Our Father, we thank you for another day, another Lord's Day especially, and we thank you that we can gather as your people, and again ask for your strength as we do so to learn more about the Psalms, and in particular, how they are put together and arranged for us that we might better understand this little Bible, as Luther called it. And so we pray these things then in Christ's name. Amen. All right, so we have been working through book four, and last time we were talking especially about the pyramid there, that Psalm 96 is the central psalm, and then you have the four on each side. Anybody need one of these? Nathaniel? Our young helpers here today Okay, so you see here then on the book four diagram of maturation that huge pyramid which encompasses a major portion of this book focusing on God, Yahweh especially, ruling. That's what Yahweh Malak means. Then we talk briefly about the same Psalms, especially Psalm 90, this Psalm of Moses, and how Robertson makes the case that this is actually the turning point in the Psalter. We end in exile at the end of Book 3, and so now we begin this focus on the the spiritual meaning of the forms of religion, which have always been the case in the Bible, but when you don't have the outward forms of religion, what do you do? And so focusing on God being our dwelling place and so forth. So, we talked briefly about Psalm 106, because I'm intending to say more about it here today. So, the next section you'll see there are the Davidic Psalms, and they're actually Psalms 101 and 103. Psalm 102 does not have an author mentioned, but because it's put in between these other two, it's likely that it was written by David, but we can't say definitively. Now, it's kind of strange, isn't it, that you have a psalm of Moses and then two psalms or possibly three psalms of David when they're in exile. But as we saw with the Psalm of Moses, the focus is on our relationship with the Lord, which is most important no matter where we are, whether we're sitting here in church or we're sitting, hiding out in a cave somewhere because we're not allowed to worship publicly. And the same general idea can be said here about these Psalms of David. Even though there is no king in Zion, even though the temple has been destroyed, the throne has been destroyed, and so forth. By referencing David, this isn't just because David wrote over half the Psalms. It's to remind us of the Davidic promises. Even in exile, they are still relevant. And so this is why it is placed here, though David does not mention anything about the Davidic promises in the Psalms. Nothing directly. We can infer some things, but nothing directly. And so here's likely why the arranger, final compiler here put them in this place. So if we look briefly at Psalm 101 to 103, again just as a general overview here in this context, Psalm 101 emphasizes that David will obey the Lord, okay, he's gonna sing and praise, I will behave wisely in a perfect way, there, verse 2. This is what the king's supposed to do. Because he didn't, that's why they're in exile, among other reasons. And he talks about the obeying the law, and of course, praising the Lord, and so forth. Then if you look at Psalm 102, again, just very briefly, it starts as a lament, right? Hear my prayer, O Lord, let my cry come to you, and so forth. But in verse 12, note how it shifts. When Yahweh is recalled specifically, but you, O Lord, shall endure forever. remember it's your name to all generations you will rise and have mercy on Zion and so forth this of course is the most important thing God in the midst of hard times you might say if you look also at verse 28 notice how it ends the children of your servants will continue and their descendants will be established before you And so, here's the hope. Here's what they're looking for beyond the exile. If you turn just a moment to Hebrews chapter 1, Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 10, you see this quotation. This is from Psalm 102. And so that verses 10 to 12 are a quotation of Psalm 102, verses 25 through 27. So, notice that the author of the Hebrews is applying this to Jesus, specifically. Whereas, of course, in Psalm 102, the focus is on Yahweh, and as we come into the New Testament, we learn that Yahweh is Father, Son, and Spirit. hinted at in the Old Testament, now more specifically stated. So then, briefly in Psalm 103, a very familiar psalm to us. I often read verses 1 to 5 as a call to worship. We have several hymns that are based on this psalm. It is clearly written by David, as we see there in the title. Simply, God's character does not change. No matter what changes around us, God's character does not change. And so we see that, especially in verse 8, where that's a reference to Exodus 34, the summary of God's character there, verses 6 and 7. And so here, the whole psalm is referencing God's character, but that may be especially. So again, even though there's no Ark, there's no throne, there's none of these things in Zion at the moment, God doesn't change. These aspects of God, His character does not change. All right, so the key in our religion as Christians is not the outward forms of religion. As important as those things are, What's most important is God Himself. And so He is the King. He is the Creator. He is our Rock and our Judge and the Lord of the Covenant. He treats His creatures with grace and then especially forgives His people, though they have offended Him. And so all creatures, all nations, all people are subject to Yahweh. So here are some of the key thoughts for these three psalms in this section. Alright, comments or