Psalms: Lesson 6

Overview

A Closer Look at the Psalter: Language, Structure, and Praise

The Hebrew Behind the Songs

The Psalms come to us in Hebrew, a language whose verbs often carry more than one possible nuance. Psalm 6:10, for instance, can be rendered as a confident declaration ("all my enemies shall be ashamed") or as a petition ("let all my enemies be ashamed"). Both readings spring from the same verb form, and faithful scholars sometimes differ on which best fits the context.

Two of the most important Hebrew names for God shape the Psalter. Yahweh (the four consonants YHWH) is the covenant name revealed to Moses at the burning bush; after the exile, Jewish reverence for its holiness led readers to substitute Adonai aloud. Elohim, meaning God, is grammatically plural but used as a singular when it refers to the true God—a hint, written into the very grammar of Israel, of the triune God who is three-in-one and greater than every pagan rival.

Five Books, Five Doxologies

The Psalter is intentionally arranged into five books, each ending with a burst of praise that pulls the reader back, again and again, to worship.

• Book 1 (Psalms 1–41) — Foundation of Covenant Faithfulness. Often called the "Yahweh Psalter" because that name predominates (about 85% of references). David is portrayed as a model of faithfulness, crying out for deliverance and being elevated as king. It closes with Psalm 41:13: "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen."
• Book 2 (Psalms 42–72) — Hope for the Messianic Kingdom. Here the proportions flip and Elohim dominates. The book looks ahead to a king whose reign will fulfill the promise to Abraham that all nations will be blessed. Its doxology rings out in Psalm 72:18-20.
• Book 3 (Psalms 73–89) — Hope After the Exile. Marked by Israel's afflictions, this book pleads for God to remember His covenant with David. Psalm 89:49-52 lays the lament before the Lord and still ends, "Blessed be the Lord forever! Amen and Amen."
• Book 4 (Psalms 90–106) — The God of Israel, King of All Creation. Opening with the prayer of Moses, this book answers the crises of Book 3 by exalting the Lord as true King. Trees, mountains, and rivers are summoned to celebrate His coming justice (see Psalm 95). The doxology comes in Psalm 106:48.
• Book 5 (Psalms 107–150) — Praise Unending. Rather than a single closing verse, the doxology stretches across Psalms 145–150—a sustained crescendo affirming that God hears His people, will send the promised King, and is worthy of all worship. Psalm 132:17 speaks of the "horn" sprouting up for David, a symbol of the Messianic victory ultimately accomplished in Jesus.

Embedded in Book 5 is Psalm 119, the longest poem in Scripture, an acrostic ordered by the Hebrew alphabet that delights in the beauty of God's Torah. Though the law exposes our sin, this Psalm trains us to receive God's Word as a gift—something to meditate on, to love, and to live by.

Why the Pattern Matters Pastorally

This rhythm of plea answered by praise is itself instruction. We bring our laments and petitions—even bold cries for God to remember His promises—and then we still bless His name. We do this because His promises are sure: every one of them is fulfilled in Christ. When we ask for things this side of heaven, we may not know whether our requests align with His will, and so we pray with confidence, "Your will be done," knowing that His will for our lives is good and perfect.

A word of caution about academic categorizing: while form-criticism (associated with Hermann Gunkel) can helpfully identify hymns, laments, and thanksgiving psalms, methods that strip away the supernatural will always fall short. The Psalms are God's Word, and God is supernatural. As 2 Corinthians 4:4 reminds us, the god of this world blinds the minds of unbelievers; only the Spirit opens our eyes to the gospel. The cross itself—life through death—is foolishness apart from the Spirit's work.

Headings, Authors, and Musical Notes

The superscriptions and notations preserved in the Psalms are part of the inspired text. Many psalms are attributed to David (73 of them); Acts 2 quotes Psalm 16 as David's prophecy of Christ Acts 2:25-30. Others bear the names of Solomon, the sons of Korah, Asaph, Heman, Ethan, and Jeduthun—Levitical musicians who served in temple worship. Psalm 90 is ascribed to Moses, and its language echoes Deuteronomy 32–33.

