LESSON 2: OLD TESTAMENT

PART A: INTRODUCTION TO THE OLD TESTAMENT

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The OT begins with two accounts of creation. The first account is in Gen 1:1-2:4a and the second account fills the remainder of Gen 2. Gen 3 is the story of the Fall. Sin continues to spread with the Flood occupying much of Gen 6-9. The first of five OT covenants is God’s promise to Noah never again to destroy the world with water. The story of Babel is in Gen 11.

The beginning of salvation history occurs with the call of Abraham in Gen 12. He was asked to leave his country and settle in Canaan. God promised him the land in perpetuity and many descendants. This is the second of five covenants in the OT. For their part the Hebrews were to circumcise all males. Abraham was a patriarch, i.e. a father of a clan or family. The succeeding patriarchs were his son Isaac (whom he had been asked to sacrifice in Gen 22), and his son Jacob. Jacob stole his birthright from his brother Esau. Jacob was always in trouble. During a night time struggle with God he was renamed Israel (Gen 32:23-33) His son Joseph was thrown down a well and then sold to passing traders who in turn sold him to one of Pharaoh’s officials in Egypt. He was thrown in prison on false charges and released after he interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams and therefore made vice-regent in Egypt. During this time there was a famine in Canaan and his brothers came for food. He revealed himself to them and asked that his entire family come down and settle in Egypt. They would remain in Egypt for 430 years (Ex 12:40).

Now we come to the Book of Exodus. God called Moses to lead them out of Egypt. He grew up in Pharaoh’s palace as Pharaoh’s grandson. He had to flee after killing an Egyptian and while he was away God spoke to him from the burning bush. He went back to Egypt and with the help of his brother Aaron led the Hebrews out of Egypt. There was a series of 10 plagues before their departure. The worst was the last plague on the night of their departure, the death of the firstborn of the Egyptian. Before the Hebrews departed they celebrated a Passover meal which Jesus took over and turned into the Last Supper.

After their departure the greatest miracle of the OT occurred, the passage through the sea. Scholars are divided on whether it means the Sea of Reeds or the Red Sea because it is not clear in the Hebrew. Scholars are divided over the date of the exodus but a plausible date is between 1350-1250 BC. The exodus is the first of two great divisions of time in the OT, time before the exodus and time after the exodus. While wandering in the desert God fed them with manna and quails, and gave them water from a rock. A month after their departure they arrived at Mt Sinai. While there God formed a covenant with them and gave them the Ten Commandments. This is the third covenant of the OT. This covenant bound them to God and God to them. So they have a new relationship with God. Therefore they had a new relationship with each other because they were all bound to God, so a new horizontal and vertical relationship resulted from this covenant. That new relationship was expressed in Law and therefore most of the rest of the Pentateuch (first five books of the OT) is Law. They spent a year at Sinai before moving on but due to lack of faith in God they spent forty years wandering in the desert before entering Canaan. Num 25:13 gives us the fourth covenant in the OT, God’s promise that the priesthood would remain forever. Only two of those who left Egypt were allowed by God to live long enough to enter the Promised Land, Joshua and Caleb. Even Moses died before entering but he was privileged to see it from Mt Nebo.

A glorious account of the conquest of Canaan is given us in Joshua. As they crossed the river Jordan stopped flowing, mimicking the earlier miracle of the sea as they left Egypt. The land was divided among the tribes. Judah in the south absorbed the tribe of Simeon but the tribe of Levi, the priests’ assistants received no portion, since their income was to be provided from the tithes of the remainder of the people. Joshua was the first ruler in Canaan and the Israelite leaders who ruled after him were called judges but their main function was to act as military rulers. You already know the story of one of them, Samson. Their account is in the book of Judges. The last of the judges was Samuel (1 Sam).

