Daily Bread for Jun 14, Psa 1-8
Today’s readings are Psa 1-8.
Psalms is a beloved
series of poems, hymns, prayers, and songs. There is a total of 150. However,
rather than being an unrelated assortment of sonnets, there is a divinely
inspired organization and flow to the whole collection. They are arranged
in five volumes (books), each of them echoing both a book of the Pentateuch
(the first five books of the Bible) or an era of King David's life and
career. Each volume ends with the phrase "Blessed be the God of
Israel." Likewise, the last Psalm in each volume is either Davidic or
exile-related.
Psa 1-2 -intro
Psa 3-41
Genesis
The King's struggle
Psa 42-72
Exodus
The King on the throne
Psa 73-89
Leviticus
The King in exile
Psa 90-106
Numbers
The King returns
Psa 107-148
Deuteronomy The King exalted
Psa 149-150 -
worship
There are other
interpretations of what the volumes symbolize, but these two are the most
sensible. Upon examining the various credible descriptions, they all portray
the same primary themes, and all can be related to the life and ministry of
David. When we understand David to be a typological Christ, the Psalms become a
representation of His arrival in the flesh, the acknowledgment of the crowds,
His rejection, His rising from the grave and His ascension to the right hand of
God.
There are a variety of types
of Psalms. The major categories are:
Lament - a
mournful individual or corporate prayer
Imprecatory
- a prayer for judgment on God's enemies
Hymns of Praise -
individual & corporate
Messianic/Royal -
activities/possibilities of the king
Thanksgiving -
individual/corporate
Wisdom -
instructional
Liturgical - antiphonal questions,
answers, and responses
It helps to know what type of
Psalm is being read. But it also helps to know that the Psalms are related to
one another. This makes paying attention to the Psalms in the context of
what comes before and after each of them an essential part of understanding the
entire book.
Daily readings will be posted,
but comments on the individual Psalms will be sporadic. Be encouraged to read
the Psalms slowly, enjoy the poetry, savor them and examine them for
continuity and flow, keeping in mind they will each reveal something about
the life of Christ.
Here are the types of Psalms
in our readings today:
Psa 1 - Wisdom
Psa 2 - Royal
Psa 3 to 6 -
Laments
Psa 7 -
Imprecatory
Psa 8 -
Thanksgiving
No comments:
Post a Comment