Psalms of David
Psalms in Book 1 (Psalms 1 to 41) are primarily personal songs, so I will look at how they apply to us personally. Social and communal aspects of life and work do not come in until the later books of psalms.
At the end of Psalm 24 is the Hebrew term Selah! The previous psalms which ended Selah were linked to the following Psalm, sometimes thought of as an instruction to pause or have an instrumental break before continuing straight on into the next one. I, therefore, am asking myself, how is Psalm 25 linked to Psalm 24? or even, how is Psalm 24 linked to the previous set of psalms, 20 to 24.
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The books of Psalms are roughly themed like this:
Book 1: Psalms 1 – 41: God is beside us.
Book 2: Psalms 42 – 72: God goes before us
Book 3: Psalms 73 – 89: God is all around us.
Book 4: Psalms 90 – 106: God is above us.
Book 5: Psalms 107 – 150: God is among us.
Of David
25 To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
2 O my God, in you I trust;
let me not be put to shame;
let not my enemies exult over me.
3 Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame;
they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.
4 Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
teach me your paths.
5 Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all the day long.
6 Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.
7 Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
according to your steadfast love remember me,
for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!8 Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
9 He leads the humble in what is right,
and teaches the humble his way.
10 All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,
for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.
11 For your name’s sake, O Lord,
pardon my guilt, for it is great.
12 Who is the man who fears the Lord?
Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.
13 His soul shall abide in well-being,
and his offspring shall inherit the land.
14 The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him,
and he makes known to them his covenant.15 My eyes are ever towards the Lord,
for he will pluck my feet out of the net.
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.
17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged;
bring me out of my distresses.
18 Consider my affliction and my trouble,
and forgive all my sins.
19 Consider how many are my foes,
and with what violent hatred they hate me.
20 Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!
Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
21 May integrity and uprightness preserve me,
for I wait for you.22 Redeem Israel, O God,
Psalm 25 ESVUK
out of all his troubles.
I always look at the structure in the psalms first. Being songs, and poetry that are not always delivered in a logical way, knowing the poetic form helps with understanding what is happening. How the words fit the tune would also help, but unfortunately, we no longer have the tunes. This psalm is an acrostic poem, each verse beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
Psalms 20 to 24 have been about the king and particularly his battles and victorious return and all are seen as being messianic, pointing to Jesus in the future and contain victory through vulnerability.
Psalm 25 is a song of a man going through hard times pleading for guidance and forgiveness.
How this links: We have to live our lives in the light of what Jesus has done for us, but we live it it in a world where things are difficult for us. God winning his battles for us does not make things easy, God loving us means that he is with us, trusting God for guidanance does not mean we do not have to make decisions, we have the freedom to follow or not.
Assuming that this song is autobiographical, David is in a bit of a pickle. He realises that in asking God for help he is far from an ideal person. The song is in three stanzas of seven verses each, with a final verse to show it belongs to all, not just to David. The first and last stanzas are pleas to God and the middle one is about entering into God’s covenant.
The last verse in each stanza is a summing up of that stanza. It goes like this:
7 Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
according to your steadfast love remember me,
for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!
14 The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him,
and he makes known to them his covenant.
21 May integrity and uprightness preserve me,
for I wait for you.
Verse 14 puts friendsship with God as whe meaning of the covenant, but that’s not quite how it reads in Hebrew. Many English translations translate this as the secret counsel of the Lord, things God speaks into your heart. Strongs concordance – “סוֹד çôwd, sode; from H3245; a session, i.e. company of persons (in close deliberation); by implication, intimacy, consultation, a secret:—assembly, inward, secret (counsel).” God wishes to speak to us individually and not as a group. (God wishes to speak to groups too, but that subject is in other parts of scripture, not in Psalm 25.
God wants to know us and be known by us not only through our hearts but also through our heads and bodies. To this ends he shares with us in our failures and frustrations as well as in our joys and shares with us directly his heart.
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Making an ass of myself 