The Structure of the Commentaries
Those who read these commentaries from week to week will notice that I always follow the same four-part structure. I did not invent this pattern. It was developed during the Middle Ages and handed down through the centuries by many Christian commentators of the Hebrew Scriptures / Old Testament. Allow me to review these four parts.
The first concerns the “literal” meaning of the psalm, in other words, what the author meant when he or she wrote it. I call this first part “Original meaning.” It’s not easy to get this right since we are dealing with texts written in a foreign language, in a long-vanished era and in a context we have difficulty imagining. There is a lot of conjecture or guess-work involved with the psalms because we rarely know exactly when each of them was composed. The work of biblical specialists or exegetes is essential here if we are to get an adequate reading of the text.
The second part deals with the “allegorical” meaning of the psalms. It arises from the belief that there is a deep connection between the Hebrew and the Christian Scriptures (the Old and the New Testaments.) This reading tries to identify these connections and to see how Jesus fulfilled the older writings, how the Christian writers teased new meanings out of them. I call this second section “In the light of the Gospel.”
The third part I entitle “Application to Christian living.” The medieval writers called this the “moral” or “tropological” meaning of the psalms. The intention here is clear: to understand the implications of the psalm for Christian readers today. How does the psalm invite us to act, what does the psalm call us to choose, which virtues does the psalm compel us to embrace, which vices does the psalm move us to reject? Unless the psalm has an impact in our way of living, it is only an ancient if beautiful poem. If I have decided to commit the time and energy to writing these weekly commentaries, it is because I believe the psalms are much more than works of literature: they are God’s living Word, enlightening us, challenging us, consoling us, inviting us to be transformed and so become fully alive.
The final part of my commentary, “The big picture,” is dedicated to what the ancients called the “anagogical” meaning of the psalms. This meaning pertains to our ultimate destiny, beyond death and into everlasting life. It invites us to consider the text from a mystical, eternal perspective and to contemplate it with God’s own eyes.
If you really want to get full use out of these humble commentaries, open your Bible, read the psalm, study my article, then read the psalm again, prayerfully. Each time you do so, new meanings will spring to mind, new connections will become evident, new insights will dawn. And God’s Word will be for you a living word.