Psalms: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching
4.5/5
()
About this ebook
Related to Psalms
Related ebooks
First and Second Peter, James, and Jude: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFirst, Second, and Third John: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jeremiah: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5First and Second Chronicles: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJob: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lamentations: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFirst and Second Kings: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFirst and Second Thessalonians: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHebrews: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ezekiel: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Romans: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJohn: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Philippians and Galatians Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeuteronomy: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Joshua: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Psalms Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEcclesiastes: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hebrews: Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsExodus: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRevelation: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Matthew: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Genesis: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Abingdon New Testament Commentaries: 1, 2, & 3 John Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/51 & 2 Peter and Jude: A Theological Commentary on the Bible Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMark Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRuth: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Second Corinthians: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leviticus: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mark: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Christianity For You
The Bible Recap: A One-Year Guide to Reading and Understanding the Entire Bible Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Screwtape Letters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Girl's Guide to Great Sex: Creating a Marriage That's Both Holy and Hot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Enoch Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Holy Bible (World English Bible, Easy Navigation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boundaries Updated and Expanded Edition: When to Say Yes, How to Say No To Take Control of Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Winning the War in Your Mind: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Don't Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table: It's Time to Win the Battle of Your Mind... Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Your Brain's Not Broken: Strategies for Navigating Your Emotions and Life with ADHD Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I'll Start Again Monday: Break the Cycle of Unhealthy Eating Habits with Lasting Spiritual Satisfaction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mere Christianity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are so You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Story: The Bible as One Continuing Story of God and His People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wild at Heart Expanded Edition: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Uninvited: Living Loved When You Feel Less Than, Left Out, and Lonely Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Changes That Heal: Four Practical Steps to a Happier, Healthier You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Warrior of the Light: A Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boundaries with Kids: How Healthy Choices Grow Healthy Children Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boundaries Workbook: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Law of Connection: Lesson 10 from The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Four Loves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Boundaries and Goodbyes: Loving Others Without Losing the Best of Who You Are Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Psalms
11 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An excellent, consistently useful and practical commentary due to its readability and lack of academic apparatus. I'm a bit taken aback that I've never noticed this commentary until now, but I'm very pleased with it. Judicious and conservative, Mays occasionally references other sources from within the text, but not in a burdensome way. The overall impression is one of thoughtfulness, well-written brevity, and a high standard of scholarship. This one belongs on your shelf, and I've resorted to it again and again.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Bible study of Psalms
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Always insightful and brief enough to be useful on an as-needed basis. That is, if the psalm raises a question in you, Mays can point you to the answer. He is not shy of the Christological meanings either, to his Christian credit. -Met him Vancouver 1989. Gracious.
Book preview
Psalms - James Luther Mays
BOOK ONE
Psalms 1–41
Psalm 1: Delight in the Law
The Book of Psalms begins with a beatitude. Not a prayer or a hymn, but a statement about human existence. Here at the threshold of the Psalter we are asked to consider the teaching that the way life is lived is decisive for how it turns out. This opening beatitude also serves as an introduction to the book. Its location as the first psalm is not accidental; the psalm is there to invite us to read and use the entire book as a guide to a blessed life. It introduces an agenda of themes that recur frequently in the book and play a fundamental role in its theology. So the psalm needs to be interpreted at two levels: first as a psalm in its own right and then in its relation to the whole book.
1. Psalm 1 has the form of a complex beatitude. The form is composed of the formula, Blessed (is) the one …,
followed by a word or a clause that identifies a kind of character or conduct: for instance, Blessed the one who takes refuge in him
(34:8). Here in Psalm 1 the basic beatitude is Blessed the one whose delight is in the law of the LORD.
One way to analyze the elaboration of this central statement is to note the pattern of contrast in the psalm. Verse 1 says what the blessed do not do, and verse 2 says what they do do. Verse 3 uses a long simile and a short statement to describe the good outcome of the life of the blessed. Verse 4 uses a brief contrasting simile, and verses 5–6 use a long concluding statement to describe the failed life of the wicked. Behind this pattern in the literary structure is the antithetical pair of righteous/wicked, though the righteous are not specifically mentioned until the concluding statement, because the psalm is designed to emphasize one thing as fundamental to the righteous—engagement with the law of the LORD. That is the central purpose of the psalm, to commend joyous and continuous concern with the law of the LORD. Blessed
is the traditional translation of the saying’s formulaic word; contemporary translations prefer happy
in order to distinguish these sayings from pronouncements of blessing that invoke the beneficent work of God on persons and groups. In blessings, the formulaic Hebrew term is baruk ; in beatitudes, ‘ashre. The primary difference is that the blessing invokes God’s beneficent support of life, while the beatitude points to and commends the conduct and character that enjoy it.