Other notations are musical or liturgical: directions "to the choirmaster," names of tunes or instruments, and Hebrew terms whose meanings remain debated:

• Mizmor — likely a song accompanied by instruments.
• Miktam — appears only in Davidic psalms written from perilous situations; it may suggest a quiet, "covered-lips" prayer breathed in trouble.
• Maskil — possibly a song of wisdom or instruction.
• Selah — perhaps a pause, a musical interlude, or a cue to lift one's eyes.
• Higgaion — possibly a direction for soft or whispered sound.

We cannot always be certain what these terms meant to the original singers, but their presence reminds us that the Psalms were given for the worshiping life of God's people—prayed, sung, and shouted aloud. As Psalm 150 commands: "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!"

Transcript

Thank you. 4s

Heavenly Lord, we thank You so much for gathering us here once again. 4s

We thank You that You have given us Your Word and that You have given us Your Spirit which 8s

leads us in all truth. 14s

And we ask that You would buy Your Spirit guide us this morning in this study to know You 17s

better and to understand Your Word better. 23s

We ask that You would use Your Word always to transform us into mold us that we would 25s

continue to grow in faith and continue to be loving and devoted disciples and servants 31s

of Yours in the kingdom. 38s

Lord, we lift this to You in the blessed and holy name of Jesus Christ. 40s

Amen. 44s

Okay, so we're last week. 46s

I told you that this week we're going to kind of return a little bit to, oh my goodness, 52s

it's like the reverse of the Exodus. 59s

It's the interdis. 61s

Everyone is coming in. 63s

This is excellent. 64s

That was wild. 67s

Okay, so we've been, we've looked at, you know, Psalm 23. 69s

We looked specifically at Psalm 68. 75s

And so today we're going to return a little bit to the more academic-ish side of Psalms. 77s

And it's really interesting. 86s

There's an interesting aspect of diving in academically because, you know, the more you study, 87s

the more rabbit trails appear and you just go down all these rabbit trails, all these 95s

rabbit holes. 101s

And it's so clear how there will be, there will be theologians or in any sort of discipline 101s

of study, there will be someone who studies one thing for their whole life, their whole 110s

career. 115s

And it's so understandable as I was studying for this week. 116s

It was just one after another, all these different rabbit trails. 123s

So it was really cool. 127s

There's just always so much more to learn. 129s

And so it's really awesome. 132s

So part of the fun with the Psalms is that they are written in the Hebrew language. 134s

Now, I don't know if you've ever taken Hebrew or are familiar with it. 142s

I will tell you from my own experience, Hebrew. 146s

Do you know Hebrew? 149s

How do you run back on the Hebrew and we're taking it? 152s

Yes. 156s

So for me, in seminary, Greek was much easier than Hebrew. 163s

Hebrew was really, really difficult for me. 169s

And one of the interesting things with the Psalms is that, you know, within the Hebrew 172s

language and the Hebrew verbs, there can be a variety of uses. 177s

So the meaning, it could be one thing or it might be a little bit of a different thing. 184s

And so there are Hebrew scholars that will differ or that will make a case for one. 190s

And then another Hebrew scholar will make a case for another understanding. 200s

So a great example of this is Psalm 6, in verse 10, you can read it as, 203s

all my enemies shall be ashamed and struck with terror. 212s

They shall turn back and in a moment be put to shame. 216s

That is a statement. 218s

That is a convicted statement that this is going to happen. 220s

Or, or it can be translated, let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly horrified. 226s

Let them turn back. 232s

Let them suddenly be ashamed. 234s

Where that is translated more as a wish, a hope. 236s

I hope this happens. 240s

Lord, help this to happen instead of like that assertive statement. 241s

So does that make sense? 248s

But it's going off of the same verb. 250s

The other interesting thing with Hebrew, in my opinion, is that there are no vowels. 253s

See, yes, we've got a nod. 261s

And this is why he's taken it, but doesn't know it. 263s

It's really, really interesting. 269s

And that's part of why I think it was very difficult for me too. 272s

So that is with that, with that, because it's going to come up in just a moment. 275s

So Yahweh, in Hebrew, and I am not going to do the Hebrew characters for this. 282s

