What to make of the Psalms?

This past week I sat down with a few friends and walked through the shortest Psalm in the Bible, Psalm 117, complete at only two verses.

One of the friends at the table admitted he steers clear of Psalms because it’s hard to know what to do with them now in modern times. How do we move from ancient Hebrew poetry to visible, measurable Christian action?

For those of you who attended our worship service this past week (March 8, 2015), Psalm 117 was the chosen Scripture reading…so for those interested I wanted to show some of what makes even a tiny, short Psalm like this pack a huge punch in our understanding of what it means to be God’s people today.

Part of our issue with Psalms is that it’s poetry. —INSERT ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM–Most of us have enough trouble understanding English poetry that a translation of ancient poetry written in another language seems too daunting. I believe this is one area that God did an amazing job of choosing a language in which to have His Word recorded for us, because one of the main features of English poetry, rhyme, is not something Hebrew poetry relies on (although it is sometimes used). You don’t have to know Hebrew to be able to get at the main point of a Psalm, because while English poets rhyme with the sounds of words, Hebrew poets rhymed with the meaning of words.

The primary feature of Hebrew poetry is what we call parallelism, the repetition of certain words, phrases or ideas that emphasize the writer’s thoughts. Psalm 117 uses two distinct kinds of parallelism in its structure. Verse 1 is one type, and verse 2 is another type.

Here is the Psalm in its entirety

1. Praise Yahweh, all you nations

          Laud Him, all you peoples

2.Because great toward us is His lovingkindness                  

And the faithfulness of Yahweh is everlasting

  Praise Yahweh!

The first and last phrase of the Psalm is “Praise the Lord,” the translation of the Hebrew phrase hallelujah, an intensive command to “give a shout of praise to Yahweh.” “Hallelujah” is not an expression of praise itself, but a command to praise. The fact that the Psalmist has book-ended the Psalm with this phrase (a literary feature scholars call inclusio) is a clue to the reader that Praise to the Lord is the basic subject of this Psalm.  An idea is composed of two parts: a subject and a complement. The subject says what the idea is about…the complement is what the author is saying about the subject. “Praise to the Lord,” is a topic, a subject, but is not a complete idea, so we need the rest of the Psalm to hear what this Psalmist is saying about praise to the Lord.

Psalm 117 is one of the so-called Egyptian Hallel Psalms. Egyptian, because of the references to Egypt in this grouping of Psalms (although no reference to Egypt appears in this particular Psalm), and “hallel,” because that is the Hebrew verb behind “hallelujah.” This is a Psalm that Israelites would sing during the annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem. It was sung during the Passover celebration. So the Israelite singers in this Psalm are addressing in verse 1 “you nations,” and “you peoples.”

“Nations” and “peoples” are words that typically refer to Gentile, non-Jewish, nations. “Peoples” has to do with ethnic groups. All nations and races are being called to shout praise to God here.

I said earlier that verse 1 is structured as a particular type of parallelism. This is called Synonymous Parallelism. Notice how the two lines of the verse 1 are in parallel. Praise-Laud;  Yahweh-Him; all-all, nations-peoples. The second line reinforces and intensifies the idea of the first by saying basically the same thing in different words.

Verse 1 gives a command: Praise the Lord. Verse 2 gives the reason.

“Because great toward us is His lovingkindness…” Lovingkindness is the English translation of the word ḥesed, which is a word specific to the covenant God made with Israel through Moses, the covenant He made with them at Sinai with the giving of the Ten Commandments and all the blessings and promises that came with that relationship. Ḥesed refers to the unconditional love commitment God made to Israel. It is sometimes translated “loyal love.” This is God’s commitment to work for the benefit of Israel, lavishing His love upon them unconditionally. The only reason He gives in Scripture for loving Israel is that He loves them because He loves them.

I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.

Jeremiah 31:3, NASB

 What could be more wonderful than that?

The second reason the Psalmist gives the Gentiles nations to praise God is “the faithfulness of Yahweh is everlasting.” “Faithfulness” here can also be translated “truth,” “truthfulness,” “reliability,” “steadfastness.” God always is faithful and true to what He says. His love is unconditional, and we know it never fails because He has kept a perfect track record. The lovingkindness is a declaration of God, and the faithfulness is His track record to prove what He has declared.

Lovingkindness: “I will always love you.” 

Faithfulness: “I will prove it.” 

Verse 1 is Synonymous Parallelism. Verse 2 is what is called Chiastic Parallelism. As the two lines sit as written above, notice the subjects and the adjectives that describes them are in opposite places.

Great toward us is His lovingkindness

The faithfulness of Yahweh is everlasting

If you draw a line from Great to Everlasting, and from Lovingkindness to Faithfulness you would make an “x,” with your pen. This is called “chiasm” or “chiasmus” because the “x” looks like the Greek letter Chi, “x” (pronounced kee).

Another way to show the impact of using this type of structure is by outlining it.

a. Great

b. lovingkindness

b’ faithfulness

a’ everlasting

What the use of chiasm shows us (hugely prevalent in the Old Testament stories) is a central focus, or a turning point. Here the central focus of the Psalm is the faithful, eternal love of God expressed in his covenant with Israel. This is the reason Israel sings a call to non-Jewish nations to come and praise God.

So let’s put this all together by looking at the whole Psalm in 3 main sections.

1. A call to non-Jewish nations to praise God

2. God’s love and faithfulness expressed in his covenant with Israel

1′ A call to praise God

What is the point of sandwiching a mention of what God gives in His covenant between two calls to Gentile nations to praise God? The whole purpose of God making the covenant with Israel, giving them the Law, etc., was to use them as a display to the nations of the world of what He is like. I’ve used this description in a sermon I preached at this church before, but I like it so I’ll write it out here.

God didn’t look down into the world to see who was obeying and following the rules and then pick them and make them His people. God reached down into the mud and muck of dirty, fallen world and picked up a rock…and not a particularly special or eye-catching rock. It was pretty small and not that talented. And then God cleaned it off, and began polishing it, and once it was polished he set the rock in a gold jewelry setting, and shined a light on it so that light shined out from it as it reflected off of it. And then God took that rock and he placed it back down into the mud next to all the other rocks. Why? So that all the other rocks would know that there was a Jeweler.

So what’s the point? God chooses people and saves them, not just so that they can be saved and enjoy their salvation, but specifically for them to be a conduit of God’s grace to others. Here’s a big question about this Psalm:  Is this Psalm praise, or evangelism? It sure seems like both, doesn’t it?

As C.S. Lewis said once in a book Reflections on the Psalms:

The Psalmists in telling everyone to praise God are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about. …..  I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.  

Why did God choose Israel? To magnify His praise among the nations.

Why did God choose you? To magnify His praise among the nations.

Praise Him with your life, praise Him with your mouth.  May the glory of God revealed in our lives elicit the praise of those who do not yet know Him.

Praise the Lord.