How to Read the Psalms
by Heather Perrin
When we come to any book of the Bible, it is helpful to understand what kind of book it is. The Bible is comprised of many different kinds of writing (genres) and individual books often contain more than one type. Understanding the features of the book we are reading or studying can add greatly to our understanding of that book and help protect us from misinterpreting or misapplying it.
The book of Psalms is a collection of poems, written by multiple authors throughout Israel’s history, many of which were used as both individual and corporate songs and prayers. Tremper Longman writes, “We need to reflect more carefully and slowly on poetry than prose, because poetry is compressed language. It says a lot using only a few words.”
Hebrew poetry is full of vivid imagery and metaphor. Poetry is written to articulate truth in a way that engages all of our senses and our emotions. Metaphorical language is a key feature intended to create images in the reader’s mind. For example, “He is like a tree planted by streams of water” (Psalm 1:3) tells us that the one who meditates on God’s law is nourished and has an abundance of what he needs to flourish.
Poetry also employs highly emotional language. The psalms illustrate the full range of human emotion, from joy to rage to despair. These are glimpses of a human heart wrestling with both the joys and griefs of life in this world, and modeling for us how to bring our honest selves to God. God saw fit to inspire the psalmists to give voice to these honest reflections even when they include doubt about God’s own character.
This is why we can read “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1) as an honest cry of grief rather than an assertion that God will forsake His children.
Within the genre of Hebrew poetry, the psalms fall into several sub-categories. There are many ways to organize these, and many psalms comprise more than one:
Thanksgiving - focused on God’s rescue and provision
Wisdom - explores living in God’s world with wisdom or foolishness
Lament - expresses grief over sin and distress
Royal - prayer and praise for a righteous king, ultimately pointing to the Messiah
Praise - worships God for his nature and character
Pilgrimage - songs for the community of Israel during journeys to Jerusalem
Imprecatory - prayers for justice and vindication
Temple Hymns - songs for corporate worship in the temple
Torah - celebrates God’s word
Identifying the kind of psalm you are reading can help you understand its meaning.
Many but not all of the psalms can be connected to an author and historical event from elsewhere in the story of Israel. When that is true, reading the corresponding account can also shed light on the psalm itself. For example, the title of Psalm 3 includes the note, “A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son,” which points to the story in 2 Samuel 15-17.
As with all of Scripture, the psalms teach us about who God is, but they use the vehicle of poetry to do so. Longman writes, “The psalms use imagery to communicate God because imagery reveals Him to us by comparing Him to things and people in our experience. But images reveal Him in a way that does not compromise His mystery. We are not presented with a carefully precise prose description of the nature of God, but rather with metaphors, through which we learn truly but not comprehensively. God is high above our thoughts, but He kindly gives us glimpses of His nature through imagery.” He is a shepherd (23), a rock (18), a mother bird (91), a warrior (18), a king (47).