Teaching the Psalms
The Lesson Committee often assigns us two or three lessons in a book,
and from these few lessons the scholars must get some comprehensive
knowledge of the entire book. A book study, therefore, will not be out
of place in this series of suggestions to teachers, and I have chosen
the Psalms, since they are likely to be most fruitful of hints as to
the teaching of other books.
A systematic knowledge of the Psalms is rarely sought after. Only one
book of the Bible is more loved: the Gospel of John; only one is read
less methodically: the Book of Proverbs.
It is the fault of many teachers that they teach all books of the
Bible in the same way. Prophecy, history, poetry, prose, Ruth and
Revelation, John and Judges,--it is all one to them. The Psalms, like
all other books of the Bible, are unique, and need their own especial
mode of treatment. Here are some hints concerning this treatment.
Get first, from the Revised Version, a comprehensive idea of the five
Books of Psalms, with their similar endings. Note their length and the
total number of psalms. From the Bible dictionary learn what you can
about the time when these books were collected, and the probable
authors of the anonymous psalms.
Study the psalms by types. We have the First Psalm, which contrasts
the good and evil. Psalms of the Good are 1, 26, 41, 72, 94, 101, 126,
127, 128, 144. Psalms of the Evil are 10, 14, 36, 37, 49, 52, 53, 58,
64, 73, 82, 109, 129, 140. The Second is a Psalm of Power. Others are
11, 21, 24, 29, 47, 48, 60, 76, 77, 83, 97, 108, 111, 114, 139. The
Nineteenth and the One Hundred and Third are Psalms of Praise. With
these study 8, 9, 18, 30, 33, 34, 44, 65, 66, 67, 68, 75, 85, 89, 90,
92, 93, 95, 96, 98, 99, 100, 104, 105, 106, 107, 112, 113, 117, 118,
134, 135, 136, 138, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150. The Second and the
Seventy-second are Messianic Psalms. So also are Psalms 45 and 110.
The Twenty-third is a Psalm of Trust. Similar psalms are 4, 7, 16, 27,
31, 56, 62, 71, 91, 125, 131. The Fifty-first is a Psalm of
Forgiveness. Such, too, are 25, 32, 39, 40, 80, 81. With Psalm 84, a
Psalm of Worship, go 15, 42, 50, 57, 63, 87, 115, 122, 132, 133.
Besides these, the following may be classified as Psalms of Help: 3,
12, 20, 35, 43, 46, 59, 61, 70, 79, 121, 124; the following as Psalms
of Sorrow: 6, 13, 22, 38, 55, 69, 74, 88, 102, 120, 137, 143; and the
following as Psalms of Prayer: 5, 17, 28, 54, 86, 116, 123, 130, 141,
142. Psalms 78 and 119 are Psalms of the Law. Of course, this is only
a rough classification of the psalms. It will be a pleasant and
valuable task for you to classify them more elaborately.
Read again the life of David, found in the passage from 1 Samuel 16:1
to 1 Kings 2:11. In connection with each psalm you read, think what
may have been the king's fortunes when he wrote it, or what experience
of his may have prompted it. This psalm of sorrow may have had birth
in Absalom's revolt; this song of trust may have welled from a rock of
hiding in the desert; this hymn of triumphant strain may have
celebrated some victory over Saul or the Syrians; this pleading for
forgiveness may have been a wail over Uriah.
The psalms are all dramatic. Here, more than anywhere in the study of
the Bible, you need to use imagination, to "put yourself in his
place." The psalms are in the first person. Fancy yourself the
psalmist as you read his songs. Pray his prayers, exult in his praise,
beat your breast with his agony of shame, be calm in his assurance of
forgiveness and peace.
In like manner, as you prepare to teach, fancy times in your scholars'
lives to which these psalms will apply, times when it would be well for
them to sing these psalms, and teach with these times in clear view.
Be sure thus to translate David's experience into that of your
scholars. These psalms are of universal moment, as they come so
directly from David's heart, and God's; and yet they need this
translation, because David's surroundings were not ours. His foes,
his sins, his exiles, his triumphs, were not ours in form, however
much the same in reality.
There are frequent quotations of the psalms to be found in the later
books of the Bible. These, especially those made by Christ and the
apostles, constitute a priceless commentary. Search for them with the
help of a concordance or a reference Bible.
Aside from this, the psalms are especially fit for illustrative
quotations, and the children may be inspired to gather them eagerly.
Assign to each scholar a verse for illustration from some other part
of the Bible, in some such way as this:
"_The Lord is my shepherd._"
"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd layeth down his life
for the sheep" (John 10:11).
"_I shall not want._"
"Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these
things. But seek ye first his kingdom and his righteousness, and
all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt. 7:32, 33).
"_He maketh me to lie down in green pastures._"
"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest" (Matt. 11:28).
"_He leadeth me beside the still waters._"
"Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never
thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a
well of water, springing up unto eternal life" (John 4:14).
"_He restoreth my soul._"
"I am the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25).
"_He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake._"
"I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the
Father, but by me" (John 14:6).
"_Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I
will fear no evil._"
"Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die" (John
11:26).
"_For thou art with me._"
"Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matt.
28:20).
