Playlist: Psalms, Book Three (topic)
Psalms: Book Three (Part Two)
Sermon by Richard T. RitenbaughBook Three of the Psalms carries the themes of rebellion, forsaking God, judgment, exile, destruction, and death, the same themes that mark the ninth of Av, when the Temples fell and many other disasters struck the Jews. The answer Book Three gives to judgment is humility, submission, repentance, reform, and thanksgiving, with …
Psalms: Book Three (Part One)
Sermon by Richard T. RitenbaughBook Three (Psalms 73-89) is the summer book, within a scheme of five groups of five that includes the five Psalms books, the Torah, and the festival scrolls. It pairs with Leviticus and Lamentations, and its summary psalm is 148. Summer's ripening fruit, which images God's judgment (Amos 8, Joel 3, Isaiah 28, the fall of …
Psalms: Book Three (Part Five)
Sermon by Richard T. RitenbaughPsalm 81, though traditionally tied to the Feast of Trumpets and the fall festivals, sits in Book Three rather than Book Four because it addresses Israel's spiritual state rather than the outcome of events. Its content fits Book Three's themes of sin, apostasy, backsliding, neglecting God, and destruction. God's focus here is on …
Psalms: Book Three (Part Three)
Sermon by Richard T. RitenbaughPsalms, Book Three has judging as a major, often front-and-center theme: God as righteous Judge, and the unjust judgment of rulers, judges, and common people who sin knowingly, as Micah 3:1 asks, "Is it not for you to know justice?" Its overall message is that God means what He says and does what He promises, so His people can …
Psalms: Book Three (Part Four)
Sermon by Richard T. RitenbaughBook Three of the Psalms shares a theme with Psalm 78, which it is said to carry throughout: recall God's past acts, mark His wondrous works, and learn the lessons from them, since He performed and recorded those miracles so that later generations could repent and strengthen their relationship with Him. Several psalms in the …
Psalms: Book Five (Part One): Psalms for the Winter Blues
Sermon by Richard T. RitenbaughPsalms, Book Three (Psalms 73-89) is treated only briefly, as one part of the Psalter's five-book structure. Five is tied to divine grace, and the five books of Psalms are matched with the five books of the Law, the five Festival Scrolls, and five festival seasons. Book Three corresponds to Leviticus, Lamentations, and the hot …
Psalm Genres (Part Four): Laments
Sermon by Richard T. RitenbaughBook Three contains 17 psalms, eight of them laments (47%) and six hymns of praise (35%). That places it midway in a steady shift across the five books of Psalms: laments are thickest early (59% of Book One, 65% of Book Two) and thin out to 24% in Book Four and 23% in Book Five, while praise hymns grow from 19% in Book Two to …
Lamentations (Part One)
Sermon by Richard T. RitenbaughBook Three of the Psalms belongs to a grid of connected sets: the five books of the Psalms, the five summary psalms, the five books of the Pentateuch, the five seasons, and the five books of the Megillah. Book Three pairs with Psalm 148 as its summary psalm, with Leviticus, with the season of summer, and with Lamentations, the …
Song of the Missing God
Sermonette by Jarod RitenbaughHow do we serve God when trials and tribulations crash around all our lives? Psalm 77 provides a solid answer for us.