The people decided to copy the surrounding nations and form a monarchy. God asked Samuel to anoint the first king. His name was Saul (1020-1000 BC). His story is recounted in 1 Sam. Samuel also anointed the second king, David (1000-961 BC). His story begins in 1 Sam, continues in 2 Sam and concludes at the beginning of 1 Kings. He is famous for his sin of adultery with Bathsheba the wife of Uriah and then engineering the death of Uriah by having him sent to the front line of battle. The fifth covenant in the OT was between God and David. God sent Nathan to him to promise that there would be a son on his throne forever. We understand this promise to refer to Jesus. What is the throne Jesus is sitting on? It is his seat on the right-hand side of his Father in heaven since his ascension. David conquered Jerusalem which had not been under Israelite control up to now and he made it the political and religious centre of the country. The third king was Solomon (961-922 BC). Under his reign the kingdom was at its height and it would be all downhill from now on. During his reign there was tension between the 10 northern tribes and Judah in the south. This came to a head during the reign of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam (922-915 BC). The ten northern tribes split from Judah in the south in 922 BC, and so from now on there are two kings and two centres of worship. The northern kingdom is called Israel and the southern Judah. The northern kingdom did not survive for very long, only 200 years. In 722 BC Assyria invaded Israel (2 Kings 17). The Samaritans intermarried with the foreign invaders and it is from that time that the tension between the Samaritans and Jews stems that we read about in the Gospels. Most of the remaining kings of Judah were not good. There are two exceptions; one was King Hezekiah (715-686 BC) but the two kings that followed undid most of his good work. The next king, King Josiah (640-609 BC) was another very good king and began a big reform but the monarchy steadily declined after him.

The southern kingdom finally came to an end in 587 BC when it too was invaded and came to and end. Judah was invaded by Babylon whose king was Nebuchadnezzar. Many of the Jews were taken as slaves to Babylon and Ps 137 describes their sorry plight there. We call this time the exile. This is the second great time division in the OT, time before the exile and time after the exile. Many Jews also went to Egypt during the exile, especially to Alexandria. Since the language in Egypt at this time was Greek they would eventually need a Greek translation of the OT since they gradually lost their Hebrew. Hence the Greek Septuagint translation (LXX). Babylon itself was conquered by Persia in 539 BC and the following year Cyrus king of Persia allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild Jerusalem. God raised up prophets to call the Israelites back to live according to the covenant. They arose during the monarchy so the prophets are simultaneous with the kings. There are pre-exilic prophets, exilic prophets promising a return, and post-exilic prophets. Palestine was now under Persian control.

In 332 Alexander the Great conquered Palestine and after his death in 323 his empire was split in two between the Seleucids in Syria and the Ptolemies in Egypt. Israel was stuck in the middle and was ruled by them alternately. It was a tough time for Israel because Hellenistic customs began to be introduced gradually. The worst of this came when one of the Seleucid kings, Antiochus IV Epiphanes desecrated the Temple and set up worship of Zeus in the temple. For three and a half years sacrifice to Yahweh ceased in the Temple (167-164 BC). There was a resistance movement begun by the Maccabees and they succeeded in rededicating the temple. In 63 BC Palestine was conquered by Rome and was still ruled by Rome at the time of Jesus, hence the Roman soldiers in the Gospels. So as you can see, from the exile onwards Israel was under foreign domination. No wonder they wanted a political Messiah to restore the kingdom to Israel!

Division of the Old Testament

We often divide the Old Testament into four sections as follows

The Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament. Pentateuch comes from two Greek words, pente = 5 and teuchos = implement, i.e. manuscript.
The following books are the Historical Books. Six of them are called the Deuteronomic History: Josh, Judg, 1-2 Sam and 1-2 Kings. They are called Deuteronomistic History because they are heavily influenced by the theology of the covenant and land in the last book of the Pentateuch, Deut.
The Wisdom Literature now follows which includes the Psalms, the prayerbook of Israel which was also the prayerbook of Jesus
Finally the prophets.

PART B: INTRODUCTION TO THE PSALMS

Prayer takes us out of our world into the spiritual world. In prayer we meet God and God touches us. Through prayer we become more like Jesus and more open to God speaking to us. Through prayer we learn to look at events in a new light. Through prayer we get sustenance to face the problems we face. Through prayer we find within ourselves the means to offer help to others. Through prayer we learn that God is with us and so we can face the world with confidence. We are all called to prayer. If we do not pray we are not fully human or fully Christian.

1. The Psalms were the prayer book of the Israelites. God called the Israelites and made them his chosen people. The Psalms were the Israelites’ response to God’s call and their answer to him. All of Israel’s life finds expression in the Psalms. They have arisen as a result of a relationship between God and his people.

2. The Psalms were also the prayer of Jesus. He would have known most of them by heart and in the Gospels Jesus quotes more than twenty times from the Psalms.

