II. PSALMS

A. The writer(s), the place, and the time: There are more writers of this book than of any other book in the Bible. David wrote most of the psalms; therefore, the Psalms are sometimes called the Psalms of David. According to the headings of the psalms, seventy-three psalms were written by David; twelve psalms were written by Asaph; one psalm was written by Heman; and one psalm was written by Ethan. Ten psalms were written by the sons of Korah. Two psalms were written by Solomon. One psalm was written by Moses. Fifty psalms did not have a heading. Of the fifty without a heading, a few are written by David, such as: Psalm 2 (Acts 4:25), Psalm 95 (Heb. 4:7), Psalm 96 (1 Chron. 16:23-33), and Psalm 105 (1 Chron. 16:8-22). Although many people wrote the Psalms, it was inspired by the one Holy Spirit.

Most of the psalms were probably written in Israel, except Psalm 90, which was written by Moses in the wilderness.

The earliest psalm was written by Moses about 1500 B.C. (Psalm 90), and the last one was probably Psalm 137, which was written after the children of Israel had been taken into captivity.

B. The subject: the praises of the saints revealing Christ and typifying the church.

C. The background: Psalms is the second book of poetry. Job leads us into the school of God to be educated to know God. The Psalms leads us into the Holy of Holies for us to fellowship with God through prayers, aspirations, meditations, desires, and praises. [All Christians know that in the Bible there is a wonderful book called the Psalms. Yet most of them merely know that this book is wonderful; they cannot tell why it is so wonderful. The Psalms are indeed very impressive to the reader. Whoever reads the Psalms is touched. The reason the Psalms are so touching is because they are not mere teachings; they are the sentiments and impressions of the godly saints in their experiences. Moreover, these expressions are uttered in praises to God, not in ordinary talk. These are not praises according to doctrine, but praises according to the feelings and impressions which the godly saints have derived from their experiences.]

D. The central thought: The psalms [are the expression, in their praises to God, of the sentiments and impressions of the godly saints in their experiences, in and through which Christ is revealed and the Church as God’s house and God’s city is typified.]

E. The general sketch: We can look at Psalms from the human point of view or from the divine point of view. [From the human point of view it is one thing, and from the divine it is another. According to the human concept it is one thing, but according to the divine it is another. From the human standpoint, we may say that the center and content of all the Psalms are the experiences of the saints concerning God’s mercy, kindness, love, faithfulness, power, and glory. They experienced so much of God’s goodness that they praised God with all these aspects of their experience of God. This is the human concept, this is the human point of view. But according to the divine concept and the divine point of view, the center and content of all the praises are Christ, the house and the city of God. Christ is the center, and the church, typified by the house and the city, is also the center. Christ and the church are the center and content of all the praises of the Psalms. Therefore, in all our praises we must have the sentiments and impressions gathered from our experience; yet in all our praises we must have Christ and the church as the center and the content.]

F. The sections: The Psalms were divided into five sections, called books. No one knows who divided the Psalms into five books, nor why they did so. It is traditionally believed that Book I was compiled by David, Book II by Hezekiah, Book III by Josiah, and Books IV and V by Ezra and Nehemiah. Regardless of who compiled them, one thing is for sure: it was the work of the Holy Spirit arranging the Psalms into these five books through the hand of man.

When you look at these five books according to the experience of the children of Israel, you can see that they correspond to the five books of Moses respectively. But according to spiritual experience, they show us the ascending steps of the experiences of Christ and the church. Let us look at them according to these two views.

According to the experience of the children of Israel:

1. Book I (Psa. 1—41) corresponds to Genesis.
   1. The blessing of man (Psa. 1)
   2. The fall of man (Psa. 2—15, man became enemies of God due to the fall.)
   3. The recovery of man (Psa. 16—41, man recovered the position of blessing because of salvation.)
2. Book II (Psa. 42—72) corresponds to Exodus.
   1. God’s people, the children of Israel, suffering oppression and crying out (Psa. 42—49)
   2. The Redeemer (Psa. 50—60)
   3. Redemption (Psa. 61—72, God brings back His people from the four ends of the earth the second time, bringing them into His kingdom, just as He did the first time when He brought them out of Egypt to enter the good land.)
3. Book III (Psa. 73—89) corresponds to Leviticus.
   1. God is holy. He has a holy place and a separated, holy people.
4. Book IV (Psa. 90—106) corresponds to Numbers.
   1. This book begins with the song of Moses during the time of wandering in the wilderness. It speaks of the experiences of the children of Israel in Numbers, relating how the older generation of the children of Israel died off in the wilderness because of their sins. Numbers is a book of the wilderness, or a book of land. The central thought of this book is land. The children of Israel, while wandering in the wilderness, longed for that more beautiful land in which they could obtain rest; the psalms of the kingdom in this book reveal that God will cause His people to obtain rest in the good land.
5. Book V (Psa. 107—150) corresponds to Deuteronomy.
   1. The central thought of this book is the word of God, and Deuteronomy is the re-speaking of God’s word. This is particularly evident in Psalm 119, in which all the teaching is centered around keeping the law of God.

According to the spiritual experiences of Christ and the church:

1. Book I (Psa. 1—41) [indicates how God’s intention is to turn the seeking saints from the law to Christ that they may enjoy the house of God.]
2. Book II (Psa. 42—72) [indicates how the saints experience God and His house and city through the suffering, exalted, and reigning Christ.]
3. Book III (Psa. 73—89) [indicates how the saints, in their experiences, realize that the house and the city of God with all the enjoyments thereof can only be preserved and maintained with Christ properly appreciated and exalted by God’s people.]
4. Book IV (Psa. 90—106) [indicates how the saints, being joined to Christ, are one with God so that He can recover His title over the earth through Christ in His house and city.]
5. Book V (Psa. 107—150) [indicates how the house and city of God become the praise, safety, and desire of the saints, and how Christ comes to reign over the whole earth through the house and the city of God.]