Psalm_notes.pdf

Psalm notes Psalm: A Greek word meaning a song accompanied by a stringed instrument. The above books tell me that this is a good translation of the Hebrew word ‘mizmor’ which is included in the title of some of the psalms. They also say that the overall name of the book in Hebrew means ‘songs of praise’ (despite the fact that some are laments!). The Hebrew Bible places the Psalms in the general and rather vague category ‘Writings’ which also includes Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 & 2 Chronicles. What importance did they have for the first Christians? First, psalms are mentioned in several places in the New Testament in the context of Christian meetings: “What then brothers? When you come together, each one has a psalm, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.” 1 Corinthians 14: 26 “… but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart…” Ephesians 5: 18b-19 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3: 16 “Is anyone among you sick? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.” James 5: 13 Note: I have quoted the ESV above, but in the 1 Corinthians quote the ESV substituted the English word ‘hymn’ and in the James passage ‘praise’. This may well be valid as we cannot be 100% certain that the Greek word ‘psalm’ necessarily refers to a poem from the Hebrew psalter (see the definition at the top). From the above, it is clear that psalms were very important to the first Christians and also that their meetings had much more of a ‘do-it-yourself’ nature than most of us are familiar with. Second, quotes from the psalms and OT prophets feature prominently in the NT, particularly in Acts, Romans and Hebrews, as a source of teaching about the person and work of Jesus. Often it was enough just to quote the opening line of a psalm e.g. Jesus cries out Psalm 22: 1 on the Cross, the listeners and readers would supply the rest. Pros and cons of singing psalms regularly in meetings of Christians today Singing is a great way of remembering words. Since the psalms deal with a wide range of human experience and emotions, potentially they will be there for you in all the conditions of life. However, this only really works if the tune is memorable. For most people, the chanting of psalms does not produce this effect. Also the 1 assumption is tacitly made that it is valid for Christians to take upon their lips sentiments that really belong on the lips of Jesus alone. One problem this has lead to is that religious people tend to identify their own enemies as God’s enemies. Thus some of the great church reformers used Psalm 109 to justify persecution of Jews. Who wrote them and when? The present psalter was almost certainly put into its present form after the exile in Babylon. Evidence for this: Psalm 137 (certainly), and probably also Psalms 74, 79 and 102. Scripture does not tell us who the final editor was or when he lived. Possible candidates: Ezra, Nehemiah, the writer of 1 & 2 Chronicles (if he lived after the Exile). But really we don’t know. Some psalms are strictly-speaking anonymous. Most have headings which tell us who wrote them (or who was believed to have written them). These headings were probably originally added by the various editors and compilers (much like modern Bibles do throughout). At some point, these headings became part of the canonical text. A subset of these headings tell us the circumstances that led to the psalm being written. A few even tell us the music they were supposed to be sung to, but the tunes have long since disappeared. What the Hebrew names mean is sometimes not clear. Where we do know what the Hebrew means, it can be very evocative: ‘The Doe of the Dawn’ (for Psalm 22); ‘The Dove on Far-Off Terebinths’ for Psalm 56; ‘Do Not Destroy’ for Psalms 57, 58, 59, 75. The headings imply that psalms were composed by various people over many centuries. A few may even have been adapted from songs sung in pagan temples (Psalms 18; 19: 1-6; 29; 82).Apart from David, the named authors include the sons of Korah (him of the rebellion in Numbers 16), Asaph, Solomon, Heman the Ezrahite, Ethan the Ezrahite, Moses. The default assumption of the Biblical writers is that the composer of a psalm is David, who is described in 2 Samuel 23: 1 as “… the sweet psalmist of Israel”, even if the psalm does not have a heading saying so. Amos 6: 5 describes David as an inventor of instruments of music, but Amos does not commend his contemporaries for following his example! The Greek translation of the Bible (Septuagint) attributes 12 more Psalms to David than the Hebrew text does. Note also that David is described as a man “…skilful in playing the lyre…” in 1 Samuel 16: 16 & 23. David’s musical ability there is portrayed as having the power not just to put Saul in a good mood, but in causing an evil spirit to depart from him. Antiquity of language is no guarantee that a psalm is ancient: poetry in many languages often preserves archaic ways of speaking (e.g. hymns were still being written in 15th century English until the middle of the 20th century, despite the fact that by Shakespeare’s time it was beginning to become rude in many dialects of English to address your equal or superior as ‘thou’, just as in French today you do not use ‘tu’ to someone without their permission unless they