I got a new commtary on the book of Psalms today (NICOT). The opening words are as follows:
“Marting Luther captured how central the psalms are tothe life of faith, when he wrote that the Psalter ‘might be called a little Bible. In it is comprehended most beautifully and briefly everything that is in the entire Bible. It is really a fine enchiridion of our handbook. In fact, I have a notion that the Holy Spirit wanted to take the trouble humself to compile a short Bible and book of examples of all Christendom of all saints, so that anyone who could not read the whole Bible would have anyway almost an entire summary of it, comprised in one little book.’ (Martin Luther, “Preface to the Psalter,” trans. C. M. Jacobs, rev. E. T. Bachman, in Luther’s Works (Philadelphia: Muhlenburg, 1960), p. 254).”
This is more true than most people realize. Most of the time we read the Psalms as a rather eclectic, disjointed collection of song lyrics or spiritual poems. The Psalms are indeed a rather loose collection in the sense that each psalm has its own history and context, however, there’s more unity to the book at large than what it may seem at first.
When we take a closer look at how the psalms are put together we can detect that the editors of the collection were very intentional about how they put these poems together. I do not want to detail here all the cohesive features of the collection at large, however, one thing that I do want to highlight is the five-book structure of the Psalms. The fact that these are books and not “sections,” or “parts” is important. Not only that they are books but also the number five is crucial.
The five-book structure of the book of Psalms is intended to reflect the Torah (the Pentateuch). The editors of the collection are telling us that the Psalms are a sort of Torah. But what’s the significance of this?
The Hebrew word “Torah” is usually translated “law,” but there’s another semantic dimension to Torah than law. Torah also means instruction; instruction for life, in particular. The editors that compiled the final version of the psalms collection as we have it today are telling us that in the Psalms we find instruction for life—wisdom (they are also attesting to the authority of the Psalms as inspired scripture).
But the Psalms and the Pentateuch are so different in literary style and content, how can they be grouped together as instruction? How is it that the prayers of people are to be considered divine wisdom? Just a few points on this.
1. This reminds us that the Holy Spirit can speak through us and through prayer impart to believers divine wisdom and insight. awhen we pray, it’s not only we who speak, but the Holy Spirit prompts our hearts to supplication, thanksgiving, and praise.
2. There is no wisdom to be attained outside of a posture of prayer. The beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord, and inherent to fear of the Lord is humility. It is when we embrace that we are not God and know nothing in comparison to the I Am that we enter in wisdom.
3. God wishes to not only transmit didactic commands to his people, but to move the hearts of his people as well. Thus the poetic genre of the Torah-Psalms. Poetry moves our hearts. Poetry is elevated discourse which gives us a fresh expression of reality.
4. The prayer song of the individual is never sung in isolation but always in collective harmony with the spiritual songs of the saints.
5. God highly values the prayers of his people. So much so that he made 150 of them a part of his inspired canon.
6. Your prayers deeply impact the world just as our world has been deeply impacted by the Psalms.
7. God validates the full range of human emotion.
Pray and be wise. Be wise and pray.