O'Donnell / Ortlund Psalms

A 12-Week Study
1. Auflage 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4335-4101-8
Verlag: Crossway
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 96 Seiten

Reihe: Knowing the Bible

The book of Psalms powerfully resonates with the whole spectrum of human emotions and experiences, resounding with heartfelt praise, humble confession, and honest lament. Plumbing the theological depths, this guide explains the biblical text with clarity and passion-exploring the Bible's ability to transform our emotions and incline our hearts toward worship. Over the course of 12 weeks, each study in this series explores a book of the Bible and: - Asks thoughtful questions to spur discussion - Shows how each passage unveils the gospel - Ties the text in with the whole story of Scripture - Illuminates the doctrines taught in each passage - Invites you to discover practical implications - Helps you better understand and apply God's Word

Douglas Sean O'Donnell (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is the senior vice president of Bible and church resources editorial at Crossway and is a member of the ESV Translation Oversight Committee and a Senior Fellow of the Center for Pastor Theologians. He has written over twenty books, including commentaries, Bible studies, devotionals, and a children's curriculum. In addition to his writing, he contributes editorially to several major commentary series, including Crossway's Commentary on the Greek New Testament,  the Concise Bible Commentary, the Conversational Commentary, and the Reformed Exegetical Theological Commentary on Scripture. ?He is the general editor of the ?Knowing the Bible ?series and the liturgies and Scripture editor of The ?Sing! Hymnal.

Autoren/Hrsg.

O'Donnell, Douglas Sean

Ortlund, Dane

Leseproben

WEEK 2: DOORWAY
TO THE PSALMS

Psalms 1–18

The Place of the Passage

Psalms 1–2 are the “doorway to the Psalms” in that they open the Psalter by introducing two of its primary themes: submitting to God’s word and God’s king. As we enter into Israel’s songbook, songs that were originally sung at the temple1 are applied to every individual (“blessed is the man”; Ps. 1:1) for his own personal prayers and contemplations (on the Lord’s law “he meditates day and night”; Ps. 1:2).

The Big Picture

The first 18 Psalms take us on a journey through a full range of emotions and topics related to them, concluding fittingly with personal praise for what God has done and will do: “I love you, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn2 of my salvation, my stronghold” (Ps. 18:1–2). (For further background, see the ESV Study Bible, pages 942–960, or visit www.esvbible.org.)

Reflection and Discussion

Read through the entire text for this study, Psalms 1–18. Then interact with the following questions and record your notes on them concerning this section of the Psalms.

Don’t overlook the obvious. The Psalms are poems. Thus, they all employ beautiful imagery and voice great emotion. They also are structured in a certain way. In Hebrew poetry the most distinctive and pervasive organizing form of poetic art is parallelism. The three principal kinds are synonymous, antithetic, and synthetic. In a synonymous parallel the second half-line is identical or similar to the first. In an antithetic parallel the second half-line is opposite the first. In a synthetic parallel the second half-line imitates but also adds to the first. All three forms carry forward the thought of the first. Look at Psalms 3:1; 7:10; and 18:27. These are three examples of the three types of parallelisms—synonymous (echoes), antithetic (contrasts), and synthetic (completes). From the three verses above, which verse represents what type?

Read Genesis 12:1–3 and 2 Samuel 7:12–16. How do these two promises relate to Psalm 2? Then, read Acts 13:33, Romans 1:4, and Hebrews 1:5. What is said of Jesus in relation to these promises?

For the first (it won’t be the last!) time in the Psalms, “foes” and “enemies” are mentioned in Psalm 3. Look at the superscription for Psalm 3. How does learning that David was the author, and that this psalm was tied to the occasion of Absalom’s rebellion (2 Samuel 15–16), help you better understand the strong language and blunt and seemingly brutal requests? (For further help on this topic, see the ESV Study Bible, page 938.)

The superscription for Psalm 3 is the first in the Psalter. The superscription in Psalm 4 is the first psalm to add “to the choirmaster” as well as “with stringed instruments.” Other psalms will say “to the choir” and list various other instruments besides the human voice, such as “for the flutes” (Psalm 5; compare Ps. 150:3–5). Tune names are also sometimes given, such as “According to the Sheminith” (Psalm 6) or “According to the Doe of the Dawn” (Psalm 22). What do such titles teach you about the nature and use of the Psalms?

As we shall see in our study of the Psalms, the Psalms are quoted more than 70 times in the New Testament. The apostle Paul quotes Psalm 4:4 in Ephesians 4:26. How does he apply it?

Psalm 5 is the first psalm to call God “King” (v. 2). This is the most pervasive metaphor for God in the Psalms: he is the God who rules the whole of creation. This psalm also provides the first instance of a psalm with prayers for the personal downfall of enemies. What does the psalmist ask God to do? Why?

