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.
Although I am going through the Psalms attributed to David, this song has no attribution and although it has 22 verses it is not an acrostic psalm nor is it a personal song, but the vast majority of the songs in this section of the psalter are personal. In short Psalm 33 is a curiosity. The reason it is here in the psalter, to me, is that it is connected to Psalm 34 which is attributed to David, is an acrostic poem and is personal.
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.
33 Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous!
Psalm 33 ESVUK
Praise befits the upright.
2 Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre;
make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
3 Sing to him a new song;
play skilfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
4 For the word of the Lord is upright,
and all his work is done in faithfulness.
5 He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.
6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
7 He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;
he puts the deeps in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
9 For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.
10 The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
11 The counsel of the Lord stands for ever,
the plans of his heart to all generations.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!
13 The Lord looks down from heaven;
he sees all the children of man;
14 from where he sits enthroned he looks out
on all the inhabitants of the earth,
15 he who fashions the hearts of them all
and observes all their deeds.
16 The king is not saved by his great army;
a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
17 The war horse is a false hope for salvation,
and by its great might it cannot rescue.
18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love,
19 that he may deliver their soul from death
and keep them alive in famine.
20 Our soul waits for the Lord;
he is our help and our shield.
21 For our heart is glad in him,
because we trust in his holy name.
22 Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.
It is not known who wrote Psalm 33 or when it was written, some say from the time of the kings of Judah, others to the post-exile restoration period. It is possible, some say likely that this song is a product of several communities and developed over time. Finding what a passage means needs a context, not knowing the exact community it came from makes finding a context difficult. Things we do know are these:
Psalm 33 is a circular Psalm, it ends as it started, in praise of God.
It connects with Psalm 34 which has a very clear context of a particular time in David’s life.
It makes no mention of the covenant between God and his people, Israel/Judah.
It puts together two different concepts, God’s creation and God’s redemption of the Earth.
Instead of a covenant to a particular people, Psalm 33 is about God’s covenant with all people, despite the lack of the word Covenant. Verse 5 speaks of God’s grace extended to the Nations. Grace, though seldom seen in English translations, is still a feature whenever it talks about God freely giving, usually to his people but here to all people, the steadfast love of the Lord is for all people. Yet it also talks about God thwarting the plans of the Nations. There is something here about Israel/Judah having a place in bringing all people into the worship of God. What it is isn’t said clearly, this is a song of praise, not a philosophy, but God is praised for loving all people. It is not a case of Good versus evil, Judah’s kings versus Gentile kings but the Kingship of God over all people.
But what is the new song of Psalm 33:3? I am going to disagree with one of my most commonly used resources, The Message paraphrase says, “Compose your own new song to him.” I am grateful for Eugene Peterson’s knowledge and way of making scripture clear, but here I think he, of all people, is being over literal. On the other hand, just how do you put a theological point into simple English? I am going to try, but it will take more words.
It is not us that writes the new song. The new song could be the renewal of the covenant at the Jewish New Year. The new song could be an overthrow of the sacrificial cult, God does not want sacrifices but praise. The new song could be looking forward to the new covenant in song. The psalmist could be meaning any, or all of these, or something else. I don’t know. What is clear is who is doing the new thing, God. God is about to do a new thing, let us sing songs of expectation.
I am not saying that new songs should not be written. When God’s Spirit moves there will be new music to accompany it. In revival the preachers often have their composers: John Wesley had Charles Wesley, Moody had Sankey. When the Holy Spirit falls composers will compose and players will play. The musicians’ job is to join in with what God is doing. I am having a feeling that some of the new Christian Contemporary Music (CCM) is to music what painting by numbers is to fine art, sticking to a successful formula. Note that I said some.
Look at old hymn books. Some of the songs in there were already old, chances are those songs are still being used. Of those which were new when the book was published, very few are now used, some are still being used, some were used by God for a purpose at that time, and some were, quite frankly, musical and theological dross. Time will sort them out. I am expecting a few, just a few, of the songs written in the last few years to still be used in a decade’s time, or more.
God is about to do something new. Let’s sing a new song.
< Psalm 32 | Psalm 33 | Psalm 34 >
Making an ass of myself 