Lord, we thank you again for the blessings that you give to us. We thank you that you have given us this day to rest from our labors, whether work or school or things around the house or all these things. Lord, we thank you for a day to to lay aside these cares and concerns that we might rest our bodies, that we might rest our minds and our souls and worship together as your people and we thank you for it. And so we ask now as we as we open your word and seek to better understand how Psalms have been put together and the message that that gives to us, that you would be pleased to work in us and grow our understanding and thus our application of your word in our lives. And so we pray these things then in Christ's name. Amen. Alright, well we have gradually making our way through this topic of the structure of the Psalms, starting rather broadly and working our way now more specifically to the different books of the Psalms and as we started book two last time we focused on one of those things that I've said pretty much since I started preaching here 19 years ago now almost that the name of God that is used in a particular passage teaches us the point of the passage in some way and so One of the key things that we find in the scriptures are basically repetition. And you see that especially in narrative, but you find it really in any genre of the scriptures. And so when you see the repetition of a particular word, and especially the repetition of a particular name of God, it's telling us something. It's leading us in the direction of the point of that particular passage. So as we do this here with the Psalms, The name Yahweh, God's covenant name, is clearly used more than any other, just like we see in the rest of the scriptures. The name Elohim, which emphasizes God as creator and sovereign, his power and so forth, that is used also. Those are the two key names in the Bible and, not surprisingly, here in the Psalter. But what's incredibly striking is that the number of times we see these names changes dramatically when we come into Book Two. In fact, it switches around. As I indicated to us last time, the number of times Yahweh is used in Book One is 278 times, versus 48 times for Elohim. But now, it switches. Now this does carry us into Book 3, through Psalm 83, but Psalms 42 to 83, Yahweh's only used 48 times, and Elohim 243 times. And then the rest of this altar returns the initial breakdown, if you will, Yahweh 4 and 10 times, Elohim 62. And each one of these is communicating something to us. And so there's this emphasis on Israel and their covenant Lord in book one, and then especially the end of book three, four, and five. But here in the middle with book two into book three, Elohim is emphasized. Why is that? Well, we looked at some of the different Psalms, and especially the Psalms that are more or less the same, some of them virtually identical, like Psalm 14 and Psalm 53, or Psalms 40 and 70, where you see the same words being used in one book and then the next book, but the name of God is different. And then we looked at a few other more general ways we see that, and it emphasizes then, a different point for us. So what is that point? Well, as Dr. Robertson says, it's a point of communication, a communication with the nations. Now, how do we see this? Well, we see it primarily in this way. If you turn to Psalm 2 here a moment, and you recall what we learned there, And David's final words here in Psalm 2. All right, verses 10 to 12, you see David communicating with the nations. Now therefore be wise, O kings, be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, rejoice with trembling, kiss the sun lest he be angry, and you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in him. And so David here is addressing the nations. Now what's striking is that you don't see it again in Book One. I mean, just based on percentages and statistics, you would expect to see it at least some, but you don't. The closest you get to it is in Psalm 18. And if you look at here just a moment at the end, remember Psalm 18 is that key middle Psalm, Psalms 18 and 19, law and gospel going together there. And we see in Psalm 18, verse 49, right at the end, it says, therefore, I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the Gentiles, or the nations, and sing praises to your name. Now he's not addressing the nations, but he's saying he's going to praise God among the nations. That's the closest we get in Book 1. Now clearly he talks about the nations, but there isn't this emphasis of him going there or speaking to them in Book 1, other than this, and then of course the end of Psalm 2. Now compare that to Book 2. In Book 2, we see more of this. Is it extensive? Well, compared to book one, it is. But there's about a half a dozen or so references where David is speaking to the nations or the psalmist, depending. There's some other psalmists here. So let's turn here to Psalm 49. And this is the first one that we see. Again, there are references to the nations. but in terms of addressing them in some way, we see it here now in Psalm 49, verse 1, "...hear this, all peoples, give ear, all inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich and poor, together and so forth." And he goes on to talk about the rest of the ideas here in the psalm, but you see that at the beginning this is the psalmist here, one of the sons of Korah, whoever it was, is talking about the nation's hearing, calling on them to listen. Again, compared to what we see prior to this, this is, like, all