Psalm 6:1 is a good example of a parallelism. What different words mean nearly the same thing? How does the second line move beyond the first?

The early church labeled Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143 the “Penitential Psalms.” Psalm 6 is the first of these psalms. While we don’t know the specific sin or sins he sorrows over, what does the psalmist ask God to do for him?

Poetry uses imagery; what are the images employed in Psalms 6:6–7 and 7:1–2? Why does God use so many metaphors, similes, etc., in the Psalms? More specifically, how does such imagery aid the forming and expressing of ideas?

Psalm 8 is a “hymn of praise.” Notice that God is not praised for abstract attributes, but rather for what?

The Psalms teach us about God as well as about ourselves. What is said of “man” (human beings) in Psalm 8? How does the New Testament—namely 1 Corinthians 15:25–27; Ephesians 1:22; and Hebrews 2:6–9—apply this Psalm to Jesus? Compare also Psalm 8:2 with what Jesus said in Matthew 21:16.

In light of Romans 3 (phrases like “None is righteous, no, not one; . . . for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”; vv. 10, 23), when the psalmist asserts his innocence it may come across as self-righteous and presumptuous. Such claims are made in a few psalms in this section, including Psalms 4:1; 6:1; 7:3–5, 8; 17:1–5; and 18:20–24. Look at those psalms for a context in which to set those claims. What is the situation? How does that change the way you read phrases like “my righteousness” or “my feet have not slipped”? And, more generally, is it proper to make such claims of innocence? If so, when?

The Greek and Latin versions of Psalms 9–10 have these psalms combined as a single psalm, in part because, together, they follow a basically acrostic3 pattern. Moreover, there are thematic similarities. What do the two psalms have in common? How are they different?

Psalm 9 serves as an excellent summary of Psalms 1–18: that the Lord is a king who righteously saves those who trust in him by judging the nations who do not. From Psalms 9–18, a group called “the wicked” (also called “sinners,” “scoffers,” “wrongdoers,” “ungodly,” etc.) rises to the surface. For example, look at Psalm 10. Why does the psalmist ask God to arise and judge the wicked? What have the wicked done?

Psalm 10 begins with a question we all ask at times: “Why, O LORD, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” Look at Matthew 26:53; 27:43; Luke 23:14–16; and 1 Peter 2:23. How did Jesus wait for God’s answer to this question? How does he serve as a model for you?

How is the question in Psalm 15:1 (asked twice, as a parallelism) answered in the rest of the psalm? Does anything make you uncomfortable about the answers? How does Hebrews 12 give a New Testament perspective on this?

There is a popular Christian slogan that “God loves the sinner but hates the sin.” What do you make of that slogan in light of Psalm 11:5?

It would be fascinating to do a study on all the questions asked in the Psalms! A common question (asked more than 20 times in the Psalms), starts “How long?” In Psalm 13, “How long?” is repeated four times. What helps the psalmist wait? Can what helped him, also help you?

Psalm 18 is an adaption of David’s song in 2 Samuel 22. In Romans 1:3 Paul writes of Jesus as “descended from David according to the flesh.” Similarly, Mary sings of her Son as being given “the throne of his father David” and having an everlasting kingdom (Luke 1:31–33). Jesus fulfills the Davidic covenant (read 2 Samuel 7). Where in Psalm 18 is this covenant talked about? Also, where is another place in the New Testament (there are many!) where Jesus is called “the Son of David”?

Read through the following three sections on Gospel Glimpses, Whole-Bible Connections, and Theological Soundings. Then take time to consider the Personal Implications these sections may have for you.

Gospel Glimpses

SALVATION. When the Psalms (e.g., Ps. 3:1, 6, 7) speak of salvation from enemies, they prefigure our salvation through Christ from the ultimate evils of Satan, sin, and death (Heb. 2:14–15). By means of the resurrection (Acts 3:13–15), God the Father delivered Jesus from his enemies, and that is the basis of our deliverance (Rom. 4:25). As sinners (“there is none who does good”; Ps. 14:1), we cannot stand before a holy God—“evil may not dwell with you” (Ps. 5:4). Christ’s perfect holiness alone allows us to come into God’s presence (Heb. 10:19–22).

BLESSING THE RIGHTEOUS. God’s commitment to bless the righteous, as seen throughout the Psalms (e.g., Ps. 1:1), is supremely shown when he blesses Jesus, the perfectly righteous man, by raising him from the dead (Phil. 2:10–11). The blessings of Psalms are therefore for all Christians as well.

YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Paul rightly uses Psalm 5:9 in Romans 3:13 as part of his argument that both Jews and Gentiles are under the power of sin. The two previous verses from Psalm 5 speak of how the genuinely godly recognize that they come before God only through...