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the trouble the psalmist was
suffering, how he made a lament
to God, and how God wonderfully
intervened. “I will exalt you, Lord,”
begins Psalm 30, “for you lifted me
out the depths and did not let my
enemies gloat over me.” Despite
the reference to his enemies, the
psalmist’s distress seems to have
been a sickness that brought him
close to death. He cried to God for
help, and God healed him, sparing
him “from going down into the pit.”
The conclusion here is a shout
of praise and thanksgiving: “You
turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and
clothed me with joy, that my
heart may sing your praises
and not be silent.”Songs of praise
Hymns of collective praise are
among the most majestic of the
Psalms. They tend to have the
simplest structures: a summons
to praise God, followed by reasons
for that praise. “Praise the Lord, allWISDOM AND PROPHETS
you nations; extol him, all you
peoples,” the shortest psalm of all,
Psalm 117, commands: “For great
is His love toward us, and the
faithfulness of the Lord endures
forever.” In other cases, the opening
summons leads to a list of God’s
interventions on Israel’s behalf.
Perhaps the most beautiful
Psalms are the songs of creation,
such as Psalm 104, which elicit
praise by extolling the creator-God.
He is the God who “makes the
clouds His chariot and rides on the
wings of the wind.” Not only does
creation reflect His splendor, but
also His provision for humankind:
“He makes grass grow for the cattle,
and plants for people to cultivate—
bringing forth food from the earth.”
What is remarkable about the
Psalms is the energy and feeling
behind the words. Whether they
are praising or petitioning God, they
each show a very human side of the
Bible, where people are unafraid
to confess their multifaceted
emotions to a benevolent Lord. ■A shepherd and
his flockThe image of a leader as a
shepherd goes back to the
3rd millennium bce when
the kings of Sumer in
Mesopotamia described
themselves as shepherds
of their people. In societies
where herders were part
of everyday life, it was an
obvious comparison to make,
and other nations followed
this example.
For the Israelites, David
was the archetypal shepherd-
king, who literally started life
as a shepherd. But above him
was the one who fulfilled
that role supremely: God (as
stated in Psalm 23). In the
6th century bce, during the
Babylonian Exile, the prophet
Ezekiel used the imagery of a
shepherd in a furious tirade
against Israel’s leadership:
“Woe to the shepherds of
Israel who only take care of
themselves! ... you do not
take care of the flock.” Jesus
continued the tradition,
describing the crowds who
followed Him as “like sheep
without a shepherd,” and later
referring to himself as a “good
shepherd [who] lays down His
life for the sheep.” The image
lives on to this day in the word
“pastor,” Latin for “shepherd.”Psalms and their authors
Psalms 1, 2, 10, 33, 43, 66, 67, 71, 91–100, 102,
104–07, 111–18, 119, 120, 121, 123, 125, 126,
128–30, 132, 134–37, 146–50Psalms 3–9, 11–32, 34–41, 51–65, 68–70, 86, 101,
103, 108–10, 122, 124, 131, 133, 138–45Psalms 42, 44–49, 84–85, 87Psalms 50, 73–83Psalms 72, 127Psalm 88Psalm 89Psalm 90UnknownDavidSons of KorahAsaphSolomonSons of Korah
and HemanEthan the EzrahiteMosesUS_138-143_Psalms_of_David.indd 143 21/09/17 11:30 am