Prediking oor die profetiese stof van die Ou Testament

Abstract

Preaching the poetry of the Old Testament: The Psalms When preaching from the book of Psalms, it should be kept in mind that the book of Psalms as part of the poetry of the Old Testament contains the human answer of the believer to the revelation of God, as against other books of the Old Testament where the revelation is given directly, either by word or through the history of God’s people. Other typical facets of the Israelite belief as mirrored in the Psalms must also be kept in mind when explaining the individual psalms, e.g. the contrast between the righteous and the ungodly, the idea of retribution, the call for vengeance in quite a few of the psalms, and the pointing to the Messiah in some psalms. To gain a better understanding of the psalms a knowledge of the structure of Hebrew poetry is of the utmost importance. When a sermon is prepared on a theme from the Psalms, the specific Psalm should be analysed adequately, so that one can understand the main elements and the basic and specific content of the psalm. An analysis of Psalm 94 is used as an example to show how different kinds of analyses can lead to a better understanding of the psalm. This should, however, only be the first step to use the psalm as a theme for a sermon, although it remains an important step.