questions? Again, it seems maybe rather mundane to us when we're sitting in a padded pew. But if we're in China, in the underground church, or in Canada, hiding out so you're not thrown in prison, it becomes much more relevant to us. Yes? And don't we see that in a number of places? Esther may be the most obvious example of that. Even when they were sent back, they were given articles and lots of things to go back. So yeah, even though many died, even though many It was hard, and they were not in the promised land. It could have been worse. Yeah, could have been much worse. All right, now let's look then, oh yeah, still. who forgives all your iniquities, of course, through Christ as man, who heals all your diseases. And we know that always isn't true in our experience. I have wanted to think of that as God creates a body that tends to heal itself. I mean, God does the healing through Sure. Well, that's definitely part of it. And you'll hear that language with natural practitioners and chiropractors and so forth. And no one can go too far with that. There's definitely truth. You are what you eat, as they say. And that has led to a lot of health problems. So if you eat better, and do natural things, it helps a lot. Because God made us with an amazing system to function, and to some degree, heal itself. A chiropractor in Grove City there, I remember something that caught my attention on a spring, But also, as you're talking, when you have statements like this, and you're sitting in exile, it seems almost unreal, isn't it? And I think that's part of the point. God is trying to impress on his people what are the spiritual truths, what are the ultimate truths, whether the outward lines up with it or not. And so, yes, God ultimately heals all our diseases. He will in heaven, certainly, and that's the ultimate point of what the Promised Land points to, for example. And so this is what, again, I've been trying to say all along here about maturations, trying to impress on them, don't focus on the outward, focus on the ultimate and the spiritual. All right, well, let's look then at the last section here in book four, and that's Psalms 104 to 106. And we have a triad here of Hallelujah Psalms. So if you look at Psalm 104, it begins with, Bless the Lord, O my soul, but then it ends with praise the lord okay so bless the lord oh my soul and then praise the lord then if you look at psalm 105 it begins by giving thanks and then it ends with praise the lord hallelujah and then psalm 106 begins with hallelujah and then it ends with hallelujah okay And so clearly these three are put together to end book four with praise. Now again, they're in exile, and God is impressing on them what is most important, that he is king, and some of the things that have been saying the last few weeks and even again here today, the exiled Israelites are learning their lesson. They end with praise here in this book. this triad. And so you begin with the same psalm, right? Psalm 90. God is our dwelling place. And you end with Psalm 106, the final psalm in Book 4, with praise. And so again, let's see how it's arranged here. And so again, even when we cannot attend church due to our oppressors, and more and more shutdowns are happening because of the Omicron virus and so forth, we'll see what's going to happen. What are they going to do this time? But still, Yahweh is due our praise, no matter what is happening around us. And so even though it may appear that Yahweh is not our king, He is. Even though it may appear that the spiritual blessings are not upon us, they are, at least in these ultimate senses. And so book four follows book three, which is A lot about despair and going into exile and the end of the Davidic promises there, Psalm 89, but now this one culminates with praise. But it took time to learn these lessons. And of course, we continue to need to learn these lessons each generation. And like I think we all can say, many times during our lives, we need to be reminded of these truths. All right, now that's the overall point. Now let me give you a few numbers here. The term hallelujah, it's one of those Hebrew words that we know, because it comes right into English. And it's actually not used until Psalm 104, verse 35. It's not used in the Old Testament, or in the Psalter, I should say, up till this point. which is maybe very surprising to us. The first time we see the term hallelujah is when they're in exile. I think that's significant to the point that we've been making. Simply it means praise Yah, and it's telling all of us to do it, you plural. Excuse me. Now, it's based on the basic verb, to praise, which is used 77 times in the Psalms, but again, hallelujah is not used until now. Now, there are some other forms that we see, such as praise to Yahweh. And the first time we see it in the Old Testament is in 1 Chronicles 16. Do you remember our connections with 1 Chronicles 16 and Book 4? The first time we see that particular wording, praise to Yahweh, is found there. And then, praise Yahweh using the direct object marker. Michelle will know what I mean by that. Nathaniel might remember. The first time we see that one is in Psalm 117. Praise Yahweh, the whole name Yahweh, not just Yah. First time we see that since Psalm 22. Now, there are other ways that we can find it, such as praise you or praise your name, praise the name of God and so forth. But it is somewhat striking that you don't see Hallelujah until this part of the Psalter, and in fact, the whole of the Old Testament. Now, the only time we see Hallelujah in the New Testament is in Revelation 19, four times. Again, it's just rather