Sometimes, Psalms are not so easy to sing. They talk about God's protection: flee from sin, and no harm will befall you. For those who trust in God, there will abundant harvests, and enemies are put to flight. There is a direct link between prosperity and blessing, between adversity and curse. It will be well with those who fear the Lord; they will live long in the land.

That is clear language, and very encouraging. But the reality is often so very different. Throughout the world, Christians are oppressed, robbed, and even killed. Serious illnesses do not pass us by. Death strikes at any age. And how do we make sense of that, when we find such certain promises, not just in the Psalms, but throughout the Old Testament?

Blessing⤒🔗

The singing of some Psalms can be very confronting. Once, as a visiting minister, I had listed Psalm 91:

...Since you the LORD your refuge made, your rock and habitation, no evil shall your tents invade, nor plague and tribulation.

His hosts of angels God commands for evermore to serve you. They will support you on their hands and from all danger swerve you...

But when the announcements were read, the duty elder had to tell the congregation that two of their children had been involved in a terrible accident. Of course, most of them knew already – it had happened a few days earlier. But I didn't, and when we came to this Psalm, I could see the questions on their faces. No evil? Hosts of angels? How do you mean? That doesn't make sense at all!

And when we sing Psalm 128, the same thing might happen:

Blest is the man who always
reveres and serves the Lord;
who, walking in His pathways
obeys and keeps His word.
The fruit of all your labour
you as reward will eat.
You, blest by His great favour,
will have what you may need.

Your wife a vine resembles,
fruitful within your house.
Like olive shoots assemble
the children God allows.
Around your table sitting,
they are a rich reward,
a blessing great and fitting
for him who fears the Lord.

Not everyone receives children; not everyone has a job; not everyone can make ends meet. That's sad enough. But then, when you hear such promises, things can become very complicated indeed. Who would choose such a Psalm to sing when you know that people's experiences can be so very different? Aren't you asking for strong reactions, arising from all kinds of painful situations?

And besides: should all of those lonely or sick members assume that the LORD has not blessed them? Or worse still: should they have doubts about their uprightness before God? How can that possibly be true?

There are groups of Christians who, also in our day and age, simply claim these promises for themselves. The prospect of good health and prosperity is held out to all who 'accept Jesus'. And that can be a very attractive prospect. After all, isn't that what the Bible says? "God doesn't want you to suffer illness" – imagine, being told that!

Heaven on Earth←⤒🔗

For us to understand these Psalms properly, and to learn to see the beauty in them, we should start by letting them stand in their own time. For it is true: in the Old Testament, such promises were valid! Already at Mount Sinai, God had said: "Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span" (Exodus 23:25-26).

This promise set out a glorious perspective! Forty years later, as Israel was about to enter the Promised Land, this promise was repeated:

You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock – the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. Deut 28:3-7

Moses held a long oration, full of concrete, tangible benefits. After all, this was the tangible fulfilment of God's promises to Abraham: land and descen­dants.

To Israel, these benefits were a pledge of the salvation to come: a foretaste, so to speak, of heaven on earth. In one small region, set apart as the Promised Land, God gave them a taste of the blessedness that was His purpose for the whole world!

A Pledge←⤒🔗

For us, the future holds that "the dwelling of God is with men ... He will wipe every tear from their eyes" (Rev 21:3, 4). In principle, that is what God already gave to His people in the Old Testament. God had made His home among His people, and all kinds of sorrow were kept at a distance. Material abundance was an essential characteristic of His covenant. For the Israel­ites, it was vitally important that they should serve the LORD with heart and soul, and that they should expect all things from Him alone. If they didn't, there were clear and immediate consequences. Moses set out both sides of the covenant, the blessings and the curses, life and death (Deut 28, 30). And in the time of the judges, Israel experienced physically just what that meant. Whenever they turned away from God, enemies invaded the land, oppressing the people and robbing them of their harvests. Until they turned, under the leadership of a judge, back to God. And when that happened, a mere handful of brave men was enough to put a whole army of raiders to flight.

In later times, too, we can fiend ample examples of this pledge from God, in the form of land, freedom and descendants. The walls of Jericho were rebuilt, in defiance of God's express command – after all, it was He who stood guard over the land – at the cost of human lives (1 Kings 16:34). The heavens withheld their rain, for three long years (1 Kings 17). Not long after that, the water of Jericho was polluted, and it caused barrenness and miscarriage (2 Kings 2). In the light of Exodus 23, the choice of words here is striking: after all, God had promised that "none will miscarry or be barren"!

