PICTURE YOURSELF AS ONE OF A CROWD, packed together with thousands of others—shoulder to shoulder, elbow to elbow—to experience as one a common event. Depending on your interest, it might be a sporting event or a packed opera house, a massive political rally or an evangelistic crusade. There is in the air a sense of excitement and anticipation. A sense of common purpose and experience draws the whole crowd together as you respond to the events of the moment. In this setting you discover that your individual response becomes part of something larger than just yourself as you react in community to the joys and sorrows, victories and defeats that are acted out before you.
If you can imagine such a setting or recall one from your own past, then you have some sense of what reading the book of Psalms ought to be like. For whenever we crack open this biblical book and read from its collection of 150 songs, whenever we allow ourselves to become truly immersed in the world they bring to life, we are taking our stand within a huge crowd of the faithful who have sung the psalms throughout the generations of the people of God.
The psalms in their origins span a period of almost eight hundred years. If we accept the names preserved in the headings of the individual psalms as designations of authorship, then one psalm (Ps. 90) is attributed to Moses, who in the second millennium B.C. led Israel out of Egypt and into covenant relationship with their God, Yahweh, on Mount Sinai. Almost half of the 150 psalms (73, to be exact) are attributed to the great king, David, who around 1000 B.C. welded the disparate tribes of Israel into a single, cohesive nation. Other authors followed: Solomon (2 psalms), Heman (1), Ethan (1), Asaph (12), and the Sons of Korah (11) enriched the prayer and worship of the people of God with their compositions. At the other end of this period of composition, the very latest psalms are dated by many to the third or second century B.C. That means that within the compass of this one book we have some of the oldest and some of the newest compositions in the entire Old Testament.
Up to now I have been talking just about the period of the psalms’ composition. That in itself constitutes quite a cloud of witnesses—authors and faithful worshipers spanning more than eight hundred years. But that time span, as amazing as it is, represents only the starting point for this book. For since their origin, the psalms have constantly been on the lips of the faithful from that time to this. The psalms have constituted the core repertory of believers, Jewish and Christian, Catholic and Protestant, Eastern and Western Christian, from their origin to the present day. That means, if we take even the most conservative estimate, that the psalms represent a common religious heritage for practically three millennia—three thousand years!
Thus, whenever you read the psalms, when you sing them or pray them, you are praying, singing, and reading alongside a huge crowd of faithful witnesses throughout the ages. The words you speak have been spoken thousands—even millions—of times before: in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, English, and a myriad of other languages. As you read or sing or pray, off to your right stand Moses and Miriam, in front of you David and Solomon kneel down, to your left are Jesus, Peter and Paul, Priscilla and Aquila, while from behind come the voices of Jerome, St. Augustine, Theresa of Avila, Luther, Calvin, and more—so many more!
If you can catch but a glimpse of this far-flung spiritual community of believers and take your place within it, then you can begin to understand why we still read, sing, and pray the psalms after all these years. These 150 compositions, probably only a fraction of the psalms composed and used in centuries of Israelite temple worship, have been preserved and transmitted to us through the ages because they were recognized in each generation as powerful songs that are more than models of appropriate human response to God (which they are) and more than a source of God’s divine word of guidance to humans (which they certainly are). The book of Psalms and the psalms within it were preserved because they offer those who read, sing, and pray them the opportunity to take their stand within that worldwide, historical, and eschatological community of faith who seek to live out their lives with all its pain and joy, love and hate, fear and hope, before the God who is the source of all life, joy, love, and hope.
My personal prayer for you is that as you use this commentary on the book of Psalms you will find many reasons to affirm the words and sentiments of these ancient songs as your own and that you will find yourself taking your place within this chorus of the faithful—taking a stand with all those believers past, present, and future who together sing songs celebrating the steadfast love of our God.
By the end of a project such as this, an author has amassed such a list of debts that it is impossible to acknowledge them all or ever hope to repay them. But there are those who must and should be mentioned. I am grateful for the support of trusted and caring colleagues who have sustained me with their personal, spiritual, and academic interest over the many years in which this volume was being written. In particular I wish to thank Dr. Bill Yarchin, chair of the department of religion and philosophy of Azusa Pacific University, for his friendship, support, and encouragement over the last three years. I am also deeply appreciative to Azusa Pacific University, the provost, Dr. Patricia Anderson, and the Dean’s Council for a series of Accomplished Scholar Awards that facilitated the completion of this work over the last several years.
A teacher rises to the challenges of his students. Thus, many of the insights expressed in this book would never have developed without the creative interaction and earnest questioning of a multitude of students at a variety of institutions. Their love of the Psalms and their struggles with the dark and painful issues of life have driven me to reflect more deeply and broadly on the power of the Psalms to encourage, confront, challenge, and heal than I ever could have had on my own. Without them this commentary (and my life) would have been much impoverished.
The process of publication has brought home to me the great skill, vision, and, above all, patience of Zondervan and their editorial staff. A number of persons have added their insights and skills to make this volume better. I must mention the theological and editorial acumen of Tremper Longman III, who commented extensively on the manuscript from beginning to end. And the tireless editorial work of Verlyn Verbrugge has often brought light to darkness and clarity to confusion.
Finally, the top award for patience must certainly go to my wife, who has been with me in this project from the beginning. Yes, Diane, it did finally become a book!
Azusa, California
May, 2002