THE BOOK OF PSALMS OVERVIEW

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This is one of a set of notes I have compiled, inspired from a series of lessons given by Rev Fr Ferdinand Purnomo, OCD, including the notes he very generously made available.

Also contained in this set of notes are my compilation from other resources.

This page will be updated as an when I come across other resources related to this psalm.


ORIGIN OF THE WORD PSALM



PSALMS AS SALVATION HISTORY





FIVE BOOKS





Blessed is the one who meditates on the Torah
Torah, the five books of Moses, means Teachings.
The book of psalms is offered as a new Torah about the life long practice of prayer, as they strive to obey God's commands given in the Torah






HEBREW AND GREEK NUMBERING






AUTHOR/ATTRIBUTION





THE ORGANISATION


The ending of each of the five books has a thoughtful pattern, each book ends with:




The entire collection concludes with five psalms, each ending with Alleluia




TYPES OF PSALMS


Psalms 1 and 2

Most psalms in book 1 are linked to David except Psalms 1 and 2.
So Psalms 1 and 2 are taken as Introductory psalms.


Psalm 1
  • Celebrates how blessed the person is who meditates on the Torah day and night, and obeying it.

Psalm 2
  • is a poetic reflection of God's promise that one day a messianic king will come
  • concludes that saying that all who take refuge in the messianic king will be blessed


BOOK 1



Book 1 consists of two collections of poems
    • Psalm 15: call to covenant faithfulness
      • Collection:  16-18 depiction David as a model of faithfulness, and he calls out to God to delivery him and God elevates him as a king
    • Right in the middle:  Psalm19 - dedicated to praising God for the Torah
      • Collection:  20-23 David of the past becomes an image of the messianic king of the future who will also call out to God
    • Psalm 24: call to covenantal faithfulness


BOOK 2
  • Opens with two poems united in their hope for a future return to the temple in Zion
  • Closes with a psalm that depicts the future reigh of the messianic king
  • concludes by saying that the reign of this king will bring about the fulfilment of God's promise to Abraham to bring God's blessings to all the natures.




BOOK 3
  • Book 3 also concludes with a poem reflecting God's promise to David
  • but this time in the light of Israel's exile, remembering how God said he will never abandon them
  • It is looking at Israel's rebellion in its result and destruction and exile and the downfall of the line of David. 
  • And so, the poet ends by asking God to to never forget his promise to David. 






BOOK 4
  • Book Four is designed to respond to this crisis of exile. 
  • So the opening poem returns us back to Israel's roots with a prayer of Moses 
  • And he does what he did on Mount Sinai after the Golden Calf incident, which is to call upon God to show mercy. 
  • The center of Book Four (93-99) 
    • is dominated by a group of poems that announced that the LORD, the God of Israel, reigns as the true king of the world 
    • and all creation-- trees, mountains, are all summoned to celebrate that future day when God will bring his justice and kingdom over all the world. 


BOOK 5
  • Book Five opens with a series of poems that affirmed that God hears the cries of his people and will one day send the future king to defeat evil and bring God's kingdom.
  • This book also contains two larger collections, 
    • The "hallel" and "the songs of ascent." 
    • Each one of these collections concludes with a poem about the future Messianic Kingdom.
    • And these two collections together, they sustain the hope for a future exodus-like act of God to redeem his people. 
  • And then, right between them is Psalm 119. It's the longest poem in the book. 
    • It's an alphabet poem, each line begins with a new letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and it explores the wonder and the gift of the Torah as God's Word to his people. 
  • The themes from Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 and Torah and Messiah combined all together here in Book Five. Which brings us all the way back to that five-poem conclusion. 
  • for the last 5 psalms that concludes the Book of Psalms
    • Right in the center Psalm 148, all creation is summoned to praise the God of Israel because he has "raised up a horn for his people." 
    • The horn here, is a# metaphor of a bull's horn raised in victory. 
    • And this image echoes back to the same image used in Hannah's song, 1Samuel chapter 2, but also to the earlier Psalm 132. 
    • The horn is a symbol for the future Messianic King and his victory over evil and the metaphor is a fitting conclusion to this Book.