One can easily understand that in Old Testament times, childlessness was seen as a shameful thing: it could have no other cause than sin. Hannah, barren as she was, was burdened with deep sorrow. She did, fortunately, make the connection with the great wickedness that prevailed in the land, reaching right into the priesthood: Hophni and Phinehas took for themselves the best of the meat meant for sacrifice. That is why Hannah promised to dedicate her child to the LORD'S service, and that is why she sang a prophetic song of praise: not when Samuel was born, but when she brought him to the sanctuary to give him to the LORD.

Throughout the Old Testament, visible and tangible pledges of God's salvation filled a very important role. That is the time when the Psalms were composed, the Psalms that sing of fruitful wives and the warding off of evil. All of this under the vow of marriage: Israel would truly love the LORD their God, and remain faithful to Him. Should the people betray their God, blessings would be turned into curses: in the end they were carried away from the land. God's blessing is not unconditional.

Laws of that Time←⤒🔗

The pledge of land and descendants enjoyed the protec­tion of the law. A taste of heaven was to be had on earth, but not yet its fullness. Because of unbelief and unfaithfulness, much of the fruitfulness God had promised was lost. Should a man die childless, his brother was required to marry his widow, to gain offspring for the one who had died. The purpose of this was to preserve his line and family name. All generations should be there to witness the coming of the Messiah! Even in time of exile, God promised that He would preserve each family line (Jeremiah 3:14). Another provision was the Year of Jubilee. Should a family be forced to sell its inheritance, at the Jubilee it would be restored, free of charge. The Year of Jubilee was a year of redemption and restoration (Leviticus 25)!

All of this would have been so wonderful, if only the people had lived by it. The temple was right there: you could see it and touch it. It stood at the centre of God's tangible blessings in the Promised Land (Psalms 24, 134), and with it came the promise of future, world-wide glory (Isaiah 2). Israel, however, failed to understand that. God invited His people to open their mouths wide for Him to fill, but they would not (Psalm 81). To the very end, God sought out His people; he challenged them to trust Him: "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the LORD Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it" (Malachi 3:10).

This direct link between faithfulness and abundance is characteristic for the Old Testament, the time of visible and tangible pledges of God's salvation. The promises of God that relate to that time cannot simply be trans­ferred to ourselves, who live in the time of the New Testament. It is far better to see all these blessings as finding their fulfilment in the coming of the Messiah. He is the salvation of God in person; in Him we have the Jubilee and eternal life.

A Step Forward←⤒🔗

In the New Testament, the situation is quite different. Our Saviour warned his disciples that they would face persecution and abuse (Matthew 10:16-23). What would be unthinkable in the Old Testament, God's children will have to expect in the New. Their faith­fulness to the Lord will bring suffering with it. Peter says it is a 'fiery trial', at which no Christian should be surprised. Whoever shares in Christ's glory, will also share in the rejection and contempt that He bore on earth (1 Peter 4:12-16).

Especially for Jewish Christians, this must have been an enormous adjustment. They would have recalled the safety and security of bygone days, the glory of David's kingdom! Was following Jesus really the right choice? The Christian faith did not appear to improve their lives at all.

The letter to the Hebrews goes into that in great detail. Repeatedly, motifs from the Old Testament are compared with the New to show that the coming of God's Son was really a giant step forward in His plan. Truly, the covenant is different now, and its pledges are no longer physical or material. From now on the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts is God's pledge. His personal presence is the deposit, guaranteeing our great inheritance in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 1:22, 5:5; Ephesians 1:13-14. In the Greek, the same word is used for 'pledge' and for 'deposit').

This pledge is less tangible, less visible, but no less real. For three years, the disciples had walked with Jesus, they had seen Him and touched Him. And yet, it wasn't until after His ascension and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in their hearts that they really under­stood Him. That is when their joy began to overflow!