of a sudden sticks out. I haven't really heard this since Psalm 2. So let's then turn to Psalm 57. Now this is a Psalm of David, And notice, in the context of when he is fleeing from Saul, so there's still this focus on David and his individual struggles, and here in relation to Saul. But if you look at verse 9, note, not just calling on the nations to listen, but now it says, I will praise you, O Lord, among the peoples, I will sing to you among the nations, for your mercy reaches unto the heavens and your truth unto the clouds. So this is similar to Psalm 18, where David is going to praise God among the nations. Not directly addressing the nations here, but we're getting there. Again, similar to Psalm 18. So then, as we progress through Book 2, you come to Psalm 66. And this, we don't know who wrote. It doesn't tell us here in the title. There is a title, but it doesn't tell us who wrote it. Even the Septuagint does not have any indication. of who wrote this, but whoever it was, whether it was David or somebody else, note verse one, make a joyful shout to God, all the earth, sing out the honor of his name, make his praise glorious, say to God, how awesome are your works, through the greatness of your power, your enemies shall submit themselves to you, all the earth shall worship you and sing praises to you, they shall sing praises to your name, say law. So notice, all the earth, are to sing these praises to the Lord. Then if you look down at verse 8, O bless our God, you peoples, make the voice of his praise to be heard. Now the term people can refer to Israelites But in light of verse one, it seems like our focus here is still on the nations. And even if you look down at verse 16, come and hear all you who fear God, and I will declare what he has done for my soul. It still sounds like David is addressing those outside of Israel, telling them about what God has done for him. Then if you look at Psalm 67, The whole psalm here, again, we don't know who wrote it, maybe it was David, maybe somebody else. It says, God be merciful to us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God, let all the peoples praise you. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you shall judge the people righteously and govern the nations on earth. And you see the two Selahs there. Let the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you. Then the earth shall yield her increase. God, our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him." Now the psalm here obviously is addressing God, and yet there's this constant reference to the nations, which again is unusual. when you start with Psalm 1 and work your way through, you see how things are shifting, if you will, away from Israel in a certain sense. Then if you look at Psalm 68, here this is a Psalm of David, and if you look toward the end, and if you look at verse 32, Psalm 68, verse 32, saying to God, you kingdoms of the earth, I sing praises to the Lord. Say, Lord, to Him who rides on the heaven of heavens, which we're of old. Indeed, He sends out His voice, a mighty voice. Ascribe strength to God. His excellence is over Israel, and His strength is in the clouds. So we have a direct call for the nations to worship God. But notice also the polemic in this. Occasionally I use these verses as a call to worship. And when I do, it's usually in the context of idolatry or false gods of some description. Because who rides on the clouds? Not Baal, not the storm gods, but Yahweh does. And so there's this call to the nations to worship the true God, the true Storm God, not these false gods. Now, as we're making our way through Book 2 here, you see how this theme of speaking to the nations, this communication to the nations, is increasing. Now, if you also look here at Psalm 68, verse 29, It says this, because of your temple at Jerusalem, kings will bring presents to you. Rebuke the beasts of the reeds, the herd of the bulls with calves of the people. Till everyone submits himself with pieces of silver, scatter the people who delight in war. Envoys will come out of Egypt. Ethiopia will quickly stretch out her hands to God. So here you have the theme of the nations bringing things to God. You see that in Revelation 21, you know, the end of the Bible speaks of these things. And then if you turn to Psalm 72, the final Psalm here in book two, here now it's Psalm of Solomon. And if you look down at verse 10, Psalm 72 verse 10, the kings of Tarshish and of the Isles will bring presents. The kings of Sheba and Saba will offer gifts. Yes, all kings shall fall down before him. All nations shall serve him. And then also verse 15, he shall live and the gold of Sheba will be given to him. Prayer also be made for him continually and daily he shall be praised. So here again, you see this emphasis of the nations bringing things to God, bringing praise to God. And then Psalm 72 ends with these words, verse 17, his name shall endure forever. His name shall continue as long as the sun and men shall be blessed in him, all nations shall call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only does wondrous things, and blessed be his glorious name forever, and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen, and amen. Now you may recall those final words are that general refrain that ends each of the books, but everything is building to this, verse 17 included. So, Do we find this theme of speaking to the nations in every Psalm of Book 2? No, we don't. But it does increase as you come to this climax here in Psalm 72. And so