Introduction to the Psalms, Part 1

The Psalms as Theology and Worship

All right. Very good. Let's bow in prayer before we begin. Our gracious God, we are grateful that we can gather here together as your people this morning to enjoy a time of reflection and teaching around your Word.

This is part of our worship. This is part of what we give to you. And so we would pray that your Spirit might bless this gathering, our time, our study, what is taught and what is heard. And that you would be honored by us having a clear picture of who you are and what you have expected of us, what you have called us to be and to do.

And so we pray that this entire morning, which we devote to you, might be used for the edification and equipping of your people, that you would sanctify us by the truth and that you would be glorified here through our study together.

We pray this in Christ's name and for His sake. Amen. All right. This is lesson two on the imprecatory psalms, in case you weren't here last week. What we mean by imprecatory psalms are the psalms or passages of Scripture because they're not just in the psalms, but also outside of the psalms, psalms or passages of Scripture, which call down curses or judgment upon God's enemies.

And we observed last week that sometimes there are imprecations, which are curses or calls for judgment in Scripture, which are not necessarily God's enemies, but in some cases, personal enemies for personal wrongs.

There are a couple of instances like that in the psalms. And so our question that we're trying to answer, our intention in this series is to answer the question, how are we to interpret those? How are we to handle those passages of Scripture?

And so that's what we're setting out to do. Last week is a little bit of an introduction that kind of charted the course and introduced some of the theological issues. Today, I'm going to give you an introduction to the book of Psalms.

In fact, this is going to be for today and for next week. This is going to be a two-parter. And the purpose for today and next week is to give you a sense of the structure and more importantly, the significance of the psalms, because there is something in the structure of the psalms which indicates the significance of it.

There's a way in which individual psalms are structured and a way in which the book of psalms is structured that indicates to us something, a theological perspective of how we are to interpret the imprecatory elements in the psalms.

So we want to understand the value and the theology of the psalms. So let's begin with the psalms as theology. Maybe if you've never gone through some of the material that I'm going to go through today and next week, and by the way, if you have, then I apologize that some of this is going to be repetitive for you, but I think it's necessary in order to begin to build sort of a construct, a paradigm in which we can understand some of these elements.

But if you've never gone through some of these issues relating to the psalms, then it's possible that you think of the psalms as sort of this collection of hymns that are quite unrelated. Other than having God as their theme and redemption as their theme and maybe some stuff about creation, the Word of God, it's just really a random collection of 150 hymns or songs of worship that have been collected over a couple of hundred years.

And if that's your perspective on the psalms, then I'm hoping that today, by going through some of this, you will begin to really appreciate the book of psalms and what it has to teach us. The book of psalms is an Old Testament hymnal of sorts.

It was a collection of songs that the Jews would sing in the temple, in the synagogues, in their worship. There are songs of ascents that the Jews would sing on their way up to the temple for the various feasts and festivals.

There are songs that they sang on particular holy days like Passover or Pentecost. There are psalms of lament, there are psalms of joy, there are psalms of praise, there are psalms of cursing. There's all kinds of variety in both the intention and theme of the various psalms.

And you'll see next week more specifically that the organization and order of psalms is anything but random and accidental. The psalms teach us to worship in truth. And Jesus said, those who worship God must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

And Jesus was very big on the psalms. Psalm 31 verse 5 says, "...into your hands I commit my spirit.". And the second half of that, we're familiar with the first half because Jesus quoted that on the cross, but the second half of that says, "...you have ransomed me, O Lord, God of truth.".

The psalms present a God who is a God of truth, and then the psalms teach us how to worship in truth, what truthful and truth-filled worship should look like. Okay, so let's talk first of all about the psalms and how they point us to the Word of God.

The Psalms Point Us to the Word of God

Really, the Word of God is the focus of worship. And you probably know this if you've been here for any period of time, that our services are intended to be very word-centered because we believe that the Word of God really is the focal point for true and genuine worship, so that any emotion that we have ought to be filtered through and be a response to the truth that is in the Scripture, because the Word of God is central to that.

And not only is the Word of God central to our worship in terms of our singing, but it is central to our worship in terms of our preaching of the Word of God, our teaching of the Word of God, as well as our listening to the Word of God.

So this is an act of worship for me and for you because we're talking about the Word of God, and preaching is an act of worship for the preacher and for the hearer. So when we sit there and we listen attentively, we are receiving God's Word through God's appointed means, which is the proclamation of the truth, and we are receiving that and wanting to be responsive to it, giving attention to that, that is worship.

