Read a sermon by Geerhardus Vos on Psalm 25:14 here.

The Psalter is of all books of the Bible that book which gives expression to the experimental side of religion. In the law and the prophetic writings, it is God who speaks to his people; in the Psalter, we listen to the saints speaking to God. Hence the Psalter has been at all times that part of Scripture to which believers have most readily turned and upon which they have chiefly depended for the nourishment of the inner religious life of the heart. I say that part of Scripture and not merely that part of the Old Testament, for even taking the Old and the New Testament together the common experience of the people of God will bear us out in affirming that there is nothing in Holy Writ which in our most spiritual moments–when we feel ourselves nearest to God–so faithfully and naturally expresses what we think and feel in our hearts as these songs of the pious Israelites. Our Lord himself, who had a perfect religious experience and lived and walked with God in absolute adjustment of his thoughts and desires to the Father’s mind and will; our Lord himself found his inner life portrayed in the Psalter and in some of the highest moments of his ministry borrowed from it the language in which his soul spoke to God, thus recognizing that a more perfect language for communion with God cannot be framed.

Hopefully you are already aware of Resurrection and Eschatology: Theology in Service of the Church - Essays in Honor of Richard B. Gaffin but if not I hope you are as enthused about its appearance as I.

I draw your attention to this volume for two articles in particular; the first is Bruce Waltke’s “Psalm 110: An Exegetical and Canonical Approach” and the second is Don Carson’s “Biblical-Theological Ruminations on Psalm 1″.

The full Table of Contents, Foreword, and Introduction can be read online.

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 in majesty and armed with strength.
The world stands firm
and cannot be shaken.
Your throne, O Lord, has stood from time immemorial.
You yourself are from the everlasting past.

Psalm 95:3

For the Lord is a great God,
a great King above all gods.

Psalm 96:10

Tell all the nations, “The Lord reigns!”
The world stands firm and cannot be shaken.
He will judge all peoples fairly.

Psalm 97:1

The Lord is king!
Let the earth rejoice!
Let the farthest coastlands be glad.

Psalm 98:5, 6

Sing your praise to the Lord with the harp,
with the harp and melodious song,
with trumpets and the sound of the ram’s horn.
Make a joyful symphony before the Lord, the King!

Psalm 99:1

The Lord is king!
Let the nations tremble!
He sits on his throne between the cherubim.
Let the whole earth quake!

Now the feast of Tabernacles celebrated not only the election of Israel by means of Yahweh establishing his covenant with them but also the kingship of Yahweh. The proof can be adduced from two lines of enquiry.

1stly, when Israel had escaped from Egypt we find recorded a song of Moses wherein the kingship of Yahweh is asserted:

With your unfailing love you lead
the people you have redeemed.
In your might, you guide them
to your sacred home.
The peoples hear and tremble;
anguish grips those who live in Philistia.
The leaders of Edom are terrified;
the nobles of Moab tremble.
All who live in Canaan melt away;
terror and dread fall upon them.
The power of your arm
makes them lifeless as stone
until your people pass by, O LORD,
until the people you purchased pass by.
You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain—
the place, O LORD, reserved for your own dwelling,
the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hands have established.
The LORD will reign forever and ever!

This clearly links the theme of exodus to the theme of kingship. Hence we should not be surprised to find the kingship of Yahweh celebrated at a feast which reminded Israel of their gracious deliverance from Egypt and Yahweh’s protection of them during the journey to the promised land and their wilderness wanderings.

2ndly, as noted previously as part of the covenant renewal ceremony at the feast of Tabernacles Psalm 95 was used to exhort Israel to covenant faithfulness. Now the first half of this Psalm celebrates the kingship of Yahweh:

Come, let us sing to the LORD!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come to him with thanksgiving.
Let us sing psalms of praise to him.
For the LORD is a great God,
a great King above all gods.

We are able to conclude that the the kingship of Yahweh was celebrated at the feast of Tabernacles.

As you may be aware, there is an ESV study bible in the pipeline and they have just released a sample of the introduction to the Psalms. It can be found here.