"_Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me._"
"I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter,
that he may be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth" (John
14:16, 17).
"_Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine
enemies._"
"I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall not hunger"
(John 6:35).
"_Thou anointest my head with oil._"
"Grace and peace ... from Jesus the anointed, ... who has made us
to be kings and priests unto his God and Father" (Rev. 1:4-6).
"_My cup runneth over._"
"The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in
the blood of Christ?" (1 Cor. 10:16.)
"_Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my
life._"
"These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy may be in you,
and that your joy may be fulfilled" (John 15:11).
"_And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever._"
"In my Father's house are many abiding-places.... I go to prepare
a place for you" (John 14:2).
In preparing for this exercise the children will learn how to use the
Bible index and the concordance.
Watch the paragraphs of the Revised Version. They make useful
indications of the passage from one thought to the other.
The psalms lend themselves well to the useful exercises of analysis,
condensation, and paraphrase. Get your scholars to write out for you,
one, a brief tabular statement of the contents of the psalm; another,
the thought of the psalm in words of his own; a third, the substance
of the psalm, with all superfluous words and repetitions omitted.
It is a capital plan to underscore in your Bibles, and get your scholars
in the course of the lesson to underscore in theirs, the key-sentences
of the psalm. In the First Psalm, for instance, you have in bold relief
the main thought of the six verses if you underscore "Blessed is the man
that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked. Whatsoever he doeth shall
prosper. The wicked are not so." There is your outline.
Do not rest satisfied until, for your scholars and for you, the psalm
you are studying is a unit, and stands out in your minds with clear-cut
individuality. It is especially necessary to get through with the entire
text when your lesson is in the Psalms. It is not like a series of
disconnected proverbs: it is a picture; and your understanding of it
will lack some essential part until you have all the verses.
Indeed, I would go over each psalm with the class at least five times,
rapidly: first, to remove stumbling-blocks of strange customs and
expressions; second, to grasp the general thought; third, to get its
application to David's life; fourth, to get its lesson for our lives;
fifth, a verse-by-verse study for all possible side-lights and
instruction.
Observe the parallel expressions. Use only the Revised Version, which
correctly prints the psalms as poetry. Read them rhythmically; chant
them; intone them; get the impression of songs. Come to feel the
beauty and meaning of the frequent refrains.
Go on a tour of discovery, seeking for the noble metrical translations
of these psalms found in our hymn-books and religious anthologies. For
Psalm 19 read Addison's magnificent hymn, "The spacious firmament on
high"; for Psalm 103, H. F. Lyte's "Praise, my soul, the King of
heaven," or Isaac Watts' "My soul, repeat His praise"; for Psalm 72,
James Montgomery's "Hail to the Lord's Anointed, great David's greater
Son!" or Isaac Watts' "Jesus shall reign where'er the sun does his
successive journeys run"; for Psalm 84, H. F. Lyte's "Pleasant are
Thy courts above," or Isaac Watts' "Lord of the worlds above"; for
Psalm 23, Addison's "The Lord my pasture shall prepare," or others
more familiar; and for other psalms the same writers, with Wesley,
John Newton, Scott, and many more. Your scholars will be interested in
searching for these, and bringing them in.
Suppose we were studying an English hymn-book. What would we ask first
about each hymn? We would ask what sentiment it was capable of
inspiring. The same question is to be asked about these inspired
hymns; and throughout each of them we are to trace not so much a train
of thought as a train of feeling.
The psalms are subjective, and for that reason are particularly hard,
some of them, for children to appreciate. We must interpret them all
the more thoroughly by objective illustrations. Here the ordinary
problem is reversed. In our ordinary lessons the example from real
life is given, and from it the teacher must draw spiritual lessons.
Here the spiritual meditation is given, to be applied to real life.
Notwithstanding this, the psalms are eminently pictorial, and
especially adapted to illustration. See how many pictures are
suggested by the following words from the most famous of the psalms:
"shepherd," "want," "lie down," "green pastures," "leadeth," "still
waters," "guideth," "paths," "valley of the shadow," "rod and staff,"
"a table prepared," "enemies," "anointed," "cup runneth over." All
such pictures should be gathered, and used to make the lesson vivid to
the picture-loving little ones.
There is especial need in teaching the psalms to explain how the force
of imagery varies with varying conditions of climate and modes of
life; how much more, for instance, was meant to David than to us by
such symbols as "a rock," "shadow," "sun," "shield," "water-courses"!
Children are fond of metaphors, but they make comical blunders with
them, and deal, unless we are careful, all too literally with such
passages as "a table in the presence of mine enemies," "the wicked are
like the chaff," "the congregation of the righteous," "break them with
a rod of iron." If the teacher is in doubt just how far to carry these
metaphors, I know no better example of the wise and beautiful use of
them than Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." The reading of that book will
make a capital preparation for the teaching of the psalms.
Few lessons in the seven years' course will be so admirable as these
for committing to memory. If you want to inspire your class to better
work in that line, now is your time.
Note that the psalms are all optimistic. Sound their key-note of peace
and joy.
Here, if anywhere in the Bible, spiritual teaching is needed. An
essential part of the preparation for teaching the psalms is devout
prayer.