3. The Psalms are also our prayer. They have now become the prayer of the Church. In the Psalms we talk to God and we join with Israel and Jesus in continuing to praise and worship God. The poetry written by the Psalmist can also be ours. See CCC 2586-2587. Our lives go through ups and downs. The emotions expressed in the Psalms reflect the same ups and downs. Joy, sorrow, expectation and fear, anguish, desperation, triumph, peace: all these emotions have their part in our lives. They are also the material of the Psalms. The Psalms are like a mirror of our lives. All the Scriptures speak to us but the Psalms also speak for us.

The Division of the Psalms in this Course

For this course I had to decide what was the best way to teach the Psalms. Since many people following this course are probably reading the Bible for the first time, and also many may be following this course on their own without the benefit of a group, I have decided to divide the 150 Psalms as simply as possible. For the sake of simplicity, I will divide the Psalms into three major categories reflecting our emotions, an idea I take from John F Craghan’s book, Psalms for all Seasons. Following Craghan, I divide the Psalms as follows:

1. There are times we feel secure and Psalms to pray on those occasions.

2. There are also times when a blow or shock comes and upsets our security, when we despair and are disillusioned. There are suitable Psalms for those occasions.

3. After these dark times we rebuild our lives. We have now become new people, with a new perspective on life. We can pray Thanksgiving Psalms during these times.

There are Psalms that reflect when we feel secure, Psalms that reflect a feeling of despair and Psalms that reflect a recovery from despair. The Psalms speak to our needs and reflect the situations of life that we can find ourselves in. The Psalms deal with human problems and situations. We can use the Psalms to stand before God just as we are, without any pretence, without varnishing our exterior. We do not have to learn from the Psalms a totally new experience but to recognize in the Psalms our own experience lived out directed to God, lived in the presence of God. In the last lesson I mentioned that some parts of the Bible have more authority for us than others. You will find that certain Psalms fit your condition and our own experience better than others. This is a grace of God. You can use those Psalms more frequently in your prayer and meditations. Let them become “your” Psalms. See CCC 2588. Once again I remind you that the translation I find most helpful for praying the Psalms is the Grail translation which should be in your local religious bookshop.

There are ways to divide the 150 Psalms other than the three categories above. For example, the NJBC 34:8-13 divides the Psalms according to types following the research of two great Psalm scholars Gunkel and Mowinckel. In a seminary or university, a course on the Psalms would almost certainly follow their division of the Psalms. At the end of this course we will read some Psalms according to their division of the Psalms.

Using the Psalms to Pray for Others

You could say that dividing the Psalms into the three categories as I do is not the full story because that is praying the Psalms only for ourselves. It is a subjective approach to the Psalms. As well as praying for ourselves we should also pray for others. Apart from praying Psalms that reflect the situation we find ourselves in, we can pray Psalms of despair for those who are in despair even if we are not in despair ourselves. Paul said, “If one part is hurt, all parts are hurt with it” (1 Cor 12:26). So we can use the Psalms to pray for others. In other words, we can pray the Psalms for others who are experiencing the sentiments expressed in that particular Psalm. That is the intention with which priests and religious pray the Psalms every day. They pray them for the entire Church, even if the Psalm does not reflect the mood of the person praying. Somewhere in the world there is someone in that situation at the moment and we pray this Psalm for that person. The Liturgy of the Hours, prayed five times a day by priests and religious, rests principally on praying the Psalms and is prayed for the entire church. You have probably seen us praying from books with black leather covers. These books contain those prayers and the book is called the Breviary.

In singing the Psalms each day the Church is singing of her union with God in Christ. The Psalms unite us in Christ. The sentiments of the Psalmist (author of the Psalm) lead us to God. Pius XII in Mediator Dei said that while chanting or reciting the Psalms, “through his Spirit in us Christ entreats the Father”. Together with the Our Father, the Psalms are in the most perfect sense the “prayer of Christ”.

The very fact that the Rosary was originally referred to as the “Layman’s Psalter” reminds us that before the Middle Ages lay people participated in the Liturgy of the Hours (praying the Breviary) with religious and chanted the Psalms with them. Other devotions arose only when lay people no longer prayed the Psalms. (The Psalter is the Book of the Psalms.)

How Can a Christian Read and Pray Psalms written before Christ?

