The writer of the letter to the Hebrews takes the substance of the dialogue between the Father and the Son almost exclusively from the Psalms. This fact alone should make us rethink our reading of the Old Testament. If we read the Psalter as the writer to that letter did, there is a conversation going on between God the Father and God the Son and we who read are somehow in it.
Here are the uses of the Psalms in Hebrews sorted in the order of their occurrence in the text. I realize, by the way, that several of the psalms are cited from the Greek version, but I don't do Greek and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews was not ignorant of some Hebrew, at least as far as glossing Melchizedek and Salem. (And the author took that word apart into its pieces to explain its meaning too -tsk tsk - a translation trap!) If I notice a significant difference between the Hebrew and the Greek which I reference from 'A Comparative Psalter' Ed John R. Kohlenberger III, it will emerge...
| Text | Translation | Reference | Meanderings | |
| Above the Angels | ||||
| יְהוָה אָמַר אֵלַי בְּנִי אַתָּה אֲנִי הַיֹּום יְלִדְתִּיךָ | יְהוָה said to me My son you are, I today have birthed you | Psalm 2:7 Hebrews 1:5 (also Acts 13:33) | It is the Son speaking and declaring the decree concerning himself (see also 2 Samuel 7:14). Today is the one day of creation and redemption. There is but one and that one ever. (Geo. Herbert) i.e. this is not 'adoptionism' unless you want to limit your perception in time. | |
| הִשְׁתַּחֲווּ־לֹו כָּל־אֱלֹהִים (The grammar is hithpael imperative of שחה. reflexive / reciprocal? See Lambdin p 249 - incomprehensible!) | Worship him all gods | Psalm 97:7 [or Deut 32:43 LXX HT Brian Small] Hebrews 1:6 | The context of these few words of verse 7 is idolatry. This psalm is one of the royal sequence in the middle of Book 3. It is about the worship of יְהוָה as king. Hebrews implies that the Son is to be worshiped as יְהוָה himself. The king of Psalm 2 is identified implicitly then with יְהוָה.We are not distant, however, and should consider ourselves represented in the person of the Son - not by our presumption but by his choice. (Otherwise, how could we be a part of this conversation?) | |
| עֹשֶׂה מַלְאָכָיו רוּחֹות מְשָׁרְתָיו אֵשׁ לֹהֵט | making his angels spirits, his ministers, fire flaming | Psalm 104:4 Hebrews 1:7 | This is the first of the last three psalms of Book 3 - It is downplaying angels. | |
| כִּסְאֲךָ אֱלֹהִים עֹולָם וָעֶד שֵׁבֶט מִישֹׁר שֵׁבֶט מַלְכוּתֶֽךָ אָהַבְתָּ צֶּדֶק וַתִּשְׂנָא רֶשַׁע עַל־כֵּן מְשָׁחֲךָ אֱלֹהִים אֱלֹהֶיךָ שֶׁמֶן שָׂשֹׂון מֵחֲבֵרֶיךָ | Your throne O God is now and for ever a sceptre of equity the sceptre of your kingdom You have loved righteousness and hate wickedness therefore God your God has anointed you with oil of rejoicing with your companions | Psalm 45:6-7 Hebrews 1:8-9 | Like Psalm 2, Psalm 45, (My heart is inditing...) of the royal wedding, is addressed to the king of Israel. So the writer to the Hebrews is interpreting the address to the king as an address to the Son of whom he speaks. | |
| לְפָנִים הָאָרֶץ יָסַדְתָּ וּֽמַעֲשֵׂה יָדֶיךָ שָׁמָיִם הֵמָּה יֹאבֵדוּ וְאַתָּה תַעֲמֹד וְכֻלָּם כַּבֶּגֶד יִבְלוּ כַּלְּבוּשׁ תַּחֲלִיפֵם וְיַחֲלֹֽפוּ | in the face of the earth you established and the work of your hands, the heavens. These will perish but you - you will stand and they all like clothing will decay as a garment you will change them and they will be changed but you are the same - and your years will not end | Psalm 102:25-26 Hebrews 1:10-12 | Psalm 102 is about faces- A prayer of the poor when disabled, before the face of יְהוָה he pours out his talk. The Greek misses the sounds of the Hebrew as any translation almost inevitably does. But the Lord of psalm 102 is not the complainant (the poor) - for the days of the complainant vanish like smoke (v3) in contrast to unending years. So in this case is the writer to the Hebrews allowing the end of the psalm to be a promise addressed to the poor who complains? This becomes a Messianic psalm under such a reading. | |
