An Interpretive Overview of Psalms
The book of Psalms is a collection of lyrical poems that were written by multiple authors. In fact, Psalms is just one of two books in the Bible that identify as having multiple writers.1 Psalms is also the longest book of the Bible and also includes the longest chapter of the entire Bible with Psalm 119. It is estimated that the various psalms that make up the book were written between 1000 and 721 BCE.2 Contributors to the book include King David, Moses, Asaph, the descendants of Korah, Solomon, Ethan, and Heman. There are also about 50 of the Psalms that do not mention an author. Psalms was originally called Tehillim, which means “praise songs” in Hebrew.3 The English name of “Psalms” comes from the Septuagint’s Greek title Psalmoi, that also meaning “songs of praise.”4
Because the Psalms was written across a great span of time, the setting changes for each Psalm individually. While there are a number of Psalms we can place chronologically because of their author, we don’t necessarily know a great deal of why the author chose to write about what he did in that particular moment. However, there are some Psalms that not only give us the author but also when and why they wrote it. Psalm 34 was written in response to David acting insane in front of Abimelech and Psalm 59 when Saul ordered soldiers to David’s house, an account we can read in in 1 Samuel 19:11. There are a handful of others that specifically list the setting for the writing and there are also some that the setting can be imagined. Psalm 90 was written by Moses and based on his crying out to the Lord it would be safe to assume this was probably written during or near the end of the time God’s people were wandering in the wilderness.
Another element that is intriguing is
the mention of instructions at the beginning of some Psalms. Some Psalms start
with “For the director of music” and others list a tune by which the Psalm
should be sung. Additionally, 13 Psalms say maskil at the beginning,
although scholars have yet to determine a plausible meaning for the word.5
Based on these opening instructions, we see the primary setting for how
these Psalms were used was in singing, most likely to worship God, sing
thanksgiving to Him, lament tragedy, or repent of wrongdoing. Essentially,
Psalms expressed the feelings of those who wrote them at the time of writing
and the feelings of those who chose to sing them.
The structure of Psalms is unique. The
Psalms are organized into five books or collections. Since they were written
across a great deal of time, they were probably collected gradually. Since the
latest few authors chronologically were Ethan and Heman, both Ezrahites, it is
likely this is when the wrote document was completed. Each section or book
within Psalms concludes with a doxology, with the entire booked completed by
Psalm 150, a grand doxology.6
The five collections can be broken down into five themes. Each of these then can correspond with a book from Pentateuch, Psalms 1-41 can be labeled the Genesis section as the book can be boiled down to man’s state of blessedness, the fall, and recovery. The second collection would be the Exodus collection and Psalms 42-72 details man’s ruin and redemption. The Leviticus section is from 73-89 and darkness into light appears as the common theme. Psalm 90-106 then makes up the Numbers collection detailing the perils and protection of the pilgrim in this world. Finally, the Deuteronomy section which goes from Psalm 107-150 concludes with praise for the perfection of God’s Word.7
While Psalms may appear to have little
structure and outline, when approached as a whole it is easy to see each
section was carefully designed and laid out.
As
a whole, the book of Psalms is a book of praise. It calls on it’s reader to
praise God for who He is, what He’s done, and what He will do. Psalms brings
into focus the greatness, faithfulness, and awesomeness of God and what our
response should be when we come face to face with it. Psalms also shows the
great love of God and the way He cares for us. The glimpse of worship Psalms
offers is a picture of a heart devoted to God, an individual’s repentant life
before Him, and how lives can be changed through encounters with Him.8
Literary
Method
In order to fully understand the
uniqueness and depth of the book of Psalms, it is important to grasp the
literary style and form in which Psalms is written. There are two key elements
to the literary style. These include Psalms’ poetic style and the types of
poetry found in Psalms.
While it may not appear to be poetic to the English ear and eye at all times, the book of Psalms was written and handed down as poetry. Much of the poetic rhyme and meter was lost in the translation. Despite this, it is still very easy to see the book of Psalms has defined structure and phrasing, unlike other books of the Bible. A psalm is a Hebrew form of poetry known as parallelism.9 Poetry can be defined as “a piece of literature that uses the sounds of language to enhance its meaning”.10 It is apparent that the authors of Psalms were trying to appeal to not only the intellect of its readers, but also their emotions and feelings. When one thinks of poetry, especially in today's world, the idea of poetry can appear to be outdated, musty, and boring. In reality, while poetry can be quite beautiful spoken in plain word, songs are just poetry with music. The Psalms were meant to be not only read but sung. They include songs of praise, songs of lament, songs of hope, and songs of remembrance. In addition to this, Psalms can also be prayers. Prayers can come in both melodic and nonmelodic forms. Since the Psalms is a collection of prayers and songs, it is not at all surprising that we find distinct structure, repetition, and clear methods of articulation in them. Even though there is much diversity in the Psalms, there is also a lot that is similar, from major structural elements, to standardized ways of referring to problems facing individuals or the nation of Israel, to expressing cries for help in the form of petitions to God. It is this structure that gives proof that the Psalms were most likely included in the normal spiritual life of ancient Israel.11
While there is certainly room for
alternative opinions, there are five general styles of psalms. These include
praise, lament, confession, trust, and promise. Praise psalms would be the
songs sung in worship to God by the Israelites. We also see a few instances in
the Gospels where the singing of a psalm is recorded, such as Matthew 26, and
psalms were strictly the only songs sung in the church until hymnwriters like
Isaac Watts appeared in the early 1700s.12 Even with the addition of
hymns into the church, it took a number of years before the grand majority of
people accepted hymns in place of singing the sacred psalms.
