This is part 8 of the Read the Bible For Yourself. The Book of Psalms is an eclectic collection of poetry that you can use to connect to God. In today's episode you'll learn about the different kinds of psalms, who wrote them, and how Hebrew poetry works. The goal, as always, is to equip you to read and understand on your own. Whether you've been reading the Psalms for years or are brand new to them, this episode should empower you to get more out of them than ever before. Also, I conclude by recommending a method of reading, called Lectio Divina, which you can use to meditate on the Psalms. Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2lJMxFR7n4 —— Links —— Check out All 150 Psalms Categorized See other episodes in Read the Bible For Yourself Other classes are available here, including How We Got the Bible, which explores the manuscript transmission and translation of the Bible Get the transcript of this episode Support Restitutio by donating here Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library. Who is Sean Finnegan? Read his bio here —— Notes —— Basic Facts Phenomenal for devotional reading, emotional connection 150 total psalms Called psalms, not chapters (Psalm 50:4 not Psalms 50:4) Authors: David (73), Asaph (12), Sons of Korah (11), Heman the Ezrahite (1), Ethan the Ezrahite (1), Moses (1), Solomon (2), Anonymous (49) Book 1: 1-41 Book 2: 42-72 Book 3: 73-89 Book 4: 90-106 Book 5: 107-150 David reassigned the Levites to develop a music ministry to worship God (1 Chron 16:4-6, 41-42). Chesed כִּי לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּוֹ (1 Chron 16:41) for his chesed (is) forever. הוֹדוּ לַיהוָה כִּי־טוּב כִּי לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּוֹ (Ps 118:1) O give thanks to Yahweh for (he is) good for his chesed (is) forever. chesed is an extremely important word in the Psalms. “EVV [English versions] translate chesed by expressions such as ‘steadfast love’ and ‘constant love.’ It is sometimes described as covenant love, though in the OT it rarely appears in the company of the word ‘covenant.’ It is used in two connections: when someone makes an act of commitment for which there is no reason in terms of prior relationship, and when someone keeps their commitment when they might be expected to abandon it (e.g., because the other person has done so). It is the Hebrew equivalent to the Greek agape.”[1] Walter Brueggemann’s Three Kinds of Psalms Orientation: celebrate order in creation and in morality (Psalm 8) Disorientation: complaints about injustice and God’s inactivity (Psalm 88) Reorientation: renewed sense of trust; thanksgiving for deliverance (Psalm 30) The psalms nicely compliment the various types of wisdom literature we covered last time. 14 Types of Psalms Praise Psalms Historical Psalms Torah Psalms Creation Psalms Royal Psalms Enthronement Psalms Wisdom Psalms Prophecy Psalms Trust Psalms Petition Psalms Complaint Psalms Repentance Psalms Imprecatory Psalms Thanksgiving Psalms Hebrew Poetry Word play Acrostic psalms Thought rhyming instead of word rhyming Synonymous parallelism Antithetical parallelism Synthetic parallelism Transliterated Terms Selah (71x) may mean a pause (perhaps for a musical interlude). Maskil (13x), miktam (6x), gittith (3x), alamoth (1x), higgaion (1x), and shiggaion (1x) were probably musical instructions of some sort. Lectio Divina (Divine Reading) First reading Read the psalm or a section of it twice. Pause to reflect on what you read. Second reading Read text once. Look for a verse or phrase that sticks out to you. Pause and reflect on that phrase turning it over in your mind Third re
This is part 8 of the Read the Bible For Yourself.
The Book of Psalms is an eclectic collection of poetry that you can use to connect to God. In today's episode you'll learn about the different kinds of psalms, who wrote them, and how Hebrew poetry works. The goal, as always, is to equip you to read and understand on your own. Whether you've been reading the Psalms for years or are brand new to them, this episode should empower you to get more out of them than ever before. Also, I conclude by recommending a method of reading, called Lectio Divina, which you can use to meditate on the Psalms.
Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2lJMxFR7n4
—— Links ——
—— Notes ——
Basic Facts
Chesed
Walter Brueggemann’s Three Kinds of Psalms
14 Types of Psalms
Hebrew Poetry
Transliterated Terms
Lectio Divina (Divine Reading)
Review
Appendix: All the psalms categorized by type
#
Types
Description
Psalms
1
praise
extolling God for his character and actions
23, 24, 34, 46, 67, 76, 95, 100, 103, 111, 117, 139, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150
2
historical
overviews of interactions between God and his people
78, 81, 89, 105, 106, 114, 132, 135, 136
3
Torah
poems about the Torah and the benefits of obedience
1, 19, 112, 119
4
creation
songs about the well-ordered creation
8, 19, 65, 104, 148
5
royal
poems about the king; messianic psalms
2, 20, 21, 45, 61, 72, 101?, 110, 144?, 149?
6
enthronment
poems about God sitting on his throne and ruling
9, 24, 29, 33, 47, 50?, 93, 96, 97, 98, 99, 102?, 113, 145, 146
7
wisdom
extolling wisdom and disparanging folly
1, 14, 15, 37, 49, 52, 53, 73, 90, 101, 112, 127, 128,
8
prophecy
words spoken by God to the people
2, 50, 81, 82, 91, 108, 110, 132
9
trust
expressing confidence in what God will do
57, 61, 62, 63, 68, 69, 71, 73, 77, 82, 85, 91, 94, 102, 115, 121, 125, 131
10
petition
asking for deliverance (usually from enemies)
3, 6, 7, 17, 22, 25, 26, 27, 31, 36, 40, 41, 54, 56, 59, 60, 69, 70, 79, 86, 108, 123, 141, 142, 143, 144
11
complaint
complaining, asking "how long?" "why?" etc.
13, 42, 43, 44, 60, 74, 80, 88, 89, 120
12
repentance
repenting from sinful action(s)
32, 38, 39, 51, 130
13
imprecatory
wishing God to harm one's enemies
5, 10, 11, 12, 28, 35, 55, 58, 69, 70, 79, 83, 109, 129, 137, 140
14
thanksgiving
thanking God for the deliverance he has provided
4, 16, 18, 30, 40, 64, 65, 66, 75, 92, 107, 116, 118, 124, 138
15
Zion, pilgrimage
songs praising Zion/Jerusalem or talking about going there
48, 84, 87, 122, 125, 126, 128, 129, 133, 134, 147
[1] John Goldingay, Psalms, vol. 3: Psalms 90-150, Baker Commentary on the Old Testament: Wisdom and Psalms, ed. Tremper Longman III, (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008), 753. I altered his spelling from hesed to chesed to conform to the actual pronunciation.