This question implies that our way of praying the Psalms is different to the authors of the Psalms since Christ has now come. That is correct. We do not read the Old Testament in the same way as Jews do. We believe in Jesus and that the Old Testament was preparing for Jesus. We see Jesus as the fulfilment of the OT hopes for the Messiah. Therefore when reading and praying the Old Testament, wherever appropriate, we read it as fulfilled in Jesus, anticipating or prophesying Jesus. We read the OT through the lens of the NT. In Luke 24:44 Jesus said everything written about him in the Psalms was destined to be fulfilled. Therefore, when appropriate, we read and pray the Psalms or parts of them as referring to Jesus. We call this a Christological interpretation of the Psalms. Psalms are Christologically interpreted in the NT in two ways:

1. The most important is when Jesus quotes the Psalm applying it to himself.

2. The second is when the writer of the NT book quotes a Psalm verse or alludes to it and says it prophesies or is fulfilled in Jesus or the Church, or it teaches us something about Jesus.

During this course I will help you read the Psalms christologically. It is the Psalms and Isaiah that are quoted most often in this way in the NT, seen fulfilled in Jesus. Those who pray the Breviary know that this is the way we already pray the Psalms. Over many Psalms in the Breviary there is a quotation from the NT to give us an indication how to pray that Psalm as a Christian. I suggest that those who pray the Breviary pay more attention to those suggestions now that you studying this course.

Praying the Psalms with the Church

Praying Hands Since Vatican II, many people pray using the Breviary every day at home and some Churches celebrate Morning Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours before Mass. If you have not yet prayed using a Breviary, now that you are reading, studying and praying the Psalms in this course, why not join sometimes with a local religious community for the Liturgy of the Hours and pray them with the Church and for the Church? See CCC 1174-1178

PART C: PSALMS TO PRAY WHEN WE FEEL GOOD

Scripture Reading

Bible In this lesson we begin to read the Psalms. During the course of this lesson I will indicate to you when to read Psalms 8, 104 and 117. Later in this lesson I will recommend you to read other Psalms.

Study

We think we are the centre of the world, and so we can become independent of others. Instead of making ourselves the centre of our world, the Psalms of Praise make God the centre of our world. The Psalms of Praise are communal, meaning that these were Psalms prayed together by the entire congregation in the Temple in Jerusalem or each Sabbath in the synagogue. They are also sometimes called Hymns of Praise. There are Psalms to be used by an individual to praise God but they do not fit into this category of Psalms or Hymns of Praise. We shall read and pray those much later in this course. Remembering the threefold division of Psalms for this course, all of these Psalms or Hymns of Praise are those we pray when we feel secure. They praise God for his qualities:

1. the order he exerts over creation and

2. the way he guides history according to his plan.

Firstly we will read and pray Psalms praising God as Creator. In fact praise is so much the hallmark of the Psalms that it has given the title to the Book of the Psalms in Hebrew. Tehillim, the Hebrew name for this book means ‘The Praises’. See CCC2589

PRAISE OF THE CREATOR

Bible

Please read Psalm 8.

Psalm 8 - The Dignity of Us Humans

Psalm 8 deals specifically with the creation of humankind. To help us understand a passage in the Bible properly it is a help to see its structure. The structure of the Psalm 8 is as follows. The verse numbers in bold are the Grail enumeration while those in brackets are the enumeration in your Bible:

2ab(1ab) Call to Praise God

2c-3(1-2) God’s Majesty

4-5(3-4) Humankind’s Insignificance Compared to the Universe

6-9(5-8) God’s Role for Humankind

10(9) Repetition of Call to Praise God

2ab(1ab) Call to Praise God

The Hymns of Praise usually begin by issuing a call to praise God. The Psalmist (author of the Psalm) is filled with wonder as he meditates on God, “how great your name throughout the earth”. (I use the word ‘he’ since only men were educated to write at that time).

