settled on was “Christological Preaching from Psalms.” Therefore, I write this book as a personal and passionate exploration of two topics close to my heart: christological interpretation of the OT and Psalms. To be sure, this is not the first book to connect NT Christology with Psalms, nor is it the first to apply a christological interpretation to the OT generally. This book shares a general outlook of interpreting Psalms christologically with Richard Belcher’s The Messiah and the Psalms. Belcher’s thesis is that all the psalms have a relationship to Christ, not just the traditional messianic psalms.4 He examines some psalms that are quoted in the NT and some that are not. A distinguishing feature of my work is that none of the psalms studied here are quoted in the NT; for that matter, there is only minute overlap between the psalms covered in the two books (excluding Pss 46, 88, 137). The present book also converges with Patrick Reardon’s Christ in the Psalms, which offers short summaries of the historical setting of each psalm (in the LXX) followed by brief christological reflections. Reardon’s book is not research based per se, whereas the current book offers documentation of the historical analysis as it explores the ancient setting of each psalm, as well as its anticipation of NT Christology. Sidney Greidanus’s Preaching Christ From Psalms was published during the writing of the present work. As is the case with Belcher, there is some overlap in the psalms treated (e.g., Pss 1, 23, 29, 100); yet nearly half of the psalms in Greidanus’s book are quoted in the NT in some messianic sense (e.g., Pss 2, 8, 22). Therefore, his work does not have a sustained focus on non-messianic psalms. Additionally, his lectionary approach is very different from the present work. Greidanus’s book is geared toward the academic discipline of practical theology (i.e., preaching and worship), while the current one is geared more toward biblical theology (i.e., the organic unity of the OT and NT), understanding that these are not mutually exclusive, at least not ideally.5 In spite of the differences between these three books and the current one, they have proved indispensable for my work.
Far from being an exhaustive application of Psalms to Christ, the approach of the current book is quite simple: to apply the NT conviction that the book of Psalms is ultimately about Christ to select non-messianic psalms. My approach is canonical, so that when examining a psalm’s christological character, I want to propose answers to questions like: What canonical connections exist as a result of a christological reading? How does this psalm evoke Christ? How does it point to Christ? How do Christ’s life, death, and resurrection illuminate the psalm? Because Psalms is the book of the OT most quoted in the NT, each psalm should be read in the context of the Christian canon of the Old and New Testaments for a Christian biblical theology of Psalms.6 I believe the main thrust of a psalm is more christological than its various verses. Therefore, I will draw attention to each psalm as a whole, and will not attempt a verse-by-verse christological application. To be sure, not every verse of a psalm is christological, but the psalm as a whole points to Christ, and is illuminated by his person and work. Certain verses in a psalm may resonate a christological tone more loudly than others, but the combination of a psalm’s verses sounds a louder, more harmonious christological song.
This book examines the following twelve psalms from the Hebrew Bible: Pss 1, 23, 29, 30, 46, 67, 88, 100, 119, 127, 137, and 148. Why these twelve psalms? Mostly out of personal interest, but also because none of them are traditional messianic psalms, and because they span the five books of the Psalter, allowing for a more comprehensive look at the Christology of the whole. I will approach each psalm from two angles. First, I will apply what biblical scholars call “grammatical-historical exegesis”7 in an effort to understand the psalm in its historical context in terms of vocabulary, structure, poetic parallelism, metaphorical language, historical setting, etc. For brevity, I will simply refer to this step as “History.” Second, I will apply a christological hermeneutic to each psalm in order to illustrate how it points to the gospel of Christ. I will refer to this step as “Christology.” Why these two steps? If the goal is christological interpretation, can we not skip the first step? No, because God is a god of history, and reveals himself within human history. The Bible did not fall out of the sky, but grew out of the soil of ancient Palestine. Vern Poythress explains, “God spoke to people in human language, in human situations, through human authors. God himself in the Bible indicates that we should pay attention to these human factors in order to understand what he is saying and doing.”8 Simply put, historical concerns matter for establishing the original meaning of a passage of Scripture from the standpoint of the human author and his audience. However, historical exegesis is not the be-all-end-all of biblical interpretation. While it is helpful for establishing a base meaning of the text in its historical context, it is insufficient for reaching the divine author’s meaning, which ultimately concerns Jesus Christ. God elevates the human discourse to a higher plane to serve his larger redemptive purpose of the gospel.
As a brief example of how history and Christology work together to illuminate a psalm, consider Ps 27. Assuming the superscript (“of David”) is historically accurate, the psalm describes an event in the life of King David.9 It is a poetic description of God’s sanctuary as a place of solace for David as he seeks shelter from his enemies.10 The psalm does not prophesy about the future Messiah per se in any grammatical-historical sense, and the NT never quotes Ps 27; therefore, it is not among the traditional “messianic” psalms. It is about an unknown period of David’s life, recounting how God sheltered David when his enemies pursued him. The story of David demonstrates that his life was in constant danger. Using the tools of historical interpretation, Ps 27 commemorates the salvation of God throughout David’s life, and the psalmist recalls these past experiences for the purpose of conveying a faith message to his original audience. This is the stuff of grammatical-historical exegesis, which seeks to understand the linguistic, historical, social, and religious setting of the original author and his audience.
At the same time, God is the ultimate author of Scripture, and his meaning is primary over that of the human author. God uses the words of the psalm to transcend the specific historical circumstances described therein. Another way of stating this is that when we, as Christians, read a psalm through a canonical lens, that is, in light of the completed Christian canon of the Old and New Testaments, the psalm’s meaning may extend well beyond the intentions of the human author, especially as it relates to Christology. God’s later words of revelation have bearing on his earlier words, and vice versa. Therefore, no biblical text exists in isolation from other biblical texts. Poythress observes, “Any passage is to be read in the context of the entire Bible. God intended from the beginning that his later words should build on and enrich earlier words, so that in some sense the whole of the Bible represents one long, complex process of communication from one author.”11 Therefore, I will demonstrate later that the psalmists were not likely thinking of Jesus Christ, much less the church, when they first penned their psalms; however, the larger context of the divinely-inspired canon nevertheless provides connecting links between passages, where the OT and NT carry on a canonical dialogue as readers read both testaments in relation to each other. In the case of Psalms, the NT transforms our understanding of the Psalter when we read it in light of Jesus Christ, as it calls to mind various aspects of his life and work of redemption. There is, therefore, no need to limit interpretation to discovering the intent of the original psalmist; the divine author’s meaning, which always points to Christ, is supreme. The completed canon, then, helps discover God’s intent in relation to Christ for later generations as the recipients of the completed canon.
Given that the OT is about Jesus, the divine meaning establishes a christological connection not apparent on the surface level of the psalm. Read christologically, Ps 27 becomes a song of God’s protection of Christ from those who sought to kill him. Indeed, God vindicated Jesus from the charge of false testimony through the resurrection. Consider 27:12–13: “Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;