In our time, we no longer have the Jubilee, or the levirate marriage. For us, the restoration and progress of our lives is to be found in Christ. He makes us share in Himself. God does not give us less, but more! That is why Jesus calls all those blessed who begin their lives with Him, even though they must face oppression, warfare, and persecution (Matthew 5:1-12). Whoever suffers loss for the sake of Jesus will receive a hundred times as much in return, already in this present age (Mark 10:29-30). Persecuted Christians, in their most intense suffering, are still filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, a joy that no-one can take from them (1 Peter 3:8-9).

Spiritual Perspective←⤒🔗

Does that mean that the Old Testament promises no longer apply? Of course they do! The promises of Psalm 128 are as true as ever, even more than before. But their realization is now different: "Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in his ways" used to be experienced in material ways. Now, the Spirit fills us with the life and the mind of Christ, the One who pleads for us and who justifies us, even though the world should condemn us. Nothing and no one can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:31-39). Our treasure is no longer in this material world; it is now in our hearts, and in heaven; (Matthew 6:19-21; Luke 12:16-21). Here and now we no longer have a material pledge. Those who follow Jesus no longer need it (Matthew 19:21).

We can no longer directly apply in our lives the pledges given in the Old Testament; however, they still have a powerful meaning. They teach us how concretely and directly God deals with people. The security and abundance He then gave in the Promised Land, He now gives in our hearts.

Then, it was unthinkable that the enemy might occupy the land when the people feared the Lord; now, the same is still true, in the freedom of our hearts. Paul and Silas were able to sing in prison, with their feet in the stocks and their backs torn and bleeding (Acts 16). The enemy might lock up their bodies; he could never imprison their souls! Psalm 91 applied in its deepest meaning: no evil befell them. They were beaten and abused, but they were sealed by the Spirit, their salvation was secure, nothing could separate them from the love of God in Jesus Christ their Lord.

In earlier times, the land was invaded when God's people turned to the idols. Now, our hearts can be invaded, and robbed of true blessedness. Sooner or later, those who do not expect their true happiness from God will reach a dead end – unless they acknowl­edge the cause of their misery. When that happens, liberation can be just as astonishing as it was in the time of the judges. Then, the pledge was material; now, it is spiritual. But it is no less the pledge of the covenant, established from heart to heart.

In earlier times, fertility was determined by birth of offspring, for people as well as animals. Isaiah, however, already prophesied that the children of the desolate woman would be more than of her who had a husband (Isaiah 54:1; Paul quotes this text to support his argument in Galatians 4:21-31, when he describes believers from all nations as children of Abraham). Psalm 128 has as much force as ever; but now we must understand it in New rather than Old Testament terms. Paul was the spiritual father of Onesimus, who had become his child through his instruction (Philemon :10). In this sense Paul had a great many children, even though he never married.

This application is not some kind of cold comfort for those who are childless or unmarried; in fact it confronts every Christian with the question whether he is willing to be truly fruitful in bringing others to Christ. That is the first question, no matter how many children you might have sitting around your table. Today, the reality of God's covenant is greater than ever. Jerusalem must now be understood spiritually (Galatians 4:25-26). Psalms that sing of the firmness and safety of Jerusalem are no less real than before, provided we experience them from a New Testament, spiritual perspective. We do have a strong city, but if the fear of the LORD no longer fills our lives, it will become a heap of ruins.

Translation into Our Time←⤒🔗

All of this means that we must translate the pledges given in the Old Testament, expressed in all kinds of material blessings, into our situation today. Children around the table and rolling fields of grain are still gifts from God, but they are no longer pledges of our salvation. Now, God lets us taste His eternal love by His own Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:12), who turns our hearts into a place where Christ lives. By the Spirit we are rooted and established in His love, and filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:16-19). That is the abundance that God wants us to have, and there is no greater abundance to be found. The Spirit has the power to give it to us, always, everywhere, and in whatever circumstance (Hebrews 11:32-40). His power is immeasurable, and what He gives us is more than we could ever ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20-21).

Psalms←⤒🔗

In principle, the Psalms already enable us to sing about that, but as we do, we need to translate them from then to now, from material to spiritual blessings. There are no songs with greater depth than the Psalms, but they do have a fairly high threshold. Singing them requires knowledge, faith, and a growth of insight. Psalms about Egypt, Canaan, Zion and Jerusalem, about the promises of prosperity, freedom, fertility, earthly glory and victory over the nations call upon a capacity to translate into a New Testament perspective. This capacity cannot really be expected of people who still know little of the Scriptures, such as children or visitors. It's very important to develop a broader reper­toire – Psalms, hymns and contemporary spiritual songs – and whenever we sing them to be shown how they are fulfilled in Christ. To do so is in keeping with the intention of the Spirit of God (Colossians 3:16).

