How to Read the Psalms

By Earl Banks

In an easy-to-read style, Earl Banks has provided us with a very important book for people who have wondered, ‘what are the first five books of the Bible all about?’ Or, ‘what are the Psalms all about?’

Earl answers these questions beautifully. Most Christians spend their time reading the New Testament because that’s the Word of the Lord to the believer in Christ. But Earl shows that the book of the Law was the Word of the Lord to the Psalmist. The more we understand the Book of the Law, written by Moses, the more we can understand the Psalms. Earl shows how to read those books of Moses, and how to understand the Psalms.

This is a must read for anyone who would like a deeper understanding of the Old Testament, and especially the book of Psalms.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Jul 21, 2023
• ISBN: 9781645364290

Earl Banks

For several years, Earl taught children’s Sunday school classes before transitioning to teaching adult Sunday school. He holds a two-year diploma in general Bible studies from Summit Pacific Bible College. Additionally, he has attended Life Bible College and Capilano University in North Vancouver, British Columbia.

Book preview

Chapter One

Why Pray, God Destroy

My Enemies?

About three years ago, I decided to do a full study of all I50 Psalms, and it took me about six months to complete my study. When I first started, I knew l would need some help. So, I looked around for some study guides. I found some good material on the internet, and, I had some commentaries of my own. I also went to my local library and checked out a book by C.S. Lewis. He had a chapter where he wrote about the Psalms. As I read his book, he was quite troubled by the Psalms of imprecation. These are the Psalms, where the author cries out, Oh Lord, destroy my enemies. A good example of this can be found in Psalm 69:22-25.

"Let their table become a snare before them,

And their well-being a trap.

Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see;

And make their loins shake continually.

Pour out Your indignation upon them,

And let Your wrathful anger take hold of them."

Now C.S. Lewis was bothered with the Psalmist praying this way because as a Christian, he knew, Jesus taught the exact opposite. Here are the words of Jesus from Matthew 5:44.

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.

These words of Jesus completely contradict with what the Psalmist was praying. So how do we solve this problem? We can certainly see why C.S. Lewis was disturbed with those Psalms of vengeance. I wasn’t quite sure what to do, so l just went ahead and studied the Psalms, hoping I might find an answer to this problem. And I did. As I worked my way through many of the Psalms, and by the way, I didn’t study them in numerical order. That is, I didn’t start with Psalm 1 and then 2 and 3, and so on. I initially studied them in certain categories. In my research on the internet, I discovered there are, depending on the web site you go to, up to 18 different categories. Such as the Psalms of Imprecation, then you have the Psalms of Lament and then the Royal Psalms. It was, while I was studying these various Psalms that I discovered something. I discovered the mistake that C.S Lewis had made, and that I had made. What I am about to say will sound strange, but hang in there with me, for l will show from Scripture, exactly what I am talking about. The mistake that C.S. Lewis made and that I made, when you are reading the book of Psalms, do not read them from the born again Christian point of view, because that is not the view they were written from. The Psalms were written from the Book of the Law point of view. The Books of the Law are: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. This was the Word of the Lord for the writers of the Psalms. The Psalms were written during the time period of the Old Testament, and their Scriptures were the first five books of the Bible.

As we study the Psalms, we will be constantly looking at the Book of the Law, and you will see, I found six themes that appear in many of the Psalms. Now there are probably far more than six themes, but these were the ones that stood out to me. But let’s start with the Psalms of Imprecation, that C.S. Lewis had a problem with, where the Psalmist prays for God to destroy his enemies. I want to go back and look at key verses in the Bible that show why they would offer up that kind of prayer to God; rather than pray to God to bless their enemies as Jesus told us to do. So, we start by turning to Exodus chapter 15, beginning at verse 19.

For the horses of Pharaoh went with his chariots, and his horsemen into the sea, and the LORD brought back the waters of the sea upon them. But the children of Israel, went on dry land in the midst of the sea.

In my Study Bible, just before verse 20, is the title The Song of Miriam.

So, we will continue reading at verse 20.

"Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took the timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. And Miriam answered them:

’Sing to the LORD,

For He has triumphed gloriously!

The horse and its rider,

He has thrown into the sea!"

There was not a whole lot of love coming from Miriam towards her enemies, in this scripture. But if you go back and read the book of Exodus, then you will know that God had sent Moses to Pharaoh to tell him: Let My people go – and Pharaoh refused. We also need to realize that there was a prophecy concerning this deliverance, which was spoken by God to Abraham in Genesis chapter 15, beginning at verse 13.

Then He said to Abraham: ’Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also, the nation whom they serve, I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. But in the fourth generation, they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.

So, we see from this prophecy, spoken by God to Abraham, it tells us why this deliverance would happen. Egypt was oppressing the Israelites and God had promised to deliver them from this Egyptian bondage.

Our next passage to look at, is found in Joshua chapter 2, where Rahab the harlot speaks to two of Israel’s spies. They had crept quietly into Jericho to spy out the city, to see what they would have to fight, as they came to do battle. We begin reading at verse 8.

Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, and said to the men: ’I know that the LORD has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites, who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon, and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. Now therefore, I beg you, swear to me by the LORD, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father’s house, and give me a true token, and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.

If you turn to Joshua chapter 6, beginning at verse 22, you will read how these two spies kept their promise, and Rahab and her household were all spared from any harm.

I must return back to the subject of the deliverance from Exodus, where Miriam sang her song and danced before the LORD. I need to point out the Psalmist celebrated this great victory by God, in Israel’s behalf in Psalms 78, beginning at verse 12.

"Marvelous things He did in the sight of their fathers,

In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

He divided the sea and caused them to pass through;

And He made the waters stand up like a heap.

In the daytime also He led them with the cloud,

And all the night with a light of fire.

He split the rocks in the wilderness,

And gave them drink in abundance like the depths. He also brought streams out of the rock,

And caused waters to run down like rivers."

As we read that last passage from Psalm 78, you will notice the writer begins by talking about how God divided the sea, but then, he talks about how God brought streams of water from a rock. This is pointing back to the miracle God performed on behalf of Israel when they were stuck in the wilderness, in Exodus chapter 17. Verses 5 to 7 record God telling Moses to strike the rock and water would gush forth. Also, the apostle Paul writes about this very event in 1 Corinthians chapter 10:1-3. So this Psalm 78 is just one example of how we can read the Psalms and see where it refers to the Book of the Law.

Let’s continue our study of the theme of imprecation Psalms, by reading Joshua chapter 1, beginning at verse 8.

"This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that