So it's always wrong to say, all right, we've gotten through the worship, now we're going to get on to the preaching. Or the preaching is something we tag on to the end of worship, or we use worship to prepare our hearts for preaching.

No, we worship in song and we worship in the proclamation of the truth. They're both acts of worship. So the psalms point us to the Word of God. Psalm 1, verse 1 through 2. Remember, this is the entryway to the book of Psalms.

We're going to look at this psalm more next week. This is the entry point to the book of Psalms. How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night.

In fact, you're familiar with Psalm 119, verses 1 through 2, which is really entirely about the Word of God. How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. How blessed are those who observe his testimonies, who seek him with all their heart.

Now, not every psalm addresses the Word of God or is about the Word of God. There are psalms which are about other subjects, but we cannot escape the reality that the Word of God is a central theme to the book of Psalms because the psalmists, all of them, want us to be immersed in the Word of God and the truth of God so that it may inform our worship.

So the psalms teach us about the Word of God, or point us to the Word of God, and the psalms teach us theology, particularly about the nature of God. I have a series of verses from the psalms here. I want you to just observe as we read through these what we learn about God in the psalms.

Psalm 50, verse 6,. "...and the heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge.". I mean, just that one verse, what does that tell you about God? That he is a righteous God, that he is a just God, that there is a judgment that is to come, that he will hold all men accountable, that there is some sort of either punishment or reward.

There is a need for grace and mercy. If God is a judge, then I have sinned. And of course, you can extrapolate a whole bunch of information about God from Psalm 50, verse 6. Psalm 7, verse 9,. "...let the evil of the wicked come to an end.".

That's an imprecation, by the way. Right? It's an imprecation. "...but establish the righteous, for the righteous God tries the hearts and the minds.". So there we learn that God is omniscient, that he is omnipotent, that he sees all, that he forgets nothing, and therefore he knows everything, including the ways of every man.

Psalm 116, verse 5,. "...gracious is the Lord, and righteous, yes, our God, is compassionate.". Now, after reading about God judging the evil, bringing it to an end, and being a righteous judge, that is a breath of fresh air, that God is gracious and righteous, and our God is compassionate.

Psalm 90, verse 2,. "...before the mountains were born, or you gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.". That is his transcendence, his eternality, his immortality, that God has no beginning, therefore he will have no end.

There is no beginning to his existence or end to his existence. Right? Psalm 78, verse 38,. "...but he, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them, and often he restrained his anger and did not arouse his wrath.".

So God is compassionate and forgiving, he restrains his anger, so he's long suffering, he does not arouse his wrath, he is not quick to anger, he is slow to anger, but anger and wrath are obviously a part of God's character and God's nature.

Psalm 7, verse 11,. "...God is a righteous judge, a God who has indignation that is anger against wickedness every day.". Psalm 48, verse 9,. "...we have thought on your loving-kindness, O God, in the midst of your temple.".

God is a loving, kind God. Psalm 117, verse 7,. "...wondrously show your loving-kindness, O Savior, to those who take refuge at your right hand from those who rise up against them.". Of course you know that I could go on and on and on with the attributes of God which are put on display in the Psalms.

So the Psalms are intended to point us to the Word of God and to point us to the nature and character of God because all of his attributes are on display in the Psalms, because the Psalms call us to worship God for who he is, and so then the Psalms begin to recount and to recite the attributes of God.

There's nothing more banal and useless than a worship song that makes no mention of God's attributes, right? When we sing a worship song, I want to sing things that are true about God, not true about how I feel.

That's not my primary point in worship. It's okay to talk about how I feel. It's okay to express our sentiments. The Psalms do that, but I want to sing about God, not about me. I'm not interested in that.

So I want God's attributes to be put on display in what we sing and in how we sing it because we want to sing about him. Further, the Psalms tell us about the works of God. They recount the works of God, offering descriptions and commentary.

Think of how many Old Testament events are covered in the Psalms, and this may surprise you. Old Testament revelation, by the way, begins with creation. It details creation, Genesis 1. What are the last events in the Old Testament timeline?

Does anybody know off the top of your head? What is the last major event in the Old Testament timeline? It is the return from the Nehemiah, Zerubbabel. It's the return from that captivity. That's the end of the Old Testament timeline.

That's not the end of your Old Testament. It's the end of the Old Testament timeline. Then you take everything that is after Nehemiah and Ezra. You take all of that, and you sort of plug it into everything that's between Genesis and Nehemiah, Ezra.