2c-3(1c-2) God’s Majesty

Verse 2c(1c) says God’s majesty is praised above the heavens; we could think of the angels and saints praising God. Verse 3(2) is difficult to understand properly. God uses the mouth of babies and infants in some way to counteract his enemies. Think, for example, of parents teaching their children to make the sign of the cross. God’s enemies, the humanly strong, are those who do not recognize him. Babies symbolise human weakness and humility, but they have strength greater than God’s enemies when they take the name of God on their lips. God can use the weak of this world, even a child, to establish his strength and quieten the enemy. The poet feels God’s power working in little children. To the eyes of faith, it is in the small and insignificant things that the greatness of God is revealed. (See 1 Cor 1:27,29)

Question Compare Psalm 8:3 (8:2) with its quotation in Matt 21:16. What is the difference between the two? Perhaps you are very surprised to discover that the OT is not quoted exactly in the NT. The evangelists writing the Gospels quoted from the Greek OT, the Septuagint, the LXX.. I pointed out to you in Lesson 1 Part A, on the seven extra books in Catholic Bibles, that the LXX translation is not the same as the Hebrew.

4-5(3-4) Our Insignificance Compared to the Universe

At last we are given the setting for the Psalm. The Psalmist is out walking by night. It is a cloudless sky and as he sees the moon and stars he begins to reflect on his position and ours in the universe. The spontaneous reaction of a human being upon seeing the night-time universe reflected in the stars and the moon is to become aware of his/her own insignificance. The heavens are the work of God’s fingers, and humankind is insignificant compared to the heavens. As he looks up at the night sky he is forced to ask a question. The Hebrew text says ‘What is man?’ Our inclusive translation says ‘what are we?’ Compared to the vast expanse of the universe we expect the answer answer; ‘We are nothing.’ Looking at the universe in this way and without faith it is inconceivable that humans are important. The poet deliberately creates this sense of despair before he answers his question in the following verses. With our knowledge of the universe now we have even greater reason to think of our insignificance.

The Cosmos

6-9(5-8) Our Role in Creation

The answer to the question posed in the previous verse is now given us in vv6-7(5-6). God has a role for us in creation, to be master within the created universe, “gave us power over the works of your hands”, e.g. power to create electricity, to put spaceships and satellites into orbit. (The Hebrew text says ‘gave him power’). We are masters over living creatures within the universe, vv8-9(7-8) both domestic pets and untamed animals. God decreed this at creation, see Gen 1:28b. Therefore humankind is “little less than gods”. The poet describes humankind with royal language like a king/queen, “crowned”. As soon as we recognize our insignificance in the universe, we see the wonderful privilege God has bestowed upon us in the way he has treated us. This moves us to praise God.

10(9) Repetition of Call to Praise

The Psalm concludes as it began; praising God’s name, “How great is your name, O Lord our God, through all the earth!” Praise is the fitting response to reflection on God’s creation, since as CCC 293 tells us, God created to communicate his glory.

Christological Interpretation of Psalm 8

Earlier in this lesson you learned that we Christians read and pray the OT through the lens of the NT and reinterpret some parts of the OT Christologically, about Jesus.

In Matt 21:16 Jesus quoted v3(2) in his rebuke to the authorities. In that context they are the foes and rebels and as in the Psalm children mentioned in 21:15 have a truer perception. (See also Luke 10,21) This is not a christological interpretation in that it is not applying the Psalm to Jesus but it is applying part of the Psalm to Jesus’ contemporaries and in that sense I include it here.

Paul quotes this Psalm and gives “put all things under his feet” in v7a(6a) a new meaning. For him the mastery of humankind expressed in this Psalm is fulfilled in Jesus rising from the dead (1 Cor 15:26; Eph 1:22). Also in the Letter to the Hebrews this Psalm is used to describe Jesus’ victory over death by his resurrection (Heb 2:6-10). So this is a new way for us Christians to pray this Psalm; we can pray this Psalm in thanksgiving that Jesus has won eternal life for us and has conquered death on our behalf. Jesus has put all things, even death, under his feet. Ravasi, an Italian commentator on the Psalms, says it is a prophecy of Jesus’ resurrection, a program for a new humanity and reordered humanity.

Bible

Please read Psalm 104.

Psalm 104 - Praise of God the Creator

Ancient Egyptians worshipped many gods but the Pharaoh Amenhotep IV in the fourtheenth century BC started a revolution by worshiping only one god, the sun, called Aten. He composed a hymn to Aten. This Psalm has parallels with Gen 1 and the Egyptian hymn to Aten. It is normally understood that the author of this Psalm used the Egyptian hymn in honor of the sun god as his source but structured it in the same way as the account of creation in six days in Genesis 1.