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 for his blessing them by establishing his covenant with them. The feast brought to Israel’s mind Yahweh’s gracious deliverence and protection of them through the exodus out of Egypt and the journey to the promised land with forty-years in the wilderness. It was at this feast that Israel was to rejoice gratefully for the Yahweh’s covenant and, as Waltke notes, they were to reflect upon the exodus as a motive for obedience.

It is then unsurprising that two Psalms were used at this feast both of which exhorted Israel to be obedient. These are Psalm 81 and Psalm 95. Psalm 81 is related to the feast of Tabernacles by means of verses 1-7 especially verse 3 which reads, “Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our feast day.” In verses 8-10 we find the Law alluded to, verse 10 is the prologue to the Decalogue “I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt” whilst verse 11 is the first commandment, “There shall be no strange god among you; you shall not bow down to a foreign god.” Then verses 11-16 exhort Israel to obedience reminding them of the blessings that flow from being faithful to the covenant Yahweh made with them, “Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes.”

This is then picked up in Psalm 95

Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your fathers put me to the test
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
and they have not known my ways.”
Therefore I swore in my wrath,
“They shall not enter my rest.”

These Psalms then, I believe (following Mowinckel), form part of a covenant renewal ceremony wherein Israel is reminded of the covenant Yahweh made with them and are exhorted to keep faithful to it. The covenant that Yahweh had made with Israel was renewed not only by their singing these Psalms but also by having the Law read as per Deuteronomy 31:9-13

Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel. And Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

This we find taking place upon the return from Babylon in both Ezra 3 and Nehemiah 8.

I therefore find it highly probable that Psalms 81 and 95 formed a central part of the liturgy for a covenant renewal ceremony that took place during the feast of Tabernacles whereby Israel was reminded of the covenant Yahweh established with them and exhorted to walk in faithfulness to it.

You can read Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology entry on “Psalms, Theology of” online

Not strictly to do with the study of the Psalms but I recently came across an Australian band called Sons of Korah who focus on singing the psalms to modern music.

Sons of Korah have endeavored to bring a unique contemporary flavour to a traditional idea. The biblical psalms have preoccupied composers and song writers for millennia. They have been the primary source for the worship traditions of both Judaism and Christianity going right back to ancient times. With their unique acoustic, multi-ethnic sound Sons of Korah have achieved an intriguing re-creation of the musical drama of the psalms. Sons of Korah have put the Word of God and music together in a dynamic and captivating way in order to lead their listeners into an impacting encounter with the heart of the bible. From lamentation to songs of jubilant praise, from battle cry to benediction, from exclamation of awe and wonder to reflections of tranquillity and perfect wisdom, Sons of Korah provide a compelling portrait of the world and experience of the psalms.

Sons of Korah believe that the psalms contain a particularly pertinent message for today. They are the supreme biblical portrayal of the spiritual life in all its facets and dynamics. They speak powerfully to a postmodern world that is generally more interested in what the biblical faith looks like from the inside than its abstract doctrinal expression. And for the church today the psalms present a compelling challenge to the often one-dimensional and romanticized spirituality that we find it so hard to move beyond. The psalms portray a rich, multifaceted and real spirituality. They speak powerfully to those who are well acquainted both with the sting of a cursed world and the sweetness of God’s love and grace in Jesus Christ. The psalms were originally written as songs and they were intended to be used. They have a role in the spiritual life and they perform this role as songs. The best way to meditate on God’s word is to use music and indeed this was one of dominant original purposes of the psalms. Sons of Korah invite their listeners to discover, through their music, the way in which the psalms can impact our lives today.

You will need to access this via JSTOR but it is worth it.

Jefferson, H. G. (1952) “Psalm 93″, Journal of Biblical Literature, 71(3) pp. 155-160

She concludes (amongst other things) that its relationship to Ugaritic literature favours a pre-exilic date, furthermore Deutero-Isaiah did not write the psalm but he may have known it owing to its being pre-exilic.

The following is also worth a read if you have access to JSTOR.

Smart, J. D. (1933) “The Eschatological Interpretation of Psalm 24″, Journal of Biblical Literature, 52(2/3) pp. 175-180

If you have access to JSTOR you may be interested in the following article:

Ap-Thomas, D. R. (1966) “An Appreciation of Sigmund Mowinckel’s Contribution to Biblical Studies”, Journal of Biblical Literature, 85(3) pp. 315-325