Day 5

If you open your Bible in the middle it will fall open to Psalms. The centrepiece of the Bible contains 5 books that are called the “wisdom” & poetical books. They deal with the 5 great issues of spiritual life. JOB deals with the problem of suffering. Here we see the death of the self-life. Notice how Job spent most of his time defending his own self-righteousness. Then notice also how the story ends, by the end of the book Job is more sanctified than when he began. The gospel is pre-eminent in the story. PSALMS deals with the problem of prayer. Here we see the spiritual life in an intense relationship that involves struggle and worship. PROVERBS deals with the problem of conduct – law from heaven for life on earth. Notice what happened to the man who did not follow his own council. ECCLESIASTES deals with the problem of meaning and the powerlessness of the world to satisfy the soul (Notice the last chapter.) SONG OF SOLOMON deals with the problem of love. Notice here the satisfaction of the soul in the beloved. The solution to all these “problems” is found in Christ. He suffered, He prayed, He behaved perfectly, He revealed God and He is Love. These 5 books are part of the grand spiritual and theological mosaic with a powerful message of faithfulness amid struggle and adversity. What believer in Jesus, seeking to do right, hasn’t at times, faced inexplicable wrong or hardship? Psalms were written by such a cloud of heaven-bound pilgrims. David wrote 73, Asaph 12, the Sons of Korah 11, Heman & Ethan 2, Solomon, and Moses 3. Anonymous wrote 49. 

The Psalms is an anthology collated after Israel’s exile from Babylon by, according to Jewish tradition, Ezra. It is supposed that Solomon collated what is now book 2, which are psalms from his father. It is also suspected that Ezra was the author of some of the anonymous Psalms. The 150 psalms are arranged in 5 books that mirror the first 5 books of the Bible. The Psalms are in the NT and the NT is in the Psalms.