So it's this, but it's backwards in their different characters. 292s

But it's the Yodh, Havav, hey. 296s

And so it's just the four consonants. 301s

And this is the name that was revealed to Moses in Exodus. 304s

This is the name that the Lord gave him from that burning bush. 309s

And after the Babylonian exile, the Jewish people no longer would say this name, 315s

because they found that it was so sacred and so holy that it was too sacred to be uttered. 326s

So they wouldn't use this any longer. 336s

And instead, instead in this synagogue, when they would speak that, they would say, 340s

Adonai, and there's a whole reasoning behind this that I was a little bit confused on in class. 346s

And I tried to make sense of it, but we're just going to say it was Adonai. 352s

And then they would also use Elohim. 356s

And Elohim is the plural form of L, who is God, the creator of all, 359s

but it's interesting because Elohim is plural. 366s

But when speaking of Elohim, God, it is plural used as a singular, right? 370s

Because we have a triune God, three in one. 380s

And so it's really interesting that already written into the language of the Jewish faith, 384s

is the plural that is one, right? 392s

And so that is the God who created all. 396s

That is God who is greater than any of the pagan gods. 400s

You know, that when Israel would use this name, when they would speak right of Elohim, 405s

they are proclaiming the name of the God who is greater than any of the other gods. 411s

So, so that will, this will matter in just, I mean, it matters, but it will matter more in just a moment. 419s

So, the book of Psalms is divided into five books. 425s

They're divided into five books. 430s

And it's really interesting at the split of each book. 433s

So, at the end of each book, it ends with a doxology. 437s

It ends with a praise to the Lord, a praise to God. 441s

So, the first book, if we open up to the Psalms, the first book within the book of Psalms is Psalms 1 through 41. 445s

And if you open up to Psalm 41, the final verse, verse 13, 456s

we see this doxology blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting, amen, and amen. 466s

This book, Psalms 1 through 41 is referred to as the Yahweh Psalms. 477s

That's because in these Psalms, this designated name, this name for God is used primarily. 484s

It's used more often than Elohim. 493s

So, that is why it's generally referred to as the Yahweh Psalter or the Yahweh Psalms. 497s

Book 1 contains a collection of poems that open and close with a call to covenant faithfulness. 505s

David, in these Psalms, is depicted as a model of faithfulness, and there's a calling out to God for 513s

deliverance. He's being rewarded and elevated as a king. 520s

So, one possible kind of heading that you could make for this group of Psalms is that foundation 528s

of covenantal faithfulness, the foundation of covenant faithfulness. 537s

Then we have book 2, which is Psalms 42 through 72. 544s

So, let's go ahead and go to Psalm 72. 552s

And we're going to look at this doxology. 559s

We are going to look at the doxology with all of these books, because I think that's an interesting, 563s

interesting sort of fact within these, that there's constantly, then, throughout the entirety of 570s

the Psalms, there's always this return to praising the Lord. And really, what are we called to do 577s

as disciples, as those who follow God, as those who follow Christ? We are called and created to 585s

worship Him. And so, throughout, we have these breaks in the books where we're returning to praise 592s

the Lord. So, if we look at Psalm 72 verses 18 through 20, we read, Blessed be the Lord, the God of 600s

Israel, who alone does wondrous things. Blessed be his glorious name forever, may his glory fill the 610s

whole earth a man and a man. The prayers of David, son of Jesse, are ended. I don't think that's 617s

part of the praise, but we hear that doxology, that praise of the Lord for who God is. 624s

In this book, where this book is referred to as one of the books, The Psalms of Elohim, 632s

and it's the exact same thing as book 1 being the Psalter of Yahweh or the Yahweh Psalter, except 640s

it's reverse, because in this portion, Elohim is used much more often than Yahweh. 647s

It's kind of interesting that it's in the same way. It's about 85% to 15%. So, in book 1, 85% of the 657s

references to the Lord are using Yahweh, where 15% is Elohim and vice versa. In book 2, 85% is 668s

Elohim and 15% is Yahweh. In these Psalms, we see that there is this opening where there's a 677s

united hope for a future return to the temple or temple in Zion. It closes with a poem that depicts 690s

a future reign of the Messianic king over all nations. This king that is written about, 697s

sung about, is this king's reign will bring the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham 705s

by bringing God's blessing to all nations. So, we have that first book where we can say that it's 711s

this foundation of covenant faithfulness. This second book gives hope or is hope for the Messianic 720s

kingdom. So, we're looking toward that promise. We're looking toward the promise that was made, 727s

the covenant that was made with Abraham and that all nations would be blessed through that 734s

