Psalms: A Royal Picture Book

In 1874, Russian composer Modest Mussourgsky gifted the world with a musical masterpiece, composed in honor of his dearly and untimely departed friend, the artist Viktor Hartmann. The piece, originally written for piano but later orchestrated by Maurice Ravel, is known as Pictures at an Exhibition. Its ten movements each seek to depict one of Hartmann’s paintings, which had been gathered for public display in his memory. At the work’s beginning, and four additional times throughout, Mussourgsky inserted a “Promenade,” to represent the art-lover ambling from exhibit to exhibit.

I like big brass, so can’t bring myself to post the original piano version for you.

What Pictures at an Exhibition is to the paintings of Viktor Hartmann, the book of Psalms is to the person and work of God’s Messiah, Jesus Christ. God gave us this collection of 150 poems to publicly display what he was preparing to do through his appointed, law-abiding King.

In approaching this book, let us be careful to avoid what James Hely Hutchinson calls excessive introspection. “This book is more fundamentally ‘God’s word to us’ than ‘our words to God.’ Sensitivity to the abundance of New Testament quotations of, and allusions to, the psalms should lead us to major on God’s attributes and Christology.”¹

Literary Markers

Ancient manuscripts of the Book of Psalms clearly demarcate five divisions to the book. Modern Bibles title them “Book 1,” “Book 2,” and so on. This division into five “books” is reinforced by a distinct doxology (word of blessing or praise to God) at the end of each book. These doxologies typically have little to do with the poem immediately preceding them.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen. (Ps 41:13)

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. Blessed be his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and Amen! The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended. (Ps 72:8-20)

Blessed be the Lord forever! Amen and Amen. (Ps 89:52)

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! And let all the people say, “Amen!” Praise the Lord! (Ps 106:48)

Praise the Lord! (Beginning and ending of Psalms 146-150)

So the book breaks into the following divisions:

Book 1: Psalms 1-41
Book 2: Psalms 42-72
Book 3: Psalms 73-89
Book 4: Psalms 90-106
Book 5: Psalms 107-150

Let’s promenade through these poems/pictures on exhibition. For a more detailed analysis of the book of Psalms than what I can offer in this post, see my spreadsheet.

Book 1: The King Rejected by Men but Accepted by God

The first two poems stand apart as some of the only poems in book 1 not written by David. They introduce the book by bracketing a double blessing around the person who delights in God’s law (Ps 1:1-2) and submits to God’s king (Ps 2:12). Law and king; king and law. The king loves God’s law. The law speaks about God’s king. These will be the twin themes of the entire collection.

Book 1 then proceeds in three parts. Part 1 (Psalms 3-14) portray the king’s rejection by men. Part 2 (Psalms 15-24) show forth his acceptance by God. Part 3 (Psalms 25-35) return to the fact of his rejection by men. A closing section (Psalms 36-41) illustrate the king’s response to this state of affairs.

The big idea in Book 1 is that we see David himself suffering as the king of Israel, but finding great courage in God’s divine assistance and declaration of support. And yet, these poems make clear that David is only the beginning. Another king must come to turn what David felt into cosmic reality.

“The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me … Great salvation he brings to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever” (Ps 18:20, 50).

“Now I know the Lord saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand … O Lord, save the king! May he answer us when we call” (Ps 20:6, 9).

Book 2: We Need a King Greater than David

What Book 1 hinted at, Book 2 comes out and says directly.

The Book opens with the king’s wrestling through spiritual depression (Ps 42-43). It ends with him growing old (Ps 71) and passing the baton to the next generation (Ps 72). Along the way he must deal with everything from his own sin (Ps 51), to the sins of others (Ps 52-56), to the effects of such sin all around him (Ps 60-64). This leads him to celebrate both what he does for his people (Ps 44-50) and who he is in himself (Ps 65-68).

But this means we need someone greater than David. Someone who will never buckle under the pressure of opposition but will only see God’s glory in it (Ps 57). Someone whom God will resoundingly exonerate after being baselessly prosecuted (Ps 69). Someone greater than Solomon, ruling from the River to the ends of the earth (Ps 72).

“May he have dominion from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth! … May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him!” (Ps 72:8, 11).

Book 3: We are Desperate in Exile

The third movement moves to a dark place, where all the promises of God (those things we ought to delight in – Psalm 1) are brought into question.

The book begins with the appearance that only the wicked prosper (Ps 73), and it ends with a desperate cry from those whose king has been sent into exile (Ps 89). In between, the poems are structured in pairs (starting on the outside and working in) showing how a people process the experience of being cut off and forcibly removed from all God has given them. This generates deep concern for the present and uncertainty regarding the future.

Yet at the center of this collection, we find a poem (Ps 81) exposing the fact that it is the people’s persistent stubbornness, and not any alleged broken promises on God’s part, that led to this situation.

“Restore us, O Lord God of hosts! Let your face shine, that we may be saved!” (Ps 80:3, 7, 19).

Book 4: We Have Hope our Exile will Eventually End

In Book 4, we get a sizable dose of hope and encouragement. Though we are transient, Yahweh is eternal (Ps 90). When we dwell in his shadow, no-one can harm us (Ps 91). The Lord will not forsake his people in exile; he is present with them to hold them up amid the scorn of the nations (Ps 94).

These poems begin with reminders that God is present in exile and has not abandoned his people (Ps 90-94). It moves the people to praise God as king over all nations, because he is the king of his chosen people Israel (Ps 95-101). These truths enable them, as a community, to grieve with hope (Ps 102-106).

“He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God” (Ps 98:3).

“Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord: that he looked down from his holy height; from heaven the Lord looked at the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die, that they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord” (Ps 102:18-22).

Book 5: Exile Ends in Praise

The four subsections of Book 5 have a parallel structure:

Yahweh redeems king and people (Ps 107-110)
- Outburst of praise on behalf of king and people (Ps 111-119)
Yahweh raises king and people up from exile to worship (Ps 120-137)
- The king leads all people to worship Yahweh (Ps 138-150)

It should not escape our notice that the cause for praise in this Book’s opening is the people’s being “gathered in from the lands” (Ps 107:1-3). And now that they are back, their king returns to power and prominence (Ps 110, 118, 132, 144). Also, God’s word becomes the driving joy of the community (Ps 119). So the twin emphases of Psalms 1 and 2 return in force in Book 5.

The “psalms of ascent” (Ps 120-134) might seem to be their own unit. But notice how Ps 134 moves right into Ps 135 (compare Ps 134:1 with Ps 135:1-2), and how Ps 135 moves right into Ps 136 (compare Ps 135:11-12 with Ps 136:17-22). And then Psalm 137 returns to the theme of Psalm 120, bracketing the section with reflections on the trauma of exile and the hope for something better.

And consider how the book’s last section develops:

The king himself worships God for his astounding rescue (Ps 138-144: see especially Ps 144:9-10)
The king commits to leading the people in worship (Ps 145)
The people worship Yahweh for his astounding rescue (Ps 146-150)

Interpretive Outline

Time and space have failed me to comment on the many connections to the New Testament. While the Book of Psalms doesn’t tell a cohesive narrative or make a linear sustained argument, the book’s 150 poems are clearly arranged like an exhibition of paintings meant to communicate impressions and offer snapshots of how God’s ultimate king interacts with God’s word. I trust you are beginning to understand why the apostles quoted from the Psalms more than any other book when they sought to explain the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.