Gospel Doctrine Podcast 25- Psalms (u)

I’m on the road, so the podcast and notes are a little bit rougher this week.

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Partial Transcript
Notes and References

Three most quoted OT books in NT? Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and Psalms

Mark 15:34 and Matthew 27:46-“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani, my God my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” comes from Psalm 22:1. (Hebrew is azavtani, Aramaic is shvaqthani, which is what we have transliterated in the NT Greek.)

Psalm 22:16 “a band of evil doers has surrounded me, they pierced my hands and my feet” though I should point out that the Hebrew there is quite difficult and it may read differently.
Psalm 22:18, “they part my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.”

Hebrews 1:13 says “But to which of the angels has he said at anytime, ‘sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool?’”quoting Psalm 110.

Matt 26:30/Mark 14:26, during the last supper, the apostles sang a hymn. We don’t have to wonder what that was, because traditionally at Passover, Jews sing or recite Psalms 113-118, a grouping known as the Hallel

Psalms = tehillim or “praises”, like hallelujah “praise yahweh”

Poetry–
See Kevin Barney, “Understanding Old Testament Poetry” Ensign, June 1990. Read it!
Kevin is on the board of FAIR and blogs at ByCommonConsent.

Psalm 119 is an acrostic. Psalm 9-10 likely was one too.

References- Adele Berlin The Dynamics of Biblical Parallelism; Robert Alter, The Book of Psalms and The Art of Biblical Poetry; James Kugel, The Idea of Biblical Poetry;
Donald Parry’s, The Book of Mormon Reformatted according to Parallelistic Patterns. (Review here)

Psalms as Israelite Hymbook, like our Hymnbook

1) Written at different times by different people.
2) Borrowed or adapted hymns (Psalm 29 and Psalm 104)
Excerpt-

“…my anticipation turned to dismay when I came to the conclusion of Peter Craigie’s article… on Psalm 29. He says, “The psalm was originally Canaanite; it had been modified for inclusion in Israel’s hymnbook simply by the replacement of the name Baal with the personal name of Israel’s God.” He also says, “Almost all scholars agree that Psalm 29’s background is Baal worship, as portrayed in the tablets from Ugarit.” I find this “scholarly” conclusion extremely blasphemous. Psalm 29 and all the psalms were written by holy men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. David did not need to get his inspiration from the mythology of an evil, heathen god. He was inspired and anointed by the “Lord of glory and strength,” the Lord who “will bless His people with peace.” >> Excerpt from second similar letter- “After reading the editor’s comments about the 29th Psalm being similar to an Ugaritic psalm that was part of the Canaanites’ worship of Baal… Surely you do not want us to believe the Ugaritic text was inspired of God, or that David irresponsibly had this Psalm put down apart from the revelation of God. “For all scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16). I believe the Holy Spirit protected our holy text from just this type of error. I take my stand against anything which disparages the reliability of the Bible. So I will not renew my subscription.

3) Sometimes contain doctrinally “odd” things. (Psalm 93 and 3rd creation account)
4) Modifications over time to make them more comfortable/orthdox
(Compare Psalm 29 with 96; Our hymn 51, Sons of Michael he Approaches. Blogpost; I am a Child of God changes from “know” to “do” )
5) Performed at various times, rituals, or occasions.

Kingship psalms- 2, 110.
Songs of Ascent.

“The psalms in the Old Testament have a special food for the soul of one in distress.” President Benson, “Do Not Despair,” Ensign, October 1986.