The mountaintop mic drop of an ending of Psalms book 2 moves to a valley of struggle opening with 'surely God is good to Israel' in a book significantly concerning crisis of faith

1. Key changes in the Psalms
Book 3 of Psalms
Following a mic drop, mountain top experience with
Psalm 72 is the dark book of the Psalms which begins
‘surely God is good to Israel’
Hope in God in sufferings and the glory to follow
The myriad uses of musical dissonance: above, a
caricature of Arnold SchoenbergCredit...Ralph Steadman
See Musical Dissonance, From Schumann to Sondheim -
The New York Times (nytimes.com)

2. The mountain top ( a mic drop of a psalm ending book 2 of
Psalms ) moves to a book concerning crisis of faith with the
dark book of the Psalms, book 3

3. Book 2 ends:
• Ps 67 staccato note – make your face
shine on us that your glory may go to
the nations
• Ps 68 # major key - a victory song
about the ark and tabernacle the nations
may be saved
• Ps 69 flats and minor key -a lament
that is a passion song about Jesus’
betrayal
• Ps 70 staccato note – make haste , make
haste
• Ps 71 flats and minor key sliding into
a major key, a lament that becomes a
resurrection song
• Ps 72 #mic drop, God not limited to the
tabernacle but filling the world and
analogous to the end of Exodus where the
tabernacle shined in the desert
Book 3 opens:
• Surely God is good to Israel and Psalms
(???sung in the midst of crisis that
follow???)
Or in the spirit of
“to the choirmaster”….
Some suggested
annotations in the musical
scores….
Quick and short
to get attention
Slow and majestic
victory songs of the
tabernacle and ark
Slow and sad
Pause before
starting book 3

4. Book 3, Psalms 73 to 89 are sometimes called ‘the dark book of the
Psalms,’
Crisis of various sorts including fall of Jerusalem are lamented
And yet it opens “surely God is good to Israel’ Ps 73:1
The righteous will sing by faith, singing through and in the midst of
real crisis
One thing where the righteous sing by faith is having God on earth
God eventually receiving them to glory pointing to a life after death
The dark book of the Psalms
a book filled with laments and loss opens with
“surely God is good to Israel” Ps 73:1

5. • The word holy in:
• Genesis - 1 time
• Exodus - 70 times
• Leviticus - 90 times
• Numbers - 25 times
• Deuteronomy - 10 times

6. The word holy in:
• Genesis - 1 time
• Exodus - 70 times
• Leviticus - 90 times
• Numbers - 25 times
• Deuteronomy - 10 times
While Genesis and Exodus were mostly narrative, Leviticus
Is mostly thematic and significantly on holiness
“It is good for me to be near God” near
Psalm 73 end

7. Book 1 of Psalms started with a man like a tree of life and ended with a man betrayed like Joseph as Genesis
does, Ps 41 quoted at the last supper
Book 2 of Psalms started with laments and ends with the tabernacle built and shining in the dessert,
analogous to Ps 68 and Ps 72 (with death and resurrection Psalms in between and some staccato notes for
emphasis)
Book 3 of Psalms will be on God working to produce holiness and his glory surprisingly being not just the
redemption of some in Zion but some of God’s enemies, with the Glorious things of You are spoken Psalm 87
and point to the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus’ death and resurrection in Psalm 88 and 89. The poetic takeoff on
Leviticus pointing to the ultimate sacrifice to bring us to God.
While Genesis and Exodus were mostly narrative, Leviticus
Is mostly thematic and significantly on holiness, true
worship and redemption
“It is good for me to be near God” near
Psalm 73 end

8. Sons of Korah opened book 2
Asaph (also of the Korah group*) starts book 3 (and it’s
not obvious which Asaph)
Is it Asaph the seer from the time of David prophesying
what will come or a future person of the musicians and
Levites of Asaph lamenting what happened?
Book 3 opens with Asaph singing
Book 3 opens with Asaph singing

9. Korah opposed Moses (if this is the Korah meant)
But not all the sons of Korah died
And they became bouncers in the temple, singers, song writers, Samuel the
prophet, at least one of David’s mighty men as well as Haman and Ethan
(possibly Jeduthun) the Psalmist
They may be an object lesson of redemption.
They belonged in the grave like Korah but were not.
Why all the Psalmists related to Korah?
Why all the Psalmists related to Korah?