To summarize the key points:

• The material blessings of the Old Testament era gave a foretaste of the blessedness that God gives us in Jesus Christ, and of the eternal joy to be received on the new earth;
   
• Now that the Holy Spirit enables us, deep in our hearts, to share in the fullness of God in Jesus Christ, we no longer expect any promise of material blessings; rather, those who follow Christ are able to lose everything for His sake;
   
• The pledge we have in our hearts is no less than the material freedom and prosperity promised in the Old Testament; in fact it is far greater and no less concrete;
   
• It is a serious misunderstanding to claim, in our time, the tangible blessings of the Old Testament, whether they are freedom, good health, the having of children or the possession of the land;
   
• To overcome this misunderstanding, many Psalms need careful explanation. Living in the New Testament era also calls for the singing of newer songs, in keeping with our own time.

Psalms – A Response←⤒🔗

Should we stop Teaching our Little Children the Psalms at Home and School?←↰⤒🔗

That was the question that Rev. Bas Luiten's article about the Psalms' prompted in my mind.¹ Rev. Luiten argues that we need to have more than just the Psalms in our singing repertoire, because the Psalms can be hard to understand. He implies that many of the Psalms are not suitable for children. Singing the Psalms, we are told, "requires knowledge, faith, and a growth of insight. Psalms about Egypt, Canaan, Zion and Jerusalem, about the promises of prosperity, freedom, fertility, earthly glory and victory over the nations call upon a capacity to translate into a NT perspective. This capacity cannot really be expected of people who still know little of the Scriptures, such as children or visitors."

Do our six year olds have faith and insight? Our eight year olds? If singing these Psalms requires faith and insight, the implication is that we should not teach them to sing these songs until they are old enough to have such faith and insight. But it would be a sad day if we scaled back or stopped learning the songs of the covenant in the schools. Although this may not be the author's intent, it is a disconcerting implication of his reasoning. It is not going to stimulate parents to teach their little children those Psalms about Egypt, Canaan and so on.

The children of the Church should be taught the songs of the covenant. They are children of the believers in the covenant community. This does not mean that they completely understand everything in Church life. But the children are to be taught by their believing parents as they come to mature involvement in the life of the Church. We do not tell the minister not to preach about election or prevent the supper being celebrated until the children have come to understanding.

Old Testament and New Testament assume that the children will be in the worship services, in which there will be things that go beyond them. The children at Shechem heard the prohibition against bestiality, and probably echoed the "Amen" along with their parents (Deuteronomy 27:21 and Joshua 8:34, 35). Would they have understood what "lying with an animal was"? Paul wrote to the churches and said in his letters things which are not even easy for adults to understand (2 Peter 3:16). But he still assumed that the children would be in Church when his letters were read, for he addresses them in the letters. Ephesians 6:1 "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right."

Luiten argues: "Psalms about Egypt, Canaan, Zion and Jerusalem, about the promises of prosperity, freedom, fertility, earthly glory and victory over the nations call upon a capacity to translate into a New Testament perspective." But is it really so hard for children to understand that Satan is like Pharaoh, and being slaves to sin is like living in Egypt (BC 35)? Even little children can be taught that God bringing Israel to Canaan is like Him bringing us to heaven, the eternal Promised Land. Is it so hard to teach our children that Zion is the Church in the New Testament? Does it really require such a high threshold?

When it comes to visitors, as Rev. E. Kampen wrote in a recent editorial in Clarion,² they normally come to church with a church member; people rarely walk in off the street. Thus visitors will normally have someone to explain things to them. To change our liturgy to accommodate them (Kampen mentions people complaining about the use of Psalms in the singing) is to misunderstand the character of the worship service. "Guests are most welcome, but they do not set the tone." "In worship, God meets with His people." "The language (used in the worship service; CV) reflects the depth and the maturity of the relationship."