because of this, and because you don't have it in Book 1, other than Psalm 2 and that brief reference in Psalm 18, it helps us to see the difference of the messaging. deliberately put together. Are there other themes? Of course there are other themes. In fact, book two in many ways has the same ideas as book one. Confrontation. David and the other psalmists speak of the opposition to Yahweh's king, opposition to the people of God, and so forth. But here's our biggest differences. The name of God difference, and now this building focus on communicating with the nations and their need to praise God. So as a general overview kind of general statement here, the Davidic Psalms that emphasize personal confrontation are found in Book 1 and also Book 2, but the Davidic Psalms that emphasize confrontation with the nations and communicating with them are found here in Book 2, not in Book 1. So that difference is why Dr. Robinson calls Book 1 confrontation and Book 2 communication. But again, recognize you have the same ideas in Book 2 as you do in Book 1. So anyway, this appears to be why Ezra, or whoever it was, put the Psalms together in this order, to communicate these ideas. Alright, questions? Comments? In a certain sense, the Psalter and its arrangement should be seen as we see the Old Testament put together. Why is one book put in a certain place and not another? Or in the New Testament in the same way? Obviously the Pentateuch goes first because we have creation and the Exodus and Moses wrote it and so forth. And then you have the historical books there from Joshua until the exile, and then even after the exile. Then you have the wisdom literature, and then you have the prophets, the major prophets and the minor prophets. They're arranged in a specific order, and there's a certain theme that fits that arrangement. Similar here in the Psalms, this is why they are put together. In one sense, 150 different books are put together for these reasons. Yes? Yeah, not for the Psalms. But yes, there are some differences, like the Book of Ruth is not where we have it. It's in the Wisdom literature. And yes, it does end with Chronicles. So there's some of that different emphasis. And that, we think, may have something to do with when the books were written. But the differences are relatively minor. But there are some differences in order. Other questions? OK, let's then look not so broadly at Book Two, but more specifically now at the arrangement of these psalms. And the challenge here with Book 2 is we don't have those nice easy handles to grab onto as we did in Book 1. Remember in Book 1 we saw the law gospel handle, there are Psalms 1 and 2, and 18 and 19, and then we had the acrostics that we could hold onto that then broke up those larger sections. Here, and also some of those pyramids, remember there are two pyramids of Psalms, as we talked about. Well here, if you look at your handout, and hopefully everybody has one here, and you look at the book two diagram, it's not quite so easily presented. So let me address it this way, and again following Dr. Robertson, at least to some degree, guiding us, in other ways very much so, in other ways I'm doing it a little bit differently, but The first handle I think that might be helpful is authorship. Remember in book one, David wrote all of them except three, and he might have written those three. Well, here in book two, we have some different authors, not just David. And so if you look at this diagram, notice first you have the Sons of Korah. Those books go together. and then there's the book written by Asaph, or the psalm, just one, and so that's subdivised, right? Sons of Korah, and now you have the Davidic Psalms, Psalms 51 to 71, and then everything ends with another author, Solomon. So you have two psalms written by an author that are just one of them, Asaph and Solomon, and then you have two where they've written More than one. So you have eight Psalms, one Psalm, 21 Psalms, one Psalm. All right, now let's break that down, because as you see, it has a little asterisk there. And so let's look at why that is present. If you turn to Psalm 42 here a moment. Psalm 42. Alright, you see, this is our first Psalm, of course, in Book 2, and you'll see the title, Contemplation of the Sons of Korah. If you look at Psalm 43, there is no title at all. And when you have them back-to-back like this, the suggestion is that the same author wrote them both. In this case, I think we can say for sure that that did take place, and it's because, if you look at verse 5 of Psalm 42, here's the refrain, Why are you cast down, O my soul, and so on. Then look at verse 11, same thing, there are just a couple minor differences between the two. And then if you look at Psalm 43, verse 5, there it is again, and that one's identical to verse 11 in Psalm 42. So because of this refrain three times, This is why he believes Psalm 43 goes with Psalm 42, and therefore was written by one of the sons of Korah. So that's why he has the asterisk there, it's because of Psalm 43. But if that's correct, then all these eight Psalms then were written by the sons of Korah. All the other ones are straightforward, you see them right there in the title. Now, as for the Psalms of David, again, Asaph is dividing the sons of Korah and the Psalms of David. If you look at Psalms 66 and 67, and when we read them a little bit ago, maybe you noticed this. In Psalm 66, well, I guess I mentioned it, didn't I? There is a title, but there is no author mentioned. Same is true for Psalm 67, a