10. Psalm 73 has the apparent success of the wicked
Psalm 74 has a national threat from hostile nations
Book 3 opens with a crisis of faith
Book 3 opens with a crisis of faith

11. Psalm 75 has God as a strong judge – who will judge with equity
Psalm 76 has God as a strong judge – who can stand before you
Psalm 77 has in the day of trouble I will seek the Lord
Psalm 77 is quoted by Habakkuk in his crisis of faith
Habakkuk will, in part, model ‘the righteous living by faith’ in his final chapter
where he himself looks to God ‘though the fig tree does not blossom and there be
no fruit on the vine’
Look to a strong God in a crisis of faith
Look to a strong God in a crisis of faith

12. Psalm 78, one of the longest Psalms
An historical Psalm opening with someone revealing parables from of old
And who is a parable himself
(Just as Samson had a riddle and Samson was a riddle. This person has parables and
will be a parable recapitulating Israel’s history, getting it right.)
The history of Israel was uncomplimentary, as was Psalm 106 the other long history of
Israel’s unfaithfulness.
They ‘flattered’ God. Flattery is not true worship and will get you nowhere with God.
Leading up to the center of book 3, in the midst of
laments of crisis
An uncomplimentary historical Psalm about
Israel and about a man with parables

13. Psalm 79 A cry for help
Psalm 80 A cry for restoration
will say 3 times “make Your face to shine on us that we may be saved!”
which contrasts with the short Psalm 67 which has “make your face shine on us”
that your glory will go to the nations.
Cries to God
Cries to God

14. Jotting down
A note from
Sinclair
Ferguson

15. Book 3 of 5
Psalm 9 of 17 ( 8 before and 8 after)
Center verse ‘If only My people would listen.
Psalm 81 called the sweetest of Psalms by Spurgeon.
Like the book of Lamentation which has a sweet center with Lamentations 3:23 in a
backdrop of crisis, so does the dark book of the Psalms.
The poetic center of Psalms.
Center book. Center Psalms. Center
verse

17. Philistines et al committed to wipe out Israel
Psalms 83:4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that
the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. They say, "Come, let us wipe
them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!"
A lament of the nations wanting to wipe out Israel
The enemies of God seen as mortal
foes of the nation

18. While the nations rage as in Psalm 2, a reminder God will inherit the nations
The corrupt rulers and leaders of nations act like gods but will die as men
• Psalm 2 The son will inherit the nations
• Psalm 25 and 37 the meek will inherit the earth. Those who hope in God, the humble
and the pure will inherit the earth in the Son
• Psalm 82 The weak and needy will be rescued in the Son in God and God will inherit
the earth.
The church inherits the earth, in the Son, in God
Rescue the weak
And inherit the nations

19. Philistines et al committed to wipe out Israel
Psalms 83:4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that
the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. They say, "Come, let us wipe
them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”
Psalms 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory:
no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
(additionally, the sons of Korah would rather be doormen in the house of God a day
than spend 1000 days somewhere else. They protect God’s glory as bouncers in the
temple and Psalm writers, where in contrast, the original Korah opposed it, opposing
Moses.)
Who would be better to rescue the weak than someone greater than the strong man of Dan?
God is my Samson!!! (Samson coming from ‘sun and shield in Hebrew)
(But God is my greater than Samson!!!!

20. • Who would be better to rescue
the weak than someone greater
than the stong man of Dan? God
is my Samson!!! (Samson meaning
‘sun and shield)

22. • Psalm 84 is one of three Psalms sung on the
Gittith
• Psalm 8, 81, 84
• Perhaps taken from a type of instrument
David learned of in Gath
• Gath a word related to vineyard
• We see other word plays with Gath in
• The ark moving from unbelieving Gath
• To the home of believing Gath with it
going to the home of Obed Edom the Gittite

23. God said ‘if only My people would listen”
The Psalmist commits to listen to God.
I will listen [with expectancy] to what God the Lord will say, for He will speak peace to
His people, to His saints (those who are in right standing with Him)–but let them not
turn again to [self-confident] folly. Ps 85:8
A commitment to listen to God
The singer commits to listening to God

24. An appeal is made to the character of God being merciful and having loyal loving-
kindness' toward his people.
The speaker being God’s servant, the son of His maidservant. Maidservant, a
phrase used in Psalm 116:16, Psalm 86:16 and Luke by Mary in Luke 1:38 and
especially applicable to Jesus as God’s servant the son of your maidservant.
An intercessory appeal for mercy based on God loyal
lovingkindness
An intercessory appeal for mercy
based on God loyal lovingkindness