Luiten's main argument for needing to add to the Psalms is that the Psalms require a high spiritual threshold in order to be understood, and that we need to have songs next to the Psalms that speak more clearly about how these Old Testament blessings are to be enjoyed today. He points out that in the Old Testament, material blessings were a sign of God's favour and a foretaste of heaven. Prosperity and children and peace were blessings of the LORD on the obedience of His people in accordance with God's promises. Luiten argues that the situation in the New Testament is quite different, and that we would be wrong to claim these material blessings today. Today the Psalms need careful explanation. The promised material blessings need to be understood spiritually. For this reason, it is also important to add to the church song book hymns and contemporary songs that speak more clearly about the spiritual blessings. For all the nice things he says about the Psalms, he gives the impression that the Psalms are a bit awkward in the New Testament context. They are easily misunder­stood.

With Luiten, I would reject a "name it and claim it" kind of theology. But I believe that the distinction he has made between the Old Testament situation and that of the Church today is simplistic and misleading. He argues "the direct link between faithfulness and abundance is characteristic for the Old Testament, the time of visible and tangible pledges of God's salvation .... In the New Testament, the situation is quite different. Our Saviour warned His disciples that they would face persecution and abuse (Matthew 10:16­-23). What would be unthinkable in the Old Testament, God's children will have to expect in the New. Their faithfulness to the Lord will bring suffering with it."

The example of David contradicts Luiten's simplistic distinction between the Old and New Testament situation. David, although living in the Old Testament times, experienced much suffering and persecution before he became king. For years he had reason to doubt the favour and blessing of the LORD as he fled for his life from his father-in-law and the military might of Israel. Luiten says that it is a New Testament distinction that "whoever shares in Christ's glory, will also share in the rejection and contempt that he bore on earth." But this was also true of David, the forerunner of Christ. And what of that list of Old Testament men and women of faith in Hebrews 11, who "were tortured, not accepting their deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trials of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented – of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us" (Hebrews 11:35b-­40). What about an Old Testament Psalm like Psalm 73, which wrestles with the prosperity of the wicked? The Old Testament is not as different from the New Testament situation as Luiten suggests.

Furthermore, Luiten wrongly rejects the idea that the physical blessings have no more relevance in the New Testament other than in a spiritual way. In his commentary on Psalm 128, Calvin makes the following statement: "Even at the present day God, though in a more sparing manner, testifies his favour by temporal benefits, agreeably to that passage in 1 Tim. 4:8." Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself promised: seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and your heavenly Father will provide you with all you need (Matthew 6:33). It is a covenant blessing when we receive the physical things we need as we serve the LORD as His children. In Ephesians 6, Paul addressed the children(!) when he connected the promise of long life on the earth to obedience to their parents: "Honour your father and your mother," which is the first commandment with promise: "that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth." Surely, that justifies us teaching our children to sing Psalms that speak about physical blessings of the LORD.

We also need to reckon with the fact that the curses in the Psalms continue to have relevance today. There were physical consequences on the congregation in Corinth because of their sins in connection with the Lord's Supper (1 Corinthians 11:30). This also comes to expression in our church order in connection with days of prayer –

In times of war, general calami­ties and great afflictions the presence of which is felt throughout the churches, a day of prayer may be proclaimed by the church appointed for that purpose by synod.CO art. 66

The churches have recog­nised that still today, the LORD would use calamity to humble His people and make them consider their sins.

It is particularly in connection with Psalm 128 that Rev. Luiten says some strange things:

'Blessed are all who fear the LORD who walk in His ways' used to be experienced in material ways. 'But not so any more, for' our treasure is no longer in this material world; it is in our hearts and in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21; Luke 12:16-­21). Here and now we no longer have a material pledge. Those who follow Jesus no longer need it. Matthew 19:21

But this again introduces a wrong distinction. Why were those children in the Old Testament a blessing? Just because the Israelites had their focus on treasure in this material world? Or because God was pleased to build His covenant community through granting children? Were they not already in the Old Testament a spiritual blessing because they were building up God's church? Are children not still a blessing in the New Testament in this way? God is still building His church, also through covenant children. Lots of covenant children are a rich blessing from the LORD and should be seen that way. Rev. Luiten brings in a false dilemma when he says that in the New Testament age, it is now about the spiritual children that we produce by bringing others to Christ; that, according to Luiten, is being truly fruitful. What an offense to believing mothers who give the best years of their life to bearing and raising covenant children!

