Where Are the Psalms?

We embark this Sunday evening on our study of the psalms. We will see next week that the first three psalms constitute a triple introduction to the book of psalms, and that they show us that the psalms are about Torah and Messiah — and are in fact the king's songs for us to sing. If you can remember those three things — Torah, Messiah, and "to the Choirmaster," you will not go far wrong in your use of the Psalms. But this evening,, I want to take you back in time to the moment when the psalms were first incorporated into the worship of God. In other words, we want to look at the psalms' original setting and usage, for that will explain to us why they say what they say and how we are to use them today. What we will see is that the psalms belonged originally to temple worship; they were the lyrics to professionally performed commemoration, thanksgiving, and praise, and they were a source of blessing for Israel at worship. We will also look at what the psalms' original setting implies about how we should use them today.