Psalms of lament are an expression of grief and sorrow.13 These were written by multiple writers, mainly David, when the poet was experiencing a great trial or difficulty. Psalms 3, 4, 22, and 44 are just a few that we can find in Psalms that relate the agony and great emotion the author was feeling. Psalm 22 is especially notable because Jesus quoted the opening line of the poem when He was on the cross. The lament psalms can be used as prayers, relating to God the deepest yearnings of our hearts.
Psalms of confession were psalms
that were written in repentance of wrongdoing. Psalm 32 was possibly written
following David’s affair with Bathsheba and subsequent murder of her husband. Regardless,
David’s repentance is clearly evident, while the consequences of sin are
spelled out. David’s suffering from his sin was very real and it wasn’t until
he confessed that found relief. These are Psalms that not only can teach about
the consequences of sin, but also God’s judgement and mercy upon the sinner,
like David felt. We also often see promises and restoration in the psalms of
confession after the sinner’s repentance and heart of willingness to come clean
before God is shown.
Psalms of trust are similar to
psalms of praise but differ in a few ways. First, psalms of trust tell the
reader something about the character of God. Psalm 23, a very comforting and o
Psalm, is a great example of this style. The writer is conveying the truth that
God will lead and guide in times of difficulty and the subsequent David has in
God. There are many proclamations made throughout these psalms concerning the
writer’s actions as a result of who God is and what He has done. This may be on
their behalf or on the behalf of the nation of Israel. Psalms of trust are
great reminders still of why God is trustworthy and deserving dedication and
adoration.
Finally, Psalms of promise speak of
what will happen when one trusts in God and follows in His way’s. Psalm 1
exemplifies this as it details what will occur to the one who walks in the way
of God and does not associate with evil and the evildoer. Psalm 119 is another
demonstration of this as the author talks of the many blessings and promises
that exist for those who live by God Law and Word. There are also some
prophetic parts of Psalms, and these would also fall into this category as
well.
Overall, when thinking about the
literary style of Psalms, the most important thing to remember is the there is
no one size fits all or easy way to classify all the various forms that appear
throughout the book. There are stanzas of all five styles that appear
throughout individual Psalms, intricately tied together though as poetry in
song. The book of Psalms bears a uniqueness, unlike any other book of the
Bible. Despite that variety and variances that do occur from psalm to psalm,
when viewed in its entirety, we see a tapestry. One that is strung together to show
a glimpse of the nature of God, the emotions of mankind, and the promises of a
God who sustains them.
An
Exegetical Look at Psalm 36
While Psalms come in various styles, emotions, and lengths, a common theme through all of them is the understanding of who man is and who God is. Psalms continually speak of the depravity of man while highlighting the goodness, mercy, and awesomeness of God. One example of this is Psalm 36. On occasion, some Psalms will also present themselves as a conversation or narrative of events concerning the life of its author. Psalm 36 is one of these as David describes the psalm as “an oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked.” (NKJV) An oracle is a bit hard to define as there are multiple interpretations of what it could mean. Most commonly though it is viewed as a person through whom a deity is believed to speak or a person giving wise or authoritative decisions or opinions.14 There are three parts to the 12 verses of Psalm 36. The first part is as David described the psalm, concerning the transgression of the wicked. The second part is a proclamation about the character and nature of God and the third is a request from the author of the Lord to conform him more to the likeness of God rather than that of man. Psalm 36:1b then begins David’s assessment of the wicked. “There is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flatters himself in his own eyes, when he finds out his iniquity and when he hates.” There are a few things to be gleaned from these two verses. First, wickedness starts with one’s view of who God is. Romans 1 says that God has made His invisible attributes so clear that everyone is without excuse for denying His glory and existence. Instead, it’s a choice to rebel and follow ungodly desires that brings one to a place of wickedness. As David points out here in the passage, that rejection of God and lack of fear towards His holiness is the cardinal mistake. In the next verse David says the wicked flatters themself when confronted by their own sin. This essentially can be described as an attempt to remove the guilt by justifying it or making it seem like a good thing. How easy it is to be deceived into thinking sin isn’t a big deal. David himself knew something of the subject because of his affair with Bathsheba. Despite his efforts to cover up the sin, the Lord knew and directed Nathan to confront David. Nathan proceeded to tell David the story of a rich man who stole from his poor neighbor to satisfy his guests. David, despite being in great sin and talking with the prophet of the Lord, attempts to flatter Nathan with his righteous justice by showing great outrage at the incident.15
