The Cornerstone Biblical Commentary series provides students, pastors, and laypeople with up-to-date, accessible evangelical scholarship on the Old and New Testaments. Presenting the message of each passage, as well as an overview of other issues relevant to the text, each volume equips pastors and Christian leaders with exegetical and theological knowledge so they can better understand and apply God's Word. This volume includes the entire NLT text of Psalms and Proverbs.
Other features: Provides pastors, teachers, and students with up-to-date evangelical scholarship. Both exegetical and translation commentary. Part of an 18-volume collection. Features New Living Translation Text.
Mark D. Futato, Ph.D., The Catholic University of America, is Robert L. Maclellan Professor of Old Testament and academic dean at Reformed Theological Seminary in Florida. He is the author of several books and articles, including Beginning Biblical Hebrew and Interpreting the Psalms: An Exegetical Handbook. He has also contributed to The Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible and The New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis. Dr. Futato is an ordained minister and served on the translation team for the book of Psalms in the New Living Translation.
George M. Schwabb, Sr., Ph.D., Westminster Theological Seminary, is associate professor of Old Testament at Erskine Theological Seminary in South Carolina. He is ordained in the Second Presbytery of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church and is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature and the Evangelical Theological Society. He has authored numerous scholarly publications, including Hope in the Midst of a Hostile World: The Gospel According to Daniel. He served as a reviewer for Psalms and the wisdom books for the New Century Version.
CORNERSTONE BIBLICAL COMMENTARY
By Mark D. FutatoTYNDALE HOUSE PUBLISHERS, INC.
Copyright © 2009 Mark D. Futato
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-0-8423-3433-4Contents
Contributors to Volume 7.................................viGeneral Editor's Preface.................................viiAbbreviations............................................ixTransliteration and Numbering System.....................xiiiThe Book of Psalms.......................................1The Book of Proverbs.....................................451
Chapter One
The Book of Psalms MARK D. FUTATO
INTRODUCTION TO Psalms
Psalms is a book of praises. A crescendo of praise overwhelms the reader at the grand finale of the book of Psalms:
Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heaven! Praise him for his mighty works; praise his unequaled greatness! Praise him with a blast of the ram's horn; praise him with the lyre and harp! Praise him with the tambourine and dancing; praise him with strings and flutes! Praise him with a clash of cymbals; praise him with loud clanging cymbals. Let everything that breathes sing praises to the LORD!
Praise the Lord!
Harmonizing with the Psalter, Luther opens his own "Preface to the Psalter" with chords of praise:
Many of the holy fathers prized and praised the Psalter above all the other books of the Scripture. To be sure, the work itself gives praise enough to its author; nevertheless we must give evidence of our own praise and thanks.... The Psalter ought to be a precious and beloved book, if for no other reason than this: it promises Christ's death and resurrection so clearly-and pictures his kingdom and the condition and nature of all Christendom-that it might well be called a little Bible. In it is comprehended most beautifully and briefly everything that is in the entire Bible. It is really a fine enchiridion or handbook. In fact, I have a notion that the Holy Spirit wanted to take the trouble Himself to compile a short Bible and book of examples of all Christendom or all saints, so that anyone who could not read the whole Bible would here have anyway an entire summary of it, comprised in one little book. (Luther 1960:254)
Similar praise of the Psalter resounds throughout the history of the church, as a few examples make clear.
I believe that a man can find nothing more glorious than these Psalms; for they embrace the whole life of man, the affections of his mind, and the motions of his soul. To praise and glorify God, he can select a psalm suited to every occasion, and thus will find that they were written for him. (Athanasius, quoted in Bushell 1980:94)
The Law instructs, history informs, prophecy predicts, correction censures, and morals exhort. In the book of Psalms you find all of these, as well as a remedy for the salvation of the soul. The Psalter deserves to be called the praise of God, the glory of man, the voice of the church, and the most beneficial confession of faith. (Ambrose, quoted in Bushell 1980:94)
I have been accustomed to call this book, I think not inappropriately, "An Anatomy of all the Parts of the Soul"; for there is not an emotion of which anyone can be conscious that is not here represented as in a mirror. Or rather, the Holy Spirit has here drawn to the life all the griefs, sorrows, fears, doubts, hopes, cares, perplexities, in short, all the distracting emotions, with which the minds of men are wont to be agitated ... in short, there is no other Book in which we are more perfectly taught the right manner of praising God, or in which we are more powerfully stirred up to the performance of this religious exercise. (Calvin 1979:1.xxxvi-xxxvii)
The Psalter is a theatre, where God allows us to behold both Himself and His works; a most pleasant green field, a vast garden, where we see all manner of flowers: a paradise, having the most delicious flowers and fruits; a great sea in which are hid costly pearls: a heavenly school, where we have God for our teacher: a compend of all Scripture: a mirror of divine grace, reflecting the face of our heavenly Father: and the anatomy of our souls. (Paul Gerhard, quoted in Bushell 1980:95)
Such a concert of praise well suits the book of Psalms, whose Hebrew title is seper tehillim [TH5612/8416, ZH6219/9335] (Book of Praises). However, this book is not predominantly exhilarating. The dominant mood of the Psalter is characterized by disorientation, sorrow, and perplexity-as the following examples show:
O Lord, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide when I am in trouble? (10:1)
O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way?
How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart every day? How long will my enemy have the upper hand? (13:1-2 [2-3])
My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help? (22:1 [2])
How can "Book of Praises" be the title, when such psalms of negativity outnumber hymns of praise? Simply put, praise is the final word (Crenshaw 1986:293; Miller 1986:66). Praise is the final word even in the vast majority of the psalms of negativity (Pss 44 and 88 being exceptions). Praise is also the final word in each of the five major divisions of the Psalter (41:13 [14]; 72:18-19 [19-20]; 89:52 [53]; 106:48; 150). And praise is the final word of the Psalter as a whole (Westermann 1981:250-258). While psalms of negativity dominate the beginning of the Psalter (Pss 3-7, 10-13, etc.), resounding praise concludes the work (Pss 146-150) with the final line of the final psalm issuing the command: "Let everything that breathes sing praises to the LORD!" (150:6; my italics).
As Luther said, "So, then, let us see to it that we thank God for all these unspeakable blessings. Let us receive them and use them diligently and carefully, exercising ourselves in them to the praise and honor of God" (1960:257).
AUTHORS
In order to determine the various authors of the psalms, it is first necessary to understand that many of the titles to different psalms include the name of the author. Out of 150 psalms, 116 have titles. Some titles are as brief as that to Psalm 15, "A psalm of David," while others are as full as that to Psalm 60, "For the choir director: A psalm of David useful for teaching, regarding the time David fought Aram-naharaim and Aram-zobah, and Joab returned and killed 12,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. To be sung to the tune 'Lily of the Testimony.'" A given title may contain information on the author, the historical background, or matters related to the use of the psalm in worship.
Can we trust that the titles are giving us accurate information about the author of a particular psalm? Even among evangelical scholars there is no consensus on this issue. (For example, compare the views in Craigie 1983:31, Kidner 1973a:32-33, and Young 1949:307.) Dillard and Longman indicate that the "nature and origin of the titles are tricky issues that must be handled with care and scholarly humility" (2006:214). My position is that the preponderance of evidence leads to the conclusion that the titles should be considered canonical. They are as much a part of the...
