Because God so loved His people in all ages and nations, He gave us 150 God-breathed Psalms. It is a gracious and delightful provision that our Savior bestowed the noble and rousing “Songs of Zion” (Ps. 137:3) upon His Church. With these “songs, hymns, and psalms of the Spirit” entrusted to the Church, God’s people can employ holy Scripture songs as a means of grace to grow in their faith and stir up holy affections for their King.

The exclusive use of these Spirit-inspired compositions in public worship continues to be a minority position. Nevertheless, it seems that we are witnessing in the 21st Century a resurgence in psalm singing across the breadth of the Protestant church. A burgeoning list of psalters and scholarly books on the psalter indicates that believers from a variety of backgrounds are returning to mine the theological and aesthetic riches of the Psalter.

Indeed, we can hope that as dispensationalism gives way to the unity of Christ-centered covenant theology, the Psalter’s joyful worship songs will again be seen as necessary and sufficient for Christians, and the Psalter will again be treasured. My prayer is that, in addition to arguing for biblical worship practices (the regulative principle), we might articulate the beauty and Christ-centeredness of the Psalter, arranging the whole of the Psalter in our heads and writing it “on the tables of [our] hearts” (Prov. 3:3).¹

Linking Old and New Testaments

The book that Martin Luther fondly called the “little Bible” lies in the middle of our Bibles. This reminds us that in many ways the Psalter is the heart of the Scriptures. It is a summary book that synthesizes into inspired sound bytes the rich legacy of Israel’s narratives, laws, and wisdom literature. But the Psalter does not merely look back to the Law and the Prophets. It also grips its singers in the present and stretches their hearts toward a broad theological, emotional, and Christological vision exquisitely fulfilled in the New Testament. The Psalter is intensely temple-centered, yet it anticipates all the families of the earth being blessed as God had promised (Gen. 12:3; see Ps. 22:27, 96:7). All peoples will come under the sway of David’s greater Lord—the great Priest-King who will rule over all his enemies (Ps. 110). The temple to which the Son of God leads us is “the temple of His body” (John 2:21).

The author of Hebrews clearly regarded the Psalter as his premier source of teaching about the Christ, and he labors again and again to demonstrate Jesus’ divine person and redemptive work from its pages. Nearly 30 times the author of Hebrews quotes or alludes directly to the Psalter. This makes sense because his readers had been trained in the singing of God’s Word in the synagogues. It is as though the collective experiences of God’s people over hundreds of years were written into Israel’s consciousness and affections in these songs of the covenant. Jesus and His disciples sang these “hymns” (probably the Egyptian Hallel, Psalms 113-118) at the Last Supper, probably at every synagogue service they attended, and often throughout Jesus’ ministry.

Though the Psalms were in use during David’s time,² the Psalter’s placement in the final third of the Hebrew Old Testament indicates it likely attained its final form in a post-exilic context. RP author Michael LeFebvre urges us that “rather than looking at the Psalter as an Old Testament worship hymnal, it is probably more appropriate to regard it as a final product of the Old Testament temple, compiled in preparation for New Testament worship.”³

Songs of Jesus and the Apostles

Jesus preached—and sang—from the Psalter more than any other book. He taught that “everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44). Jesus’ apostles and followers clearly took Jesus’ passion for the Psalter to heart, spreading its joy and hope in far-flung synagogues (see Acts 13:13-39; 17:1-3) and churches (Acts 4:23-26; Eph. 4:19; Col. 3:16) across the Roman Empire. They quoted these divine songs in the New Testament more than any other book in the Hebrew canon, clearly commanding their use in public worship.

Bookends of the Psalter

I like to imagine that each psalm in the Psalter is written on its own (rather thick) sheet of paper—perhaps like cardboard. This means we can ordinarily file them in the biblical order on a bookshelf, but at times we can gather psalms (or sheets) together in various collections or arrangements for understanding and meditation.

Imagine that all 150 pages are held together between the two “bookends” of the Psalter. The first bookend is Psalms 1-2, two introductory psalms we can call “the Blesseds.” Goeffrey Grogan notes that “because Psalm 1 begins and [Psalm] 2 ends with a beatitude [or “blessed”], it is highly likely they were placed here to introduce the Psalter, to stress practical commitment to God’s Word, and to focus attention on God support for David’s kingly dynasty and also on the messianic hope.”⁴ The second bookend (“the Hallelujahs”) is an exuberant conclusion of the Psalter in Psalms 146-150. Each of these psalms begins and ends with Hallelujah! (“Praise the Lord”), and echoes some 42 times with a joyful call to praise the name that is above every name.

