Johnston The Psalms (Volume 2, Psalms 42 to 106)

Rejoice, the Lord Is King
1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-4335-3362-4
Verlag: Crossway
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 704 Seiten

Reihe: Preaching the Word

Volume 2 of Preaching the Word's Reader-Friendly Commentary on the Psalms Explores Chapters 42-106 The Psalms is one of the most widely loved books of the Bible. A source of instruction for our prayers, inspiration for our songs, and consolation for our tears, these biblical poems resound with the whole spectrum of human emotion and teach us to hope in God each and every day. In the second volume of a 3-part commentary on the Psalms, pastor James Johnston walks readers through chapters 42-106, offering exegetical and pastoral insights along the way. Edited by R. Kent Hughes, the Preaching the Word expository series is an essential resource for anyone interested in studying, teaching, or preaching the Bible. - Expository Commentary on the Psalms: In-depth study explores more than 60 individual psalms and explains how they fit together in Scripture - Reader-Friendly: Written by pastors for pastors, this commentary is also an accessible resource for students and laypeople - Part of the Preaching the Word Series: This is volume 2 of a 3-part commentary on the Psalms; volumes for other books of the Bible are also available

James Johnston (PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is senior pastor of Camelback Bible Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona. He has led workshops on expository preaching for over fifteen years and is an instructor for the Charles Simeon Trust. He and his wife, Lisa, have four children.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Johnston, James

Leseproben

Introduction

The Psalms have sometimes been called the heart of the Bible. This is true physically, of course; if you open your Bible to the middle, you will probably land somewhere in the Psalms.

But they are the heart of the Bible theologically too. The Psalms are the whole Old Testament in miniature. This one book interacts with the Old Testament from Genesis to Malachi: creation, the call of Abraham, the exodus, the Law of Moses, the monarchy, Israel’s disobedience, the exile, the return, and the hope of a greater kingdom. This means that to study the Psalms is to study the whole Old Testament.

Add to this that the Psalms are the Old Testament book quoted most often in the New Testament. Jesus and the apostles turned to the Psalms again and again to preach the kingdom of God, to prove the resurrection, and to establish key doctrines. The Psalms are the heart of the Bible theologically.

The Psalms are the heart of the Bible personally too. As poems, they speak to our own hearts. As poetry, they touch our emotions at a deep level with the beauty and truth of their words.

Since we are coming to the heart of the Bible, we should reorient ourselves to this book as a whole. How should we read the Psalms?

The Psalms Are a Book

This may seem obvious, but this significant fact is often overlooked. More precisely, the Psalms are a book of books—one book made up of five smaller books (Psalms 1—41; 42—72; 73—89; 90—106; 107—150). Each has its own unique message that fits with the other four. Together the one larger book tells a story from beginning to end.

Some people picture the Psalms like a group of inspirational poems bound together with no rhyme or reason. They think the Psalms are as random as a deck of shuffled cards. They act as if the scribes finished the book of Psalms and asked Gomer Pyle to bring the final manuscript down to the print shop. As Gomer was on his way, he tripped on the stairs and the papers went flying. He didn’t want to get in trouble, so he quickly gathered them all together, totally out of order, and brought them to be printed and bound. Some people treat the Psalms as if something like this happened—they act as if the Psalms are a totally random collection of poems.

In fact, the Psalms have been carefully put together in order for a purpose.1 This is a book. The fact that they have been arranged in five distinct and distinctive books is the first clue that there is order to the Psalms. As we walk through Books 2—4 in this volume, we will see again that they have been carefully arranged. There is a story that is told through each book of the Psalms and through the Psalms as a whole.

To understand how the Psalms fit together, think of a cantata like Handel’s Messiah. If classical music isn’t your thing, think of a musical like Oklahoma! or Les Misérables. Each song can stand alone but put them together in order, and they tell a story. The Psalms are the same way—each can stand alone, but together they tell a story from beginning to end.

As a unified book, the Psalms as a whole provides the context for interpreting an individual psalm. Some psalms have details in the superscription that provide additional context, often from a historical book like 1 Samuel. Most individual psalms don’t have any other clear context besides their place in the Psalter, however, and historical reconstructions are simply speculation. Scholarly speculation perhaps, but speculation nonetheless. The categories of form criticism (praise psalms, laments, etc.) are helpful for observing details of the text and similarities with other psalms; ultimately, though, these categories don’t provide additional meaningful context. So too with the proposed function of a given psalm in the worship of Israel; with few exceptions, these cultic settings are speculative and shouldn’t govern interpretation. Rather, the book of Psalms itself provides the primary context for interpretation. James Mays wrote: “In their transmission and shaping and collection as items in the book of Psalms, they, with all the other poetry of the Psalms, ‘ascended’ into another genre. They became Scripture, text whose hermeneutical context is the literary scope of the book in which they stand and the other books of Israel’s scriptures.”2

A Book about Christ

The Psalms are a book about Christ. They are Christian Scripture. The Old Testament is part of the Christian Bible, and each book points forward to Jesus.

Some think that the Old Testament teaches Judaism and belongs to Jews while the New Testament teaches Christianity and belongs to Christians. That is not the case. The entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is Christian Scripture, including the Psalms.

New Testament Evidence

Jesus and the apostles certainly believed the Old Testament was Christian Scripture. The Apostle Paul told Timothy that studying the Old Testament would lead him to faith in Jesus. “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:14, 15).

The Scriptures that Timothy had learned from infancy were the books of the Old Testament. Paul said that the Old Testament is not only able to make you “wise for salvation” but is able to “make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” In other words, according to Paul, the Old Testament teaches salvation by faith (cf. Romans 4). And the object of Old Testament faith is the Messiah, Jesus.

Paul was repeating what Jesus himself taught his disciples. After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to the disciples and told them that the Old Testament spoke of him.

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:44–47)

There is an important point we need to notice here that is not clear in English. The grammar suggests that Jesus considered the Psalms to be part of the Prophets.3

In Greek the word “the” does not appear before “Psalms.” So literally this should be translated, “the Law of Moses and the Prophets and Psalms.” When two nouns are joined by the conjunction “and,” preceded by the definite article “the,” these nouns are linked.4 So here Jesus refers to the Psalms alongside the Prophets. He sets the Psalms with Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel as prophetic Scriptures that point to him.

Peter preached the Psalms as prophecy at Pentecost in Acts 2. He quoted Psalm 16 as he preached that Jesus had been raised from the dead.

For David says concerning him,

“I saw the Lord always before me,

for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;

therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;

my flesh also will dwell in hope.

For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,

or let your Holy One see corruption.

You have made known to me the paths of life;

you will make me full of gladness with your presence.” (Acts 2:25–28)

Why did Peter think that Psalm 16 talked about Jesus’s resurrection? He explained:

Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. (Acts 2:29–32)

David could not have been writing about himself because his body did see corruption, as evidenced by his tomb. Thus David must have been writing about Christ. When we read the words of David, we are not just reading the words of a poet—we are reading the words of a prophet.

And, significantly, Peter said David spoke for Christ in the first person. When David said, “You will not abandon my soul to Hades,” Christ was speaking through him and announcing his resurrection a thousand years before he died and rose again. Christ spoke through David’s “I’s” and “me’s.”

The New Testament regularly says the words of the Psalms are the words of Christ. We...