AP

Summer is a great time of the year. We go to the beach, watch cricket and catch up with friends. Many churches also use the opportunity to spend time in the Psalms – and what a wonderful idea! The Psalms are full of emotion, hope, drama and music, and are always enjoyable. Here are some ideas for how to enjoy the Psalms even more this summer.

1. Savour the imagery.

Imagery is one of the chief delights of literature. One can hardly read Dickens’ description of looking into a London shop on Christmas morning without smiling at the ‘great round, pot-bellied baskets of chestnuts, shaped like the waistcoats of jolly old gentlemen, lolling at the doors, and tumbling out into the street.’ Or consider Herman Melville’s Ishmael, who, sheltering in the muffled silence of a chapel on a stormy night, thought that ‘in looking at things spiritual, we are too much like oysters observing the sun through the water, and thinking that thick water the thinnest of air.’ Good images convey truths which plain description cannot easily express, but they also make us feel. The Psalms are full of divinely inspired images:

As fire consumes the forest,

or a flame sets the mountains ablaze,

so pursue them with your tempest.

(Psalm 83)

My tears have been my food day and night.

(Psalm 42)

Let the rivers clap their hands,

let the mountains sing together for joy.

(Psalm 98)

It doesn’t matter much whether or not you can describe the difference between simile and metaphor; hyperbole and personification. I couldn’t tell you which cut is the back-strap and which is the tenderloin, but I know they’re both delicious!

Try it – go to almost any Psalm and see if you can find poetic use of imagery. Meditate on these to enjoy the Psalms even more this summer.

2. Pay attention to the arrangement of the Psalter.

The Psalms were not thrown into a bag, picked out at random, and numbered wherever they ended up. Rather, they were carefully arranged into five ‘books’:

Book 1 – Psalms 1-41

Book 2 – Psalms 42-72

Book 3 – Psalms 73-89

Book 4 – Psalms 90-106

Book 5 – Psalms 107-150

The evidence for this is in the text of the Psalter itself. Look at the ending of each book:

Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,

from everlasting to everlasting.

Amen and Amen.

(Psalm 41:13)

Praise be to his glorious name forever;

may the whole earth be filled with his glory.

Amen and Amen.

(Psalm 72:19)

Praise be to the Lord forever!

Amen and Amen.

(Psalm 89:52)

Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,

from everlasting to everlasting.

Let all the people say, “Amen!”

Praise the Lord.

(Psalm 106:48)

Each of these passages is something like Handel’s Hallelujah chorus – a climactic ending to a section of music. Psalms 146 – 150 are an extended five-fold Hallelujah which concludes the Psalter as a whole.

Perhaps the book demarcations in the Psalter do not receive as much attention as they might because they do not appear to make much difference. But knowing the broader theme of the ‘book’ in which a given Psalm has been placed can add an extra layer to our enjoyment of it.

Many have suggested themes for each of the five books, and like all great literature, the Psalter is anything but simplistic. Nonetheless, as long as we remember that this is a simplification, the following five broad themes, inspired by Robert Godfrey’s suggestions, are a start: Book 1 is about troubles and difficulties; book 2 is about confidence in God’s king; book 3 is about a crisis facing the kingdom; book 4 conveys God’s comfort to his people, and book 5 is renewed exuberant praise [1].

Locating a given Psalm within this broader narrative flow can add to our enjoyment in reading it.

3. Look for structure.

In English writing, the ending of an essay, speech, or poem is often the climax. It’s not always the case, and it’s often not clear, but in Hebrew writing it’s the middle, not the end, which is the high point. In Psalm 8, for example, verses 1 and 9 mirror each other; verses 2-3 and 6-8 focus on God’s creation, and verses 4-5 are the climactic centre. Picture the Psalm as a pyramid, with the middle verses as the apex. Looking for structure within a Psalm can help to locate its devotional and exegetical focus.

4. Contemplate ‘parallelism’.

Like having a favourite cuisine, or genre of music, we can have a favourite kind of poetry. Some naturally enjoy the sonnet and others the haiku. In each convention, different poetic features – like rhyme or rhythm – stand out more than others. Rhyme, for example, is prominent in English hymns:

Above the fearful wrecks of time,

and discord of its angry words,

I hear the everlasting chime,

the music of unjarring chords.

(Horatius Bonar)

In Hebrew poetry, it’s not rhyme, but ‘parallelism’ which is prominent. Parallelism is where the same thought is expressed twice, in different ways:

I am overwhelmed with troubles

and my life draws near to death.

(Psalm 88)

Parallelism might at first seem a convention remote from the modern world, but actually it is universally enjoyable. When a rhyming poem is translated to another language, either the words are substantially changed, or the rhyme is lost. Hebrew poetry, on the other hand, translates well without losing its main poetic features.

This feature of Hebrew poetry is enjoyable because it has what is foundational to all good art. As C. S. Lewis illustrated, parallelism displays what makes art beautiful – ‘the same in the other’ [2]. Lewis called to mind a country dance, a grand building, and music: The dancers take three steps, and three steps again (the same), but once to the left, and once to the right (the other). The building has two identical wings, but in opposite directions. Music has a theme and variations. Hebrew parallelism is like this.

The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises,

and faithful in all he does.

(Psalm 145)

The idea in Proverbs 23:12, for example then, is not that we are to work out two different ways of striving after two different kinds of wisdom. Rather, the proverb as a whole powerfully expresses the one full truth:

Apply your heart to instruction,

and your ears to words of knowledge.

(Prov. 23:12)

Growing in appreciating this aspect of Hebrew poetry is an easy way to enjoy the Psalms even more this summer.

5. Sing the Psalms!

If the best way to enjoy the ocean is to swim in it, and the best way to enjoy a cricket bat is to hit a ball for six, then the best way to enjoy the Psalms is to sing them.

Sing to God, sing in praise of his name,

extol him who rides on the clouds.

(Psalm 68)

They were written to be sung. The term ‘for the choirmaster’ is connected to 55 Psalms. Other notes likely reference tunes, pitches, and musical instruments.

The Psalms have always been sung by God’s people. Therefore, when we sing them, we are uniting with God’s people over the earth and over the ages. Even though the languages are different, God’s people from Lusaka to Chennai to Sydney sing Psalms together. In doing so, we are united with all who’ve gone before and all who will follow.

More than that, if in Lord’s Day worship we sing the words of scripture, then the whole service is utterly scriptural. The call to worship, confession, assurance, doxology and benediction are all God’s word, and our songs are too. We haven’t even mentioned the Bible readings and the sermon yet! There is a power in singing God’s word directly which is hard to match in even the very best hymns and modern songs – good as they are.

Perhaps the idea of singing Psalms is daunting for those who’ve never experienced it, but it’s more accessible than it might seem. At the church where I worship, we now sing one Psalm each service. The congregation has adapted easily to this modest change, and our enjoyment of it is growing week by week.

There are books available wherein the words of the Psalms have been arranged to make the rhythms fit with well-known tunes. ‘Sing Psalms’ was produced in 2003 by the Free Church of Scotland, and the ‘Trinity Psalter Hymnal’ was produced in North America in 2018. The ‘meter’ can be used to match a given Psalm with a tune you already know. There are also groups on YouTube and Spotify who are continuously arranging new renditions of Psalms for singing.

In combination with the ideas above, singing the Psalms is an excellent way to enjoy them even more than ever before. Why not try it this summer?

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

(Psalm 150)

– Jacques Nel

[1] Robert Godfrey, Learning to Love the Psalms, 2017

[2] C. S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms, 1958