Messianic king. Then we have book 3, which gives us a hope for the Messiah after the exile. We're 742s

going to get to the Doxology in just a moment. But book 3, this one also concludes with a promise 752s

of fulfillment to God's covenant, but it's God's covenant to David. It's God's covenant to David. 760s

It, again, this book highlights Israel's tragedies or Israel's afflictions, but this time it's 770s

in light of the exile. The psalmist remembers how God said he would never abandon the line of David 777s

and so the song concludes with asking God to remember his covenant with David and to forgive his 785s

people. So, if we go to Psalm 89, Psalm 89, and we're going to look at the Doxology here, 793s

Psalm 89. There we go. So, we're going to, we're going to actually, before we look at the Doxology, 804s

we're going to back up just a little bit and look at that promise in beginning in verse 49, 813s

where he says, Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to 823s

David. Remember, O Lord, how your servant is taunted, how I bear in my bosom the insults of the 830s

peoples with which your enemies taunt, O Lord, with which they taunted the footsteps of your 836s

anointed. So, it's this call to the Lord to remember that covenant that he had made with David to 842s

remember this promise. And it ends then with verse 52, that Doxology blessed be the Lord forever, 849s

amen and amen. So, again, asking for the Lord to remember this promise and falling up with a 857s

praise. We pray to the Lord, we ask for the Lord to hear our prayers, we know He hears our prayers, 866s

but as we ask, we then also praise Him. We praise Him for hearing us when we pray. We praise Him 874s

for being the God that He is, who is steadfast and consistent in His love, His mercy, His justice. 882s

And so, when we are praying to Him, we know that He fulfills His promise of goodness. 889s

His promise fulfilled is in Christ, and what we ask for this side of heaven, 897s

we don't know that it's necessarily in alignment with God, and so this is where we are 906s

praying that, Lord, let it be your will, your will be done. Your will be done, and we give thanks to 911s

the Lord, and we praise the Lord because we know that His will indeed will be done, and that His will 920s

for our lives is good and perfect. So, I like how after that plea, it's still followed up 926s

with that praise because that is what we are called to do as His children. So then we have 935s

book four, and this consists of Psalms 90 through 106, and this is, this is a really designed to 944s

respond to the crises that are brought to attention in book three. So, we're seeing this prayer 956s

of Moses, that's Psalm 90, this prayer of Moses, this plea for His mercy, and then we continue 966s

throughout the book with the Lord, God of Israel, being proclaimed as true King of all creation, 974s

the trees, mountains, and rivers are summoned to celebrate the future day when God will bring 980s

His healing justice and kingdom over all the world. So, the overarching theme of this book could be 985s

that the God of Israel is the King of all creation. If we go to Psalm 100, 6, we can find that 994s

doxology, 106 verse 48. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel from ever lasting to ever lasting, 1009s

and let all the people say amen, raise the Lord. It's this beautiful, beautiful worship of God. 1020s

In this book, that's where we find Psalm 95, and Psalm 95 is one of those those Psalms. 1029s

I'm very familiar with it because I say it almost every day, but it's that it's that proclamation 1039s

of how good God is, and it goes through creation and how all of creation is His. The caverns of 1045s

the earth, the heights of the hills, the the seas are his because his hands have made it and formed 1054s

it. And so it's really proclaiming this God of creation, this God of majesty and might. So then we 1060s

come to book five, which are Psalms 107 all the way through to Psalm 150, where we end. It ends with 1070s

Psalm 150, and these are these consists mostly of songs of ascent, songs of praise. And it's interesting 1081s

because the doxology, while all of these other books have had the doxology in the last verse, maybe two 1089s

verses, the doxology in this last book, it's Psalms. It's Psalms 145 through 150. So it is this 1096s

this ending of complete praise and worship of the Lord. Let's go ahead. We're not going to read 1107s

through all of them right here. They're lovely, but but we have some other stuff we need to get to. 1114s

