150 Psalms. At first sight there seems to be not much structure in the collection of Psalms. Some Bible translations have helpfully added headings which point the reader to a division into five books. What more is there to say?

Psalms research in the second half of the twentieth century has made it clear that it is very much worthwhile to probe beyond the appearance of this superficial impression. A recent survey of the developments in Psalms research nicely summarizes this in the phrase “From Psalms to Psalter”. Each Psalm has its own message, but the fact that the Psalms were gathered to form a collection makes a contribution of its own.

Psalms research these days not only looks at the background and origin of the psalms and the division in different types, but also at the dimension which is added by the structure of the book as a whole. The quest has not finished; not all details have been put on the map yet. There is so far no unanimity about the interpretation of what has been discovered, and this will likely remain so. But what has been established so far justifies the thesis that in the Book of Psalms we find a careful composition which as composition has a message of its own.

Beginning and End⤒🔗

Most of the Psalms in the Hebrew text have a heading, sometimes not more than a few instructions for their performance, sometimes a link with history. In the case of the Psalms at the beginning and at the end such a heading is lacking. This is not a matter of chance, as research has made abundantly clear. Psalms 1-2 have in all likelihood been put deliberately at the beginning as an introduction to the book as a whole. The last five Psalms, 146-150, are intended to be the epilogue.

From the selection of precisely these Psalms as introduction and epilogue we can derive some important principles for reading and using the Psalms. The book of Psalms is like a school in which we are taught how to speak with God. God is spoken of in the third person, but more often he is addressed in the second person, e.g.: “O God, you are my God.”

The first psalm of the Introduction draws a portrait of someone who delights in the teaching of the LORD. A comparison is made with a tree planted along an irrigation channel. The first lesson one learns is that speaking with God will gain in concentration and depth when you first listen to God speaking to you. You grow best in speaking with God when what you say is an answer to what God is saying.

The second psalm takes a look at the context from which you speak with God. What is an ordinary person like you able to achieve in a world where others are in the positions of power? The God with whom you speak is seated sovereignly over the busyness of the powers that be. The second psalm puts one in the position of worship before the throne of the real king of heaven and earth.

The five psalms of the epilogue all have the same message. Speaking with God goes in a particular direction, the final destination is: praise. Each of the five books of the Psalms points in that direction. In the case of the first four books that praise is just a few lines. The last book is concluded with a full psalm (145), in which each verse begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet to praise God in the most complete way. After that, as an encore, comes the epilogue: another five psalms of praise.

Lament and Praise←⤒🔗

What we discovered at the macro level is also found at the micro level, and most strikingly in the psalms of lament. All kinds of human emotions are put into words in the Psalms: anxiety, hatred, love, innocence, shame, guilt, doubt, sorrow, desire, trust, joy, despair. The negative emotions and feelings are sounded in the laments.

One out of every three Psalms is a lament, in which an individual or a community brings a complaint in the presence of God. Different situations may have resulted in the complaint: treason by someone who you thought you could trust, a groundless accusation, the presence of enemies, awareness of guilt, the feelings that God fails to respond to what you are saying to him.

In a great number of the psalms of lament we find a remarkable phenomenon. Scholars sometimes have a hard time to explain it. Why is it that most psalms of lament (though not all) conclude with praise or an expression of trust in God? Do we have to assume, as one suggestion has it that between lament and praise there was a liturgical moment in which a priest gave the person in prayer a message of salvation from God? The problem is that one does not find hardly any traces of such oracles.

The more your speaking with God is an answer to the speaking of God, the more reason you will have to praise and trust him. The person who prayed the lament of Psalm 13 (“How long, O LORD ...”) takes hold of just one of those words which God has taught him: “steadfast love”, one of the key words which God uses to introduce himself to people. The words “I trust in your steadfast love” is the ground in which the lament grows and at the same time it provides the reason for not giving in.

Invitation←⤒🔗

Both at macro level and micro level, the Psalms are an invitation to the reader. All speaking with God that is an answer to what God says, will conclude in praise, if you keep it up long enough. That is the way in which speaking with God may reach the end of praise, even in the most desperate situations. That destination is not always reached (Psalms 39; 88), and at times the prayer indicates that right now it is too hard, and expresses the hope that one day it will be possible again to praise God (42-43). This kind of speaking with God has also found its place in the collection.

That is the invitation: keep it up. The Hebrew name for the collection of Psalm (in which a third of the psalms are laments) is Tehillim, that is: “Praises”. The word says it all.