The book of Psalms is a storehouse of every kind of experience through which the child of God will likely pass. They are written in poetic form, which would suggest that our experiences, so far from being a hindrance to worship, form really the occasion, if not much of the material, for our worship. Very many read these Psalms unintelligently, from an Old Testament, rather than a New Testament point of view. While such persons have many genuine experiences answering to those recorded there, they lack in that intelligence which a full establishment in the grace of God, as revealed in the New Testament, would give. The remedy for this is, first of all to be clear in the gospel; and secondly, to have an intelligent apprehension of the mold in which these Psalms are cast. Both of these, thank God, are not only possible, but easy for every believer in the Lord Jesus.
We wish to give a little outline of the book of Psalms as a whole, which may serve to help in the detailed study of its various points. For it is a complete book. It is a great mistake to think of its being merely a collection of psalms, without a definite relation one to the other. They are divided, as is well known, into five books, which would suggest a resemblance to the five books of Moses, and these five books are themselves formed by groups of psalms closely associated together and developing distinct and progressive lines of truth.
BOOK I.(Psa. 1:-41:)
The theme here is Christ, as indeed it is throughout the entire book. But He is seen here according to the counsels and purposes of God as the Son through whom every blessing is secured for His people. Answering, as it does, to the book of Gen-sis, there is a wideness of reach in this book which is perhaps not found in any other division of the Psalms. It is divided into three main parts.
1. (Psa. 1:-8:) This is rather introductory, but in it there is a progress. We have Christ as the perfect Man in the first psalm; as God's appointed King over Zion in the second; and in the eighth He is seen as Son of Man with dominion over all creation, all things put beneath His feet. The intervening psalms are occupied with the varied experiences of His people, primarily, of course, Israel, who are in faith associated with the Lord.
2. (Psa. 9:-15:) The relation of the remnant to their oppressors, both in the nation and from the outside, is the theme of these psalms. Here the ninth and tenth are specially noteworthy as presenting the power of the enemy, really the Antichrist, and the oppressor associated with him.
3. (Psa. 16:-41:) This portion is particularly devoted to our blessed Lord Himself, very many of these psalms referring to Him exclusively, and others giving the experiences of His people in association with Himself. We can only select a few for special mention.
Psa. 16:is our Lord seen in His perfect life upon earth.
In Psa. 18:we have Him, the Victor, with dominion over all nations.
Psa. 22:presents Him as the Sin-offering, forsaken of God on the cross for sin, and in resurrection proclaiming His name to His brethren.
Psa. 23:is familiar to every Christian heart.
Psa. 24:shows us Christ's coming in glory, taking possession of that which is His own.
Psa. 27:is a beautiful experience of faith in Christ, while
Psa. 32:shows the way of forgiveness.
Psa. 37:it is well to read when tempted to envy those who are prosperous. Psa. Ixxiii.-figures just reversed-has a similar theme, though there the eye is not upon the wicked so much as upon the sanctuary, as is appropriate to its place in the third or sanctuary book of Psalms.
Psa. 40:presents our Lord as the Burnt-offering in His devotedness unto death.
BOOK II.(Psa. 42:-72:)
The helpless and hopeless condition of the people remedied by Christ alone.
The first two psalms give the theme, their helpless longing for God's deliverance.
Their persecution is seen in Psa. 44:, while
Psa. 45:presents in all His glory, the One through whom deliverance comes.
Psa. 46:is the blessed result, of peace and protection, while
Psa. 47:leads on to music and dancing.
Psa. 51:is the great penitential psalm, the confession of blood-guiltiness on the part of the people, really in their rejection of Christ.
Psa. 65:suggests Christ amongst His people, while
Psa. 68:brings in fullest blessing in connection with Him acknowledged in His true place.
Psa. 69:presents Him to us in His sufferings as the Trespass-offering, restoring that which He took not away, while
Psa. 72:closes the book with the full results of redemption for His earthly people restored to their land, blessing, peace, order and righteousness maintained to the ends of the earth.
BOOK III. (Psa. Ixxiii.-89:)
As we have already said, this is the third or Levitical book in which the sanctuary of God and His holiness, and the holiness of His ways are the prominent themes.
Psa. 73:and 74:would show this.
Psa. 78:is very interesting as showing God's ways of holiness in the history of Israel.
Psa. 84:is familiar and interesting as showing the way to God's house. It is very suggestive that a number of these psalms are for the sons of Korah, spared sons of the rebellious Levite who was judged in the wilderness.
BOOK IV. (Psa. 90:-106:)
Answering to its place as a wilderness book, the general theme of this portion is the trials of the way and God's sustaining mercy in them, and blessing in the land brought in through Christ.
Psa. 90:and 91:give the general theme. In 90:we have the first man and the vanity of his life; in 91:, the Second Man, and the blessedness of confidence in God.
From Psa. xciii-100:we have a beautiful group of psalms of praise connected with Jehovah's Kingdom and His coming in judgment. This worship extends to all creation.
Psa. 102:is noteworthy, linking together, as it does, Psa. 90:and 91:in the expression of our Lord's sufferings and God's response to Him. He is seen as "crucified through weakness," realizing that as Man He is cut off in the midst of His days, and yet Jehovah's response to Him is addressing Him as the eternal One whose days shall never fail.
Fittingly associated with this, is the 103rd psalm, full of blessing and worship, a worship which extends into the 104th, which is occupied with the recounting of God's goodness and mercy over all His works.
The two closing psalms of the book are again engaged with a recapitulation of Israel's history with this suggestive difference:
Psa. 105:is their history, with God's mercy as the prominent theme.
Psa. 106:is the same history with their own failures brought distinctly into view. Thus will it be with the history of our lives; mercy and goodness at the hand of the Lord, and so far as our actions are concerned, feebleness and failure, and yet He comes in to succor.
BOOK V.(Psa. 107:-150:)
The two previous psalms paved the way for the closing Deuteronomic book, which, answering to its position, is a recapitulation and application of divine principles which have been learned in the previous books.
Psa. 107:gives these.
Psa. 109:gives us a view of the Lord's suffering at the hand of man rather than at the hand of God. The result, therefore, is seen in judgment upon His enemies.
In Psa. ex. we have the exact opposite of this, God's response to the humiliation of His Son. He sets Him at His own right hand in glory, giving Him an eternal Priesthood.
Psa. 118:is another Messianic one, in which we see Christ as the Stone rejected by the builders, now become the Head-stone of the corner.
Psalm 119:is a beautiful illustration of the absolute perfection of the inspired word of God. It is entirely devoted to extolling the preciousness of that Word. Every verse, practically, mentions the Scriptures in some form,-the law, the testimonies, the ways, the precepts, the statutes and judgments of God. The whole alphabet, as we might say, is exhausted in telling out the wonders /of God's holy Word. The fact that eight verses are given to each letter would suggest that it is in new creation alone that the beauties of the word of God can be fully entered into.
Immediately following, Psa. 120:-134:,we have the songs of degrees which include, in progressive order, steps of progress in the knowledge of God's ways and of access to Himself. .
As we draw near the close of the book, praise is still further quickened, until from Psa. 146:to the end, "halleluiah" begins and closes each psalm, the last; one calling upon all creation and every power and activity of man to unite in His praises:
'' Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord."