A FEW THOUGHTS ON THE PSALMS

The Book of Psalms begins with “Blessed is the man” and ends with “Praise ye the Lord”. Man blessed on the earth and Jehovah praised from the earth gives a complete idea of the scope of the Psalms.

Psalm 1 is Christ characteristically. There is to be a congregation of the righteous.

Psalm 2 is Christ personally and officially, rejected by man but exalted and saluted by God. “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion”. “The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee”.

Israel said of Reuben, “thou art my firstborn … the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power”. Psalm 1 is the dignity, Psalm 2 the strength, answering to the two pillars in the temple. Jachin: ‘He will establish’. Boaz: ‘In him is strength’. The moral precedes the official.

Psalms 3 to 8 are five experimental psalms.

Psalm 3 is salvation. The man is heard and sustained from the place where Jesus is (the “holy hill”), while meeting with the opposition in the place where Jesus was. The opposition is against Jehovah and His anointed, as in Psalm 2. (See Acts 4: 23-31)

Psalm 4. The appeal is to the God of righteousness. In the way of righteousness he is taunted by the sons of men, “Jehovah will hear” (v 3) and the “light of thy countenance” who turn his glory into shame; but in this way he has two compensations. (v 6) A heart assured and satisfied. Psalm 3 is the rest of protection; Psalm 4 the rest of satisfaction. In Psalm 5 he directs his prayer to God in the sense of what is due to Him in holiness. He hath not pleasure in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with Him, and drawing near to God in His house he worships in His holy temple. It is holiness which shrinks from evil, and confidence in God's deliverance, which is looked for and counted upon.

Psalm 6 is discipline. Chastened and sifted he has confidence in Jehovah, with whom he is in relationship.

Psalm 7 is the final vindication of the righteous and of Jehovah's ways with them, and this introduces us to the “world to come” in Psalm 8. The last verse of this psalm is the link, when he praises Jehovah for his righteousness, and sings forth the name of Jehovah, the most High.

Psalm 8. Upon the Gittith is the harvest home psalm. Here the name of Jehovah, our Adonai, is “excellent … in all the earth”. And all is in subjection to the Son of Man, see 1 Cor 15; Heb 2; Eph 1. It is the climax to the synopsis of the whole book, and brings us in to the “world to come”, setting forth the blessedness of that world where all is in subjection to the Lord, whose name is excellent in all the earth.

The first eight psalms are a complete little Book of Psalms in themselves.

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Psalm 9 begins another section which more directly places us in the circumstances of the last days.

Psalms 9 and 10 seem to run together and form an alphabetical acrostic. In Psalm 10, from verses 2 to 12, the acrostic is dropped, and in those verses we get the man of sin morally described; the acrostic is resumed from verse 12 to the end. These two psalms seem to set forth the throne of God in a Man, and the throne of Satan in a man.

Psalms 11 to 14 give the exercises proper to the godly remnant in connection with the presence and power of Antichrist. In Psalm 11 Jehovah’s temple and throne are recognised and looked to, therefore the foundations are not destroyed. Verse 6 is the antitype of the destruction of Sodom, see Rev 16: 18-21.

In Psalm 12 the lips and words of men in their pride are contrasted with the words of God, which are pure. Verse 5 describes Pharaoh's pride and oppression of the people of God in Exodus, but Jehovah arises to set in safety the afflicted, crushed under the opposition of the wicked.

Psalm 13 expresses the desire under great pressure (“How long …?”) to be kept awake lest he “sleep the sleep of death”. He confides in the loving-kindness of Jehovah and the psalm closes in great rejoicing.

Psalm 14 shews the folly of the exclusion of God; but Jehovah looks down from heaven to see, and finds none answering to Himself “none … good, no, not one”. Yet there were His people, His “afflicted” ones, with whom He could be on the ground of redemption. In principle Balaam and Balak question in verses 4, 5 and 6, but salvation is looked for “out of Zion”. In Psalm 15 the questions are asked, “who shall abide?” and “who shall dwell?” Then later, the Man is described who shall “never be moved”.

