Preaching the Psalms

The critical component of the ancient text to be borne into the lives of the modern audience in a sermon in the context of their worship of God is the theology of the pericope, or what the author is doing with what he is saying in the particular slice of the biblical text chosen for the sermon. This is the engine that drives the people of God towards valid application, for pericopal theology is the literary and ideological vehicle through which the divine precepts, priorities, and practices of God’s ideal world are propounded by the Holy Spirit for appropriation by readers that they may be progressively conformed into the image of Christ (Rom 8:29), empowered by the Author of Scripture. Indeed, the notion of this divine kingdom is the pivotal acclamation of the Psalter: yhwh malak, “Yahweh [the Triune God], He reigns” (10:16; 29:10 [×2]; 96:10; 97:1; 99:1).

Preaching the Psalms

I see the Psalter, the church’s hymnbook/prayerbook. as a gathering of prayers and songs, grouped together by any number of criteria: catch words, themes and, occasionally, discernible progressions between collocated members. There is unlikely to be any specific trajectory of theme across the book, beyond the generalities encompassed by the first and last psalm—the journey from duty to delight—with real life lived by real people depicted in between. Just as songs in a hymnbook are not intended to be sung sequentially from the first to the last in their printed order, so also the psalms are not intended to be preached from the first to the last in their scripted sequence. Rather, these are the ultimate texts for topical preaching—i.e., the godly and responsible shepherd, understanding the people and the times, picks a specific psalm that addresses a pertinent pastoral issue of the season.

In such a preaching endeavor, a psalm is not very different from a pericope of prophetic, didactic, or narrative literature. While there are, of course, genre differences, the discernment of pericopal theology occurs at a level more foundational to language. As an analogy, if one is analyzing the foundational elements of foods—carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins—these make up every “genre” of foods: breakfast foods, lunch foods, and dinner foods, food from the US, food from India, and food from Kuwait, …. For an analysis of food composition, these discrete “genres” are quite immaterial: they are all made up of the same core elements. So also the discernment of pericopal theology (authorial doing) occurs at the fundamental level of how language functions. Therefore preachers should primarily be focused upon discerning this foundational element of biblical texts; it alone furthers the deriving of valid application. (The secondary role of the preacher as the spiritual formation director, pastor, elder, and parent-figure of the flock also behooves the homiletician to make the discerned pericopal theology relevant to the current circumstances of listeners.)

Let’s work our way through an example—Psalm 2—trying to catch what the author is doing with what he is saying: pericopal theology. (Needless to say, the categories of analysis of any one psalm, as shown below for Psalm 2, can rarely be cookie-cuttered for another text—each “pericope” of the Psalter is unique and to be approached individually.)

 “Story”

The psalm tells its “story” in a sequence of four movements that delineate the thrust of the text: Rebellion (by rulers; 2:1–3), Reaction (from God; 2:4–6), Response (of King; 2:7–9), Recommendation (for God’s people; 2:10–12).

Uniquenesses

There is an intriguing naming of deity in Psalm 2. In each of the four sections of the psalm, the divine name occurs once: “Yahweh” (2:2, 7, 11) and “Lord” (2:4). Remarkably, there are also four specific references to deity’s representative, once in each section: “His Anointed” (2:2), “My King” (2:6), “My Son” (2:7, the Hebrew ben), and “Son” (2:12, the Aramaic, bar, thus ensuring that all four titles are different).

Theme

Since in the history of Israel there was no time when its reign was as widespread as this psalm presupposes, and since we know of no such obvious rebellion as described in 2:1–3 or of the subjugation of recalcitrant potentates by deity, it must be an eschatological divine reign that is in view here, with the “Son” of God, the Anointed, as King (whom we now know as the Lord Jesus Christ). Psalm 2 thus describes an ideal state: God rules, no matter who rebels, and the latter had best submit, and God’s people can find refuge in him in these turbulent days.

Parallels

The multitude of synonyms used of the wicked in 2:1–2—“nations,” “peoples,” “kings of the earth,” and “rulers” (and “judges” in 2:10)—points to their rebellion and conspiracy as being global. And the divine Reaction has four corresponding elements: he “laughs,” he “mocks,” he “speaks,” and he “terrifies” (2:4–5)—a commensurate reaction from God to those gangs of rebels.

Identities

While the regent installed by Yahweh may well have indicated a human king on the throne of David, there is a far closer association between God and this “King” in Psalm 2 than would be expected between deity and a mere human ruler: the nearest antecedent of “He” (in the participle “He who sits,” 2:4) is “His Anointed” (2:2), but the parallel with “Lord” (2:4b) and the subsequent verses in this section (2:5–6) suggest that the pronoun in 2:4 might also refer to Yahweh. The ambiguity is likely deliberate. Also, both Yahweh and his Anointed gain the same preposition (“against”) and are linked by “and” in 2:2. And the plural pronominal suffixes in “their fetters” and “their ropes” (2:3) clearly equate both Yahweh and his Anointed.

Speakers

In the third section, Response (2:7–9), the Anointed/King takes the microphone, but all this one does is cite Yahweh: his is simply to do the will of the One who installed him. And we have yet another intimate link between deity and his representative: the latter is the former’s “Son,” “begotten” of God. Sonship under the fatherhood of Yahweh was a position granted to the Davidic king (2 Sam 7:14; Ps 89:26–27), but it is far greater in scope and substance here. The “ends of the earth” are given by God to the Son as his “inheritance” and “possession” (2:8), and thus the “judges of the earth” (2:10; and the “kings of the earth,” 2:2) are put on notice: they don’t stand a chance rebelling against deity and his “Son” (2:9).

Paronomasia

In light of this Son-King’s might and power, unsubmissive ones are warned to change their ways, or else …. A number of wordplays (in pairs) depict their just deserts phonologically: while the rebels wanted to “tear away” their fetters (shlk, 2:3), they are recommended to “be sensible” (‎skl, 2:10),  or else the wicked “judges” (shpht, 2:10) will receive the “rod” (shevet, 2:9), and they who do not “serve” (‎‘vd, 2:11) will “perish” (’vd, 2:12).

Trajectory

In light of the “anger” of Yahweh in 2:5, and “angry” and “anger” showing up again in 2:12, as well as the macarism in 2:12 pointing to Yahweh as the refuge (as in 128:1; Isa 30:18; also see Pss 5:11; 34:22), it seems that Yahweh is the referent of “He,” “His,” and “Him,” in 2:12. In the first psalm, the blessed one was the person who was intensely grounded on God’s word; an applicational response is obvious. Likewise, in the second psalm, the blessed one is the person who, despite the turbulences of nation and hubris of leaders, seeks refuge in God with full confidence in the sovereignty of God (and of his King)! “Blessing [upon] all seeking refuge in Him!”

Theological Focus (a reduction of Pericopal Theology)

The refusal of rebelling rulers to submit reverentially to divine rule, the scope and extent of which has no bounds, meets with an appropriate response—dismissive, dreadful, and destructive—from God and his Anointed/King/Son.

Here’s a sermon of mine on this Psalm from a few years ago (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVF4sGQ99Yc). I essentially followed the structure of the psalm and ended with a call to application that I tried to make as specific as I could and implementable right away. Also, don’t forget to add sub-moves to relevance with each major move: these connect the ideas of the text to the audience where they are. God bless your preaching of the Psalms to your listeners!