Finding Christ in the Psalms

This article was first published in French at TPSG.

Finding Christ in the psalms seems to many Christians like looking for a needle in a haystack. But this is not the case. The Bible is clear and accessible, and it tells a story. The Psalms are a part of that story. Through a consideration of context, the literary genre of poetry, and typology we will discover how the Psalms point us to Christ and why that radically changes the way we read them. 

Comprehending Context

Years ago, my mother worked as a real estate agent. So, early on in life, I learned the golden rule in her field: Location, location, location. The same holds true for interpretation. The golden rule is context, context, context. And the three main layers of context are the literary context, the cultural context, and the canonical context. 

 

Literary Context

Simply put, literary context refers to the words surrounding the text. Meaning, the verses or chapters immediately before and after the passage in question. When it comes to the Psalms, the best way to understand a particular verse is by reading it in the context of the entire Psalm. But we shouldn’t stop there. The Psalms were compiled in the order in which we have received them for a reason. They were part of a story that the people of God were to understand as the book unfolded. So, whenever we study a Psalm as a whole, we should ask ourselves, 

 

·      In which book of the Psalter is it found? 

·      In which section of that book is it found? 

·      Is it part of a chiastic structure within that book? 

·      Why was it placed there? 

Cultural Context

If the literary context is the words surrounding the text, the cultural context is the world surrounding the text. What does it really mean to call the LORD our Shepherd (Ps 23.1)? What do a fortress and a stronghold look like and what do they teach us about the character of God (Ps 142.2)? What was life like in the Judean desert as David fled from Saul? The cultures in which the Scriptures were written are so different from our own so that sometimes we need help to understand the imagery and setting of what we are studying. We can learn a great deal about the Ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world and their customs with the aid of a good Bible dictionary.

Canonical Context

Looking Back

The canonical context can be divided into two categories. First is the Scripture that the author quotes or alludes to that informs his understanding of his present situation. For example, the event par excellence that marked Israel’s birth as a nation is the Exodus, which is referred to explicitly in Psalms 78, 105, 114, and others. But the Psalms also allude to the events surrounding the Exodus with far more frequency. For example, in Psalm 34:5 (vv. 6-8 in French), David writes that “Those who look to him are radiant.” 

 

According to Jim Hamilton, professor of Biblical Theology at Southern Theological Seminary, David is alluding here to the radiant face of Moses when he went into the tent of meeting. And the motif continues in v. 7, “The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him.” Here he harkens back to Israel’s wilderness wanderings, where the LORD encamped around his people with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. David intended for his readers to make these connections and remember that the God who saved their ancestors from the house of slavery in Egypt is the same God who delivers them from their current afflictions. 

The Central Place of the Davidic Covenant

Another key element that we must take into account when studying the Psalms is the Davidic Covenant in 2 Samuel 7. David understood that the promises it spoke of would be partially fulfilled in his son Solomon, who would build the temple for the LORD. But he also knew that a future fulfillment awaited, in which one of his descendants would sit on his throne forever. 

 

The entire Psalter must therefore be understood in light of that promise of a future, eternal kingdom. Some of the best-known Psalms, which are most often quoted in the NT, highlight the ways in which Christ fulfilled that covenant. On the day of Pentecost, Peter quotes or alludes to the Psalter repeatedly. In Acts 2:27, in reference to Christ’s resurrection, he sites Psalm 16 in reference to his resurrection. And in v. 34-35, Peter quotes Psalm 110 in reference to Christ’s ascension.

 

So, the composers of the Psalms looked back to God’s promise to David as they wrote, but they also looked forward toward the fulfillment of that promise. 

Looking Forward

At this level, as we’re studying a particular Psalm, the first question we should ask ourselves would be, “How do the subsequent authors of Scripture cite or allude to this Psalm?” We are most familiar with the explicitly Messianic Psalms, but if we follow certain themes of Biblical Theology, we will find connections between the Psalms and the NT throughout their pages. For example, if we consider Psalm 34:5-7 again, but this time looking forward, it evokes Mark 9:2-13 and the Transfiguration, or Revelation 1:16, in which it describes Christ as one whose face, “was like the sun shining in full strength.”