In Psalm 15 the man is asked for who can dwell in the hill of Jehovah's holiness, and in Psalm 16 the Man is found. “I have found ... a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will”, 1 Sam 13: 14.

Psalm 16 sets before us the Man who has God for His head. “The head of Christ is God”, 1 Cor 11: 13. It is a Michtam Psalm - a golden jewel, to be set in our hearts. There are nine characteristics of His holy humanity. Every sentence has reference to God, and is proper to a man who has God for his head. Note the way it is quoted in the testimony of the gospel in the Acts, both by Peter and Paul. The doctrine of the latter has its moral springs in this truly blessed psalm. It is the path of life, ending in fulness of joy at Jehovah's right hand.

Psalm 17 is a prayer. There are five psalms thus entitled, which are very instructive. Here Christ is seen in the path of righteousness with outward pressures; in Psalm 16 we get the inward principles which governed Him.

His appeal is on the ground of righteousness, “Hear the right”, and others are associated with Him as in verses 7 and 11. He awaits His vindication in resurrection, which is implied in the last verse: “I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness”.

Psalm 18 is also a resurrection psalm, and speaks of deliverance, righteousness and power. Here Christ, as God's King (v 50), in the triumph of His “great deliverance”, secures all for Israel on the ground of the sure mercies of David, or the platform of resurrection. I judge that in 2 Samuel 22 David is more before us, but here it is Christ, and all is ordered and sure in Him.

These three psalms form a complete group.

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Psalm 19 gives us, first, creatorial testimony, which is objective, continuous and universal. In the heavens are set the symbols of grace. (Rom 10: 18) Secondly, we have the testimony of the law, and this works subjectively, so that the Object of life becomes the rule of life within. It ends with a desire to know it and to answer to it. “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer”, v 14.

In Psalm 20 Messiah is seen and appreciated in His humiliation. The remnant gives expression to its desires for Him, “Jehovah fulfil all thy petitions”. (v 5) Mephibosheth, in the light of David's return to Jerusalem, can say of Ziba, “Yea, let him take all”, 2 Sam 19: 30.

In Psalm 21 the desire is answered, and we have a glorified Messiah.

These two psalms exemplify what another has said, ‘He wins our hearts by His humiliation, and satisfies our hearts by His glory’.

Psalm 22 is the great sorrow psalm of the first book, with its title “Aijeleth Shahar”. The hind of the morning. It is the bitter night of weeping which ushers in the joys of an everlasting day. In the first part (vv 1, 2) the Lord is entirely alone, but in verse 22 the platform of resurrection is reached, the brethren are embraced, and the name declared.

Note - It is a worshipping seed which is secured and which is accounted to the Lord for a generation who shall declare His righteousness. Psalm 16 is the Man, Psalm 21 the King, Psalm 22 the Priest.

Psalm 23 presents to us the great Shepherd in resurrection. (See Heb 13: 20) He leads as Moses, He sustains as Aaron, He administers as David. The pathway ends in the house of Jehovah.

Psalm 24 states that the earth is Jehovah's, and its fulness, and they that dwell therein. It gives us His creatorial rights. The question is raised in verse 3, “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?” - that is, Who shall hold things for God - and, “who shall stand in his holy place?” The One who stands with God is the One who holds and administers all for God. His hand is clean, His heart is pure, His soul is not lifted up to vanity, and “He shall receive the blessing from Jehovah, and righteousness from the God of his salvation”. It is He who gives character to a generation who seek His face in Jacob.

This blessed One, who as Man holds all for Jehovah, is none other than the “King of glory”, the Jehovah of hosts!

It is to be noticed that where the Lord's true and perfect humanity is unfolded His deity is asserted or implied.

This Psalm (24) ends a group of nine psalms in which is a very rich and comprehensive presentation of Christ.