At the Logos Talk blog, Mark Ward has an excellent piece walking through the observation phase of a study of Psalm 44.
The psalms are a favorite book for God’s people, in part because the study is easier. The meaning of the psalms often, at least, feels plain and practical—even if the application is simply “praise God.” But there is always greater depth in the Bible, and if you want to dig down there you’ll need tools.
I work for a Bible study tool company, but the first tool you should pick up is not necessarily Logos Bible Software. First grab your conceptual tools: observation, interpretation, and application.
We’ll do that in a series of three posts. Today: observation. Next week: interpretation. The next week: application.
Later in the post:
At this stage of the observation process, I don’t want to get bogged down with questions about the meanings of difficult words or phrases—unless they seem necessary for grasping the overall thought-flow of the psalm. Probably the only example of such a phrase in this psalm is “Ordain salvation for Jacob!” in verse 4. This is where Bible background knowledge is likely to be needed. If you’ve read the Old Testament, you probably know that “Jacob” is often a stand-in for the nation of “Israel.” Otherwise this psalm uses fairly simple and straightforward wording. The riches in this psalm are found not so much at the word level but at the structural level. How can I describe such a wrenching shift from praise to despair?
Ward models observation well. Check it out!
