Psalms 8,19,23 and 137

Follow the directions below for each of the Psalms:

Psalm 8:

•Write a summary:

This Psalm worships God and says how God brings justice and love to the earth. It is basically a reflection on Genesis. It thanks God for making humans, and how humans are a little less holy than angels. The Psalm states how God allowed people to rule over the dominion of their earth.


•Choose TWO of the following questions to answer: 1, 2, 3, 4

3. In what ways does this Psalm draw upon the first chapter of Genesis?

I kind of answered this above without knowing... but to reflect more.... In Genesis it states how God created humans as the last living creature on earth. God created humans to subdue the earth and control the other living creatures. It was also their responsibilty to take care of plants and animals. God is all good, and he made humans in his image, but Humans are both good and evil. This Psalm reflects on Genesis by thanking God for what he did in Genesis, and thanking him for how He created the earth. It praises God with glory.

4. This and many other psalms praise God for his mercy and goodness. Why is poetry an especially effective means of expressing praise?

Poetry is an especially effective way of prasing God because poetry in itself is almost holy in that the complicated rhymes and words make it difficult to understand at times, just as God is. It mimics the characteristics of God in that poetry can be confusing, but still beautiful in the way the words flow together. Poetry also uses metaphors, just as the Bible does to get points across. When people use poetry to praise God, it is like they are dedicating the beauty of the poems to God because God is beautiful. Overall, poetry is a mystery, just like God.

Psalm 19:

•Write a brief summary
Psalm 19 is about how God reigns everywhere, there is no where that his rule can not reach. There is good and bad throughout everything. God is always right and his law is just. It also states that if you follow God's laws, you will be rewarded. It also says that if you mess up and commit a sin, God will forgive you.


•Answer the following questions: 1 and 4
1. Poem 1-6 states that God's reign covers everything on earth. There is nothing it can't reach. No one or no thing is exempt from God's praise or God's wrath. Line 6 says, "His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heath thereof."
Poem 7-14 states that God has a reign of reward and punishment, and all he decides to reward or punish is for good reason. All he does is righteous and good. In line 10 the Psalm states that God's judgments are "More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold..." It also states in passage 11 that there are rewards for those who follow God's rules. In whole, this Psalm is about God's judgments and how He carries them out.

4. a) Passage 13 is a prayer at the end of the Psalm, and then Psalm 14 is a prayer about this prayer.

Passage 13: Keep back thy servant also from presumtuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

The prayer about this prayer:

Passage 14: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.

b) In Prayer 13, the author refers to humans as the servants of God. The author asks God to keep sin from entering the actions of humans and to not let sin rule over them. If God protects His servants from sin, they will be saved from becoming evil. In the Jewish religion, people have a clean slate when they start out life, and are neither good nor bad. All their future actions from that point on determine what kind of person they will become, be it bad or good. Therefore, this prayer asks God to help humans choose the right path, and become good through their actions.

The author of Passage 14 asks God to graciously accept and act on the previous prayer of keeping humans from evil. The purpose of Passage 14 is to make sure that the humans are not offending God in any way possible.


Psalm 23:

•Write a brief summary:

Pslam 23 is about all the things God gives humans, and everything He does for humans. It goes from not wanting, since that would be selfish, since God gives one everything he/she needs, and all these things are listed in the next phrases. After this list, the author writes that God will protect humans in times of danger. The Psalm talks about the graciousness of God. In the last passage, the author states: "...and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." This means that the author will always be faithful to God, and he feels it is his duty because of everything God has done and given to him.

•Choose TWO of the following questions to answer: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6

1. (extended metaphor) In this Psalm, the extended metaphor is the first verse, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want."

b) The metaphor of God being a shepherd is used to show that God "herds" humans and leads them in the right direction, to green pastures, still waters, etc. The metaphor uses sheep to represent humans since humans are much more simple than God, and they need God/shepherd to show them the right way to "green pastures" or heaven, or goodness etc. This metaphor suggests that without God, humans would be lost, and that humans need God. Also in the passage that states, " Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." the relationship between God and humans is also shown as one of protection. God/shepherd's staff/power are used to protect humans from evil. Sheep are seen as innocent and vulnerable to other creatures. Therefore they need someone to protect them. This represents humans because humans are easily persuaded to evil, or can easily become evil. Evil would therefore be a wolf or another predator that would eat sheep.

4. The first verse summarizes the Psalm the best because it states that, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." meaning the Lord is my God and he has given so much to me, therefore I will be faithful to him, as it is my duty, or mitzvah. "I shall not want." means it would be selfish of me to ask for more on top of everything the Lord has already done and given. The rest of the Psalm takes this verse and goes into detail about some of the things God has provided for humans, and what God will do for humans if they come across evil. This Psalm goes a bit into the Jewish idea of being faithful to only one God, and how it is a sin to worship other false idols. This passage justifies that commandment by asking the reader, why would you want another God when this God has given you so much already? It would be extremely ungrateful and unfair to not return the favor to God.

Psalm 137:

•Write a brief summary:
This Psalm was written to describe the event when the Jewish people were exiled from Jerusalem, their homeland, and had to remember their culture and religion while away from home, so they did not forget it. They did this by singing songs and reciting poems, and other means of worship. It would be a devestation for them and all their future and past generations if they forgot their religion, and in the Psalm the author states that "If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy."

In verse 1-3 the author tells about how the people who captured the Jews told them to sing a song from Zion, and the Jews felt insulted because they were away from their homeland, and asked to sing a song about their God.

Near the end of the Psalm, the author asks God to remember and punish those who razed Jerusalem to its foundations.

•Choose TWO of the following questions to answer: 1, 2 or 3

1. The situation of this psalmist is different from that of others because he is in a time of turmoil and anger and saddness. He feels he wants revenge and punishment to those who exiled the Jews from their homeland. He doesn't feel a sense of wonder and praise like the other authors did when they were in good times.
b) This situation presents new problems such as a feeling of revenge, anger and grudges. The saying, "an eye for an eye" comes to mind here... These feelings of anger and revenge, are not ones God discourages, and would not honor through punishment. God might even punish those who wish these punishments upon others, no matter how badly they have been treated. The captives must look at their situation of one with a possibility of moral cleansing, or helping make their capturers better people instead of wishing evil upon them. So in summary, the problem this Psalm could bring up is God becoming angry towards those, or the Jewish people who wish evil upon others. God will be the one to determine pushishment, and he doesn't need the help or input of humans, who are controlled by their emotions and egos.

3. Many psalms appeal to God's mercy and goodness, but this specific one appeals to God's sense of punishment or judgment. God witnessed the event of the Jewish people being taken from Jerusalem, their homeland. It is now God's turn to decide what he will do to these capturers. He may chose to do nothing, or he may chose to punish them, but whatever he choses is law. One cannot change or try to decide God's punishment, because they would be acting as God, and breaking one of the commandments, which is to not worship false idols, therefore acting in the place of God. The reason this psalm appeals to God's sense of punishment is that there are two sides of people who are now angry at each other. God can determine if there will be a war, punishment on one side, or whatever he decides the outcome to be.