The implications of what Luiten is saying is that seeking lots of covenant children is not how to seek the blessing of Psalm 128. Rather, it is your willingness to be truly fruitful in bringing others to Christ. So, young couples, your seeking the blessing of Psalm 128 has nothing to do with how many children you have around your table, but how willing you are to go out and evangelise. This kind of unscriptural dilemma will not promote big families in the Church of Jesus Christ.

Luiten has wrongly excluded the material blessings from the good things that the children of God can look to and ask for from their heavenly Father. Yes, if everything in the Psalms has to be spiritualised, then it is harder to sing them. But if we keep in mind that also to His New Testament people, God has promised His people all that they need to serve Him, including material blessings, then we can continue to look to God to bless us in line with His covenant promises. Sometimes the LORD does not give, and He has His reasons, just like He did when He withheld blessings from the Old Testament believers (cf Hebrews 11).

To underline the contemporary relevance of the Psalms, and why it is so important that the believers continue to sing them, I would like to share two quotes from a book by C. Vander Waal, called And They Sing a New Song. He writes:

In the 1930s, A. Janse published his The Glory of the Psalms as Songs of the Covenant. In it he pointed to Dr. S. Greijdanus, who had made the remark that the movement that called for hymns always did that with the argument that we need New Testament songs in order to remedy the "poverty" of the Psalms for our time (p.11) Janse writes:

'If for Christ and the apostles the New Testament fulfillment was not at all a movement away from the prophetic writings, then the idea that the Church of the fulfilment has obtained a higher position, so that the Old Testament Scriptures can no longer satisfy her, must be an error. The thought that we have to have songs from Christian poetry to fix the "poverty" of the Psalms in the worship services of the Church is closely connected to this error (p. 10).

Error! The Psalms as songs of the covenant can curse covenant breakers in the Name of the Lord.

Can our churches still curse as the Psalms do? Can edifying hymns still curse? Or has everything become moderate and "spiritual" and individual­istic in the Christian songs? So edifying religious hymns, which can "augment" and replace the Psalms can be used as flashy songs that may give the people an edifying hour of religiosity, while the curse of God's covenant should be sounding in our ears.

May the church learn to sing powerfully again of God's covenant which reveals itself both in curses and in blessings ... There is no Psalm that can be sung by the church outside the fulfilment in Christ.'³

In the same chapter, Van der Waal quotes from H. J. Schilder about the Psalms which prophesy about Jesus Christ and His kingdom, Psalms which include comments about rich harvests (Ps. 72) and conquering enemies (Ps. 21):

And do not then create a juxtaposition between these and other Psalms as songs of promise, and the newer songs as songs of fulfilment. For when we sing these Psalms we sing them as songs of fulfilment. Indeed, those Psalms, like so many other prophecies, were "post-dated." The content was often written from the starting point of Christ's coming and exaltation. The words were put into the mouth of God's people as if it had all happened already. Thus it is not so that when we sing such Psalms, we go back many centuries, that we become a little poorer than we are today. Exactly the opposite occurs: When Israel sang them they stepped several centuries ahead. They sang of what still had to come as if it was already there. That is why we should not look down patronizingly upon the Psalms of the old dispensa­tion ... No, we do not go backwards by singing Psalms.⁴

Reply to Rev C Vermeulen←⤒🔗

Esteemed colleague,

In Una Sancta I read your article, entitled 'Should we stop teaching our children the Psalms at home and at school?' You wrote in response to an article that I wrote for de Reformatie, and which was translated and published in Una Sancta under the title "Blessedness as the pledge of God's salvation: living in freedom and prosperity".

I concluded my article as follows: "To summarize the key points:

• The material blessings of the Old Testament era gave a foretaste of the blessedness that God gives us in Jesus Christ, and of the eternal joy to be received on the new earth;
   
• Now that the Holy Spirit enables us, deep in our hearts, to share in the fullness of God in Jesus Christ, we no longer expect any promise of material blessings; rather, those who follow Christ are able to lose everything for His sake;
   
• The pledge we have in our hearts is not inferior to the material freedom and prosperity promised in the Old Testament; in fact it is far greater and no less concrete;
   
• It is a serious misunderstanding to claim, in our time, the tangible blessings of the Old Testament, whether they are freedom, good health, the having of children or the possession of the land;
   
• To overcome this misunderstanding, many Psalms need some explanation. Living in the New Testament era also calls for the singing of newer songs, in keeping with our own time."