The similarities with Gen 1 are as follows and remember that I say it helps us to understand a passage of Scripture when we can see a structure in it:

Verses in Ps 104 Gen 1

1-4 Creation of the heavens and earth Gen 1:1-5

5-9 Waters pushed back Gen 1:6-10

10-13 Waters put to beneficial use (implicit Gen 1:6-10)

14-18 Creation of vegetation Gen 1:11-12

19-23 Creation of heavenly lights Gen 1:14-18

24-26 Creation of sea creatures Gen 1:20-22

27-30 Creation of living creatures Gen 1:24-31

As you study this Psalm the headings below reflect this structure.

1-2a the Initial Call to Praise.

2b-4 Creation of the heavens and the earth

Creation of the heavens obviously refers to creating the sky, not to creating angels etc. Ancient peoples believed that there was a sea above the earth (probably because of rain) and God’s heavenly palace above that. See Gen 1:6-8. Remember our discussion of inspiration in Lesson 1 Part B.

God in heaven

waters above the sky (which produce rain)

sky

earth floating on the waters below and held up by pillars (like an oil-rig)

waters under the earth

the underworld

What a beautiful way to describe wind, God’s messenger. The ‘flashing fire’, lightning, is God’s servant.

5-9 Waters pushed back

It was believed the world was like an oil-rig fixed on the ocean. The earth floats on the ocean. We with our modern viewpoint of God having fixed the planet earth in orbit, can also share in the Psalmist’s trust in and awe of God. In v7 God has driven away the flood which once covered the mountains by the voice of his thunder. This is the way creation is depicted in Gen 1:9-10, God ordering the chaotic water.

10-13 Waters put to beneficial use

Not only is God the Creator but he also cares for creation by providing springs to nourish life. Water, an enemy before creation according to the viewpoint above in vv7-9, now gives sustenance to God’s creatures. Springs supplying water from the ocean beneath the earth are supplemented by rain from above the sky in v13.

14-18 Creation of Vegetation

God is not remote from the world he has created. His providential care is evident, making grass grow for the cattle and plants for ourselves in v14. From those plants we are able to bake bread, v14c. All the details of creation reveal providential care by God for his creation. See CCC 301. Ladies, notice that God has even provided cosmetics, the oil in v15b. Not only does God provide for us humans, but God also provides for all of creation. Thus in v16 God provides water for the trees. In v17 the trees were God’s way of providing for the birds. God has provided mountains unfit for human habitation to be the home for the goats and rabbits in v18. Nature is not pictured as being for our exploitation. Even though since creation we are masters of creation there is no hint of species becoming extinct because of our activities.

19-23 Creation of heavenly lights

The Psalmist marvels at the order he can see in the world. So that we can tell the passing of time God has created the moon. The months in Israel were lunar months and still are, not like our Gregorian calendar. The sun and moon are all part of God’s providential care. God in his wisdom reserved the night to the wild beasts of the forest, but the day to us for our work, thus we do not interfere with one another. Notice the beautiful spiritual way in which he views all of creation; the lion roaring is his prayer to God for food. Human work is part of God’s plan.

24-26 Sea-Creatures

He exclaims wonder at God creating the creatures of the sea. God has even created the sea-monsters to be his own playthings! Leviathan is the name of a mythological sea serpent or dragon, something similar to the mythological Lough Ness Monster. There is a description of him in Job 40:25-41:26. His defeat is attributed to God in Ps 74:14 and Isa 27:1.

27-30 living Creatures

All creatures depend on God. God is the provider of food for all. Although we gather, it is God who gives it. It all comes from God’s hand, v28b. At the end of our lives God withdraws his spirit which gave us life, v29 but gives his life-giving spirit to other creatures so the cycle continues. All life is from God and God is the master of death. You are familiar with v30, translated in a hymn as ‘Send forth your Spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth’.

31-35 Final Praise of God

We have come full circle and return to praising God as we did at the beginning. Another two items showing God’s glory are introduced here, earthquakes in v32a and volcanic eruptions in v32b. In v33 he promises to praise God all his life. He hopes this hymn of praise is pleasing to God in v34a. V34b is beautiful. He finds his joy in the Lord. Do you find your joy in the Lord? In v35 he admits that not everyone shares his wonder and awe at God’s creation and so he prays that evil will be overcome. Later we will deal with anger and curses in the Psalms so I will pass over it for now.