TWO BIG CATEGORIES



  • Poems of lament 
    • expressed pain, confusion, and anger about how horrible the world is
    • and how horrible things are happening to the poet 
    • and so these poems draw attention to what's wrong in the world 
    • and they ask God to do something about it. 
    • There are many of these poems of lament, which tells us that lament is an appropriate response to the evil that we see in our world. 
    • Notice also othat lament poems predominate earlier in the book, in books 1 through 3
  • Poems of praise
    • poems of joy and celebration and they draw attention to what's good in the world. 
    • They retell stories of what God has done in our lives and thank God for it. 
    • In Books 4 and 5, we notice that praise poems come to outnumber lament poems 
    • and it all culminates in that five-part hallelujah conclusion.]
  • So this shift from lament to praise tells us something about the nature of prayer. 
    • As we hoped for the Messianic Kingdom, this will create tension for us as we look out on the tragic state of our world and of our lives. 
    • And so the psalms teach us not to ignore the pain of our lives 
    • but at the same time, Biblical faith is forward-looking-- looking to the promise of God's future Messianic Kingdom. 
    • And so Torah and Messiah, lament and praise, faith and hope. 
    • That's what the Book of Psalms is all about.

OVERVIEW

(Source: Youtube)











Bibliography and Resources


Introduction – source material
  • Bergant, Dianne. “Reading Guide for the Book of Psalms.” In The Catholic Study Bible, 3rd ed., Kindle ed., edited by Donald Senior, John J. Collins, Mary Ann Getty-Sullivan. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016#
  • Bergsma, John. Psalm Basics for Catholics: Seeing Salvation History in a New Way. Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 2018.
  • Ho, Peter C.W. Design of the Psalter: A Macrostructural Analysis. Eugene (Oregon): Pickwick Publications, 2019.
Introduction – recommended books
  • Athanasius of Alexandria. “Letter to Marcellinus on Interpretation of the Psalms.” In Athanasius: The Life of Antony and the Letter to Marcellinus, edited by Robert Clark Gregg, 101-129. The Classics of Western Spirituality series. New Jersey: Paulist Press, 1980.
  • Barber, Michael. Singing in the Reign: the Psalms and the Liturgy of God’s Kingdom. Steubenville: Emmaus Road Publishing, 2001.
  • Bergsma, John and Brant Pitre. “Psalms.” In A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament, 561-596. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2018.
Study of Psalms – source material
  • Alter, Robert. The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary. New York: W.W. Norton, 2018.
  • deClaissé-Walford, Nancy L., Rolf A. Jacobson, and Beth LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms. The New International Commentary of the Old Testament series. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014.
Study of Psalms – recommended books
  • Schaefer, Konrad. Psalms. Berit Olam series (Studies in Hebrew Narrative and Poetry), Liturgical Press, 2016.
  • Kriegshauser, Laurence. Praying the Psalms in Christ. Reading the Scriptures series. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2009.
  • Brueggemann, Walter, and William Bellinger Jr. Psalms. New Cambridge Bible Commentary series. 2013.
  • Craghan, John F. Psalms for All Seasons. 2013.
  • Kreeft, Peter. Wisdom from the Psalms. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2020.
Liturgy of the Hours – recommended books
  • Gallagher, Timothy. A Layman’s Guide to the Liturgy of the Hours: How the Prayers of the Church Can Change Your Life. EWTN Publishing, 2019.
  • Sockey, Daria. The Everyday Catholic’s Guide to the Liturgy of the Hours. Franciscan Media, 2013.
  • Gallagher, Timothy. Praying the Liturgy of the Hours: A Personal Journey. Crossroad, 2014.
  • Sullivan, Shirley. A Companion to the Liturgy of the Hours: Morning and Evening Prayer. Catholic Book Pub Co, 2004.

Audio lectures by Fr. Timothy Gallagher OMV, 8x30 min = 4 hrs
  1. Introduction
  2. Praying the Liturgy of the Hours
  3. Theology of the Liturgy of the Hours
  4. Prayer of the Domestic Church
  5. How Do I Pray the Liturgy of the Hours?
  6. The Process of the Prayer
  7. The Experience of the Liturgy of the Hours
  8. Prayer of Praise

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