Reading: Psalm 1-2, Psalm 147
Ever tried to read a hymnal? Like, every day? From beginning to end? It doesn’t work very well. Unless you have one of those awesome hymnals that tell the story of each hymn’s writing in prose before the hymn. These are rare, but the stories are great. If you go or went to one of those churches that sings hymns, you might have been singing parts of a thousand year old satirical poem. Which is actually kind of cool. Anyway. The book of Psalms.
Most Bible reading programs have you read one Psalm a day, and this one is no exception. This is partly because the Psalms are a more meditative type of literature than other parts of the Bible, and partly because the book is so long. There is an overarching structure to the book, that I am going to just punt and send you to the Bible Project video for, because it’s really very good. They do a great job of showing you why the one day in the ReadScripture reading program given to the Psalms as a book has you read Psalm 1 and 2: They are not Psalms like the rest of the book. Like any good collection, this one has an introduction, which gives you some idea of how to read the rest of the book.
Having just read the book of Job, Psalm 1 seems a little heavy handed on the whole righteous man prospering while the wicked perish thing, doesn’t it? I mean, didn’t we just read a whole book about how a righteous man suffered terribly because he was righteous? Well, yes, we did. But the problem in the book of Job is not the idea that it is better to be righteous than wicked, but the assumed knowledge of Job’s friends of how God is acting. The book of Psalms will not be making assumptions as to the cause of any person’s suffering. It will not be making any argument at all, really. Instead, Psalm 1 introduces the book by making the reader aware that meditating on [God’s] word day and night is the purpose of what they are about to read. There is an assumption that the reader would rather be righteous than wicked, and that this is the way to get there. It ultimately says little about blessings material or otherwise, but informs the reader that the Lord know the way of the righteous. The collector of the Psalms wanted its readers to know that the God of Israel pays attention. It is, in fact, the same message we got in Job.
So what about Psalm 2? Why is there a double introduction? It is from another perspective. Not all the Psalms are meditative, or intended to form the character of those reading them. We have songs today that are intended for learning. Mostly we teach them to children, but they work just as well for adults. But we also have a category of songs that are meant to express something. This is most of what we think of as popular music these days, though it has historically been the minority in music. Psalm 2 is introducing these Psalms. The ones meant to express something. The ones that beg, that complain, that scream. The ones that don’t resolve nicely and you wouldn’t repeat to your children as lullabies. A huge percentage of this book is laments, spoken in anguish. Psalm 2 reminds the reader where this is all going. The Holy One is in control. The nations plot in vain. God is on his throne, and though the world seem to be going all kinds of wrong, there is nothing not in his purview. Again, we have returned to the lessons of the book of Job. The world is more complicated and wonderful than any of us can see. Submission to God’s good kingship, located in the character of the Son, is the key to lamenting well.
As we read the Psalms, it is worthwhile to remember how the book begins. Whatever ancient person collected and bound the Psalms together wanted to remind us that some of them are for memory, meditation, and formation; and that some of them are for expressing all the emotions we have in response to the events of life we cannot hope to fully understand. In both cases, we should use this book well.