Bible In A Year - Psalm 119 (Part One)

The Bible in a Year

Psalms

Psalm 119 – Part One

Read this coming week:

Nov 8 Jer 42‐44, Ps 119:1‐8, 1 Cor 14, Nov 9 Jer 45‐47, Ps 119:9‐16, 1 Cor 15‐16, Nov 10 Jer 48, Ps 119:17‐24, 2 Cor 1‐2, Nov 11 Jer 49, Ps 119:25‐32, 2 Cor 3‐4, Nov 12 Jer 50, Ps 119:33‐40, 2 Cor 5‐6, Nov 13 Jer 51‐52, Ps 119:41‐48, 2 Cor 7‐8, Nov 14 Lam 1, Ps 119:49‐56, 2 Cor 9‐10, Nov 15 Lam 2‐3, Ps 119:57‐64, 2 Cor 11‐13

Reading Questions

For next week you’re reading Psalm 119, vs. 1-64.  Be able to answer the following:

1. Psalm 119 is an acrostic poem – each section begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet (i.e. “aleph” is the first word in the Hebrew alphabet).  What are the letters of the Hebrew alphabet you are reading from?
2. What is the writer of the Psalm petitioning God for?
3. Young men would memorize Psalm 119, what passages of the Psalm encourage the idea of memorizing the Word of God?
4. What is God’s role in the life of a young man according to this Psalm?

About Wisdom: Wisdom as archetype

The book of Psalms is within the Biblical literature genre of “the books of Wisdom”.  It might be good to think of wisdom literature as providing an archetype of man’s experience on the earth under the Lordship of God.  Robert McKee, a well renown scholar on the concept of “story” and literature, describes an archetype as “a kind of universal character that audiences can identify with, while also possessing enough pathos and depth to avoid cliché.”  Wisdom literature allows the reader to enter into the world of God’s plan for humanity in such a way that it can be identified with, but without becoming cliche.

About Psalms: The 5 Books

There are 5 books of the Psalms.  Each subdivided book has its own sense of character.  While not all of the Psalms in Book 1, for example, are intensely personal – most of them are.

1. Book 1 - Psalms 1-41 - Intensely personal Psalms of David
2. Book 2 - Psalms 42-72 - Nationalistic and kingdom oriented Psalms, mostly of David
3. Book 3 - Psalms 73-89 - More nationalistic and kingdom oriented Psalms, but rarely of David - more often of other authors like the Sons of Korah.
4. Book 4 - Psalms 90-106 - A “grab bag” of anonymous psalms and miscellaneous psalms
5. Book 5 - Psalms 107-150 - Songs of praise, mostly of David again

Image: Hebrew Psalm 119 Thy word is a lamp by bpbp Brian Petersen at Flickr