So, but we're going to go ahead and read Psalm 150. You know, I never do this in here. Does someone 1121s

want to read this for us? She does what? All right, I'll read it, but yeah, you know what, we should 1129s

do that more often. I don't know, maybe kind of weird. I'll hand you my mic, but okay, so 150, 1139s

Psalm 150, praise the Lord, praise God in his sanctuary, praise him in his mighty firmament, 1145s

praise him for his mighty deeds, praise him according to his surpassing greatness, praise him with 1152s

trumpet sound, praise him with lute and harp, praise him with tambourine and dance, praise him with 1158s

strings and pipe, praise him with clanging symbols, praise him with loud clashing symbols, 1164s

let everything that breathes, praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Woo, you just want us 1169s

sing and dance, don't you? Well, I do. Praise the Lord. So, no, it's just very, very cool, and it's 1178s

incredible that that the end of this, you know, with the whole book of songs were brought through 1186s

the story of Scripture, were brought through the the the rich, rich story of God's word for his 1193s

people of God's doing for his people, and it's so beautiful that that the end, it's just this 1202s

five Psalms filled with, let's praise the Lord for who he is. So, I love, love, love that it ends 1210s

like this. These Psalms are affirming that God hears the cries of his people. It's affirming that 1218s

he will one day send the future king, and that future king will indeed defeat evil and bring about 1223s

his kingdom. It is a Saul or a book in which all creation really is summoned to praise the Lord, 1230s

the God of Israel, because he has raised up a horn for his people. Let's go ahead and flip back to 1242s

Psalm 132. Psalm 132, in verse 17, we hear there I will cause a horn to sprout up for David. I 1249s

have prepared a lamp for my anointed one. The horn is a symbol of the messianic king. It's a 1265s

symbol of that victory over evil, and we know that God has prepared. From David, the messianic 1273s

king, the king, who would really ultimately defeat all evil, and that is Jesus. Jesus will come and 1283s

defeat all evil for all time. Psalm 119, it's the longest poem in the book of Psalms, and it's 1290s

composed in the order of the Hebrew alphabet. It's an acrostic, which is called an acrostic, 1299s

where each stanza is built or started off of one of the Hebrew letters. It really explores the 1309s

wonder and the beauty and the draw of God Torah, of his law. Psalm 119, it has those beautiful 1320s

stanzas where it's really looking and leaning into meditating on God's word and what his word has 1330s

for us and finding delight in the law of the Lord. It's really a lovely Psalm. I know whenever 1337s

I'll speak for myself, whenever I've read through the Bible, you kind of get to Psalm 119 and you go, 1348s

oh gosh, this is lulls. But it is amazing and so beautiful, and it really reminds us of, 1355s

you know, when we read the law, when we hear the law, one of its intences to show us our sin, 1367s

and quite frankly, none of us likes to be shown our sin. We need to see it. We need to know it. We 1374s

need to understand that we are sinners, certainly. But we see the law as this sort of a, I've done it 1381s

19. It's so uplifting where it draws us in and we want, we want to be in God's law. We want to 1398s

follow God's law. We want to meditate on it and we want it as a part of our lives. It's this beautiful 1410s

beautiful word for us. And so the law, the law is really held up as that wonderful word that it 1417s

is and that it's intended to be for us and for us as a Christian people. So those are the five 1427s

books of the Psalms. Then we get into types or genres of Psalms and we don't want to spend too much 1435s

time in this and you're going to understand why in just a second. You'll hear often of major 1444s

and minor types that are found within the Psalms, the themes that are within the Psalms. But we 1452s

have to be really cautious with this. This was one of those really interesting rabbit trails that 1459s

I followed way too long. So the genre designations it began with a theologian named Herman Gunkel. 1464s