striking. You think all the times that Paul praises God in his letters or something like that, and he doesn't say hallelujah. But it is in Revelation 19, four times. And here now in these three Psalms, and then 20 times in Book 5, we will see the term hallelujah. And so there are two key hallelujah sections in book five and then one other psalm where we see it psalm 135 So again, this isn't just you know an academic Somewhat abstract discussion here this is teaching us something and I find it incredibly striking that these psalms are not in book one or two three but while they're in exile and haven't yet come back so let's now talk a little bit about Psalms 104 to 106 more specifically note if you look at Psalm 104 it emphasizes God as creator and provider Okay, so notice, you see this first few verses, right? He's clothed in honor and majesty and stretches out the heavens, lays the beams of the upper chambers, makes the clouds and so forth. So notice his creative work and his providential work. Just go right down through it. Verse 10, he sends the springs into the valleys, they flow among the hills, give drink and so forth. Verse 14 causes the grass to grow and so on. So this is our God. He is our creator. He is our provider. And so we give him praise. He is worthy of praise. Then Psalm 105. begins with thanksgiving, a call to give thanks and to call upon His name and sing to Him and make known His deeds and so forth. You remember that 1 Corinthians, sorry, I'll get it right here, 1 Chronicles chapter 16 are quoted in Psalms 105 and 106. And so remember that connection with the Ark of the Covenant and praise and so forth. And Psalm 105 then reviews God's covenant faithfulness to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and then to Joseph, Moses, and Joshua in the time in Egypt and the Exodus and the conquest. So here's a summary of what God had done for Israel. We praise Him as our Maker and Provider, Psalm 104. We praise Him as our Savior and Redeemer, Psalm 105. Then Psalm 106, we praise Yahweh even though He has judged His people for their sin. Psalm 106 is a review of the history of Israel's sin and the consequent punishment that came upon them. And so, I mean, you can just skip right down through this, right? Talk about the mighty ax there, verse two, and we give him thanks. But verse six, we have sinned, okay? Nevertheless, verse eight, he saved them. Verse 13, they soon forgot his works. I mean, you just go right down through here, and you see all of this, right? Golden calf is mentioned in verse 19. They despised the pleasant land, verse 24. Baal peor in verse 28, and so on. So you see what's here in the psalm. God is our maker and provider. God is our savior and redeemer, the previous two psalms, and now Israel has sinned against this God. And yet God, verse 44, regards their affliction when he hears their cry. and for their sake he remembered his covenants and relented according to the multitude of his mercies. He also made them to be pitied by all those who carried them away captive. And then note how it ends, verse 47. Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the Gentiles to give thanks to your holy name, to triumph in your praise. Then remember verse 48, that's that refrain that tells you, okay, end of a book here. So you see that in Psalm 41, Psalm 72, Psalm 89, and now here's Psalm 106. So as God had shown mercy and pity to Israel when they sinned, in earlier generations, now the psalmist is putting this one here, and I'm inclined to think added verse 47 to what the psalm originally was, and yet we do see the same kind of ideas in 1 Chronicles 16, but he's certainly applying it to this time and place while they're in exile. So asking for God to do it again, basically, and return them. And so God's character, God's ways, God's covenants still dictate how God relates to his people, whether we have many blessings or whether life is really hard. whether we are obedient or whether Israel or we as God's people break the covenant. Whether there is a temple, a promised land, a nice church to sit in, it doesn't matter. God's covenants, God's character are still in place. All right. Comments or questions? Yeah, Dale. I suppose. All right. Evolution of the polar bird, local flood, all of that. They are infamous for not enough water to go to the border, et cetera. And remember, you can say, yes, there's plenty of water. It's all smooth and sphere like this. I remember it could be up to two miles. Maybe the mountains weren't as fine, and the basins weren't as deep. Now, I know some of the poetry understand that, but on our site, we have a verse of 679. You covered it, as you were, with the defense of the environment. The water stood above the mountains. At your rebuke, they fled. At the voice of your thunder, they hastened away. They went up over the mountains. They went down into the valleys, to the place which you founded for them. You have set a boundary that they may not pass over, and may not return over the earth. Could we possibly read into that page? God has cited in the U.S. Times where the flood came over and maybe at that point reached the bottom of the spire and pulled the basins in the ocean down further. And this is a place where the arson did not come near the dam, which is an argument on our side. But is it a good argument, or is this just merely poetic? Well, I think the bigger question is, are we referring to the initial creation, when he separated the waters with the land, or is he talking about the re-creation with the flood and post-flood? I think that's the bigger question. Whether it's poetry or not, I