The Psalms

The English term ‘psalm’ comes from the Greek, which is in turn a translation of a Hebrew word tehilah (song of praise). Hebrew psalms or tehilim are in poetic form and Hebrew poetry was constructed using a technique called parallelism. This has two basic forms: a subsequent line or lines continue the thought of the first line in similar terms or imagery (synonymous parallelism), or forms a contrast (antithetic parallelism). Psalm 1 commences with the former: Happy indeed is the one who follows not the counsel of the wicked, nor lingers in the way of sinners; and concludes with the latter: For the Lord guards the way of the just, but the way of the wicked leads to doom.

Psalms were an integral part of Israel’s prayer and liturgical life over many centuries and there were probably many more psalms composed than the ones in the Psalter and in some other books (for example, Exodus 15 or Deuteronomy 32). In time and under God’s guidance, 150 were collected into five books and became part of the emerging Hebrew or Old Testament ‘canon’—the term used to describe the list of sacred books in both Old and New Testaments. The ‘Psalter’ is a collective term for the five books of psalms, which match the five books of Moses, called the Pentateuch or Torah. Torah is a Hebrew term that, depending on context, can refer to a law text, instruction or revelation. The Pentateuch or Torah is believed to contain God’s foundational instructions for Israel and indeed any reader. The second part of the canon is prophecy, which tells how God inspired men and women to call Israel to obey Torah teaching and warn of retribution if it did not. The third part of the canon to which the Psalter belongs is called the Writings or Wisdom Literature. It emerged, at least in part, from Israel’s engagement with the ideas, customs and practices of the world around it. Equipped with Torah and guided by the Spirit, Israel was able to produce such enduring monuments to wisdom as the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job, and the Psalter.

Among the many striking and challenging features of the psalms, two stand out. One is their variety and the other is that they are listed sequentially from 1 to 150 across five books. These two features point to two main functions or roles that the psalms are meant to play in our prayer life.

The Variety of Psalms

The different kinds of psalms enable both an individual and a community to respond to a wide variety of situations. There are psalms in which God is praised, and praise forms an introductory or concluding part of most of our liturgies. There are psalms that offer thanks to God for gifts received, which we also do in liturgy. Likewise there are psalms of petition for those in need and prayers for deliverance from situations or events that we find overwhelming or inexplicable. These are often called ‘lament’ psalms. They differ from what are called penitential psalms, which are for those who know their guilt, are prepared to confess it and beg God for forgiveness.

Interestingly, there are seven penitential psalms in the Psalter and seven is often regarded as a perfect number in the Bible. This indicates that these psalms are important, just as confession of sin and plea for forgiveness form an important part of our liturgy.

As well as these various types of psalms, there are special prayers for the king, for the people’s welfare, for those going from the diaspora on pilgrimage to Jerusalem (the ‘songs of ascents’ in Psalms 120-134), and for victory when attacked by hostile forces. There are two cursing psalms (Psalms 57, 108), and curses in some other psalms. These can be troublesome for many, but a curse was pronounced in ancient Israelite society when it was felt the person or community could do nothing against a clear and present evil. It was a ritual way of handing the matter or person over to God in the belief that God would act appropriately in the particular case.

Thus the psalms were composed for a wide variety of personal and communal situations, both liturgical and non-liturgical. They not only provided a context within which Israelites could pray, confident that God would hear them, but they also encouraged them to compose their own prayers, using the psalms as models. Even though we believe the psalms are divinely inspired, they are expressed in human words and are therefore limited. In addition, they were composed at particular times in Israel’s history and cannot therefore – and do not therefore – claim to address every human situation. We can never claim to have said the last word on anyone or any situation, especially about God and our relationship with God. God is not a secret but a mystery, and a mystery is always unfolding more of its meaning in our limited created world, whether in verbal or other forms.

The Five Books of the Psalter

The second striking feature of the psalms is that they were collected into five books and numbered sequentially. Readers need to be reminded however that the numbering system varies by one in the Hebrew and Greek systems. The former is followed in most Bible translations, the latter in Catholic liturgical books. As well as being numbered, some psalms have sub-headings that relate them to an event or a situation, or identify their authors or origin (for example, ‘to David’).

Others belong to collections such as the ‘songs of ascents’ (Psalms 120-134) or the alleluia/praise collection (Psalms 145-150). The ‘songs of ascents’ seem to have been arranged with liturgical celebrations in mind, particularly at journey’s end. They are called ‘songs of ascents’ because of the conviction that whenever one journeyed to the temple in Jerusalem from anywhere in the world, one ‘went up’.

As noted earlier, the collecting of the psalms into five books was most likely meant to evoke the five books of the Pentateuch or Torah. A key function of the Torah is to present in narrative form the great faith journey of humanity and the chosen people Israel, and to provide instruction via stories, laws and sermons about how to ‘walk’ this journey in the right way. The journey proceeds from creation to the choice of the ancestors, to the emergence of the nation of Israel and its imprisonment in Egypt, to its deliverance and subsequent rebellion in the wilderness, to the emergence of a new generation that will reach their goal in the holy land. It serves as a paradigm and guide for the faith journey of every believer.