And all of the events that come after that, the books after that sort of fit into that timeline. Well, the Psalms speak about creation. By the word of the Lord, the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth, all their hosts.

He gathers up the waters of the sea, together as a heap. He lays up the deeps and storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. Sorry about that.

For He spoke, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood fast. Now, notice the language there is not the literal language of Genesis 1. Genesis 1 is the literal language of a narrative. This is the figurative or the poetic language of poetry to describe creation.

The Psalms also talk about the covenant with Abraham. Psalm 105, verse 5 through 15. Remember His wonders which He has done, His marvels and the judgments uttered by His mouth, O seed of Abraham, His servant, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones.

He is the Lord our God. His judgments are in all the earth. He has remembered His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations. The covenant which He made with Abraham and His oath to Isaac.

Then He confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying, To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion of your inheritance. When they were only a few men in number, very few and strangers in it, and they walked about from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people, He permitted no man to oppress them, and He reproved kings for their sakes.

Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My harm. So there the psalmist is recounting the grace of God to Abraham and His calling of Abraham, giving Him a land to Abraham's descendants, the promise of that covenant, and the psalmist is calling us to worship God for His great works in doing that.

Psalm 105 continues with mention of the famine that took them into Egypt, Joseph being sold into slavery, the rise in Egypt, Israel going to Egypt, the slavery in Moses, and the ten plagues. That's all in Psalm 105.

Look at verse 27. They performed His wondrous acts among them, and miracles in the land of Ham. He sent darkness and made it dark, and they did not rebel against His words. He turned their waters into blood, and caused their fish to die.

And I'm just going to skip through this. Notice the mention of the frogs, and the swarm of flies, and the gnats in their territory. Hail for rain and flaming fire in their land. Destruction of their vines and their fig trees with the hail, shattering the trees of their territory.

Locusts and more locusts, even without number. He ate up the vegetation in their land, and ate up the fruit of their ground. Notice all of those reference to the things that happened in the Exodus. And by the way, these are all elements of imprecation.

This is describing a judgment of God upon a nation, and not just your average judgment, but the utter destruction and annihilation of an entire nation. He annihilated everything, and the psalmist is calling the people of God to worship God for those acts, for those works.

I said this last week, and I'll say it again. You have to have room in your theology for that, that I can worship God for His righteous judgments. Now, there are other events that are also in the Psalter.

The flood is described in Psalm 29, verse 10. Melchizedek, Psalm 110. The Exodus and Israel plunging the Egyptians in Psalm 105. The parting of the Red Sea in Psalm 106. The giving of the Law of Sinai in Psalm 68.

The provision of quail, manna, and water in Psalm 78 and 105. The sacrificial system in Psalm 50. Israel's coming into Canaan in Psalm 105 and 106. Israel's monarchy in Psalm 18 and Psalm 45. The covenant with David in Psalm 89.

Israel's disobedience, Psalm 74, 78, 79. Babylon's captivity, the captivity in Babylon, Psalm 137. And the return from Babylonian captivity in Psalm 126. Now, what did I say was the very first event recorded in the Old Testament?

Creation. What is the very last event talked about in the Old Testament in that timeline? It's the return from the Babylonian captivity. So what you have in the Psalms is worship of God for all of the events between creation and the return to the Babylonian captivity.

In other words, the entire Old Testament is in the Psalter. All of the major events are in the Psalter. They are described in the Psalter. They are recounted in the Psalter. They are described poetically.

We are asked to worship God. We are expected to worship God and to know Him for all of His works, everything in the Old Testament. All of the timeline of the Old Testament is put right into the book of Psalms.

It's all there. So to study the book of Psalms and to know what it is describing is to study the entire Old Testament. This is what makes this book so unique. Everything from Genesis through Malachi is described in the book of Psalms.

I mean, not every little event, but all of the major events that deal with God's plan of redemption for His people is described in the book of Psalms. All Old Testament history is woven through that book.

It is a book of Scripture. And by the way, it is the only book of Scripture written over thousands of years. Keep that in mind. The Psalms are the only book of Scripture written over thousands of years.

It's the only book of Scripture that details all of God's redemptive plan. It's the only individual book that details all of God's redemptive plan and describes it from creation all the way through to the end of the Babylonian captivity.

The implication is that if we are to study the Psalms, we are going to be familiar with the entire Old Testament. And therefore, we worship God on the basis of all of that revealed truth. That's what the book of Psalms tells us.

