Theological Themes of Psalms - Robert D. Bell

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43 psalms contain at least one verse, not surprising because praise is so prevalent in this Book and God’s goodness is a primary topic for praise.

      Vocabulary for Blessing

      It takes some discerning thought to establish a list of terms in Psalms that would identify the verses on this theme of God’s blessing and goodness. Most of the relevant words have meanings and uses that fit other topics, and it is necessary to examine carefully many of the verse contexts. In some cases it is not even possible to be sure about the boundaries of these topics. Table 5.1 lists five key words that directly relate to God’s beneficent nature or work. We must start, however, with three nouns listed in Table 5.2 that will lead us to the other words. The Hebrew word בְּרָכָה (berakah), “blessing,” best represents the subject of this chapter. It appears 71 times in the Old Testament and nine times in Psalms, but only six of these are relevant here. One of these appears in a significant sentence: “The blessing of the Lord be upon you” (129:8b). In the very next sentence we find the verb related to this noun: “we bless you in the name of the Lord” (129:8c).114 This verb, ברך (barak), “to bless,” occurs over 300 times in the Old Testament, 74 times in Psalms, but many cases are not relevant for this chapter. When men “bless” God they are really praising Him. In a later chapter Table 25.1 lists those cases. There are, however, 24 uses of the verb in Psalms that refer to the benefits that God grants. In 112:1–2 we can recognize אַשְׁרֵי (’asherey), “blessed,”115 as a synonym for ברך (barak),116 which occurs at the end of verse two. The former word occurs 26 times in the book, 24 times117 concerning advantages that come from God for someone.

      The verb ברך (barak) leads us in our search to two Hebrew nouns for the concept of goodness. At the end of 65:10 God blesses agriculture; then the next verse says, “Thou crownest the year with thy goodness.” The promise of 128:5 is that “The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good [“prosperity,” NASB; literally, “goodness”] of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.” The nouns translated “goodness” in these verses are respectively טוֹבָה (towvah) and טוּב (tuwv). Though they are used in Psalms infrequently, they point to the etymologically related adjective טוֹב (towv), “good,” which is often used substantively (“a good thing” or “benefit”). This last term is joined in 21:3 with word בְּרָכָה (berakah): “the blessings of goodness.” The adjective טוֹב (towv) occurs almost 500 times in the Old Testament and 60 times in Psalms, 31 of which are relevant to God’s goodness.

      It is difficult to think of this goodness without being mindful of His giving. The two are explicitly connected in 84:11 (“the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly”), 85:12a (“Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good”), and 104:28 (“when you give … they are filled with good things,” NRSV). After David requests God to give him strength, he says, “Show me a sign of Your goodness [טוֹבָה, towvah]” (HCSB). In 115:15–16 the two verbs ברך (barak) and נתן (nathan) are associated: “blessed by the Lord … He has given to the human race,” HCSB). Thus the common verb נתן (nathan), “to give,” used 94 times in Psalms, is relevant to our topic 31 times (spread over all five books).

      The nouns טוֹבָה (towvah) and טוּב (tuwv) as well as the adjective טוֹב (towv) lead us to another important word. For the first noun the connection occurs in 86:15–17, for the second in 25:7, and for the third word in the familiar 23rd Psalm: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life” (v. 6a). Additionally, the psalmists associate טוֹב (towv) with this word in the repeated statement, “O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever” (106:1; 118:1, 29; 136:1). Used 249 times in the Old Testament and 129 times in Psalms and usually translated as “mercy” or “lovingkindness,” חֶסֶד (khesed) has two main meanings.118 (1) This is an important covenant term, referring to benevolence in action because of a prior agreement or relationship—in other words, loyalty. Certainly references to God’s faithfulness and probably appeals for His saving acts are indications that the word is being used in this sense.119 (2) Sometimes, however, the term refers just to an act of kindness or love without calling attention to any covenant bond. In these cases the term can be parallel to “gracious” (חַנּוּן, khannuwn) and is really a synonym for “goodness.” The KJV reflects this second meaning in the Old Testament fifty times by translating it as simply “kindness” (twice in Psalms) or “goodness” (7x in Psalms). It is this second category of occurrences in Psalms that I have attempted to chart in Table 5.1, while recognizing the difficulty of precisely making this distinction.120 I identified 38 such uses, occurring in all five Books of Psalms, almost evenly divided except for Book III.

      In Psalm 29:11 David says, “The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace,” thus linking God’s giving (נתן, nathan) and blessing (ברך, barak) with an additional term: שָׁלוֹם (shalowm), used 237 times in the Old Testament and 27 times in Psalms. In about seven of these cases it is an expression of God’s goodness.121 For example,

      Table 5.1 Key Terms for Blessing

Hebrew words: ברך אַשְׁרֵי טוֹב נתן חֶסֶד
barak ’asherey towv nathan khesed
Psalm to bless fortunate good to give kindness
1: 1 8
2: 12
4: 7
5: 12 7
17: 7
18: 35
20: 4
21: 3 2, 4
23: 6 6
25: 8 6, 7
28: 9

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