David continues in verses 3 and 4. “The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit; he has ceased to be wise and to do good. He devises wickedness on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not abhor evil.” Again, this passage describes David in many ways leading up to his sin with Bathsheba. David was supposed to be battling with his army but instead he stayed home. As the commander, leading the army was his job. Here, he had stopped being wise and doing good. David then falls deeper into the way of wickedness as he goes to the rooftop to look out over the city and sees a young woman bathing. Instead of turning away from what wasn’t his, including after being told she was someone’s wife, David insists on bringing her to the palace where he would eventually sleep with her. Bathsheba soon sent word that she was with child. At this point, David was offered an opportunity to recognize the sin and deal with it but instead he chose differently. Like the Psalm says, David didn’t abhor the evil but tragically tried to cover it up. Abhor can be defined as regarding with extreme repugnance and aversion.16 Because David had let himself begin to slide down a path of wickedness, he became complacent towards sin and saw no wrong in committing to even greater sin to cover up the original. David in this Psalm is essentially laying out the underlying theme of the wicked, a pattern of sin that continues to get deeper and ugly. It starts with a lack of fear towards the God but descends to the point that evil is no longer seen as wrong or problematic. While there is no basis for believing this passage was written by David when contemplating on the situation with Bathsheba, its easy to see the connection. Many though think this passage may have been written by David about Saul who had fallen from following God to walking in his own pride and deception.17
In the second section, David then shifts to God and his character. In verses 5 and 6 he says, “your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the great mountains; Your judgments are a great deep; O Lord, You preserve man and beast.” The basic premise of these statements is the immeasurability of God’s mercy, faithfulness, righteousness, and judgements. The latter is not just referring to God’s justice but also to His law and ways. All four places that David mentions are that of grandeur and even almost mystery. Especially at the time of writing, David would have known little about the expanse of the heavens, how big oceans are, and just how breathtaking clouds really are. The only one of these four that David could really say he knew anything about was the mountains, but even David’s understand of them could have been limited. David may have been also trying to show that God’s righteousness was just as immovable as the great mountains.18 Regardless, the point was to show how God’s character went beyond what finite human minds can understand.
Verses 7 through 9 conclude this description of God. “How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore, the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings. They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, and You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.” Sin will never satisfy. All too often, sin will lie to us about its benefits, promising safety, satisfaction, and life. In reality, it brings nothing but consequences, unhappiness, and death. The contrast between the wicked and the one who has put their trust in the Lord is massive. The righteous is abundantly satisfied, drinking from the rivers of pleasure, and living in light. It is also important to make a distinction here. The rivers of pleasure and fountain of life referred to in this passage are referring to something divine, not temporal things that the world offers as gratifying.19 This may be better viewed as being fed and fulfilled by the Spirit of the Lord and overflowing with the joy of being in the presence of and communion with the Lord.20
David concludes the Psalm with verses 10 to 12. “Oh, continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the upright in heart. Let not the foot of pride come against me and let not the hand of the wicked drive me away. There the workers of iniquity have fallen; they have been cast down and are not able to rise.” The closing of the Psalm is a plea to the Lord. For one, that He would continue to be to the righteous who He had been. Second, this verse is talking about the wicked who is trying to pull down the righteous person. David is requesting that the hand of the wicked be powerless in its attempt to destroy him both spiritually and physically.21 Additionally, David is requesting that God would protect David from becoming like the wicked. There’s another key piece to understanding the fall of the unrighteous in verse 11. The start of the decline is pride. Pride of course is at the heart of rejecting who God is from the beginning of the passage. But where everything starts to fold internally is with the heeding of a prideful voice or attitude. The concluding live serves as a reminder of the end of the wicked. There they will fall and not rise again. Proverbs says that pride comes before the fall, and many think the word “there” is referring to this place of pride.22 The prayer in these final few verses is that the author won’t fall into this trap of pride and wickedness or be entangled with one who has and instead experiences the faithfulness of the Lord that has been often experienced.23
Application
