by Stephen Rouse<\/p>\n
I’ve been studying Psalms a lot lately. I think the first and last Psalms in each book make a huge difference in how you read each section. My favorite pair is Psalms 89 and 90. I think all of book 3 (in some ways, 1-2 as well) leads up to the problems addressed in Psalms 89 – what happened to the promises to David? Then book 4 answers these questions by taking the reader on a panorama of God’s past faithfulness, beginning with Moses in the wilderness in Israel’s infancy. “You have been our dwelling place in\u00a0all<\/strong>\u00a0generations.<\/em>“<\/p>\n Looking at the book as being compiled from a post-exile perspective (Psalms 137 is proof enough of that),\u00a0the<\/strong> big question on Israel’s mind is “What happened to the promises to David?” Books 1-2 are almost all by or about David, ending with Psalms 72, a song by (or to) Solomon. It’s like reviewing Israel’s kingship from its beginning (Psalms 2 being about the promises to David), down through its failure (Psalms 89), then presenting, as Bryant Brailles pointed out, the answers in books 4 and 5.<\/p>\n I also think Psalms 1 and 2 stand out as an introduction to the whole book. In some ways, Psalms 3 sets the tone for Book 1 more than Psalms 1 does. I have a little harder time seeing a strong transition in Psalms 42-43, but book 2 has that ending “the prayers of David, the son of Jesse are ended<\/em>,” so books 1-2 may be a little more of a single unit, but I’m not sure.<\/p>\n In book 5, the collection of the Egyptian Hallel (113-118), Psalm 119, and then the Psalms of Ascent (120-134) is no accident, I think. The Hallel was recited at Passover (113-114 before, 115-118 after), and reflects on God’s faithfulness, even in the face of death. Then Psalms 119 is the monster<\/strong> psalm, all about God’s perfect word — Him keeping His promises! Then, after all that affirmation, the Psalms of Ascent reflect on going up to Jerusalem (what the people were longing to do in exile), which represents God answering the longing of Psalms 89 with the return. And then, after a three-psalm interlude (135-137), a big chunk of David’s psalms is back! “The return of the King,” if you will.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPrior Lesson\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSome Thoughts on Psalms\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What Happened to the Promises to David? by Stephen Rouse I’ve been studying Psalms a lot lately. I think the first and last Psalms in each book make a huge difference in how you read each section. My favorite pair is Psalms 89 and 90. I think all of book 3 (in some ways, 1-2…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":26926,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-65910","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":26926,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/some-thoughts-on-psalms\/","url_meta":{"origin":65910,"position":0},"title":"Some Thoughts on Psalms (Study)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 6, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Some Thoughts on Psalms I've been collecting various notes by people on Psalms. Perhaps one day I'll edit them into a coherent whole, but for now, they are just a collection of ideas on various aspects of the Psalms. Perhaps the notes will benefit your own studies. Wayne Ferguson\u00a0has been\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Psalms-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":65904,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/some-thoughts-on-psalms\/coherent-connections\/","url_meta":{"origin":65910,"position":1},"title":"Coherent Connections","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 13, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Coherent Connections by Bryant Bailles I found something extremely fascinating that you may find helpful in the Psalms. Psalms is divided into five books: Psalms 1-41 Psalms 42-72 Psalms 73-89 Psalms 90-106 Psalms 107-150 The first Psalm of each book of the Psalms (1, 42, 73, 90, and 107) sets\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9766,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/david-and-his-psalms\/introduction-to-david-and-his-psalms\/","url_meta":{"origin":65910,"position":2},"title":"Introduction to David and His Psalms","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 16, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Introduction Purpose This Bible study will explore the life and events associated with King David as evidenced in his Psalms. The study is structured around the chronology of David as presented in I Samuel 16 through I Kings 2. Various Psalms will be incorporated into our study. The ultimate purpose\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9517,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/david-and-his-psalms\/","url_meta":{"origin":65910,"position":3},"title":"David and His Psalms","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 12, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"David and His Psalms A Bible Study by Ron Turnbow \u00a9 Ronald E. Turnbow, 2011 \"And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, 'I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Scan0029.tif-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Scan0029.tif-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Scan0029.tif-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":22518,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/survey-of-the-bible\/survey-of-the-bible-psalms\/","url_meta":{"origin":65910,"position":4},"title":"Survey of the Bible – Psalms","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Survey of the Bible - Psalms Text: Psalms 19 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The book of Psalms is a collection of poems by various prophets written over the years \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In Hebrew it is called the book of praises. Our name for the book comes from the Greek Septuagint which called the book \u201csongs.\u201d\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65886,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/some-thoughts-on-psalms\/he-will-judge-the-world-in-righteousness\/","url_meta":{"origin":65910,"position":5},"title":"He Will Judge the World in Righteousness","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 13, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"He Will Judge the World in Righteousness In\u00a0the last lesson, I drew a handful of connections between the first eight Psalms, using the first two Psalms as a framework for understanding. Psalms 1 and 2 established the contrast between the righteous and the wicked that pervades the book and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65910\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/26926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}