title but no author mentioned. Did David write them? Possibly. We don't know. If you look at Psalm 70, notice there is a title. It says David wrote it. Then if you look at Psalm 71, there's no title at all. So if we're following the same pattern as we saw in Psalms 42 and 43, then the implication is that David also wrote Psalm 71. Now, you might remember from last week, you recall that Psalm 71 and Psalm 31 went together, with that change of the names of God and some of the similar language and ideas and so forth, and Psalm 31 was clearly written by David. which again suggests that David wrote Psalm 71. So, we have these three. We're not sure if David wrote them, but otherwise all these other Psalms from Psalm 51 to 71 are written by David. And then everything ends with David's successor, Solomon. Very fitting to end the Davidic Psalms with David's son. Remember Psalm 72, verse 20, prayers of David, son of Jesse, are ended. Now, as I've said before, there are other Psalms of David put later, but this initial edit had all the Psalms of David up through this point. The final edit is different. But again, you'll see how it's arranged here according to author. So, different than Book 1 in that way, But here we see a handle we can grab onto by looking at eight psalms, one psalm, roughly 21 psalms, and then one psalm. All right, any questions here? Yes, Matthew. Yes, yep, yep. And that one we can say with lots of confidence. Yeah, because of the refrain. But Psalms 70 and 71, we don't have as much confidence. Because we don't have a refrain or something like that tying it together. But the implication is David probably did write it. So when it comes to time to preach on Psalms 42 and 43, I'm putting them together. Very deliberately. Alright, well with that in mind, well any other questions? Comments? With that in mind, let's look then at Psalms 42 and 43 because I think the next handle that we can grab onto here with Book 2 After the authorship point, we can look at the Seam Psalms. I've already mentioned this, you recall, in our broader view of the structure. But let me have us look at it a little bit more specifically, and here specifically in this context. In Psalm 42 and Psalm 43, there is the focus on the individual. As you read down through it, note the first person pronouns. I and me. Note verse one, so my soul pants for you, my soul searches for God when I come, and so forth. Psalm 42 and 43 has the first person singular throughout these two psalms. Note the refrain as well. If you look at verse six here in Psalm 42, it says, Oh my God, my soul is cast down within me. Therefore, I remember you from the land of the Jordan and from the heights of Hermon and from the hill Mitzar. Now that is in Northern Israel and most likely outside of the territory of Israel, not the promised territory of Israel, but the actual occupation occupied portion of Israel. This would have been beyond it. And so the psalmist here, whoever the son, whichever son of Korah this was, was outside of Israel when he said this. He was among the nations. That's why he's crying out. His soul is cast down and so forth. So note this individual focus of opposition. He is away from Israel. So he's crying out to the Lord for help. Okay? So he's not speaking to the nations, but this first psalm, right? Remember, the Seam Psalms are the first and last psalms of the book. The first psalm here, Psalm 42 and Psalm 43, are talking about an individual need for God to help them because of what the nations are doing to oppress Him. And possibly more than just Him, but certainly the focus is on the psalms. Alright, now, Palmer Robertson says we should also include Psalm 44 as one of these theme psalms. So, you can think of it as three psalms, you can think of it as two psalms, but he says let's also include this one. Why? Because it's the same basic message of hope amid distress because of what the nations are doing. The difference is, now it's a corporate focus. Okay? Psalms 42 and 43, all first person when speaking of, you know, first person singular, I should say, when using the first person. Here, almost all references in the first person in Psalm 44 are first person plural. Okay? There are a couple exceptions. No verse two. You cast, sorry, that's the wrong one. Let's see if I can find it. Verse six, for I will not trust in my bow and so forth. But there's a couple exceptions there, but almost every one of them is first person plural. So verse one, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us. So it's a striking difference compared to Psalms 42 and 43. Same basic message. but now a corporate focus rather than an individual focus. Note verse 11, "...you have given us up like sheep intended for food, and have scattered us among the nations." So, Psalm 42 verse 6, psalmist is among the nations there up near Mount Hermon. Here now are scattered among the nations, but again note the individual versus the corporate emphasis. So, These psalms are put at the beginning of the book deliberately. And here's our focus, right? Individual and an Israel focus on what the nations are doing. And as you then go through the book, as you get toward the end, there's more of an address to the nations, as we talked about. Alright, now let's turn to Psalm 72, which is the final psalm in Book 2. And so he begins with this idea of opposition. He begins with the idea of opposition to the individual believer and to Israel in general. And he ends with Psalm 72 on a triumphant note. So you begin with opposition by the nations. You