| נְאֻם יְהוָה לַאדֹנִי שֵׁב לִימִינִי עַד־אָשִׁית אֹיְבֶיךָ הֲדֹם לְרַגְלֶיךָ | a proclamation of יְהוָה to my Lord Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool | Psalm 110:1 Hebrews 1:13 (also Matthew 22:44, Acts 2:34-35, 1 Peter 3:22) | Another royal psalm of a king is applied to the Son. At an earlier time I wrote: let the one who was wounded for us and whose head is lifted up judge those who rule and lead them to drink from the torrent of life-giving water that flowed from his side. May the king live these words into us so that we can understand. | |
| כִּי מַלְאָכָיו יְצַוֶּה־לָּךְ לִשְׁמָרְךָ בְּכָל־דְּרָכֶיךָ | for he will instruct his messengers about you to keep you in all your ways | Psalm 91:11-12 Hebrews 1:14 (also Matthew 4:6, Luke 4:10-11) | This is barely an allusion but puts the place of angels clearly in service to humanity. | |
| Humanity and its role in creation from suffering to praise | ||||
| מָה־אֱנֹושׁ כִּי־תִזְכְּרֶנּוּ וּבֶן־אָדָם כִּי תִפְקְדֶנּוּ וַתְּחַסְּרֵהוּ מְּעַט מֵאֱלֹהִים וְכָבֹוד וְהָדָר תְּעַטְּרֵהוּ תַּמְשִׁילֵהוּ בְּמַעֲשֵׂי יָדֶיךָ כֹּל שַׁתָּה תַחַת־רַגְלָיו | What is humanity, that you remember it? and the child of the dust that you visit? Yet you filled it less just a little less than God and with glory and adorning crown it. You give it reign over the works of your hands, all you put under its feet | Psalm 8:4-6 (5-7 MT) Hebrews 2:6-9 (also 1 Corinthians 15:27, Ephesians 1:22) | The service note leads the writer directly to Psalm 8 (somewhere there is a passage!) And the identification of Jesus with the אֱנֹושׁ of Psalm 8 lets us consider his role in tasting death for all. | |
| אֲסַפְּרָה שִׁמְךָ לְאֶחָי בְּתֹוךְ קָהָל אֲהַלְלֶֽךָּ | I will declare your name to my kin In the midst of the congregation I will praise you | Psalm 22:22 (23 MT) Hebrews 2:12 | The tasting of death leads immediately to Psalm 22 where the motif of death and resurrection is clear. (see also Psalm 35:18, 40:9, 149:1) | |
| Entering the Rest - re-framing Torah through a reading of the Psalms | ||||
| הַיֹּום אִם־בְּקֹלֹו תִשְׁמָעוּ אַל־תַּקְשׁוּ לְבַבְכֶם כִּמְרִיבָה כְּיֹום מַסָּה בַּמִּדְבָּר אֲשֶׁר נִסּוּנִי אֲבֹותֵיכֶם בְּחָנוּנִי גַּם־רָאוּ פָעֳלִי אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה אָקוּט בְּדֹור וָאֹמַר עַם תֹּעֵי לֵבָב הֵם וְהֵם לֹא־יָדְעוּ דְרָכָי אֲשֶׁר־נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי בְאַפִּי אִם־יְבֹאוּן אֶל־מְנוּחָתִי | Today if you hear his voice do not harden your heart in rebellion as if it was the day of testing in the wilderness when your fathers tested me examined me and saw my work forty years I put up with a generation and I said these people wander in their hearts and they do not know my ways so I swore in my anger they will not come to my rest | Psalm 95:7-11 Hebrews 3:7-11, 15, 4:7, 4:3-5 | Having laid out for us the exaltation of this man, Jesus, the Son as noted in Hebrews 1:2, we are then invited to consider our situation as 'his house'. Using Psalm 95, the Venite of traditional Mattins, the writer redefines the meaning of 'today' again. There must be a rest to be reached. (Note the anticipation of rest in the story of Ruth. בִּתִּי הֲלֹא אֲבַקֶּשׁ-לָךְ מָנוֹחַ my daughter do I not seek for you rest) There is work for us, and it is easy to get discouraged. But there also is fruitfulness, rest, and the oil of gladness. Is Psalm 95 one of the 'nice' psalms? Note how it redefines a false literal 7 day creation (as if it was necessary for the centuries to come). This redefinition is confirmed by the NT writers - particularly the writer of this letter and the writer of the Gospel of John. | |