 

And given that the radiant face in Psalm 34 is that of the believer, we find its NT counterpart in 2 Corinthians 3:18, in which Paul describes the transformation of those who behold the glory of the Lord with unveiled face.

 

Hamilton argues that Scripture intends for us to make these connections, and to see their increasing significance. Because Moses and David were great, but Jesus is greater! These prophets of old experienced a certain radiance, but they only reflected the far greater glory of the Radiant One himself, the Lord Jesus Christ!  

Christ in the Canon

All of the Bible, therefore, speaks of Christ. It’s either awaiting his Advent, as in the Old Testament, looking back to his earthly ministry, as in the four Gospels, or anticipating his second coming and eternal reign, as in Acts through Revelation. Jesus makes this plain in Luke 24:27, 44 in which Jesus explains to two discouraged disciples that all the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms spoke of him.  

Typology

Defining our Terms

F. F. Bruce defines typology as, “A way of setting forth the biblical history of salvation so that some of its earlier phases are seen as anticipations of later phases, or some later phase as the recapitulation or fulfilment of an earlier one.”^[1]

Distinguishing Typology from Allegory

Now, to be clear, typology is not allegory. Allegory is a way of interpreting the Scripture in order to find a hidden or symbolic parallel meaning. Throughout Church history, some scholars have read back into the Bible meaning that the author did not intend in order to take a “shortcut” from the OT to Christ. In so doing, they skipped the important step of understanding a text in its context. Such scholars meant well, desiring to honour Christ. But in so doing, I believe they did a disservice to their hearers by modelling a flawed way to handle Scripture. 

Example of Type in the Psalms: Enemies

When David was fleeing from his enemies, he likely considered the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Moses. And he knew that he was suffering at the hands of the wicked just as his forefathers had. If this seems far-fetched, consider Psalm 34, in which David tells us that he changed his behaviour before Abimelech, who sent him sent him away. The account is found in 1 Samuel 21. But if you flip back in your Bibles to that passage, you’ll discover that the King of Gath in question was not named Abimelech, but Achish (v. 10). There was another king named Abimelech in the Bible, however: the king of Gerar that Abraham and Isaac both encounter in Genesis 20 and 26. According to Hamilton, David employed an ancient rabbinical device of altering the name of an actor in a drama in order to make a typological connection to an earlier text. 

Betrayal as a Type in the Psalms

But Hamilton explains that David’s use of typology extends beyond the past toward the future. Having considered his ancestors in the midst of his suffering, David wrote of his own trials believing that this was a pattern that would continue to play out among his descendants, and especially for the Messiah who would come from his line. So, when David writes of the betrayal of Ahitophel in Psalms 41, John 13:18 quotes it, ascribing it to Judas! Because often NT authors saw such ideas in the Psalms not as a prediction fulfillment but as pattern fulfillment.

 

Understanding the use of typology in Scripture is so important. The more you learn about this tool, the more you’ll be able to use it on a regular basis as you spend time with the Lord in your personal devotions. I liken the tool of typology to a good kitchen knife. The sharper my knives are, the better and more easily I cut my meat and produce, the more I enjoy cooking. Similarly, the sharper my tools of interpretation are, the more I enjoy studying God’s Word!   

Implications

1.   Our obedience is directly connected to our understanding of God. How can we obey a God we hardly know? So, while obedience does not always follow knowledge, I believe that a humble, heartfelt devotion to the study of God’s Word will give us a deeper knowledge of our Saviour and motivate us to walk more closely with him. That is our hope and prayer for ourselves and for you as well. 

2.   More specifically, if we search for the Saviour in every Psalm, if we learn to read the Psalms as either songs of praise to Christ or as the words of Christ to the Father, then we will less easily fall into the trap of immediately making the Bible about us. We can eventually ask the question of how this song of praise or lament applies to us. But if we learn to take the long way there by first passing through the essential step of understanding a Psalm in light of Christ, we will grow in our understanding of Christ and of his Word. It’s so enriching!

3.   When we go through trials, we can remember that we are in good company. David himself derived comfort from knowing that he was walking in the footsteps of his ancestors. And he knew that his promised heir would also suffer as he did. So we can find comfort in their company as well, especially knowing that because Christ suffered on our behalf once and for all at the cross, we can be confident that our pain is momentary and light compared to the eternity with him, when he'll wipe every tear from our eyes.