don't think matters so much. Like in verse 9, that they may or may not be to burn. Yeah. That's right. So I would agree with you. I think we should lean toward the recreating events after the flood. But some will argue this is talking about the initial creation. But I think the other makes more sense in light of the things you just mentioned. Yeah, that's right. So when we think of those things, isn't that give us comfort? Doesn't that give us encouragement when life around us is falling apart and we don't have the blessings we're used to having? Yes, Kathy. Yeah, yeah. Well, I think your question is going to be answered as we turn to book five. And I think we're going to see a yes to your question. And certainly, as you look at Ezra and Nehemiah and so forth, we see those things happening. Nehemiah 8, in particular. Or is it Ezra 8? I think one of the two. Anyway. And so yeah, there is a, at least certainly by the time they get back to the Promised Land, we see some of those things taking place. But. Right. That's right. That's right. Yep. So let's see here. Yeah. Nehemiah 8. See him reading the law and renewing the covenant ideas there. There's probably some other ones we can point to, but that's the first one that comes to mind anyway. Obviously, they're rebuilding the wall and rebuilding the temple and so forth in the midst of that, those two books. Okay, any other comments or questions? Let's then shift now our focus to book five. And as you see here on your handout, Homer Robertson now gives us a new term here to summarize the book. And that is consummation. G-I-O-N for all five of these here. And so this is what he uses here in this one. All right, what I want to do as we begin this is just to point out a few obvious things as you look at the diagram. The first one is, notice how few authors there are. We see David. In fact, there's 15 Psalms of David altogether, of the 44 Psalms. And then one other, who's the other author mentioned? Yeah, Solomon, 127. There are no other authors mentioned Now, there may have been a handful of different authors, some of the sons of Korah or Asaph or whatever, but they're not mentioned to us. Note the other thing that jumps out at us, and that is the pyramids. There's three of them. Psalms 111 to 117, which also are a hallelujah section. And then on the other page, you see the really big one, the Psalms of Ascent, 120 to 134, is a pyramid with the pinnacle psalm there, Solomon's psalm. And then at the end, another Hallelujah section, you see the pyramid with the Psalm 148 being the top of that pyramid. So we have three pyramids, and two of the three are Hallelujah sections. Notice there are four acrostics, Psalm 145, and then Psalms 111 and 112, and then, of course, Psalm 119. Now, you may remember that the only acrostics we've seen thus far are in Book 1, and so they're only acrostics in Book 1 and Book 5. And then, notice what he calls the focal messianic psalms, Psalm 110 and Psalm 118. These are the two most quoted psalms in the New Testament. So notice how they are placed on either side of the hallelujah section with that pyramid. And notice how the second one, Psalm 118, is combined with the law. So remember that gospel-law connection that we saw in Psalms 1 and 2, Psalms 18 and 19, and now here, Psalms 118 and 119. Now, there are some other things, but that encompasses a good part of Book Five. And so notice, We have the gospel, the Messiah, emphasized. We have the law emphasized in Psalm 119. We have praise emphasized. We have worshiping, right? Psalms of ascents. So, back to Kathy's question, do we see a renewal of the covenant? Well, in light of what I just showed you, well, yeah, I mean, look at all these things. And so you do not have an emphasis on David struggling to establish the throne and the opponents, the enemies. Now, enemies will be mentioned here, but not quite in the same way with the laments and such we see in books one and two. We certainly don't see a great emphasis on the exile and learning while in exile, but the exile is referenced, especially Psalm 137. So again, Remember that there are multiple themes in these books, but what we're emphasizing here seems to be why they are all tied together and placed where they are placed. All right, so any other broad observations or questions here that you see before we look more specifically? All right. I'm sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, again, a reference what I said in the prayer at the beginning, Martin Luther called this a little Bible. There's a lot here in the Psalms, and that's many ways to be understandable. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that, too. Absolutely. Yes. God's Word is very rich, of course, especially in the poetry here. Yeah, you could say that, yes. All right, well let's start by saying a little bit more about authorship as the first handle, as I've been using this language, some handles for us to grab on to. talk about authorship. I already mentioned David and Solomon are the only two known authors. It could be that David wrote all of them except 127, but it's also quite as likely, if not more likely, that you have the Sons of Korah or Asaph or even Moses or somebody else that has written some of these psalms. Which, as I mentioned last time in book four, it suggests to us that most of these psalms, maybe even all of these other psalms, were composed either prior to the exile or during the exile, but the information as to who wrote them was lost or forgotten. So again, if you're forced out of your home, more or less in the middle of the night, you're not gonna take everything