It is sad to realize that we have only the words to these hymns of praise; the musical settings are lost to us. We know from our readings in Chronicles that great care was taken and no expense spared to provide Levite singers and musicians for temple worship. Vocal music was important and received royal sponsorship. And we know something of the kinds of instruments used to accompany the psalms, but we have no real idea of the way they were performed in the temple service or how they sounded.
Psalm 8
For instance, for Psalm 8 we are told that it is to be performed "according to The Gittith," which may mean the tune or the musical setting to which it was sung in the temple service, but we have no idea what it sounded like. The music is indeed a loss, but the words are wonderful enough alone.
Psalm 8 speaks in glowing terms of the glory of God manifested in the created universe. Everything is in its right order. Everything is as it should be, with God at the top, where he belongs. It is our existence that is problematic. God's glory and power reduces our being to a near nothing by comparison. "What are human beings," the psalmist asks, "that you are mindful of them?" It is a question that occurs to us in a fresh and poignant way in a time when powerful telescopes reveal how incredibly vast the scale of the universe is. Why would God pay attention to anything as insignificant as humankind?
And yet—and here is the mercy and the miracle—God has made us little lower than himself. We are kings and queens of creation, "crowned with glory and honor" (8:5). In creation God gives Adam "dominion" over the creatures in it (Genesis 1:28). Here human dominion over creation is reaffirmed, together with the responsibility that goes with it. So this psalm descends--moves downward from the LORD through human beings to the animal kingdom which God put "under their feet" (8:6)--not to trample and destroy them—we have done quite enough of that, thank you—but to nurture and care for them.
Psalms 9-10
These two psalms are actually one long psalm, a prayer for help and an acrostic poem. (That means that particular letters in the lines form a pattern, often spelling out words in the original Hebrew.) The psalm begins with an affirmation of the "wonderful deeds" of the LORD—that is what the Bible is—the record of God's great acts performed for the salvation of humankind. And our individual lives are part of that record--God has done wonderful things for each of us, making our life stories part of the history of salvation. And to the LORD who sits enthroned above history and from that eminence he "judges the world in righteousness," the psalmist applies for relief. He is suffering at the hands of "those who hate" him (9:13), and he asks for God's intervention so that he may be vindicated and have reason to "recount all God's praises." (Remember that's what the psalms are—praises.) Enemies are caught in their own schemes and devices—this is a favorite theme in the Book of Psalms—and they "depart to Sheol"—in other words, they die. But the righteous are lifted up. This is how God's justice works, but now the psalmist prays that God will act quickly to let his enemies know "that they are only human" (9:20).
But God's justice does not work quickly enough to satisfy our human impatience—he sometimes seems "far off" and detached (10:1)—even hidden. The "wicked" seem to have gotten the upper hand, they are greedy and proud and even so bold as to say—"There is no God" (10:4). And if there is no God, there is no reason to fear his justice, and the wicked can do as they like. This will all sound familiar to readers like us who have just immerged from a reading of the Book of Job. Here the psalmist, like Job, doubts what he had once affirmed so boldly —that God is just, punishing the wicked and rewarding the good. The wicked are compared here to predators—"their eyes stealthily watch for the helpless; they lurk in secret like a lion in its covert" (10:8), ready to carry off the poor and helpless as prey. The psalmist calls upon the LORD to exert himself as judge and king and restore order to his creation, and acting as the protector to "the orphan and the oppressed" (10:18).
Psalm 11
In the midst of a corrupt and evil world, the psalmist, who is identified with David, takes refuge in the LORD and expresses reliance upon him (1:1) He does this in opposition to his advisors who, believing that the righteous are powerless in the face of evil, urge him to flee to save his life (11:2-3). But the righteous are not helpless. They find sanctuary in the God who is exulted in heaven, and at the same time dwells in his "holy temple," present with his people on earth. In ancient times "to see the face of the king" meant to be admitted to his presence and to his favor. So when the psalmist says that "the righteous shall behold [the LORD's] face" (11:7), he means that the one who obeys and trusts God is admitted to the community of the faithful who worship him in the temple where his name dwells.
Psalm 12
This psalm is in the form of a dialog, with several persons singing various parts. The first singer laments the general apostasy of his generation—"the faithful have disappeared from humankind" (12:1), he says. This is obviously an exaggeration, but all of us have sometimes felt this way, that the wicked say and do whatever they please and get away with it, confident that they will not be taken to task. The weak and the needy are exploited or ignored. The second singer--this part was probably taken by a priest--speaks for the LORD when he expresses anger because justice is being violated and the poor are being exploited. He promises that he will rise up to offer the poor a refuge—"I will place them in the safety for which they long" (12:5), he says. The LORD has promised to do so, and his promises are pure and dependable—"like silver refined in a furnace" (12:6). The last two verses are spoken by many voices, and affirm that in spite of the "vileness" of humankind these days, the righteous will be guarded from "this generation" (12:7).
Psalm 13
"You're nobody 'til somebody hates you," my mother used to say, and by that she meant that if you try to live with integrity and do something with your life, you are going to be opposed and disliked by somebody. People who say they have no enemies are not saying anything very complimentary about themselves. The psalms are filled with the awareness of enmity and hatred. Here the psalmist cries out in exasperation—"How long, O LORD?" (13:1). Some enemy has gotten the upper hand over him and is making his life a misery. The psalmist is certain that his very existence is in jeopardy—"Give light to my eyes," he begs, or he will surely die and his foes will rejoice and say they have prevailed. But he has trusted in God's "steadfast love" (13:5)—the Hebrew word is "chesed"— which speaks to the LORD's readiness to rescue his people and his unshakable faithfulness to the promises he has made. Because of God's steadfast Love, the psalmist is assured that he will in the end have reason to worship God with song. God has "dealt bountifully" with him in the past, and he will rescue him from this enemy as well.
Psalm 14
Here is another wisdom psalm, which contrasts "fools," who say "This is no God," with the wise who know better. Fools do not "seek after God" (14:2) or do what his law teaches. "They have no knowledge" (14:4); they refuse to learn either from the received wisdom of the past or from personal experience. They do not call upon the LORD. That would be bad enough, but in their foolishness they devour and exploit the needy without fear—they eat up God's people "as they eat bread" (14:4). But they will get theirs. God is the protector of the poor, and "the LORD is their refuge" (14:6). Things turn around soon. God will destroy the foolishness and vice, and "Israel will be glad" (14:7).
Notice how often the psalms like this one begin with a dilemma—sometimes quite hopeless-- and end with an affirmation of the LORD's ability to save and deliver and a celebration of his having done so.
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