Taking a Look a the Book of Psalms

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Recommended: Bible Psalms

The Book of Psalms is a collection of prayers and songs composed throughout Israel's history. It contains of two great covenant traditions that play a significant role in the Book of Psalms. It is an anchor to the Psalter, provides as a climax for the Book of Psalms, and reveals an editorial theology of the Psalter.
Psalm 1 and Psalm are two psalms that work together and form into a single unit. Psalm 1 begins with the word "happy"; Psalm 2 ends with "happy"; functioning as an inclusio. Neither of the psalms have a title which suggests that the pair act as a "title" for the entire Psalms. Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 are used intentionally as an introduction to the Psalter using two great covenant traditions. Psalm 1 is an example of a Torah psalm; it hails the gifts of the divine revelation and law, "their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night" (Pss 1:2). However, Psalm 2 is a royal psalm; it perpetuate the messianic ideal and praises Israel's earthy ruler, "his anointed" (Pss 2:2), as the representative of God. Despite their differences, Psalms 1 and Psalms 2 provide a lens through which invited the audience to read the entire Psalter to mediate the Lord's instruction and in anticipation for God's messianic reign of justice and peace.
The two great covenantal traditions merge together to form Psalm 89 that provides historical-theological significance to the text. Psalm 89 is a royal psalm that is placed at the seams of the collection. It is the climax of the first three books that uses the Davidic covenant as an object of praise. Two great covenant traditions - Sinai and Royal - merge into this lament. The beginning of the psalm is a hymn of praise to God the creator and elector of David and h...

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...Yahweh and His anointed kings of the nations. It paints a picture of the universal rule of God. Psalms 1 and 2 link the concepts of the torah and kingship to the Laws of Kings by constructing it into the introduction of Psalms to make the theme understandable from the beginning. The Lord's role as anointing a king in Psalms 2 is paralleled to God's similar role in Deuteronomy. Psalm 1 is linked to Deuteronomy 17:14-20 where the ideal king is commanded to make the Torah the main concern. Psalm 89 is similar to the Laws of King in Deuteronomy. The text illustrates Yahweh's anointing of David to become His representative, "I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to my servant David" (Ps 89:3); and explains the importance of living life by the Torah. However, like the consistent theme of Deuteronomy, the failure of the covenant and the Davidic monarchy.

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