Hello, Bonnie, you are right that the Psalms absolutely belong. Psalms shows us how to be worshippers like the book of Proverbs teaches us how to be wise. In Psalms 137:2 I would suggest that not only were they not willing to sing for their captors because it was the Lord’s song but also that they were so sorrowful that didn’t have the heart use them. They didn’t get rid of their incitements, they had hope that one day again they would have occasion to use them, so they laid them aside (hung on a willow) for at the present time they had no use for them; God turned their, feasting into mourning and their songs into weeping (Amos. 8:10). Negative psalm have its place because if the Psalms were only filled with positive messages that only show…
“Oh, the joys of those who do not follow evil men’s advice, who do not hang around with sinners, scoffing at the things of God.” (Psalm 1:1, Living Bible). Psalm 1:1 uses the synonymous parallelism. The synonymous parallelism is identified in this verse because both lines articulate the same idea (Tullock & McEntire, 2012). The verse describes the actions of what is godly via not listening to or being associated with evil.…
since he believes that the Psalms are "the heart of the Old Testament" (51). In this way the Psalms remind Israel and also us that as we sing these psalms they are reminders of the major doctrines of the Old…
The main point seems to be remembrance and a renewal of the covenant between God and his people, it is always important to look back to see what God has done. In the chapter on the Psalms, he calls them soul therapy. Saying that the Psalms are disorganized like life, and can teach us a lot about joy, anger, sadness and a host of other emotions. Another significance of Psalms are the utterance of praises throughout the book. I the fifth chapter covering Ecclesiastes.…
Psalm 139 is written after the author has a divine encounter about God’s character and the intimate knowledge he has of them. The author’s word choice can be further understood by studying in the original Greek/Hebrew words within the text that carry deeper meanings. Psalm 139:1 English standard version translation says.…
For example, the reader is given the same style of the line throughout the image creating a repetition of elements. As Bang (2000) describes, our eyes search for repeating patterns, which enables us to make sense of what we see (Bang, p.99). These stylized lines are elements that have been repeated over and over,…
God declares all the glory and wants us to praise Him. We sing songs to worship His name. Psalms contains the hymns of the Bible. Christians are commanded by God to sing praises unto Him. This book has broadened my worldview and has given me clearer understanding of music philosophy in the Bible and Psalms.…
Within the Old Testament lies the book of Psalms, a collection of 150 song-like passages which communicate the truths about God to the intended audience. At the time, this was directed at the Jewish people and these Psalms were used as prayers to worship God in their temples. The particular psalm that will be focused on throughout this response is Psalm 23. With the use of different literary techniques, the audience is able to fully interpret what is being said during this passage and helps them to develop a deeper understanding of it. To begin, metaphors are featured in Psalm 23, for example “dwell in the house of the Lord”.…
Psalm 68 is an amazing poem written by David that gives insight into the character and qualities of God as sovereign king of both Israel and the world. What is more, the psalm bounces back and forth from speaking to God; using personal pronouns such as ‘you,’ and at the same time David is telling the reader about God. Both of these methods lend well for worship. In addition, David was a king, so his perspective of God as king and the role of the king for his people threads all the way through the entire psalm. Psalm 68 lists specific qualities of God as king, shows his primary activities on behalf of his people and parallels to how King Jesus lived while on earth.…
Hebrews 6:1-8 is a part of what is traditionally called a letter, though the writing is probably not a letter in the traditional form. The piece offers no introduction or greeting and no mention of the sender or recipient, but it does include some closing remarks (13:23-25) reminiscent of a final greeting. The author himself claims to have previously written to the audience (13:22) but describes this current work as a “word of exhortation.” There are indeed at least five specific exhortations in the book. Due to the lack of the greeting at the beginning and the deliberate, careful rhetorical progression of the book, some believe Hebrews to have originally been a sermon or some type of oration in Greek rhetorical style.…
These verses encourage Ascetics in the quiet and simple life that can build a deeper relationship with God. Psalm 96 can set Naturalist heart to song, rejoicing in all of God’s creation (v. 11-13) . Naturalists can see the glory and majesty of nature and feel a closeness with God the Creator. In David’s writings, we see so many sacred ways to encounter and grow in relationship with…
We can deduct from this example that God has every right to give you moments of great victory and humiliation in the same physical location. While he was living like a refugee, he penned two of the Psalms. Psalm 34 is a reminder to praise God and thank him for his deliverance. Though David's antics were questionable, he nevertheless did give God the praise for his deliverance and wrote a song concerning it. Psalm 56 was the second song written while running away from Saul.…
There are many attributes to the making of a Psalm, like most literature, the Psalms have a structure, or feature, that it follows. However, the feature, or topic, for this dialogue is on what parallelism is, and why it is an important element of Hebrew poetry. Parallelism can be defined, as Lucas would say, “words or phrases in one line [which] correspond in some way to those in the other.” Robert Deffinbaugh gives a great analogy of parallelism by referencing it to “stereo vision and stereo sound,” one mono sound or vision corresponds to the other, creating a stereo character. Numerous scholars have argued over parallelisms’ significance and relevance, which has caused various ideas of how to define the Psalms structure.…
Due to its nature of emphasising linguistic form rather than using language completely for its content, poetry is notoriously hard to translate from one language into another: a possible exception to this may be the Hebrew Psalms, where the beauty is found more in the balance of ideas than in specific vocabulary. In most poetry, it is the connotations and the "baggage" that words carry (the weight of words) that are most vital. These shades and nuances of meaning may appear not so easy to interpret and may cause various readers to "hear" a particular piece of a poetry work differently. While there are reasonable interpretations, there can never be a definitive…
The Psalter is a book of Holy Scripture that has been both captivating and profitable in my personal journey of faith. Unfortunately they never became much more than a guide for Godly living, comforting words for those in torment or grief as well as songs and poetry that were slightly more anointed than modern hymns and contemporary worship songs. This study of the Psalms has been beneficial as it re-enforced and greatly deepened my understanding of discipleship in the Psalms. It also gave me new appreciation for the beautiful literary style, the Christocentric nature in which they were written as well as the role they played in cultic and liturgical functions and in personal piety. The most beneficial shift in my interpreting and reading…