Utumishi Blog

It’s been noticed for centuries that the five books of the Psalter correspond roughly to the five books of the Torah. Not that you want to push it too far but at least we should not be surprised when we find echoes of the Torah in the Psalms and sometimes we’ll find these echoes very helpful in understanding a Psalm and appreciating it’s richness and power.

So in book 1 (Psalms 1-41) we find…

• Adam who listens to the counsel of wickedness and is driven away, like chaff or withered grass (Psalm 1, 35, 37, 39)
• Second Adam who is righteous, delights in God’s word, is like the tree of life, flourishing in every way, not to be swept away (Psalm 1, 26)
• True Adam with all things under his feet (Psalm 8)
• Adam’s wicked race whose thoughts, as in the days of Noah, are only evil all the time (Psalm 10, 12, 14, 36)
• Lot in Sodom (Psalm 11)
• Abraham who rejoices in his beautiful inheritance and is certain of resurrection (Psalm 16)
• The Second Adam who can read in creation his role as bridegroom and in Scripture of danger, reward, righteousness and life (Psalm 19)
• Adam laid in the dust, lowered below the beasts (Psalm 22)
• Creation, light, word (Psalm 8, 19, 24, 27, 29, 33)

An example: Psalm 3

It’s “a Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son”. It’s a Psalm of the Christ. Admittedly David’s troubles were in some ways the punishment for his own sin (2 Sam. 12:10-11) but in the Psalter, the great rebellion against David mainly seems to point forward to the great betrayal of Jesus (Psalm 41, 55; 69; John 13:18). And when you read 2 Sam. 15 itself there are loads of pointers forward to Jesus and Maundy Thursday.

Jesus was surrounded by “thousands of people” (Ps. 3:6) baying for his blood. Verse 2 is almost exactly what was hurled at Jesus as he hung on the Cross: “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He trust in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires.”

Jesus did “cry aloud to the Lord” (Ps. 3:4), the great cry as he died and “the Lord answered from his holy hill” by shaking the earth, splitting rocks and ripping the Temple curtain from top to bottom.

Verse 5: Jesus “lay down and slept” (Good Friday) “and woke again” (Easter Sunday).

So it’s first and foremost a Jesus Psalm. But the Psalm also points backward to the first Adam. The theme of the Psalmist facing personal foes/enemies is very strong throughout Psalms but particularly in the first book (cf. esp. Ps. 4-9; 13, 17-18, 22-23, 27, 31, 35, 38, 40-41). It looks forward to the enemies of The Christ (Psalm 2:1-2; Acts 4:25-28) but it also reminds us of the first garden where the great enemy tempted the first Adam. The day when the Serpent basically said, “There’s no salvation for your soul in God. God doesn’t want the best for you. He doesn’t want to give you abundant life, he wants to inhibit you and restrict and restrain you, because, the truth is he’s frightened of you becoming like him. Real salvation and freedom and life for your soul will be found outside of God.”

Then at the end of Psalm 3 is an appeal to God, confident that he “strikes all my enemies on the cheek; breaks the teeth of the wicked” (v7). Why the cheek and teeth? Because again and again in the Psalms the Psalmist is attacked not so much with sticks and stones but by the mouth of his enemy. Mocking, plotting, deceiving words, gnashing of teeth (E.g. Ps. 5:9; 10:7; 22:13; 5:16; 35:21; 37:12). Interestingly, in Psalms 58 and 140 the speech of the enemies is likened to the mouth of a serpent. It was by the mouth of the Serpent that the first man was attacked, deceived and thrown down. It is by his mouth that Satan, the father of lies, continues to attack and accuse and deceive the children of Adam. But the good news is that one day the second Adam’s prayer (Ps. 3:7) will be answered and the mouth of the Serpent will be well and truly smashed.

On that day we will all say “Salvation belongs to the LORD” (v8a). On that day His “blessing” (v8b) will be on His people. Blessing – another great Genesis theme. The blessing of Adam and Eve (Gen. 2:28); that the Serpent lured them from with his deceptive mouth; replaced with curse (Gen. 3:17); preached to Abraham (Gen. 12:3); through his offspring crying, dying, rising it has finally come.