are a child). The headings are not very well-known, because they were never intended to be sung. They therefore tend to be left out of psalters. The Book of Common Prayer 2 (BCP) replaces them with titles using the first few words of the Latin translation (e.g. Miserere mei, Deus for Psalm 51). Some modern translations of the Bible leave them out (e.g. the New English Bible), presumably because many scholars are sceptical about the information they contain. Not all the psalms are called ‘psalms’ (Hebrew: mizmor). Some are called ‘songs’ (Hebrew: sîr) (possibly implying they were to be musically unaccompanied), one is called ‘shiggaion’ (Psalm 7), some are called ‘miktam’s (Psalms 16, 56-60) (the meaning of this word is obscure, but Kidner favours the translation ‘a silent prayer’), some are called ‘maskil’s (Psalms 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, 142), some are called ‘a prayer’ (Psalms 17, 86, 90, 102, 142), one is called ‘a praise’ (Psalm 145). Bizarrely Psalm 98 is called simply ‘A psalm’! The Psalms appear to be (mostly) written as a result of something that happened to someone. They were then collected and used in the cult. Their origin may be described as ‘bottom-up’ rather than ‘top-down’, though having said that, many probably had their origin in the life of the royal court. How are the Psalms organised? They are divided into five ‘books’ of unequal length: Book 1, Psalms 1-41; Book 2, Psalms 42-72; Book 3, Psalms 73-89; Book 4, Psalms 90-106; Book 5, Psalms 107-150. The majority of the psalms explicitly attributed to David occur in Books 1 & 2. Indeed Book 2 ends thus: “The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended” (Psalm 72: 20). However, some 18 psalms are attributed to David in the later ‘books’. It is not known why this division into books was made, but it existed before the Septuagint was promulgated (third to second century BC). One possibility is that various collections of songs were made by various groups. This might explain why Psalm 14 (Book 1) is the same as Psalm 53 (Book 2). Whoever put Book 4 together was not afraid to put two psalms next to each other (Psalms 105 and 106) that express very different views about the people of Israel’s response to the exodus from Egypt. The most famous collection of psalms are the ‘Songs of Ascents’ (Psalms 120-134), probably written or compiled for pilgrims heading for Jerusalem for one of the great annual festivals (see Isaiah 30: 29). Note also that the numbering system of the Psalms had not settled down by the time of the Septuagint. The Greek text has Psalms 9 & 10 as a single psalm (almost certainly correctly as together they form an acrostic in Hebrew), Psalms 114 & 115 it also joins, but it splits Psalm 116 into two. Thus the numbers are one less than the Hebrew most of the way through until Psalm 146 where the last few verses are split off into a separate Psalm 147. Psalms 42 & 43 should also be one psalm, but both the Hebrew and Greek Bibles divide it. Different names for God tend to predominate in the various ‘books’ or blocks of psalms. Thus in Book 3, God is called ‘Elohim’ in psalms 73-83 and Yahweh in 3 Psalms 84-89. In Books 4 and 5 God is almost always called Yahweh. But this observation is not a hard and fast rule. Laments dominate the first two books, praise the last two. Bible scholars have identified several different organising principles for the way the Psalms are arranged, but since scholars differ from one another it is likely their theories tend to reflect their own interests and concerns (e.g. liturgy or wisdom) rather than that of the final editor, whoever he was. Kidner comments about this as follows: “[The psalter] is a mixture of order and informality of arrangement, which invites but also defeats the attempt to account for every detail of its final form.” “Its structure is perhaps best compared with that of a cathedral built and perfected over a matter of centuries, in a harmonious variety of styles, rather than a palace displaying the formal symmetry of a single and all-embracing plan.” How was the religious life of Israel conducted? And did the Psalms play a role in this? If we take Deuteronomy at face value, it tells us that the people of Israel were strictly charged before they entered the Promised Land that the Lord would choose one place and one place only where the people would come and meet Him (Deuteronomy 12: 4-11). They were strictly forbidden to set up places of worship elsewhere (not that this stopped them, especially after the nation split in two. See, for example, 1 Kings 12: 28-13: 5; 2 Kings 10: 29; Amos 7: 10-13). The place was wherever the Ark of the Covenant was: firstly Shiloh (1 Samuel 1: 3; 1 Samuel 4: 4), then Kireath-jearim (Baale-judah) (1 Samuel 7: 1-2; 2 Samuel 6: 2; for evidence that these are alternative names for the same place, see Joshua 15: 9 & 60), and finally Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6: 16-18). The country, therefore, was supposed to be run like one Diocese with one Cathedral (the Temple) and no parish churches. The Levites (hereditary priests) were, however, instructed to spread themselves around the country (Joshua 21: 38, 41-42). They were not to offer sacrifices in the places where they lived (that was reserved for where the Ark of the Covenant was). So presumably