It is reasonable to conclude therefore that the five books of psalms have been arranged in sequence in order to accompany the believer on this faith journey. If one reads through the Psalter, one discovers that it goes from initial confidence about one’s relationship with God expressed in the early psalms, through a ‘dark night’ of lament and bewilderment around the middle of the Psalter, to the ‘re-discovery’ of one’s relationship with God and the celebration of this in the final two books. The well-known American scholar Walter Brueggemann speaks of a passage from an initial orientation (Book One) through a phase of disorientation (Books Two and Three) to a reorientation (Books Four and Five).

Psalm 1 would seem to serve as an introduction not only to Book One but also to the Psalter as such. As one commences the great journey of faith, this psalm provides initial instruction about the right and wrong way of living, and how to walk the good way by following the Torah/law. The overall positive thrust of Book One reaches a high point with a collection of psalms that celebrate Zion, the holy city/temple (Psalms 46- 48). However, as one moves through the Books Two and Three there is an intensification of lament that reaches a climax (or nadir!) in Psalms 88 and 89. Psalm 89:38-52 laments the collapse of the Davidic monarchy, one of the treasured signs of security and hope for Israel. These psalms are in the central Book Three.

With Book Four there is something of a ‘recovery’, particularly noticeable in psalms that celebrate YHWH as the one universal King over all creation and nations (Psalms 93–99). This book ends with a song of praise (Psalm 106). The final book continues this more positive tone, featuring among other psalms the ‘songs of ascents’ or pilgrimage psalms, and ending with hymns of praise to God (Psalms 145-150). About the centre of this book one finds the famous Psalm 119 that celebrates the Torah. It is the longest psalm and is followed by the ‘songs of ascents’, which conclude with the pilgrims celebrating arrival at their goal, ‘the house of the Lord’ (Psalm 134). The clear implication is that even though all other signs of direction and purpose may fail, one still has the enduring word of God in the Torah to turn to. As long as one remains faithful to its teaching, God will guide the pilgrim along life’s journey through all its ups and downs and bring it to fulfilment.

Jesus and the Psalms

Jesus is regularly portrayed as teaching in the Temple and the synagogue. We can confidently assume that Jesus was imbued with the Scriptures - the Torah, the prophets and the Psalter. He grew up in the Jewish tradition of prayer enshrined in the psalms. We can expect therefore that the most treasured of Christian prayers that Jesus gave to his disciples (the Lord’s Prayer) should have some relationship to the psalms.

Matthew 6:7-14 and Luke 11:1-4 both record the Lord’s Prayer. The context of each occurrence is instructive. In Matthew, Jesus instructs his disciples to pray then like this… The implication is that he is instructing them about a ‘way’ of praying rather than providing a prayer as such. We could paraphrase Jesus’ instruction as: ‘this is the true model or framework which should guide your prayer; pray like this and you will pray as I do’.

Hence, when we construct our own prayers—and Jesus’ instructions encourage us to do so—we are meant to use the Lord’s Prayer as model and guide.

When we turn to Luke’s account on the other hand, Jesus instructs his disciples: ‘when you pray, say [this]’. The two versions are not contradictory: the model or framework of prayer that Jesus provides in the Lord’s Prayer is also the model prayer.

It is remarkable how the parts of the Lord’s Prayer reflect the main types of psalms:

Our Father who art in Heaven — God is the primary subject of prayer

Hallowed be thy name — the psalms of praise

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven — praise is due to God because of his saving plan (the theme of thanksgiving psalms)

Give us this day our daily bread — the psalms of petition

And forgive us our sins, as we also have forgiven those who sin against us — the penitential psalms

Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil — the lament psalms for deliverance from evil.

Jesus was presenting to his disciples, in a concise and ideal way, the Jewish tradition of prayer.

There is no break with the tradition, but it is brought to a new level of perfection. Jesus calls all disciples to a more generous attitude of forgiveness than some of the psalms display: there is no trace in Jesus’ teaching of the call for vengeance that we meet in some psalms (for example, at the end of Psalm 137). Furthermore, God is addressed as ‘father’ by all disciples, sharing in the intimacy of the relationship between God and the Son (the Word of God). The Lord’s Prayer also reveals that eschatological thrust which the finality of the Christ event evokes; the psalms too looked with hope to this future definitive irruption of God in history and the establishment of universal peace and right relationships.

Within the Christian faith context, one could say that, in relation to our prayer life, Jesus is the messianic Teacher of the end-time who is able to teach/instruct us how to pray to the Father in the best way human beings can, a way that fulfils the purpose of the Psalter as a prayer book. In a real sense therefore, when we pray the psalms we are one with all our Jewish and Christian brothers and sisters across the centuries.

This article was originally published in Liturgy News ​Vol 49(3) September 2019. Reprinted with permission.

Image Attribution - Psalm 137, St Albans Psalter, Hildesheim Cathedral Library