Reading
Day 1: Psalm 105, psalm 106
Day 2: Psalm 107, Psalm 111, Psalm 112, Psalm 113, Psalm 114
Day 3: Psalm 115, Psalm 116, Psalm 117, Psalm 118
Day 4: Psalm 119
Day 5: Psalm 120, Psalm 121, Psalm 123, Psalm 125, Psalm 126
Day 6: Psalm 128, Psalm 129, Psalm 130, Psalm 132, Psalm 134, Psalm 135
Day 7: Psalm 136, Psalm 146, Psalm 147, Psalm 148, Psalm 149, Psalm 150
Preview
Hard Questions
- (Ps. 115) Observation: the Israelites were the first clear thinkers about what an image actually is, because they have a living God. They’ve seen this in the end of the Judges Era, with the fall of Dagon before God’s Ark. Compare this part of Psalm 115 with Psalm 135, Isaiah 41:7; 40:19; 44:12-15; 46:6-7, and Jeremiah 10:3-9. How revolutionary would this thinking be for you if you had grown up with family idols or national idols?
- (Ps. 115:17) “The dead do not praise the LORD, nor any who go down into silence.” What’s going on here? Is this a statement of the afterlife that contradicts the idea of resurrection? No, it’s a lot more likely that the author of this psalm is referring to the literal silence of the dead. They’re dead, so they’re not doing any praising; they’re under the earth, and thus silent. Psalm 6:5 says, “For in death there is no remembrance of You; in the grave who will give You thanks?” and it likely is talking about the kind of remembrance we see so often in the Scriptures—a remembrance tied directly to action. Dead people don’t act anymore. We do see the concept of the afterlife pretty early on in the Scriptures, with Job talking about seeing God in his flesh even after his skin is destroyed (19:26) and responding when God calls to him from beyond the grave (9:13-15). Psalm 22:29 actually says, “All those who go down to the dust shall bow before Him.” Mostly likely, when we see statements like that of Psalm 115:17, we’re seeing the authors talk about what they can observe in their world, rather than laying down the law on whether there’s an afterlife.
Review
Page Discussion
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