The “Mini Psalters”

Sandwiched between “the Blesseds” and “the Hallelujahs” lie the rest of the psalms, divided among five “mini psalters” or books made up of between 18 and 45 psalms apiece. These five book divisions are present in the earliest preserved texts of the psalter we possess. They are a fascinating study in Israeli history, with psalms clearly dating from the time of Moses (1400 B.C.) in the case of Psalm 90 all the way to the period of the Babylonian Exile (6th Century B.C.) in the case of Psalm 137.

The first two mini psalters (Psalms 1-72) are explicitly composed by David with the exception of Psalm 1, Psalm 2 (but see Acts 4:25), and Psalm 33. Though Books 1 and 2 contain many laments, there is always a resolution and hope at the conclusion of each psalm. In contrast, Book 3 (Psalms 73-89) is dark, and the last psalm laments that David’s crown has been rolled in the dust. Psalm 88 is the only psalm that does not have some form of praise in it.

Book 4 (Psalms 90-106) turns to the one true God who has been Israel’s help in the past. This fourth mini psalter refers to Moses seven times (see Psalms 90, 99, 103, 105, and 106:16, 23, 32) compared to only once before in Psalm 77. Book 4 also contains the “enthronement Psalms” (Psalm 93-99) that look with hope to God’s reign over all the earth. The praise of God laid forth in Psalm 102:25-27 is applied by the author of Hebrews to Jesus Christ (Heb. 1:10-12).

The final mini Psalter is Book 5 (Psalms 107-150), which begins by thanking God for bringing Israel back from exile. It also includes psalms holding up David as a model for piety (Psalms 138-145) and the great kingship/priesthood psalm (Psalm 110) predicting the reign of the Christ.

Seven “Special Classes”

The 150 “pages” of the Psalter can be intimidating to the newcomer. If you arrange the Psalter in your head, you will need to discover a variety of ways to break down the Psalter into smaller chunks in your thinking. One way to do this is by discovering various classes of similar Psalms. For example, did you know that the Hebrew people clearly used the Psalms to teach their children their ABCs? These alphabetic texts, called Acrostic Psalms, are Psalms 9-10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 123, 119, and 145. Another very interesting class of psalms are the fourteen Davidic Psalms that are explicitly tied in their inscriptions to specific events in David’s life (see Psalms 3, 7, 18, 30, 34, 51, 52, 54, 56, 57, 59, 60, 63, and 142). When you root the message of these psalms in their historic context, it becomes a rich expression of faith discovered in the righteous life and words of King David, a type of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But the Psalms do not give us only happy songs to express our joy. They also give us sober songs in which we are taught to cry out to God for ultimate justice. The Imprecatory Psalms teach us to call upon God, asking Him to bring His perfect, righteous judgment upon those who hate Him and are oppressing His people. The imprecations include Psalms 35, 58, 69, 79, 109, and 137.

The Penitential Psalms are another class of psalms that form gospel piety. Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143 teach God’s people to express sorrow for sin and seek the forgiveness of the Lord. These psalms were the focus of Martin Luther’s very first popular work published in German at the dawn of the Reformation in 1517.

Finally, the Messianic Psalms are the psalms directly applied to Jesus Christ in the New Testament (see Psalms 2, 8, 16, 22, 40, 45, 68, 69, 72, 89, 109, 110, 118, and 132). As we carefully study how the apostles interpreted the Psalter, we can glean important principles that will help us to see Christ everywhere in the Psalter.

When the Oldies Become Hits Again

When I recently punched through my FM radio dial, I was surprised by how many oldies stations there are. It is clear that humanity hungers for classic lyrics that capture their experiences in words. What a delightful provision God has granted to His people in giving us His God-breathed classics from long ago to lead us anew into a life of faith, hope, and love. Truly, the holy God of Israel is “enthroned on the praises of Israel” (Ps. 22:3) and He is teaching believers among all the nations of the earth to turn to Him in faith.

It is easy to passively become acquainted with a few favorite psalms. But a greater and more rewarding spiritual challenge is to pursue a mental and spiritual framework for the entire Psalter. Whether young or old, all of us ought to continue throughout our entire lives to sing and explore the furthest reaches of the divine songbook. Such understanding will richly inform your praise of the triune God!

A simple tool to assist in chronicling individual Psalm insights is available for download at www.topekareformedpres.org/psalterworksheet.pdf.

—Brad Johnston

Brad Johnston has served as a pastor in the RPCNA for the past decade, including four years at Topeka, Kan., RPC. The metrical psalter he has sung since his childhood has become an area of personal and academic interest. Brad and his wife, Sue, enjoy traveling and hiking with their four children.

Endnotes