God is to be worshiped on the basis of all of this truth and all that He has done, all of His works. Further, the Psalms give us an inspired perspective on God. An inspired perspective on God. The Psalms are a commentary on who God is.

His nature is explained and His nature is applied to us. We are called to meditate upon God, His character, and His works. His character is the subject of our thinking, our emotions, our worship, our mindset.

All of that must be driven by God and His character and His nature. The Psalms are also an inspired commentary on the works of God. As His nature and deeds are described, Psalms give us an inspired commentary on the significance of those works.

Like Psalm 89, for instance, which we'll look at in more detail sometime in the future. I forget which lesson it's in, but Psalm 89 just recounts the covenant that God made with David. Actually, now that I say that, I think it's next week.

It recounts the covenant that God made with David and that work that God did in choosing David and what He promised to David. And then that Psalm becomes a commentary on how we feel about God's promises, how we feel when we are in doubt.

The Psalms teach us how to think about the works of God as God comments upon His own works in the Old Testament. The Psalms are an inspired commentary on who God is and what He does, and we are summoned to reflect upon that.

The Psalms are filled with truth that must inform our worship. Not just what we do in worship, but also what we feel in worship and what we think in worship. That's what the Psalms do. And we are called to worship God for all of His works.

So now here's a question. Is God's judgment upon the wicked one of His works? It is. Now if we are called to worship God for all of His works and His judgment on the wicked is one of His works, and what He does is always good, it is always just, it is always right, it's always perfectly wise and benevolent, then are we not called to worship God for His righteous acts of judgment?

We are. That is one of the works that God does that we are called to worship Him for. Further, the Psalms are quoted in the New Testament. In fact, the Psalms are the most quoted book from the Old Testament in the New Testament.

Jesus and the apostles cited the Psalms frequently, and this is some indication of just how often the Psalms were used and how. Jesus used the Psalms to silence His opponents, Psalm 8, 118, and 110. Peter quoted the Psalms to justify replacing Judas.

He quoted the two most significant examples of imprecatory Psalms, Psalm 69 and Psalm 109, both of which we're going to study in a later session. Peter quoted two imprecatory Psalms to justify replacing Judas.

Oh, no, let me go back. Peter and Paul proved the resurrection from the Psalms by quoting Psalm 2 and Psalm 16. Paul taught justification by faith from Psalm 32. Peter instructs believers on how to handle persecution and evil treatment from Psalm 34.

And Hebrews quotes the Psalms to show the superiority of Christ, Psalm 2, Psalm 97, Psalm 104, Psalm 45, Psalm 102, and Psalm 110. And it has been argued, and I think the case can be made, that the book of Hebrews is an expository treatment, an expository sermon on Psalm 110.

Really, that is the backdrop of the entire book of Hebrews, is Psalm 110, which is why we have gone back to that over and over and over again for the last number of months, years. Further, the Psalms are the most quoted.

There is one Psalm that is the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament. In other words, if there's one chapter of the Old Testament that is quoted more than any other chapter, it is Psalm 110. The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

The Lord will stretch forth your strong scepter from Zion, saying, rule in the midst of your enemies. And this one, of course, we are familiar with from the book of Hebrews, the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

So the Psalms then are a theologically rich treasure trove of truth, which the Spirit of God expects should inform our hearts, our minds, our thoughts, our affections, our desires, our worship, and our lives.

It is a treasure trove of theological truth that really encapsules the entire Old Testament revelation of God. You find it all boiled down in the book of Psalms. Are you starting to understand and appreciate the theological significance of that book?

Are there any questions before we go on to the Psalms as poetry? Okay, good, because we're running out of time and not out of material. The Psalms have a unique form. I'm going to talk a bit, this is not necessarily tied into the issue of imprecation, but since we're talking about the Psalms, I'm trying to give you appreciation for it.

I want to talk about the form that Psalms take often, and so you have a little bit of appreciation about what you're reading and how you're reading it. You might see some things in the Psalms now that you never saw if you have this sort of background and understanding.

Hebrew Poetry and Parallelism in the Psalms

Hebrew poetry is not like modern Western poetry. Modern Western poetry has its force because the words rhyme at the end of every line, right? Either a sight rhyme or an actual auditory rhyme. Except for, I should say, English poetry does that, modern poetry not necessarily.

Modern poetry is I type a few words, I hit return tab, I type a few more words, hit return tab, and you took out the returns and the tabs, you basically have a running commentary on something that just, that any fifth grader could have typed up.