| אַתָּה יָדַעְתָּ שִׁבְתִּי וְקוּמִי בַּנְתָּה לְרֵעִי מֵרָחֹֽוק אָרְחִי וְרִבְעִי זֵרִיתָ וְֽכָל־דְּרָכַי הִסְכַּֽנְתָּה | You - you know my sitting and my rising; you understand my thought from afar; my path and my lying down you sift; and all my ways you know intimately | Psalm 139:2-3 Hebrews 4:13 | The allusion is indirect to Psalm 139 and perhaps more fearful than the psalm, but it illustrates that we are known if indeed we allow such openness as is demonstrated continuously in the human psalmist. Let it never be said "I did not know you" for such knowledge is too precious. Not of the flesh, it is nonetheless truly and fully known in this earthen vessel. | |
| The High Priest as taught in the Psalms | ||||
| אֲסַפְּרָה אֶל חֹק יְהוָה אָמַר אֵלַי בְּנִי אַתָּה אֲנִי הַיֹּום יְלִדְתִּיךָ | I will declare the decree: יְהוָה said to me: My son you are, I today have birthed you | Psalm 2:7 Hebrews 5:5 | The sonship and priesthood are both declared by God | |
| נִשְׁבַּע יְהוָה וְלֹא יִנָּחֵם אַתָּֽה־כֹהֵן לְעֹולָם עַל־דִּבְרָתִי מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק | יְהוָה has sworn and will not repent you are a priest for ever of the order of Melchizedek | Psalm 110:4 Hebrews 5:6, 7:17, 21 | This little psalm is very important to the NT writers. | |
| זֶבַח וּמִנְחָה לֹֽא־חָפַצְתָּ אָזְנַיִם כָּרִיתָ לִּי עֹולָה וַחֲטָאָה לֹא שָׁאָֽלְתָּ אָז אָמַרְתִּי הִנֵּה־בָאתִי בִּמְגִלַּת־סֵפֶר כָּתוּב עָלָי לַֽעֲשֹֽׂות־רְצֹונְךָ אֱלֹהַי חָפָצְתִּי וְתֹורָתְךָ בְּתֹוךְ מֵעָי | sacrifice and offering you did not delight in, ears you have dug for me, burnt offering and sin offering you did not require, then I said Here I come, in the roll of the writing is inscribed of me, to do your will my God I delighted | Psalm 40:6-8 Hebrews 10:5-7 | Ears you have dug - or a body you have prepared. Ears reminds me of the servant song in Isaiah 50. Body is good too - the whole body is taught through the ear opened. Psalm 40 is delightful. This human is like the one who created Psalm 119. It is not piety but joy that moves a person so. | |
| נְאֻם יְהוָה לַאדֹנִי שֵׁב לִימִינִי עַד־אָשִׁית אֹיְבֶיךָ הֲדֹם לְרַגְלֶיךָ | a proclamation of יְהוָה to my Lord Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool | Psalm 110:1 Hebrews 10:12-13 | This psalm carries the thought of the author through 5 chapters. | |
| כִּי־יָדִין יְהוָה עַמֹּו וְעַל־עֲבָדָיו יִתְנֶחָם | for יְהוָה will judge his people and all his servants he will console | Psalm 135:14 Hebrews 10:30 | In the end, it should be noted that the judgment of יְהוָה is wholly positive. | |
| Confidence and Praise also learned from the Psalms | ||||
| בֵּֽאלֹהִים בָּטַחְתִּי לֹא אִירָא מַה־יַּעֲשֶׂה אָדָם לִי | In God I will trust I will not fear What will humus do to me? | Psalm 56:11 Hebrews 13:6 | on the disabled, mute, bound dove in the distance, of David, a miktam - the Psalms are the biggest and best book of the Bible. Read them all. | |
| יְהוָה לִי לֹא אִירָא מַה־יַּעֲשֶׂה לִי אָדָם | יְהוָה for me - I will not fear What can a human do to me? | Psalm 118:6 Hebrews 13:6 | Read a little further in Psalm 118 and you find destruction by circumcision. How does the Created order overcome its self-centered self-destructive actions? It chooses the sign of circumcision and in such prefigures the death of Jesus (Colossians 2:11).The gospel then invites self-destruction in Christ Jesus establishing our death and passage through judgment. The new life that follows confirms the rightness of the choice. Our choice - our being chosen. This is the narrow door of election and the means of digging our ears. | |
| זְבַח לֵאלֹהִים תֹּודָה וְשַׁלֵּם לְעֶלְיֹון נְדָרֶיךָ | Sacrifice thanksgiving to God and pay your vows to the Most High | Psalm 50:14 Hebrews 13:15 | A Sacrifice of thanksgiving is all that is left to do. Today was not an easy day - again I made lots of mistakes and had to undo them. My logic needs the cutting edge of others' criticism. I know it is no easier for anyone else. I will find thanksgiving in the blooms of the garden and in a restful weekend. | |
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