Observations on Psalm 104

This Psalm is a statement on ecology, on the connection of all nature and of our connection with creation. All creation praises God. If we don’t praise God we are not connected with the rest of creation. When we care for the environment we praise God who wants order in creation. We should see creation as another voice in the chorus of praise of God. This Psalm challenges us to continually discover the beauty in God’s creation. This Psalm encourages respect for the environment. It is calling us to return to living as God had planned for creation. The Green Parties would like this Psalm. Even those who do not know God should be able to see God in creation. Paul makes this point in Rom 1:19-20. In Acts 14:17 Paul states to pagans that they should be able to see evidence of God’s goodness in creation. See CCC 286.

In the Psalm, humans are mentioned as workers (v 23). There is no impression that work is drudgery or a burden but instead work is to be seen as another way to praise God. If work has become a burden for us, that is not God’s intention for us. Can we rectify it? To work well is to praise God. The value of work is that through it we carry on God’s act of creating the world. Our work is intended by God to be a means of serving others, of loving others. If it has become only a means of earning money it is downgraded. Through work we achieve fulfilment as humans and it is important for our self-expression and self-assertion.

Christological Interpretation of Ps 104

Our task is to justifiably see Jesus included in this Psalm. Jesus was created by the Father but has transformed creation so that now “all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld should bend the knee at the name of Jesus.” Can you now pray this Psalm in praise of Jesus who transformed creation by becoming part of creation and conquering death?

This Psalm is used in our liturgy on Pentecost because of the idea of the breath of God as life-giving. It is also the Psalm recommended for Confirmation. The response is v30.

Structure of the Hymns of Praise

Now that you have read two Hymn of Praise it is time to point out to you their overall structure. Many but not all Hymns of Praise have this structure:

1. Introduction calling to praise God

2. The main part of the Psalm giving the reason for praising God

3. Repetition of the call to praise.

In the Psalms just read, you obviously noticed that they began and ended with a call to praise God and the entire Psalm in between these calls to praise gives us the reason for praising God. The shortest Psalm in the Psalter, Ps 117, also a Hymn of Praise, has the same structure

1. The call to praise is the word ‘Alleluia’ in v1a. “Alleluia” is a combination of two Hebrew words meaning “Praise Yahweh”. It is a combination of “ hall” the Hebrew verb ‘to praise’ and ‘ Yahweh’, one of the words for God in the OT. Thus hallelul+Yahweh = HallelluYah, then shortened to alleluia, Praise God. Did you know that is what ‘Alleluia’ means?

2. The reason for praising God is given us in v2ab, God’s love is strong and he is faithful.

3. The repetition of the call to praise occurs in v2c, Praise Yahweh, which occurs in the Hebrew but not in translations! This is because there is a problem with the Hebrew manuscripts. Remember what I said in Lesson 1 about the problems copying manuscripts. The Psalmist’s train of thought has come full circle; his prayer has enabled him to see all things in true light and to establish right relationship with the world and with himself.

There are many variations to the call to praise. It can be “Bless the Lord” Ps 134, “Cry out with joy to the Lord” Ps 100, “Ring out your joy to the Lord” Ps 33. Sometimes it is omitted. Not only is Israel called to praise God, but also in some Psalms foreign nations and the whole earth, the gods or angels and even the world of nature are called upon to praise the Lord.

Bible God is praised as Creator in Psalms 8; 19A (A= first half of the Psalm); 29; 104. These are devoted entirely to praise of the Creator.

Praise of the Creator is also in parts of other Psalms, the following are the Grail numbers 33:6-9; 65:7-14; 95:4-5; 135:6-7; 136:6-9; 146:6; 147:4,8-9,16-18; 148:3-6.

The following are the same Psalms according to enumeration of your Bibles 33:6-9; 65:6-13; 95:4-5; 135:6-7; 136:5-8; 146:6; 147:4,8-9,16-18; 148:3-6.

Also for another beautiful description of creation you might like to read Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 42:15-43,33 one of the seven extra books in Catholic Old Testaments. Also there is a most beautiful hymn in praise of God in Dan 3:52ff. Praise of the Creator begins in 3:57.

Read these at your leisure and use them yourself to praise God for the beauty of his creation. On a fine day or rainy day also, why not use one of these Psalms to praise God? I will explain later why there are different numbering systems in Grail and the Bible.