Two Ways to Read a Psalm
AM Psalm 18:1-20 • PM Psalm 18:21-50
Amos 4:6-13 • 2 Pet. 3:11-18 • Matt. 21:33-46
One reason the Psalms have such continuing appeal for us is that they speak truthfully and powerfully about all sorts of human emotions: gladness and thanksgiving, but also deep sadness and lamentation. Sometimes we turn to them to voice our own prayers when they express feelings we are unable to articulate.
Psalm 18, assigned for today, was traditionally attributed to King David, who, according to the psalm’s superscription, expresses his joy and thanksgiving after having been delivered by God from his enemies. The psalmist heaps metaphor upon metaphor to claim that God has exerted God’s own power to protect him. I can read Psalm 18, slowly, as part of my morning prayers and be comforted by parts of it, as in verse 6 when the psalmist says,
In my distress I called upon the Lord;
to My God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reaches his ears.
But when the psalmist says in verse 20
The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands
he recompensed me,
not so much. I know that I don’t always have clean hands, and I don’t believe the psalmist did either. What to do when a psalm confronts us with such a conundrum?
For me, this is a time to read the psalm contextually as well as devotionally. If the metaphors and the poetry of Psalm 18 are not always to be taken literally, why must the rest of the text be limited to one layer of meaning? In my experience, reading psalms contextually—making use of what linguists and poets have discerned in the texts and bringing to bear what is known historically about the ancient Middle East—does not discredit scripture; on the contrary, it deepens our understanding of it. Here are a few examples:
Today, most biblical scholars agree that dating or identifying the authors of individual psalms, David included, is impossible. It is widely acknowledged that the Book of Psalms—the Psalter—is a collection of texts which was edited and organized over a long period of time. The source texts were mainly Jewish, representing multiple points of view within Judaism, but some of these texts originated in other ancient cultures, making Israel part of a multicultural and liturgical tradition which was older than Israel itself.* What point might the editors and organizers be trying to make with their work?
The superscriptions at the head of Psalm 18 and other psalms are part of the organizing effort mentioned above and might be understood, as should many texts in both Old and New Testaments, as being written “in the name of” David. What difference does it make for our personal reading if this naming is not literally true?
The superscriptions in other psalms refer to individuals who had given their names to guilds of musicians in the Jerusalem temple. This is one snippet of the evidence supporting a conclusion that the psalms (which means “hymns” or “songs”) were used liturgically in Jewish temple worship. Might the close coupling of the temple and the Jewish monarchy help explain why Psalm 18:20 (“The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness....) makes “David” out to be somebody he was not?
Reading the psalms contextually as well as devotionally helps us to approach this marvelous collection with our heads as well as our hearts, and in so doing to enrich both kinds of reading. Thanks be to God!
Written by Bob McMath
I’m a historian by trade, and I know from experience that “most...scholars agree” means that some others do not agree.
* Patrick D. Miller, They Cried to the Lord: The Form and Theology of Biblical Prayer (1994).