end with triumph over the nations. Here, Solomon, the next king. Give the king your judgments, O God, and your righteousness to the king's son. He will judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice. The mountains will bring peace to the people, and the little hills by righteousness. He will bring justice to the poor of the people. He will save the children of the needy. He will break in pieces the oppressor." Again, remember the focal point in Book 2 is the national oppressor. In Book 1, it tends to be more fellow Israelites. Again, that's a general statement, but it is, I think, a fair one. And so as you keep looking through here, then, you see this triumph of this Messiah, this anointed King. You see the sufferings ending in victory. You see the Messiah is going to rule eternally and universally. Especially verses 17 and following, as I read earlier. He is going to rule and thus bring blessings to everyone and everything." The whole psalm is emphasizing that. Verse 8, He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth. Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before Him, and His enemies will lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and the isles will bring presents. I read that verse earlier. Again, you see this emphasis on victory. And so the whole world hears the good news and comes to Him. Not surprisingly, in this psalm, we see an allusion to the Davidic Covenant from 2 Samuel 7, 14. You'll see that in verse 2, especially, let them be ashamed and confounded who seek my life. Oh, sorry, I skipped a page. He will judge your people with righteousness and your poor with justice. And the king's son there, the interverse one, general references to the Davidic Covenant. And then also that, in addition to verses eight to 11 that I just read, at least a portion of, that reminds us of Psalm 2. And then the language of blessings takes us back to Psalm 1, verse 1, and Psalm 2, verse 12. So the connection to the foundation Psalms, Psalms 1 and 2 are seen in this way. So, again, the point here is, why does he put them where he puts them? Well, here's why. He puts these seam psalms in this location to emphasize this point. Struggling at the beginning, individually, nationally, triumph at the end through the Messiah. Here it's Solomon, the son of David. Remember, Messiah means anointed one, so Solomon was anointed. But that, then, of course, points us forward to the greater Son of David, to Jesus. So, again, the point here isn't just an academic exercise. This isn't just, you know, something for seminary class or something to that effect. It's giving us guidance as we read these Psalms to have a better sense of the broader message and not just the individual message of each individual psalm. So here are two handles, and maybe the most helpful for us, we'll look at some of the other ones here next week. But here's how, at least as a starting point of looking at how Book Two is arranged, I think these are very helpful for us. So, questions, comments? Well, hopefully, what's happening with me is carrying over to you. The Psalms was, the Book of Psalms was kind of a, I wouldn't say closed book for me, but it was very much just very superficially understood. Some Psalms I knew quite well, but at least the whole message was very much not understood by me. I think I'm getting my hands around it, wrapping my mind around it, and hopefully I'm communicating that well enough for you. Again, I encourage you, find Palmer Robertson's book here, The Flow of the Psalms. Read it yourself. Very, very helpful. There are a number of things that I am just basically parroting. There are other things I'm expanding on in terms of what he has done. And I think I am, he's given me a foundation to build upon it a little bit and I'm doing some of that. And basically this here I've building a little bit on what he has done. So next time then, as you look at that, your handout, you see the kingship Psalms in two places, you see opposition in two places there, Psalms 54 to 60 and 69 to 71, and then you'll see about the summons there, or Psalms 49 to 52. So there's some other things that fill in, and we'll talk about those briefly next time. All right, let's pray together then. Our Father, our God, we thank you again for your word, and that you didn't just randomly give it to us through various men. You didn't just plop it down from heaven for us to just figure out in some way on our own. But we are thankful, Lord, that you have sent forth your spirit to inspire these men to write it, and even in this way, to put it together. put these Psalms in an order that will communicate various truths that we, and of course Israel before us, need to know and understand as your people. We are thankful, Lord, that in the midst of our confrontation with those who hate you and who oppose your people, we are thankful, Lord, that we can come to you and find that comfort, as so many of these Psalms say. But also, that we can then take these truths and communicate them to those around us. That we wouldn't just be isolated in our faith, but that we would communicate the truths of your word to the nations around us, including our own nation that has, for all intents and purposes, forgotten you. And Lord, we pray that you would then equip us in this way, And we pray also then as we come to worship as a body now that you would strengthen us, that you would work among us by your spirit, and that your name would be magnified in it all. We pray these things then in Christ's name, amen.