Commentary on Psalms: From The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary

By Barry C. Davis

Comprehensive, accessible, and fully illustrated--this commentary on Psalms is a must-have resource.

You want a deeper understanding of the Scriptures, but the notes in your study Bible don't give you enough depth or insight. This commentary was created with you in mind.

Each volume of The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary is a nontechnical, section-by-section commentary on one book or section of the Bible that provides reliable and readable interpretations of the Scriptures from leading evangelical scholars. This information-packed commentary will help you gain a deeper understanding of the Bible in your own personal study or in preparation for teaching. It tackles problematic questions, calls attention to the spiritual and personal aspects of the biblical message, and brings out important points of biblical theology, making it invaluable to anyone seeking to get the most out of their Bible study.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
• Release date: Oct 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781493424535

Book preview

© 2012 by Baker Publishing Group

Published by Baker Books

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakerbooks.com

Ebook short created 2019

Previously published in The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary edited by Gary M. Burge and Andrew E. Hill in 2012

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

ISBN 978-1-4934-2453-5

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scripture quotations labeled ESV from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2007

Scripture quotations labeled NASB are from the New American Standard Bible®, copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org

Scripture quotations labeled NIV 1984 are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations labeled NJPS are from the New Jewish Publication Society Version © 1985 by The Jewish Publication Society. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations labeled NKJV are from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations labeled NLT are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations labeled NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations labeled RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise indicated, photos, illustrations, and maps are copyright © Baker Photo Archive.

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Abbreviations

Introduction

Commentary

1. Book 1 (1:1–41:13)  [Psalms 10, 20, 30, 40]

2. Book 2 (42:1–72:20)  [Psalms 45, 50, 60, 70]

3. Book 3 (73:1–89:52)  [Psalms 75, 80, 85]

4. Book 4 (90:1–106:48)  [Psalms 90, 100]

5. Book 5 (107:1–150:6)  [Psalms 110, 120, 130, 140, 150]

Time Lines

Back Ad

Abbreviations

Psalms

Barry C. Davis

Introduction

The Psalms are designed to comfort and to disturb—to minister to our anguish and yet to break us from the complacency of our lives. They do not want us to walk away feeling merely blessed. They want us, at times, to feel bludgeoned, battered, and torn apart. They attack our sensibilities—shaking us to the very roots of our beings—yet they resonate within us with the realization that, perhaps for the first time in our lives, we truly have been understood.

The psalmists expect us to enter with them into the glorious worship of our God—we like that. The psalmists also expect us to join with them in calling for and rejoicing over the destruction of the enemies of our God—for some reason, we feel less than comfortable about that. Some psalms we relate to: we have walked the lonely or tragic path that the psalmist has walked; other psalms make little sense to us: we may even question the psalmists’ reasons for writing them. We wonder how a godly person could write a psalm that expresses personal depression or rage at God, hopelessness, bitterness, or caustic invective. We also marvel and are incredulous that a person experiencing deep personal struggles or the deceptive attacks of an enemy could record words that draw us into the highest heaven—words that make our spirits soar or perhaps cause us to feel a glimmer of hope in the midst of our overwhelming sorrow.

Yet, whether we find a given psalm particularly appealing, feel revulsed by it, or simply read it because it is there, each of the 150 psalms is designed to guide us, discipline us, alter our thoughts and attitudes, or mold us into being more and more like the God of the Bible, the God whom we serve.

The Psalms sit fixed on the pages of the text, unmoved and unchanged like granite. Their words remain always the same; their meaning never changes. Yet, each time we read them, we are different, and God uses them to intrude in our lives and burn his eternal truth into us so that in each meeting with the familiar and the not-so-familiar psalms, we feel we have encountered them again for the first time.

Statue of a harpist from the tomb of Nykauinpu, Giza [Copyright © Baker Photo Archive. Courtesy of the Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago.]

Even a cursory look at the Psalms reveals that their authors intended them to be sung aloud (often following set tunes accompanied by various instruments), read aloud (sometimes antiphonally or responsively), or meditated on. The Psalms are written at times for private use—to express deep feelings of anguish, contrition, or gratitude; at times for informal gatherings of believers—to teach and encourage one another and to praise God; and at times for formal worship services, specific celebrations, or national events. New Testament believers continued many of these practices (cf. Luke 20:41–44; Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16).

Composition, Authorship, and Structure

Under God’s guidance, the 150 psalms tell a unified story—a story of hope