with you. And so it's not surprising that they don't know who some of the authors were. And so, very much like Book 4, we see this here in Book 5. So, as I mentioned a moment ago, David authored 15 of the 44. Obviously, David lived prior to the exile, but the themes that he addresses in these particular Psalms very much fit with the arranger's message of praise and worship. Now, as for Solomon, you remember, he only wrote one other psalm that we know of, and that's Psalm 72, the final psalm in Book Two. Remember, that is the culmination of the Davidic covenant, all the wonderful things about the Davidic king. And so here's his other psalm, Psalm 127. And again, it is at the pinnacle of the psalm of ascents. Alright, so then the next thing to look at again are the seam solvents. All right, so this is then Psalm 107, and it's kind of hard just to say it was Psalm 150. You've got the pyramid at the end, the Hallelujah Psalms at the end, so Psalms 146 to 150 are usually considered the conclusion. to the Psalter all going together. So don't just see Psalm 150 is the final Psalm, but Psalms 146 to 150 being the final Psalms. So as for Psalm 107 then, let's look at that a little bit more in detail. Let's turn there briefly. Psalm 107. And note especially the first three verses and how that fits with Psalm 106, verse 47. All right. Save us, O Lord. Psalm 106, verse 47. Gather us from among the Gentiles to give thanks to your holy name, to triumph in your praise. Well, we've already talked about how much thanksgiving and praise there are in book five. Now note Psalm 107, verse one. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. that the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from the hand of the enemy and gathered us out of the lands from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. Maybe someone wrote this psalm after the exile and deliberately connected it. Maybe it was written earlier and Ezra, whoever it was, put it here because obviously it's a very fitting place to put it. Whichever the case, note the point. Book five is beginning with thanksgiving to God because he kept his promises. He returned Israel from exile. And Israel then is keeping their promise from Psalm 106 verse 47 to give thanks and praise. Here it is. They're doing this right at the very beginning of the book and throughout. Book five. So, connection here may be clearer than any other same psalm that we've seen. These two, back to back. All right, now, let me talk a little bit about the word, give thanks. You might remember a number of years ago on Thanksgiving dinner night, I did a brief word study on the word give thanks. But let me say a few things here briefly. There are a variety of words in the Old Testament that are translated to give thanks or to give praise even. In fact, the word used here is the word for Judah, the verb form that we get the name Judah, which means to praise. And so the idea of thanksgiving and praise go hand in hand. We can separate them to some degree, but not ultimately. And so we thank God for the harvest and we praise him in so doing. Here, I thank God for returning them from exile and therefore praise him. Now, of the 114 times this word is used in the Old Testament, 67 of them are used in the Psalms, and 27 of them are used in Book 5. So the language of giving thanks and praise is quite evident here, of course. Now, the second most used book that uses it the most is, lo and behold, First Chronicles, nine times, and let's see, double check that. Yes, six times are in First Chronicles 16. So we have another connection with 1 Chronicles 16 and the Psalter. So again, statistics that help us to see the point. Now the noun is used 32 times and so forth and so on. Now more specifically here in book five, five times we see the word in Psalm 107. And it's read verse one. Five times are found in Psalm 118, that key messianic psalm. And then Psalm 136, it's used four times. So clearly those, right, give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His mercy endures forever, and so forth, Psalm 136. So the verb, especially, is used frequently here in book five. And so, note this emphasis. And then, of course, we have the two hallelujah sections in Psalms 111 to 117 and 146 to 150. And then you also have Psalm 135, where hallelujah is used there. So again, we ended the last book with, Lord, save us and we'll praise and thank you. Well, here's book five. They're praising and thanking God. And so since Yahweh is the true king and returned them, they respond in this way. Then you have those 15 Psalms of Ascent that talks about how they're going up to Jerusalem to worship God. So the theme is pretty overwhelming here, isn't it? And Robertson uses the language of consummation to summarize those ideas. All right, comments or questions? All right, well, we're going to have to quit. And so next time we will look at the law gospel connection there in Psalms 118 and 119 and then go from there. So let's pray together. Our Father God, we thank you for your word again for the Psalter. We thank you for the breadth of of what we find in it. And we thank you especially that you are worthy of our praise and our thanksgiving. We praise you, Lord, for who you are as our maker and our sustainer. We praise you as our redeemer and our savior. And we praise you that though we, even as your people, sin so regularly, you are merciful to us. And we pray, Lord, that we would then come now in our time of corporate worship to praise you, to give you thanks, for you alone are worthy to receive these things. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.