Worship and Wisdom (Ps. 111)

[Sung Psalm: 111]

And last week, we saw how Psalm 110 echoes Psalm 2,
so perhaps it's no accident that Psalms 111-112 continue to echo themes from Book 1.

In Book 1, Psalms 9 and 10 form an acrostic poem, where each line begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

Psalms 111-112 are also acrostic poems.

There are 8 acrostic poems in the Psalter – Psalms 9-10 form a single acrostic. Likewise Psalms 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119, and 145 are all acrostics. (Other acrostics in the Bible include the description of the Proverbs 31 woman, and each of the first four chapters of Lamentations).

There are 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet – but there are 23 lines in Psalm 111.

The one line in Psalm 111 (and Psalm 112, for that matter) that doesn't fit the acrostic is the opening line: "Praise the LORD!"

This has the effect of linking these two alphabetical poems – Both are designed to praise the LORD. Psalm 111 praises the LORD for his mighty deeds, while Psalm 112 praises the LORD for the Blessed Man.

Why is it important that this is an acrostic poem? Many have pointed out that an acrostic poem has a certain comprehensiveness. It covers the whole alphabet, so we have our subject “"rom A to Z." But even more importantly, there is an aural function to the acrostic.

It's not just a visual thing. There is a sequence of sounds that moves through the poem.