Singing the Psalms Part 2: The Psalms are one book
By Tom Day, 11 Feb 2022
In the last blog post on the Psalms, Ben wrote about how we can and should read the Psalms in Christ. As we read them, we do what Colossians 2 encourages us to do – ‘Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.’ (Colossians 3:16). The Psalms, as with all of Scripture are God’s word to us about his Son, Jesus (Luke 24:44). Uniquely with Psalms though, we read and sing them as words which give content and shape to our worship.
In this second blog post on reading the Psalms, we are going to look at how we can read the Psalms as one whole book. It can sometimes feel like a scary task, but I want to show us how the book itself teaches us to read it as a whole.
The structure in the book of the Psalms
Calvin once called the Psalms ‘An anatomy of all the parts of the soul.’[1] His point was that there is rarely a human experience or emotion that is not expressed in the Psalms. Because of this it can be easy to read the Psalms in an unconnected way, picking out our favourite Psalms and verses which give voice to our current experience. This is not always wrong, but if it is all we do, we miss out on the blessing of reading the Psalms as God has given them to us. ‘If God has given us the Psalms to teach us to pray, then we must learn to pray the Psalms God has given us, and not just the parts that we like.’[2] If the Psalms are about Jesus, then if we just pick and choose, we are missing out on knowing more of him!
Reading them as God has given them means reading them as a whole book, structured together in a specific way for a specific purpose. It might seem strange to claim that there is a structure in the book of the Psalms. There are 150 Psalms filled with a variety of types of literature and written over roughly a period of 800 years by different authors.[3] So what structure can there possibly be?
At the very least the Psalms have been structured for us into 5 books, each ‘book’ ending with a similar proclamation of ‘Praise be to the LORD…. Amen.’[4]
Book 1 – Psalms 1-41
Book 2 – Psalms 42-72
Book 3 – Psalms 73-89
Book 4 – Psalms 90-106
Book 5 – Psalms 107-150
Psalm 1 and 2 as an introduction
As well as this basic 5-part structure, Psalms 1 and 2 act as a kind of introduction. There are many similarities which link them as a double door into the rest of the book.
- Neither one has a title.
- Psalm 2 uses the same word for plotting that Psalm 1 uses for mediation.
- Finally, the word ‘blessed’ appears at the start of Psalm 1 and the end of Psalm 2 (Psalm 1:1; Psalm 2:12) which act as bookends.
Together they introduce some key themes which appear throughout the Psalms.
Psalm 1 introduces the idea of God’s law. The law is the place to find instruction about what God is like and how he deals with his people. It is God’s law which the righteous ‘meditate’ on and which leads to their prosperity and security. Psalm 1 makes clear from the beginning that only the one that keeps the law – wholeheartedly delighting and mediating on it – will experience the Lord’s blessing and protection.
Psalm 2 continues some of the same themes, for example the conflict between the righteous and wicked, but focuses on God’s King. In the face of the rebellion of the wicked, God announces the coronation of his king – a king who is his son, who will proclaim his word, and who will be given all authority to rule over the world. God’s kingdom comes through the universal rule of his Son.
These two themes in Psalms 1 and 2 alert us to look out for a righteous man who delights in God’s law and can rule like Psalm 2’s king.[5] If God’s king is going to effectively rule, he needs to be righteous, prosperous, and protected by God.
As we already know, the Psalms are about Jesus, so we read them knowing he is the Psalm 1 man who perfectly obeyed God’s law, and who in Psalm 2 is God’s king. The pattern in the Bible is that what happens to the king happens to the people, and since Christ is the perfect king, we get to receive the blessings of Psalm 1 and 2 as he leads us.
The progression and story through the Psalms
Reading the whole book of the Psalms in this way helps us with the structure. Through the lens of the righteous King, we see a general movement through the 5 books.
Books 1 and 2 have lots of Psalms that we are told in the superscriptions written by David. The focus seems to be on the ascension of the king to his throne and the beginning of his rule.