This opening beatitude is followed by others scattered through the Psalter. The next one comes at the end of Psalm 2, and with this one it forms an inclusion that binds the two psalms together as a double introduction to the book. In all, there are twenty-five such sayings in the Psalms, compared to eight in Proverbs. The beatitude seems to have been a favored literary form in post-exilic psalm composition. The subject of the psalmic beatitudes is the religious life, piety as enacted or enjoyed. They commend both obedience and trust. Their presence in the psalms is one evidence of the instructional purpose that informs psalmody in its later history. This first beatitude prompts the reader to think of the entire book as instruction for life and commends a kind of conduct that uses the Psalter in that way.
2. The commended conduct is constant reflective meditation on the law
(torah) of the LORD that grows out of delight in it and concern for it. The basic meaning of the term torah is instruction, not legal rules and stipulations. Commandments and ordinances are called torah because they instruct. The term is used variously in the Old Testament for material that directs belief and conduct ranging from prophetic oracles (Isa. 1:10) to a version of the Book of Deuteronomy (Deut. 31:24). Here "torah of the LORD" is used in a comprehensive sense to refer to the whole body of tradition through which instruction in the way and the will of the LORD is given to Israel. This psalmist knows torah in the written form, Scripture that one can read and absorb (see Josh. 1:8). It is from this written torah that wisdom for the living of life can be gained. It is the medium from which one can learn the way and the will of the LORD and store up that learning in one’s heart so that it shapes the structure of consciousness (40:9; 37:31). This is the reason why torah is the cause of delight, not because it is an available instrument of self-righteousness, material for a program of self-justification, but because the LORD reaches, touches, and shapes the human soul through it. For this psalm, torah is a means of grace. Jeremiah 17:7–8 says, Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD…. That one is like a tree planted by water.
When Psalm 1 replaces trust in the LORD
with "delight in the LORD’s torah," it is not to substitute confidence in the law and self. The psalmist trusts himself to torah as a discipline of entrusting life to the LORD. The psalm represents the prototype of Scripture piety that is part of the heritage of Judaism and Christianity.
As introduction to the book, Psalm 1 invites us to expect and receive torah from the psalms, that is, to read them as Scripture. The reader will come upon two other great witnesses to torah piety in Psalms 19 and 119. Scattered through the psalms are recurrent references to torah and its constituent elements and forms that show how fundamental it is to the religion the Psalter represents and nurtures. Indeed, Psalm 1 wants the whole to be read as instruction—instruction in prayer, in praise, in God’s way with us and our way under God. The division of the Book of Psalms into its five component books doubtless expresses the same view of the Psalter by giving it an analogous shape to that of the first five books of the biblical canon, which came to be called the Torah
in Jewish tradition (Mays, The Place of the Torah Psalms in the Psalter,
pp. 3–12).
3. The counterparts of those whose life is directed by the LORD’s instruction are the wicked. The psalm uses the opposing word pair wicked/righteous
for pedagogical purposes. The terms are categories of discrimination that function as simple opposites, with no grading between the two and no ambiguity in either. But the categorical character of the terms does not imply that their use reckons with absolute moral righteousness or wickedness. The discrimen that determines which applies is theological. The issue is the relation of a pattern of living to the LORD, and in the psalm’s theology, life either is in the right with God or it is not. No partly righteous, no a-little-bit-wicked. Do life purpose and life performance confirm or deny the sovereign deity of the LORD? For the torah piety of this psalm, the central question is what directs life. If concern with and searching the revelation of the LORD informs and guides living, then one is in the right on this question. The wrong in the wicked lies in the fact that they offer another possibility. Their advice and path and position are their own. The direction given life by them expresses their sinfulness and cynicism. In their very autonomy they are wrong, and those who are guided by their torah are in the wrong with respect to the LORD’s torah (see Job 21:14). The psalm does not call those devoted to the LORD’s torah to withdraw from society into a defensive ghetto. What is to be avoided is not the wicked but their influence and effect on life. Jesus ate with sinners, but he did not follow their way. The psalmist does know about the power of socialization, so he warns against this corrupting