That's modern poetry. But standard poetry, the poetry that I grew up with, the Shel Silverstein and the tale of Robert McGee or whatever the guy was, of Frozen the Barge, and then they warmed him up by Sam McGee.

Yes, that type of poetry is a lost art in our culture. It is, by the way, how many of you have heard of the, is it the tale of Sam McGee? The cremation of Sam McGee. Thank you. Yes, we have some fellow people who understand good poetry here.

Man, this is great. I feel like I'm among my people now. Okay, what's that? Spider in the fly? Does it rhyme? Does it rhyme? Okay, then it's a beautiful poem. I'll take your word for it. If it doesn't rhyme, then, okay, so Hebrew poetry doesn't rhyme the sounds, the words.

Hebrew poetry rhymes the lines. Rhymes the lines. No one knows how that rhymes, right? Rhymes and lines. Hebrew poetry rhymes the lines. What's that? It's close enough, Joe. Get off me. It's closer than anything that passes as modern day poetry.

All right, so Hebrew Psalms, Hebrew poetry is structured around parallelisms, parallels. And there are seven of them that I'm going to highlight for you here. I have examples of them. You don't need to remember all of these, but your homework is going to require that you read some Psalms and identify some of these.

All right, the first kind of parallelism is synonymous parallelism. Synonymous parallelism is where the phrases repeat or restate in different words. So the second line restates or repeats in different words what the first line says.

Why are the nations in an uproar and the people's devising a vain thing? The nations of the people uproar, devising a vain thing. It's simply a restatement of what is in the first line. Do you notice how the ideas run parallel to one another?

It is what is called a synonymous parallelism. Another example of that is Psalm 24, 1 and 2. The earth is the Lord's and all it contains, the world and those who dwell in it. All it contains, who dwell in it, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.

It's simply restating the same thing in the second line that the first line says. That's a synonymous parallelism. This, by the way, is all the way through the Psalms, these kind of parallelisms. This is the nature of Hebrew poetry.

So you read the Psalms, you're going to see synonymous parallelism all the way through that. Notice that it is not the words that rhyme, it is the lines that rhyme. Second, there is antithetical parallelism.

And this is where the propositions of the two lines contrast with one another. They state opposite ideas, but the ideas are still parallel. Like, the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

The idea of God knowing something in the Old Testament is to know intimately in a favorable way. He knows the way of the righteous in that way, but the way, that is the path, of the wicked perishes. So notice the opposites, the righteous and the wicked and the perishing and the Lord knowing or protecting or looking with favor upon someone.

That is an antithetical parallelism. Another example of that is Psalm 37, verse 9, for evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord will inherit the land. Cutting off and inheriting the land are opposites, which if you read Psalm 37, which is a Psalm that wrestles with the prosperity of the wicked and why the wicked perish, Psalm 37 deals with that.

You will see that throughout the Psalm, there is this antithesis where the righteous inherit the land and the wicked are cut off from the land and remembered no more. The righteous get an eternal inheritance and an eternal memory, but the wicked perish and are no more.

So you notice the antithetical where they're opposites. They're still rhyming ideas, but opposite ideas, like a mirror giving you an opposite or a mirror image of something. Then there is synthetic parallelism where the second line expands or elaborates on the first.

Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord and who may stand in his holy place? What is the hill of the Lord? Specifically, it's the holy place. Hill of the Lord is kind of a general reference to this. Standing is more than just ascending to.

What do you do when you get there? You're standing at some place. So notice the parallel ideas, but the second line sort of repeats but adds more detail than you had in just the first line. Who has clean hands?

He who has clean hands and a pure heart who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and has not sworn deceitfully. So the one who has clean hands and a pure heart is, here's more detail added to it, he has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and he has not sworn deceitfully.

Then there is what is called climactic parallelism. This is where the second line completes the first by adding information or ideas. So you get halfway to your sort of, halfway to your zenith of the idea and then the second half sort of completes it.

Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty. Ascribe to the Lord, glory and strength. You can see how the second line repeats, sorry, doesn't repeat, adds to the first line. Ascribe to the Lord, the glory, do his name to add more information to that of what the author has in mind.

Worship the Lord in holy array. So we have parallelism in the structure of the psalm, but the parallelism is that the second phrase and now the fourth phrase are adding information to the first and to the third phrase.

Here's another example. The floods have lifted up, O Lord. The floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their pounding waves. Notice with each phrase of that, you're getting more information.