There is a great deal that can be gleaned by the church from these 12 verses in Psalm 36. This application can be narrowed down into three main points. First, the flattery of sin will never equal the pleasures of God. Second, continually finding our delight in who God is the solution to fighting temptation. Finally, pride will always prevent us from experiencing the faithfulness of God. Sin’s number one promise is satisfaction and pleasure. This is fundamentally why it is attractive. If sin promised death and pain, no one would willingly engage in it. Sexually sin is a great example of this. This world and even our desires can convince us that we need sexual pleasures, and it is okay to gratify them cheaply. This has come at a great cost though, sexual sin has destroyed countless marriages, individuals, and relationships. It’s critical to remember that sin is fundamentally built on lies.24 For instance, it is true that there is immense pleasure in sex, however outside of a marriage relationship, there is nothing beautiful about it. Abortion has become more widely accepted because it’s the “Get Out Of Jail Free Card” that is offered in situations where sexual activity outside of marriage results in unwanted consequences. This is another side effect of sin, once we bite into what someone thinks will be fun and pleasure and taste the bitterness of the fruit, it’s natural to try to cover it up and make it appear that nothing happened. The lasting consequences of sin can never be erased though. In the 1950s, researcher Dr. Nikolaas Tinbergen discovered which markings and color patterns on a female butterfly were most appealing to a male butterfly. He then built cardboard butterflies and decorated them with these embellished colorations and markings. What he found was astonishing. The male butterflies actually ignored the real female butterflies and kept trying to obsessively mate with the decoys. The promises of sexual fulfillment and pleasure outside of God’s ways are just like these cardboard butterflies, fake and built entirely on lies.25
When people choose to honor God and walk in His ways though, the satisfaction and blessing they will find will always be more than sin could ever offer. In fact, when someone is living completely satisfied in who God is and the blessings He provides, the pleasure sin offers will appear as rubbish. In these middle verses of Psalm 36, David is pouring out just how great the pleasures of the Lord are and what it means to be living in those blessings. The one line in particular that is worth emphasizing is in Psalm 36:9 where is says “for in you is the fountain of life.” This has two meaning. First, God is the source of life and blessing. He is the sole provider of what is good. God is the God of life and when life is sought after, instead of death and pain which sin ultimately offers, one will find God and get an even greater understanding of Him. The second meaning is the greater spiritual sense.26 God is the giver of eternal life. Through the fountain of Jesus’ blood, sinners can be redeemed and find eternal life. When the church relishes in this fact, and delights themselves in who God is, the promises of sin will mean nothing. Satan knows that anyone who experiences the life that God gives, they will never return to the sin in which they once lived. This is why sin has to be deceptive and with alluring lies.
The way that people fall into this deception though is because of pride. The final application point is the reminder that pride will always prevent us from experiencing the faithfulness of God.27 God will continually be the One that can be delighted in, He never changes. The life that can be found in Him is never ending, always good, and new every morning. However, when pride takes foot in the life of an individual, it can be easy to begin to question God’s goodness, plan, or even faithfulness. However, God will remain faithful even when we are not.28 Pride though will prohibit us from seeing this reality and instead offer sin as a replacement for what one feels God cannot provide. The best way to combat this pride and the deceptiveness of sin is to continually be reminded of who God is, what He’s done, and what He promises to do.29 Psalm 36 gives us not only a clear picture of this but also the consequences that will occur to the one who chooses to walk their own way, apart from the faithfulness and pleasures of a loving God.
Conclusion
The book of Psalms is an incredible book. One that offers a variety of styles, literary methods, topics, and application points. Specifically in Psalm 36, the author warns the reader of what sin looks like and the consequences the sinner will experience. David then highlights who God is and His character with an emphasis on who God is towards those who choose to follow Him. The chapter concludes with a type of benediction or prayer to the Lord in light of realizing who the wicked are and who God is.30 Verses 10-12 say “Oh, continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the upright in heart. Let not the foot of pride come against me and let not the hand of the wicked drive me away. There the workers of iniquity have fallen; they have been cast down and are not able to rise.”
16. Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Abhor, Available on-line. <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abhor> [28 September 2022]
17, 18, 20, 21. Matthew Henry. Commentary on Psalm 36. N.d. Internet on-line. Available from < https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/mhc/Psa/Psa_036.cfm > [28 September 2022]
19, 22. David Guzik. Psalm 36-Mercy to the Heavens. 2020. Internet on-line. Available from < https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/psalm-36> [28 September 2022]
23. James Limburg. Commentary on Psalm 36:5-10. 17 January 2010. Internet on-line. Available from <https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/second-sunday-after-epiphany-3/commentary-on-psalm-365-10>. [28 September 2022}
24, 25. Greg Smalley. How Pornography Impacts Marriage. 5 November 2020. Internet on-line. Available from < https://www.focusonthefamily.com/marriage/how-pornography-impacts-marriage>. [14 October 2022}
26, 27. Steven J. Cole. Psalm 36: Deceived by Sin or Delighted in God?. 2009. Internet on-line. Available from <https://bible.org/seriespage/psalm-36-deceived-sin-or-delighted-god>. [14 October 2022}
28. 2 Timothy 2:13 (NKJV)
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