He was he was late 19th century early 20th centuries. He was really a pioneer in form criticism, 1474s

which is a type of biblical criticism. And it's helpful. It's helpful in looking at Psalms as far 1484s

as as being able to designate. Oh, this is clearly a hymn. This is clearly a lament. That is 1492s

fine. We we can have that sort of designation, the the Thanksgiving, the praises, 1499s

but a major problem with criticism such as form criticism, historical criticism, is that it's 1506s

attempting to understand God's word outside of or without supernatural tendencies without or 1516s

disregarding the supernatural aspect. And that right there that's dangerous because God is 1525s

supernatural. God is greater and bigger than one part of any of our lives or one part of any 1540s

of creation. Also, as it says in the small catechism, we cannot by our own reason or strength come to 1552s

know Jesus or believe in Him. So we have to have God's Holy Spirit. We have to have God's supernatural 1565s

power at work for us to even know Him or believe in Him. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, it says that 1577s

the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light 1587s

of the gospel. So if we try to understand things without the supernatural, which which means that we 1592s

are trying to understand God's word without God, then we're going to be blind. And it's not going 1603s

to connect. It's not going to make sense. God's word and the working of his spirit through the word, 1610s

it's supernatural. It's outside of the bounds of the natural around us. So if there were no 1620s

supernatural aspect to God's word than a, it wouldn't hold the power it does. And b, the cross 1630s

really would be foolishness. Because it's foolish according to our natural world that death 1638s

would be defeated by death. That the cross would bring ultimate victory for us. 1650s

Studying that or looking at that, examining that from our nature without the supernatural, 1661s

without the power of the Holy Spirit, it really doesn't make sense. So we have to keep, we have to 1669s

keep God in His word, right? Because God is His word. His word is what He gives to us. Guncle 1676s

then also had to ignore any sort of headings or subscripts of the Psalms. If he was going to 1689s

classify the Psalms with his own understanding of life context and cultural practices of the day 1695s

that would have or could have influenced the Psalmist. So he's trying to take a very rational, 1703s

reasonable approach to it. And by doing so, he has to ignore some of the stuff, some of the 1709s

directions that are written for us, for those who would go through this. So now we're going to turn 1720s

to those notations, headings and subscripts. Because this is fun. So first of all, in a lot of the 1728s

Psalms, we will see those author designations by David. And there's a Hebrew symbol, and I don't 1737s

know, it's it's over four again. I didn't fail, but. But so when it says by David, that's in 73 1745s

of the Psalms, superscriptions. So it means it could be this that Psalm could be about David. It 1762s

could be about him, but it's generally thought as a designation of authorship. It's a Psalm that is 1769s

by David. We know that David was a musician. We see that throughout first and second Samuel, 1776s

first and second chronicles. And we see that his authorship is referred to in acts, the second 1783s

chapter. Let's go ahead and go to Acts 2, Acts chapter 2, verses 25 through 30. And it's 1789s

right after that as well. But verse 25 in Acts 2, it says, for David says, concerning him, I saw the 1804s

Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. Therefore, my 1811s

heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced. Moreover, my flesh will live in hope for you will not abandon 1816s

my soul to hate ease or let your holy one experience corruption. You have made known to me the ways 1821s

of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence. This is from Psalm 16. So that is a 1827s

Psalm by David. And in Acts here, we see it is it is a scribe to David that he wrote it, not that 1836s

it was about him, but it is written by him. And we know that it is not about David, but it is David 1846s

prophesying of Christ. So by David is probably most likely his Psalms. Like those are the ones that he 1853s

wrote. Same thing, four Solomon by Solomon, Psalm 72 and 127. They could be Psalms about Solomon, 1865s

but they very easily could have been written by him because we know he wrote a lot in in first 1874s

kings chapter 4. It says about Solomon. He composed 3000 Proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand 1882s

and five. So we know that he wrote at least a thousand and five songs. So these two Psalms very 1891s

likely were written by him. Then you have a full host that read belonging to the sons of Korah, 1900s

Aesaf, hemen, the Ezraite, according to Jettithun, etc. There were several designations. 1907s

Korah, if you recall, Korah was the Levite who rebelled against God that we read about in Exodus. 1915s

His sons were saved. His sons then took on Levitical role in the priesthood. Aesaf, hemen, 1924s

Ethan, Jettithun, those were all Levitical musicians, Davidic musicians, temple choir leaders. 1934s

So it's that same sort of issue. They could be directions to those musicians. They could be written by 1941s

those musicians. Psalm 90 says, by Moses, there are some differing scholarly thoughts on this. If it was 1948s

written by Moses or not, I do think it's very interesting that Psalm 90, the language that's used is 1959s

very similar to the language that Moses used in chapters 32 and 33 of Deuteronomy. 1967s