The floods have lifted up. What do we mean by that? What are the floods lifting up? Their voice. Well, what are the voice? The voice of the floods is the pounding waves. So every phrase is adding just a little bit more detail to it, repeating the idea, but the parallelism is the adding of details you go through the verse.

96 verse 7, ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples. Ascribe to the Lord, glory and strength. That's a climactic parallelism. Then there is what is called emblematic parallelism and this is where a symbol or a metaphor is placed side by side with its meaning.

So you have an emblem that's being given and then you have the meaning of the emblem that is being given to us as well. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water. In what way is a man who walks in the law of the Lord like a tree firmly planted by the streams of water?

Well, he yields his fruit in the season, his leaf does not prosper and whatever he, or sorry, his leaf does not wither and whatever he does, he prospers. So the emblem is a man like a tree planted by the rivers of water.

It's the man who walks in the law of the Lord. In what ways is that? Now look at how the emblem is explained in the parallel phrases that follow. You get that? Psalm 42 verse 1, as the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, O God.

There's the deer panting. What does that symbolize? My soul panting for God. So you have the emblem in the first part and then the explanation of the emblem in the second part. Psalm 23, by the way, which I have up here, but I'm not going to go through that whole thing.

Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. The rest of the psalm is the parallelism. He does this and he does this and he does this and he does this and he does this and the rest of it just explains the emblem.

The first verse is the emblem, the rest of the psalm is the parallel explanation of that. And here's the beauty of Psalm 23, within that emblematic parallelism, which is the entire psalm, you have all of these various other kinds of parallelisms in the individual verses of the psalm, which is an emblematic parallelism.

So you have parallelism within parallelism in Psalm 23. That's the beauty of Hebrew poetry. Then there is what is called alternate parallelism. And this is where the author employs, and this is more difficult to explain, but an ABAB pattern of thought, an alternate parallelism, where line A, line B, line A, line B, where line A and A rhyme, and line B and B rhyme.

So now you're talking about four lines and a structured parallelism within four lines. So for instance, Psalm 103, verse 11 and 12, for as high as the heavens are above the earth, verse 12, as far as the east is from the west, notice how those are parallel ideas, heaven and earth, east and west.

And then B, which is the second phrase of each verse, also parallels, so great is his loving kindness towards those who fear him, so far has he removed our transgressions from us, those who fear him and us, those are parallel.

Loving kindness and removing our transgressions are parallel. So you notice the ABAB pattern there? A's rhyme with each other and the B's rhyme with each other. That's what's called alternate parallelism.

Another example of that, here it is within one verse, but you have the first part of each phrase rhyming with the first part of the next phrase. So you hide them in the secret place, you keep them secretly in the shelter of your presence from the conspiracies of man from the strife of tongues.

So that's just one verse, it's just two lines, but the first half of that verse, A, or line, the first half of the first line rhymes with the first half of the second line. The second half of the first line rhymes with the second half of the second line.

That's an alternate parallelism. And then, and these are in orders of ascending difficulty, then there is chiastic parallelism, and I'm not even sure I'm pronouncing that right, chiastic, chiastic, chiastic, spastic, I don't know.

But Psalm 124 verse 7, this is where the author, the parallelism is an ABBA parallelism. So the first line and the last line rhyme, the second line and the third line rhyme. So it kind of forms a sandwich, as it were, like a two beef patties between two buns, that's the picture, that's a chiasm.

Psalm 124 verse 7, our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the trapper. The snare is broken and we have escaped. Notice the escaped is at the front and the back of that, and then in between are the two parallel ideas.

Out of the snare of the trapper, the snare is broken. It's a chiastic parallelism. Psalm 145 verse 2, every day I will bless you and I will praise your name forever and ever. Every day, forever and ever, I will bless you, I will praise your name, in the middle.

So I will bless you, I will praise your name, that's the meat, ever and ever, every day, that's the bun, wrapping up the meat. So the implication, by the way, the reason I show you this is to show you how wise God is.

If scripture had been written in the English language and we rhymed words, it would never translate and have its effect into any other language in which it was translated. But God used this language with this structure so that no matter what language you translate it into, it works.

It's beautiful. It's incredible. And listen, there is structure within structure within structure. In some ways, the Psalms are like a fractal. You know what a fractal is? Remember when Jason Lyle did that?

You zoom in on the pattern and no matter how far down you go, you see these levels of detail and structure within that pattern, and you zoom out and you see the same thing. You're going to see tomorrow, the book of Psalms has its structure, all 150 Psalms.