book of Common Prayer. ( Psalms 24, 50, 72, 80, 85, 122, 126, 132,146)
The complaints, supplications, and imprecations of the lamenting words of the Psalter are recorded, heard, and received by God. God responds based on His character, “the perfections of YHWH,” revealed to Israel through Moses in Exodus 34:5-7:
The repetition of Psalm 14 in Psalm 53 reminds us of the 1,000 years of time that Israel was writing and collecting their psalms. These Hebrew poems were evoked out of the life of Israel and used in their public and private worship. In them, YHWH’s chosen people are sharing His way of life with one another and, ultimately, with all the people of the world.