How to Read the Psalms: An Introduction
Jacob Collins
How to Read the Psalms: An Introduction
Our Present Age: Vol 5, No. 1
12 January 2024
Excluding additions to the Psalms found in some canon lists, the Psalms are structured into five books of unequal length:
Book 1: Psalms 1–41 (41 total)
Book 2: Psalms 42–72 (31 total)
Book 3: Psalms 73–89 (17 total)
Book 4: Psalms 90–106 (17 total)
Book 5: Psalms 107–150 (44 total)
The editor of the Psalter intends for us to pay attention to the way they are divided. Let’s begin by asking a bigger question, though: why five books? Like the commonly known numbers three and seven, five also holds a special place in the Scriptures as things usually related to holiness and the purity of the people of Israel.
There are five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and David used five stones to defeat Goliath (1 Sam 17:40). Zelphehad’s five daughters were nearly excluded from the inheritance in the land (Num 27:1–7).
The number plays special significance in constructing cultic objects and practices: There are five ingredients in anointing oil: liquid myrrh, fragrant cinnamon, fragrant calamus, cassia, and olive oil (Ex 30:23–25). There are five ingredients in incense: gum resin, onycha, galbanum, pure frankincense, and salt (30:34–35). The tabernacle consisted of, on each side, five curtains, crossbars, and posts (26:3, 26–27, 37), and an altar five cubits long and wide (27:1). There are five types of Levitical offerings: Burnt (Lev 1:1–17; 6:8–13), Grain (Lev 2:1–16; 6:14–23), Fellowship (Lev 3:1–17; 7:11–21), Sin (4:1–5:13; 6:24–30), and Guilt (5:14–6:7; 7:1–10).
We see the number five also play a minor but significant role in the New Testament, such as in the five offices in Ephesians 4:11 (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers) and the feeding of the five thousand, who were fed with five loaves and two fish (Matt 14:16–21).
More important than all of these is the parallel between the five books of Psalms and the five books of Moses. Thus, we can read Book 1 of Psalms corresponding roughly to Genesis; Book 2, to Exodus; Book 3, to Leviticus, and so on. We’ll see why this matters in just a moment.
Psalm 1 serves to introduce the entire Psalter by explaining that there are two ways to live: either righteously or wickedly. Over the course of Psalms, we see an exploration of these themes, but most particularly as the vindication of a righteous God over all the rival and wicked kingdoms of the world. This is traced through God’s faithfulness to his covenant people Israel. Thus, we should expect to see themes of righteousness, sin, wisdom, the Law, and judgment over and over again throughout the Psalms, which in fact we do.
To understand what each Book is about, we can look at the bookends. You can read all the Psalms for evidence of my position, but if you even get a cursory overview of the headings, you can see that the bookend reading finds plenty of support throughout each Book. Thus, for Book 1 we need only to read Psalms 2 and 41. Psalm 2 is about the kingdom being established, particularly in David’s line, over the “kings of the earth.” Psalm 41 is about the faithfulness of God to David over his enemies. Even though it feels like David’s enemies have overpowered him, the truth is that the mercy of God secures the throne of David. Thus, Book 1 is about creation (see the parallel to Genesis?) of God’s kingdom through David’s kingdom—the rule of God and the mercy of God to maintain his faithfulness to the covenant promises.
Book 2 begins with Psalm 42, which begins with suffering and agony over what feels like the faithlessness of God. It seems that the promises God made to David in Book 1 are not as evidently true. Enemies are closing in, and the Psalmist feels powerless to stop their movements. However, Solomon’s Psalm 72 ends with a note of praise, saying that God will be faithful to his covenant promise through the king. In other words, God will work through the king (David, Solomon, and now Solomon’s sons) to demonstrate his power and save all the earth from sin. Exodus too demonstrates the power of God over a foreign adversary; that, in the face of great evil, God saves his people by raising up powerful leaders who represent the people to God and God to the people (Moses).
We can also read each of these books as telling the story of Israel writ large. Book 1 establishes the monarchy, and Book 2 traces its gradual downfall. The questions Book 2 asks are more open-ended than Book 1, in part because the work of God is not as evident at this time in Israel’s history. However, by ending with the Psalm of Solomon the editor demonstrates the answer to the question of God’s faithfulness in Israel’s context is in the king, who represents the people of Israel.
Books 3 and 4 hang together in many respects, in part because of their equally short length and their focus on themes: here, we see the movement from the glory of Jerusalem to the wounds of exile. However, Book 3 marvels in God’s faithfulness and the Holy City: “Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion city of our God” (Ps 87:3). However, there is a turning point in the Book in Psalm 88, which ends in despair. We have evidence of God’s faithfulness to Israel in the foundations of Jerusalem and of the throne, but there is some event that makes it seem like God has been faithless. This is, of course, the persecution of God’s people and the exile into Babylon: “How long, Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?” (89:46). Here is a feeling of abandonment.
Book 4 begins the slow movement out of bondage and back into freedom, but it won’t entirely leave it. We begin in Psalm 90 with a prayer of Moses, which invokes images of Israel leaving Egypt, for, just as Moses led Israel out of Egypt, so too can Israel hope for a Davidic king who will lead the people out of Babylon. The hope for Israel in exile is expressed beautifully:
He remembers his covenant forever, the promise he made, for a thousand generations, the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac. He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: ‘To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit’ (Ps 105:8–11).
And Psalm 106 recounts the whole story of Israel to remind God of his faithfulness in the past, begging for his faithfulness again in the future. Here, we have the end of slavery and the inauguration of a new, free life.
Book 5 is a celebration of this new life: “Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story—those he redeemed from the hand of the foe” (Ps 107:2). There are two particular evidences of this right in the middle of the Book: 1) Psalm 119, the longest Psalm, which celebrates the power of God’s word and his faithfulness to it, and 2) Psalms 120–134, which are commonly called the “Psalms of Ascent.” They are so called because they are meant to be sung as the people move into Jerusalem (because you always go up to Jerusalem and down from Jerusalem). Thus here, right in the middle of Book 5, is a celebration of movement back into the Holy City. The only response to God’s faithfulness is praise, which is why Psalms 146–150 end in doxology to God. The whole Psalter has been leading to this moment, culminating in Psalm 150. We found two ways of living in the world, but that God’s faithfulness is not dependent upon living righteously but simply upon his characteristic covenant faithfulness.
This, then, is the true message of the Psalms, and this is where the parallels to the Torah come into sharpest focus. There are other ways to read the Psalms, some more correct than others. However, any sort of reading must reckon with the cohesion of the Psalter as whole: what does the order of the Psalms, arranged into five books, tell us about the intentions of the editor(s)? My reading is one way to do so, tracing the order of the Psalms against the story of Israel. It is increasingly easy to read the Old Testament, and some letters like James, as advocating a sort of works-righteousness; that is, it is obedience to the Law which causes God to be merciful to Israel. But this is not the case at all, even if Jews in the Second Temple period (like in 4 Maccabees and 1 Enoch) thought of the Torah as such. Rather, the witness of the Psalms testifies to the power and might of God, working primarily through secondary causes (the king) to bring his people into their promised land, saved from exile and from slavery, and into their final resting place—their final Sabbath.