Your response to that was quite critical. I note your key points:

1. In the Old Testament, too, the upright experi­enced suffering for which they had no explanation (as, for example, David);
    
2. In the New Testament, too, the blessings of God are often material and tangible (as, for example, in Psalm 128);
    
3. Children are quite able to learn to understand what the Psalms mean.

In relation to point A:←⤒🔗

It seems important for me to interact with your response. Perhaps we will then better understand each other. I do regret, though, that you did not engage at all with the Biblical basis for my argument.

I pointed to Exodus 23:25-26, and Deuteronomy 28 and 30. In these places the LORD makes very concrete and tangible promises about life in the Promised Land. These promises were in line with the pledges given to Abraham: descendants and land. From these descendants and in this land God was pleased to give to the world its Redeemer. That is what it was really all about; that is how the way led to Christ. No woman would be childless; no enemy would force his way into their tents. That is why Israel sang of material abundance, of fruitful wives and of special protection.

You do not go into this at all in your article. On the other hand, you do point to situations such as David's. It is true that David had to experience so much suffering, but does that mean that the Lord's promises in Exodus 23 and Deuteronomy 28 and 30 were not true? My question to you is: how then would you read these parts of Scripture? Do they not contain very concrete promises of God, pledges of his salvation, to be enjoyed when God's people kept His covenant?

You point to David's suffering; I pointed to Hannah's childlessness. Both of them lived in a time when Israel was very unfaithful! King Saul, as well as the two priests Hophni and Phinehas, brought down the wrath of God over the whole people. That is what happened so often: time after time God's people refused to listen to Him. And that is why they so often failed to receive the pledges promised to them. Was that because somehow God's promises fell short? Of course not! If Israel had asked, they would have received in abundance (Psalm 81)!

The question remains: why did David and Hannah have to suffer? Psalm 73 asks the same question: Why do the upright suffer while the godless prosper? I cannot know the full answer to that question. But I do read that God made a covenant with His people as a whole, and that sometimes the righteous had to suffer along with the wicked. Hannah understood that: she prayed, not just for a son, but also for another priest.

In relation to point B:←⤒🔗

Children are still a blessing from God! I agree with you completely. As far as that goes, your response misses my point entirely. What I said was: in our time, they are no longer pledges of God's salvation. Now, Christian wives can be very faithful, and still be childless. Now, the pledge God gives is the Holy Spirit, the One who gave Abraham children by the power of God's promise. It is the Holy Spirit who makes us share in the salvation of Christ, lovingly and very powerfully. The gates of hell (and everything that may come out of them) cannot overpower the church.

For New Testament believers, people who will suffer rejection everywhere in this world that is a powerful promise. As safe and secure as Canaan was in the Old Testament, so safe and secure our hearts are now, by the grace of God, for everyone who stays close to Him. Even if we should lose everything else – and in our time that is a real possibility!

In relation to point C:←⤒🔗

Indeed, our children can be taught to understand the Psalms. Here, too, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I did not write that the Psalms are too difficult for them. I wrote that the Psalms, with all their material promises, ought to be 'translated' in a spiritual sense for us to properly understand them in our time.

The exodus from Egypt is to be understood today as an exodus from bondage to Satan – that should be clear enough. It's not quite so straightforward when we sing about Jerusalem (as in Psalm 122). We sing of the spiritual Jerusalem, but since there is also a physical Jerusalem, is it quite possible that our children will first of all think of the capital of the Jewish state. And that, I wrote, is why there is a need for instruction for children and guests. Without such an explanation, you cannot really sing this Psalm as it should be sung.

Did I mean: stop teaching Psalms to our children? Far from it! But things become more problematic when we, in our time, sing about a large family as a reward for an upright man. It can be quite different today: not less, but certainly different. When we select Psalm 128, we ought to explain clearly that for us, in our time, the pledge of our salvation is different. Not all Chris­tians will be given children, but all Christians will be fruitful. Slightly older children can be taught to under­stand that, and we should certainly do so.

All things considered, I see no difference between you and me, except for the understanding of Exodus 23 and Deuteronomy 28 and 30, for their own time and for now. As for teaching our children the Psalms, the songs of God's covenant: we agree on that wholeheart­edly. With heartfelt greetings from your colleague in the Netherlands,