Book 1: The rise of the King
Book 1 contains some Psalms of distress and conflict as the king rises to power in the face of rebellion and opposition. For example, Psalm 22 says, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ (Psalm 22:1) yet it ends with confidence in God’s plan to rule, ‘dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations’ (Psalm 22:28).
Book 2: The reign of the King
Book 2 then continues by expressing the glorious rule and reign of the king. Psalm 45 echoes many of those glorious themes from Psalm 1 and 2, ‘In your majesty ride forth victoriously on behalf of truth, humility and righteousness; let your right hand display awesome deeds. Let your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s enemies; let the nations fall beneath your feet.’ (Psalm 45:4-5).
Book 3: The fall of the King
Book 3 seems significantly darker and contains some of the darkest psalms in the whole of the psalter such as Psalm 88. In this book the covenant between God and his king seems fractured. It has many Psalms expressing confusion that God seems to have abandoned his people, ‘Why have you rejected us for ever, O God?’ (Psalm 74:1). The ominous question hanging over us is: has God finally abandoned his people?
Book 4: The rule of God the King
As the covenant with God’s king looking fractured, book 4 falls back on remembering God’s faithfulness in the past. Psalms 105 and 106 come in book 4 as mini–Old Testament overviews remembering God’s past rescue. Significantly, Psalm 90 that is attributed to Moses comes in book 4 as a reminder that their refuge has always been in their relationship with God, ‘Lord, you have been our dwelling-place throughout all generations.’ (Psalm 90:1).
Book 5: The return of the King
Finally book 5 is all about the return of the king. Psalm 107 opens with a glorious Psalm that sounds like the return from exile has already happened, ‘Let the redeemed of the LORD say this – those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, those gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.’ (Psalm 107:2-3). While the promise in Psalm 2 of the king previously looked shattered, it is gloriously reaffirmed in Psalm 110 but in the Messiah figure of the Lord. We are pointed ahead to Lord Jesus, ‘The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’ (Psalm 110:1). Finally, the end of the Psalter finishes with a crescendo of praise to the LORD, ‘Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.’ (Psalm 150:6).
The is a general structure – there is still work to be done in this area. However, hopefully you can see this general progression. As we read them in Christ, we see the pattern of his kingship from being chosen, anointed as king, facing opposition and death, and finally exalted to rule at the right hand of his Father in heaven.
As we read the whole book, we are led to sing with our king, and practise our identity in Christ.[6] We see more of who Christ is, and are made more like him, ‘What the Psalms do is to shape the outpourings of our disordered hearts so that they are reordered by the desires, yearnings, tears, and joys of the Lord Jesus, by whose Spirit they were spoken.’[7]
We may be unsure of why some of the Psalms are where they are, but overall, seeing where they come may give us a context to understand them better, and therefore to know Christ better. When we read Psalm 22, we read knowing that the abandonment Christ felt on the cross was not forever, it was temporary rebellion to his coronation. As we read a Psalm 102 in book 4, we look back at God’s faithfulness in the past, chiefly Christ’s once for all death on the cross, and trust that he will rescue us from death on that last day. And finally, as we arrive in book 5 our worship is directed to praise for our God’s universal reign through his righteous Son.
‘Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.’ (Psalm 150:6) Amen.
[1] John Calvin, Commentary on the Psalms, Calvin’s commentaries, vol IV (Baker, Grand Rapids, MI, 2005), xxxvii.
[2] Christopher Ash, Teaching Psalms Volume 1 (Fearn, Ross-shire: Christian Focus, 2017), 32.
[3] Roughly 800 years from Psalm 90 attributed to Moses to Psalm 126 that seems to be post-exile.
[4] See: Psalm 41:13; 72:19; 89:52; 106:48; 150:6.
[5] This is not new to the Psalms. Dueteronomy 17 shows us the same connection between God’s king and God’s law. ‘When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law…’ (Deuteronomy 17:18).
[6] As Paul says in Romans 6, ‘We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.’ (Romans 6:4).
[7] Ash, Teaching Psalms Volume 1, 25-26.