they were to offer religious instruction locally. Three festivals were enjoined to which only one (Purim) was ever added during their history (see Esther). These festivals are given in Exodus 23: 14-17, Exodus 34: 18-23, and Deuteronomy 16: 16 as Unleavened Bread (Passover), Harvest (Weeks), and Ingathering (Booths). Various sacrificial actions are specified in great detail in the Law, but with the exception of the Passover, little is said about what words were to be said (liturgy). No mention is made in the Law of Moses about singing on these or any other occasions when sacrifice was offered. However, there are various theories you may come across about how the Israelite religion developed. For example, one view holds that the purest forms of belief were late rather than early. One implication of this would be that Deuteronomy was written long after it claims to have been composed. Evidence in favour: the people who came out of Egypt are portrayed in Exodus as a semi-pagan rabble. 4 Even after they entered the Promised Land, in the time of the Judges, “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17: 6; 21: 25). But many centuries later, by the time of Ezra and Nehemiah (after the Exile), Judaism had settled down to a very moral way of life. But Crenshaw comments that Scripture itself portrays a much more complex picture than this. The tradition of local instruction was the foundation for the establishment of synagogues at some time (it is not known when) after the return from exile in Babylon. In the Exile, the Jews were prevented from performing their most sacred religious duties (sacrifice) at the Jerusalem Temple. They kept their religion alive by studying, teaching, and commenting on the scriptures (to obtain a flavour of this, read Ezra and Nehemiah). See also Psalm 50. The word ‘synagogue’ is a Greek word that seems to have been used interchangeably with ‘ecclesia’ in the Septuagint translation of the Law to describe the whole assembly of Israel (a quick search of the text shows that ‘synagogue’ is used in the translation of Exodus, Leviticus, & Numbers and ‘ecclesia’ in Deuteronomy). By NT times, synagogues in their modern sense had been established for some time (several centuries?). Indeed the only contemporary description of a synagogue service comes from the NT, Luke 4: 16-21. ‘Synagogue’ in the NT is normally used for a building where Jews gathered on the Sabbath. But it still retained the idea of an assembly of men who met in such places. In the NT, the usage of ‘ecclesia’ seems to have narrowed down to a local assembly, mostly, but not necessarily, a Christian one. Thus Paul has to remind the Corinthians that they are part of something bigger than a local assembly (1 Corinthians 14: 36; 1 Corinthians 16: 1-3). An example of its non-Christian use is given in Acts 19: 32 where it describes the assembly of the Ephesians in their arena to complain about the effect of Paul’s preaching on devotion to their goddess Diana (and the knock-on effect on their valuable trade in silver ‘Diana’s). The Psalms have often been described as ‘the hymnbook of ancient Israel’, but the problem with this description is that it gives the impression that when an Israelite turned up at the Temple, a psalter would be thrust into his hand much like a hymnbook is handed to you when you enter a cathedral for Choral Evensong. This almost certainly never took place. The psalms were designed to be sung (many antiphonally), but probably only by singers on the staff of the Temple. Think Kings College Chapel but not with the ethereal atmosphere of that beautiful place. The Temple was primarily a place of animal sacrifice. So there may have been beautiful (and probably lively) psalm-singing there to tunes that are now lost, but it would also have the appearance of a slaughterhouse. There would have been sweet-smelling incense as in Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Anglo-Catholic churches but also the rank odour of burning meat. The Psalms were (mostly) written as a result of something that happened to someone. They were then collected and used in the cult. Their origin may be described as ‘bottom-up’ rather than ‘top-down’, though having said that, many probably had their origin in the life of the royal court. 5 Psalms outside the Psalms A few psalms occur in the narrative (history) books. Indeed, these books at times read like the script for an opera or a musical! Some made it into the Psalter. See: 2 Samuel 22 (Psalm 18); 1 Chronicles 16: 8-22, (Psalm 105: 1-15); 1 Chronicles 16: 23-33 (Psalm 96: 1-13); 1 Chronicles 16: 35-36 (Psalm 106: 47-48) 2 Chronicles 6: 41-42 (Psalm 132: 8,9) Some did not. See: Exodus 15: 1-18 (the song of Moses and Miriam) (see also vv. 20-21 where the first rendition was led by Miriam, Moses’ sister, with a tambourine!); Deuteronomy 32: 1-43 (the song of Moses); Judges 5: 1-31 (the song of Deborah and Barak); 1 Samuel 2: 1-10 (the song of Hannah. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was obviously very familiar with this song); 2 Samuel 1: 19-27 (David’s lament after the death in battle of Saul and Jonathan); 2 Samuel 23: 1-7; Isaiah 38: 9-20 (attributed to Hezekiah); Jonah 2: 2-9; Habakkuk 3. The editorial note at the end says it was intended to be accompanied by stringed instruments i.e. a psalm (by definition). The fact that in this psalm the ‘heading’ appears at the end has led some scholars to assert that the headings in the psalter itself may have got misplaced i.e. the ‘headings’ belong with the previous psalm. Kidner says this makes sense for the headings to Psalms 30, 56 and 88, but not for most of the psalms. The last songs like this in the Bible occur in the first two chapters of Luke (Magnificat, Benedictus, Nunc Dimittis). Descriptions of singing in the tabernacle/temple: “Your procession is seen, O God, the procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary – the singers in front, the musicians last, between them virgins playing tambourines.” Psalm 68: 24-25 “They ministered with song before the tabernacle of the tent of meeting until Solomon built the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, and they performed their service according to their order.” 1 Chronicles 6: 32; “Now these, the singers, the heads of fathers’ houses of the Levites, were in the chambers of the temple free from other service, for they were on duty there day and night.” 1 Chronicles 9: 33; “And David and all Israel were rejoicing before God with all their might, with song and lyres and harps and tambourines and cymbals and trumpets.” 1 Chronicles 13: 8; 6 “David also commanded the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their brothers as the singers who should play loudly on musical instruments, on harps and lyres and cymbals, to raise sounds of joy.” 1 Chronicles 15: 16; “The singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were to sound bronze cymbals, … were to play harps according to Alamoth, but … were to lead with lyres according to the Sheminith. Chenaniah, leader of the Levites in music, should direct the music, for he understood it.” 1 Chronicles 15: 19-22 (note ‘Alamoth’ and ‘the Sheminith’ are believed to be names of tunes; these words appear in the headings of Psalms 6, 12, 46); “… and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, their sons and kinsmen, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar with 120 priests who were trumpeters; and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the LORD, and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord…” 2 Chronicles 5: 12-13; “Then Hezekiah commanded that the burnt offering be offered on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song to the LORD began also, and the trumpets, accompanied by the instruments of David king of Israel. The whole assembly worshipped, and the singers sang and the trumpeters sounded. All this continued until the burnt offering was finished. When the offering was finished, the king and all who were present with him bowed themselves and worshipped. And Hezekiah the king and the officials commanded the Levites to sing praises to the LORD with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed down and worshipped.” 2 Chronicles 29: 27-30; “And the people of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness, and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day by day, singing with all their might to the LORD.” 2 Chronicles 30: 21; “The singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place according to the command of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and the gatekeepers were at each gate. They did not need to depart from their service [to offer the Passover], for their brothers the Levites prepared for them.” 2 Chronicles 35: 15 Although it is clear the Israelites were a singing people from earliest times (see Exodus 15), no instruction was given in the Law of Moses about singers or singing in the tabernacle or the temple. Rather reports of singers and musicians seem to come later: most of the quotes above are from Chronicles. The organisation of the musicians in temple service is attributed to David in 1 Chronicles 25 where the musicians are described as prophesying to music. Scripture does not say whether there was any singing in the tabernacle during the sacrifices made during the desert wanderings. 7 Musical instruments mentioned In the headings: stringed instruments (Psalms 4, 6, 54, 55, 61, 67, 76); flutes (Psalm 5) In the psalms themselves: lyre (Psalms 33, 57, 92, 98, 108, 149); harp (Psalms 57, 92, 108, 150); ten-stringed harp (Psalms 33); lute (Psalms 92, 150); horn (Psalm 98); tambourine (Psalms 149, 150) The Psalms end with a crescendo of praise. Indeed Psalm 150 sounds very much like a Pentecostal church service! Trumpet, lute, harp, tambourine, strings, pipe, sounding cymbals, loud clashing cymbals are all mentioned in this Psalm! Are Psalms addressed to God? Certainly the prayers and parts of the meditations are addressed to God. Praise very rarely is (the exception is Psalm 75 which starts: “We give thanks to you…”). Rather what we usually regard as ‘praise’ psalms are instead exhortations: they are addressed to almost everything else other than God (think of the hymn ‘Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven…’, not a single verse of which is addressed to God). Stephen Walley This article was written with much help from Derek Kidner’s commentary on the Psalms (IVP, 1973), ‘The Psalms: An Introduction’ by James L. Crenshaw, (Eerdmans, 2001), and the notes on the Psalms in ‘The Jewish Study Bible’ (Oxford University Press, 1985) 8