Covenant in the Psalms (1)

Whilst many Psalms do not mention covenant (berith) explicitly, the theme of covenant runs through the Psalter seamlessly. The basic covenantal formula is “You shall be my people and I shall be your God” so whenever we find the psalmist saying “my God” or “my King” the reason he can say this is because a [...]

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Covenant, Law & Obedience

This article is linked to what I said in “Liturgical use of Psalms 81 & 95” and my view that the Sitz im Leben of the Decalogue is to be located in a “covenant renewal festival” at the feast of Booths.
I was reading Jeremiah 22 this morning and I read the following (vv. 6-9):
For [...]

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Yahweh is king!

As I noted earlier, Psalm 95 was used as part of the liturgy at the feast of Tabernacles and this Psalm, together with Psalms 93, 96-99 are know as the enthronement Psalms. They expound the themes of Yahweh as king hence:
Psalm 93:1, 2
The Lord is king! He is robed in majesty.
Indeed, the Lord is robed [...]

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Liturgical use of Psalms 81 & 95

From Deuteronomy 16 we discover the feast of Tabernacles was one of the three major feasts of Israel’s liturgical calendar and it’s mentioned also in Leviticus 23:33-45. Baldwin suggests that it is the oldest pilgrimage festival and we find it in both Judges 21:19 and 1 Samuel 1:3. Israel was to give thanks to Yahweh [...]

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N. T. Wright on Pss. 19 & 74

The following comes from N. T. Wright’s Creation and Covenant and which I warmly commend to you:
What I mean by ‘creation and covenant’ will become clear if we consider a couple of Psalms where the two are joined together. What I intend by using that pair of evocative terms as an initial way in to [...]

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