So most likely it was written by Moses. I think it's very interesting when scholars try to 1975s

come up with these really roundabout ways of explaining things. And as Lutherans, we kind of say, 1985s

we're going to take it as God says it is. Unless scripture tells us otherwise, this is where we get 1995s

into that whole, yeah, communion. It's it's bread and body. It's blood and wine or wine and blood. 2003s

It is because Jesus says it is. And so we take a thing at its face value because God said. And so 2011s

so by Moses, yep, yep. And scholars can argue about it. Yep, we're going to go ahead and stick here. 2023s

Then we have also the liturgical directions. There are two of the music director, four of the music 2034s

director, and over a third of the Psalms, that's included as a superscription. It could be for the 2041s

choir master. It could mean for one who excels with musical abilities and it's sort of a musical 2049s

direction. Let's see here. Hold on a second. Where did I go? Oh, there we go. There are also 2056s

notations that might be referring to a specific instrument or a tune or a melody. Notations that are 2064s

probably designating in which circumstance or occasion the psalmist to be sung. So I'm going to 2071s

use a piece of our choir music as an example. We have this even, even now. You know, if you go through 2078s

the the hymnal, you'll have it. You see how it's broken into sections of, you know, church calendar, 2085s

like hymns for lent hymns for Christmas. And it gives us designated times. This song, it begins, 2090s

you know, it says with energy. And so it's supposed to have a tone of a certain energy and it will 2101s

change throughout, you know, and you've got the the crescendo here, the day crescendo there. And 2110s

so just like we have musical notations in our choir pieces, we have musical notations within 2116s

the Psalms. Then we have those interesting words, Mismore, Mictum, and Methical. There are no 2124s

definitive meanings, but there are some educated thoughts on these. Mismore is usually translated as 2132s

Psalm because it's in 57 of the Psalms and scholars think that it refers to a song that is accompanied 2140s

by musical instruments. Mictum, and I really like this one, Mictum, it's only in Davidic Psalms. 2148s

So it's only in the Psalms that David wrote. And it possibly means silent prayer because the term 2156s

can be used for covering the lips. And this is the coolest thing. Wherever Mictum is written, 2163s

it's a Psalm that David wrote when he was in a perilous situation. So think about those times when 2171s

you are in fear or you are in trouble of some sort and you have that silent prayer upon your lips. 2178s

Oh Lord, you know, and it's that sort of quiet prayer that we pray to the Lord, it makes then 2185s

then that that's what a Mictum would be because of how how it's used. The mouse skull is debated. 2192s

It could have been an inference to wisdom or insight or teaching. One theologian thought that 2201s

it implies a song that works in the vein of wisdom. So no definitive answers on those. 2208s

But those are possible and educated guesses. Then we have we have the very famous 2218s

so this occurs over 71 or occurs 71 times mostly in books one through three. A lot of scholars think 2228s

that it signals a pause. So is your reading through the Psalm or it's being sung there's a pause. 2238s

It could be a direction for for a striking up of the instruments. It could also be a direction 2246s

for the singers to pause and look at the heavens or perhaps take a bow. It could be a direction for 2253s

raising the pitch or the volume. Then you have the Higian. Higian. It's very similar to 2261s

say lah but it's most likely a direction for sound. It's thought to mean whispering or low sound. 2269s

So it could be could be you know a whispered portion of the Psalm. It could be a lower or a softer 2281s

you know what we would I'm just seeing the little P in the music. What is that P? 2290s

P it is about thank you piano. Yes thank you and I know this. Oh man okay. 2299s

It's not written in Hebrew on here so I don't know what my problem is but so the bottom lines 2306s

bottom line with this is that the notations are there. We can't ignore them but we also can't say 2312s

definitively this is what it means because we're not exactly sure and in the facts that 2319s

Hebrew scholars that that this is what they do. They themselves will say well it's very possibly 2326s

probably this but we can't be sure because we don't know for sure so so the notations are there 2335s

they're not necessarily clear for the modern person to understand. Is that okay? Yes. Yes. 2343s

Does it detract from what God is giving to us in the Psalms? Absolutely not. 2354s

And I will say I met a little kid once whose name was Salah so gives you good names too. 2361s