26. Psalm 87 speaks of a glory of Zion and the glory begins with people from the unlikely
far from God and even enemies of God redeemed
The Lord loves the ‘gates of Zion’ more than all the dwellings. Could this be the way in?
The way of redemption?
Rahab leads off. Perhaps unsurprising as Rahab was the first convert in the promised
land and the story of Hosea and Gomer the first minor prophet.
Other people knowing God form among the Philistines, Tyre, Cushite's,
Babylonians… all from the unlikeliest of places. From these unusual groups, it can be
said “this one is born in her’ in Zion’s registry
And some from Zion. Of all groups it can is said “this one is born in her’
Glorious things of thee are spoken!
The chief glory being, those who know God found
among even groups known as the enemies of God

27. The darkest lament being Psalm 88 without even an upturn of hope.
The laments in Psalm 88 and 89 ending the Levitical books of Psalms 3 point to an
ultimate sacrifice of Jesus work on the cross.
A passion psalm following an accomplishment of God seen :
• Psalm 30 – the temple, the church founded and the passion Psalm 31 ‘into Thy
hands I commit My spirit’
• Psalm 68 – the ark and tabernacle pointing to the ascension and Psalm 69 also a
passion Psalm with the betrayal of Jesus
• Psalm 87 - Glorious things of thee are spoken followed by Psalm 88 the darkest
lament
• Yet not unlike Habakkuk, ‘I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever’ as the
righteous sing by faith Psalm 89
Following Psalm 87 , moving from glories to sufferings…
.. Psalms of suffering pointing to what mades this
possible

29. Jotting
down a
Thought
from
Michael
Reeves
From an old
talk

30. And some interesting reoccurring
phrases used in book 3 (some
repeated from book 2 or other ):
God atoning or covering sin:
Psalm 32:1Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man
whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. When I kept silent, my
bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
Ps 65:3-4 When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions. Blessed is the one you choose and
bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!
Ps 79:9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name, deliver us and atone for our sins, for your name’s
sake.
Ps 85:2 Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah. You lifted the cloud of guilt
from your people, you put their sins far out of sight.
Ps 103:3-5 Amplified Bible (AMP)Who forgives all your sins, Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from
the pit, Who crowns you [lavishly] with lovingkindness and tender mercy; Who satisfies your years with good things, So
that your youth is renewed like the [soaring] eagle.

31. And some interesting reoccurring
phrases used in book 3 (some
repeated from book 2):
Totter:
Ps 46:6,7 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Psalms 59:11 Kill them not, lest my people forget; make them totter by your power
and bring them down, O Lord, our shield!
Ps 62:3 How long will you attack a man, That you may murder him, all of you, Like a
leaning wall, like a tottering fence?
Ps 75:3 When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its
pillars.

32. • Psalm 10:14 But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand. The victims
commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.
• Psalm 10:18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again ( the 2nd
adam son of man’ from Ps 9 is contrasted with the man of the earth Ps 9 and 10)
• Psalm 39:12 “Hear my prayer, LORD, listen to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping. I dwell with you as
a foreigner, a stranger, as all my ancestors were.
• Psalm 68:5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.
(speaking from God’s ‘war room’ in a Psalm historically about the ark and tabernacle pointing to Jesus)
• Psalm 69:8 I am a foreigner to my own family, a stranger to my own mother’s children; (following a victory song of
God with Israel, Jesus is likened to an estranged foreigner)
• Psalm 78:64 their priests were put to the sword, and their widows could not weep.
• Psalm 82:3 Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
• Psalm 94:6 They slay the widow and the foreigner; they murder the fatherless.
• Psalm 109:9 May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.
• (an imprecation in one of the Psalms of the Judas like anti-friend )
• Psalm 109:12 May no one extend kindness to him or take pity on his fatherless children.
• Psalm 146:9 The LORD watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the
ways of the wicked. (the final 5 Psalm wrap up of the psalms)
Defending the foreigner, the fatherless, the widow and the orphan
seen and occurring often in Psalms :

34. Key changes in the Psalms
Following a mike drop, mountain top experience with Psalm 72 is
the dark book of the Psalms which begins ‘surely God is good to
Israel’
Psalms book 3 Psalms 73-89
Hope in God in sufferings and the glory to follow
fin’
Suffering and glory
The myriad uses of musical dissonance: above, a
caricature of Arnold SchoenbergCredit...Ralph Steadman
See Musical Dissonance, From Schumann to Sondheim -
The New York Times (nytimes.com)