Theological Themes of Psalms. Robert D. Bell

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СКАЧАТЬ so that it will be steady (fixed) and lasting.¹¹¹ In creation God “set in place” or “established” (HCSB) the sun (74:16), the moon (8:3; 89:37), and the stars (8:3; 74:16). He put these heavenly bodies into a particular fixed orbit where they continue “forever, a faithful witness in the sky” (89:37b, HCSB). Furthermore, God has founded (יסד, yasad) and established the earth (אֶרֶץ, erets) (24:1–2; 65:9; 104:5; 119:90), also called “the world” (תֵּבֵל, teyveyl ) in 24:1; 93:1; and 96:10; therefore, “it cannot be moved” (93:1; 96:10, ASV). At creation God put our world in a stable orbit, where it has neither accelerated or decelerated for thousands of years; therefore, we are not tossed about. David noted that God “by his strength setteth fast the mountains” (65:6), and there they have stood for millennia. The Lord has instituted weather patterns: He “prepares rain for the earth” (147:8). Biologically, there is stability¹¹² in man’s bodily nature because of creation (119:73). In the beginning God programmed mankind’s DNA, and that structure is still determining our natural formation.

      (7) The Psalms emphasize that God is the Creator of mankind. At least forty of the creation verses identify God as the agent of creation. This is one of those obvious points. In eleven of these cases mankind is the object of that act (33:15; 51:10; 86:9; 89:47; 94:9; 95:6; 100:3; 102:18; 119:73; 139:13; and 149:2): God created man. This is important because the book of Psalms has accentuated it. A portion of 89:47 is actually the explicit statement of this fact: literally, “You created all the sons of mankind.” As our Creator, God rightfully owns us: “Acknowledge that Yahweh is God. He made us, and we are His” (100:3a, HCSB).

      New Testament Echoes

      By using the Greek equivalents of the three key Hebrew verbs for God’s creative activity, the New Testament reaffirms the doctrine of creation. Revelation uses κτίζω (ktizō) in three significant statements: “for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created” (4:11b); “And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein …” (10:6); and “worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters” (14:7b). We find this same verb in a verse proclaiming God’s goodness in His creation: “… meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth” (1 Tim. 4:6), and Colossians 1:16 identifies Christ as this Creator. The Greek verb for “make” (ποιέω, poieō) occurs in reference to creation in two important passages: “the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein” (Acts 14:15b); “worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters” (Rev. 14:7b). The Greek verb that matches the Hebrew term “establish” is καταρτίζω (katartizō):¹¹³ “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God” (Heb. 11:3a).

      In the fifth book of Psalms David and other psalmists proclaim five times that Yahweh is עֹשֶׂה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ, literally “Maker of heaven and earth” (115:15; 121:2; 124:8; 134:3; and 146:6). This is a fitting summary statement of the book’s creation theme.

      5

      Blessing

      When God created the world and then man and woman in His image, He blessed them (Gen. 1:28). In fact, He had already blessed the creatures He had made on the fifth day (Gen. 1:22). After the Flood God again blesses mankind (Gen. 9:1) and more specifically Abraham’s descendants (Gen. 12:2–3). We really cannot think of the blessing of God without being conscious of His goodness and His kindhearted giving. In the Genesis 1 account the author states seven times that God observed that the work of creation was “good” (vv. 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, and 31). In the book of Psalms there is this same connection between creation and God’s goodness. The great creation psalm proclaims the Lord’s kind provision for His creatures: “thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good” (104:28). Psalm 115 ties together God’s blessing (vv. 12–15) with His creation act (v. 15), and 134:3 joins the two themes succinctly in a short verse (“The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion”). After affirming the fact of Yahweh’s creation of mankind (100:3), another psalm first expresses thanksgiving (v. 4) and then proclaims the Creator’s goodness (v. 5).

      Briefly put, the Psalms announce that “God is good!” The theme begins in the very first word of Psalms (“Blessed”), and it climaxes in Psalm 147. This theme of goodness or blessing appears in 75 different psalms. The two tables below trace the significant occurrences of twelve Hebrew words in 154 different verses, a little over 6% of the verses in the book. The topic is predominant in Book V, where about a third of the verses appear and where 23 of the 43 psalms contain at least one verse, not surprising because praise is so prevalent in this Book and God’s goodness is a primary topic for praise.

      Vocabulary for Blessing

      It takes some discerning thought to establish a list of terms in Psalms that would identify the verses on this theme of God’s blessing and goodness. Most of the relevant words have meanings and uses that fit other topics, and it is necessary to examine carefully many of the verse contexts. In some cases it is not even possible to be sure about the boundaries of these topics. Table 5.1 lists five key words that directly relate to God’s beneficent nature or work. We must start, however, with three nouns listed in Table 5.2 that will lead us to the other words. The Hebrew word בְּרָכָה (berakah), “blessing,” best represents the subject of this chapter. It appears 71 times in the Old Testament and nine times in Psalms, but only six of these are relevant here. One of these appears in a significant sentence: “The blessing of the Lord be upon you” (129:8b). In the very next sentence we find the verb related to this noun: “we bless you in the name of the Lord” (129:8c).¹¹⁴ This verb, ברך (barak), “to bless,” occurs over 300 times in the Old Testament, 74 times in Psalms, but many cases are not relevant for this chapter. When men “bless” God they are really praising Him. In a later chapter Table 25.1 lists those cases. There are, however, 24 uses of the verb in Psalms that refer to the benefits that God grants. In 112:1–2 we can recognize אַשְׁרֵי (’asherey), “blessed,”¹¹⁵ as a synonym for ברך (barak),¹¹⁶ which occurs at the end of verse two. The former word occurs 26 times in the book, 24 times¹¹⁷ concerning advantages that come from God for someone.

      The verb ברך (barak) leads us in our search to two Hebrew nouns for the concept of goodness. At the end of 65:10 God blesses agriculture; then the next verse says, “Thou crownest the year with thy goodness.” The promise of 128:5 is that “The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good [“prosperity,” NASB; literally, “goodness”] of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.” The nouns translated “goodness” in these verses are respectively טוֹבָה (towvah) and טוּב (tuwv). Though they are used in Psalms infrequently, they point to the etymologically related adjective טוֹב (towv), “good,” which is often used substantively (“a good thing” or “benefit”). This last term is joined in 21:3 with word בְּרָכָה (berakah): “the blessings of goodness.” The adjective טוֹב (towv) occurs almost 500 times in the Old Testament and 60 times in Psalms, 31 of which are relevant to God’s goodness.

      It is difficult to think of this goodness without being mindful of His giving. The two are explicitly connected in 84:11 (“the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly”), 85:12a (“Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good”), and 104:28 (“when you give … they are filled with good things,” NRSV). After David requests God to give him strength, he says, “Show me a sign of Your goodness [טוֹבָה, towvah]” (HCSB). In 115:15–16 the two verbs ברך (barak) and נתן (nathan) are associated: “blessed by the Lord … He has given to the human race,” HCSB). Thus the common verb נתן (nathan), “to give,” used 94 times in Psalms, is relevant to our topic 31 times (spread over all five СКАЧАТЬ