I am preaching on Psalms 8 in a couple weeks. Any commentaries I should look at and/or stay away from?


Thanks!!!

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Benjamin P. Glaser
Pittsburgh, PA
Fairmount ARP Church

Student of Theology
Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary
My Blog

I preached on this Psalm last year. Calvin and Spurgeon were both helpful. Gerald Wilson's NIV Application Commentary was also helpful, especially on the original meaning. However, he is weak on application and Christology.

Though I didn't use it for this particular psalm, I've also found Delitzsch to be worthwhile on the psalms.

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Wes Bredenhof
Co-pastor, Langley Canadian Reformed Church
Langley, British Columbia
www.bredenhof.ca

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Richard
CofE
UK

email me and I will send you an annotated bibliography. joliff@comcast.net.

Enjoy the praise and theology of Israel - The Psalter.

John

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John
Evangelical Free Church, no offices held
Langhorne, PA

[B]δός δοξαν τῳ θεῳ.[/B]
[B]ιδου ποιω τα εσχατα ως τα πρωτα.
הבל הבלים[/B]

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Andrew Myers
Husband of Jessica, Father of Jackson, Katie and Samuel
Member, Presbyterian Reformed Church of Northern Virginia
Warrenton, VA USA
Editor, The Matthew Poole Project

"On land, at sea, at home, abroad, / I smoke my pipe and worship God." -- J.S. Bach

I'm a fan of Augustine's 6 vols. and Goldingay's (3 vols. - 2 published so far) among others already mentioned.
Westminster Bookstore - Reformed Books - Low Prices - Flat Fee UPS Shipping - Psalms

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Chris Rhoades -33
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church (PCA) Nashville, TN-Under Care

Vera theologia non theoretica, sed practica est; Finis siquidem eius agere est hoc est vitam vivere deiformem. - Martin Bucer
""True theology is not theoretical, but practical. The end of it is living, that is to live a godly life."

His interpretation is also a little off with regards to the metanarrative of the Psalter. But he is still important to read.

I would suggest Gill, Kidner and Dickson.

The Treasury of David
Calvin's Commentaries—Complete | Christian Classics Ethereal Library
John Gill's Exposition of the whole Bible.
CHURCH FATHERS: Expositions on the Psalms (Augustine)

There are a few I find myself using consistently:

JA Alexander
David Dickson
William S. Plumer
Keil and Delitzsch
Calvin

__________________
Rev. Todd Ruddell
Pastor, Christ Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church (RPCGA)
Wylie, TX
www.christcovenantreformedpc.org

Our best marks can contribute nothing to our justification, ...that is proper to faith. Faith cannot lodge in the soul alone, and without other graces; yet faith alone justifies before God.--G. Gillespie

John Owen on Hebrews 2 perhaps?

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Daniel Ritchie
Saintfield, Northern Ireland - Queen's University, Belfast:History/Politics
Member of Dromara Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland (Covenanter)

Benjamin,

In addition to all these fine suggestions above (and most of you suggested all the ones I was going to ), I also learn much from the insight of C.S. Lewis. He discusses Psalm 8 in "Reflections on the Psalms", about three or four pages from the end of that book. It's only a few pages worth, but it's full of good insight.

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Jacob Mearse
Racine Christian Reformed Church
Student, Reformed Theological Seminary (Virtual)
Lieutenant, U.S. Navy
Husband to April; Daddy to Wesley, Cyrus, and FaithMarie.

Among the authorities cited by Spurgeon in Treasury of David on Psalm 8 is Thomas Manton (his sermon on Psalm 8.2). You can find that online here (Volume 18):

Links and Downloads Manager - Theological Links - The Complete Works of Thomas Manton (22 Volumes) Online - The PuritanBoard

Dr. Barrick on Psalm 8 might be helpful.

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For the Glory of our King,
Joe Johnson
Married up in 1988 and blessed with two wonderful sons
TMS graduate
Preacherboy at Cornerstone Community Church, Escanaba, MI
http://www.SoundLife.org

Wow that was great Wannabee. Awesome!!!

I often try to find a narrative running through the Psalms. One thing I would point out concerning Ps. 8 is that it comes on the heel of laments (Pss. 3-7) and look at Ps. 7 a little closer:

It begins with David crying out in lament

"O LORD my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me: Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver."

It ends with David declaring:

"I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the LORD most high."

Now what is this praise? What is this song? Well now look at how Ps. 8 begins:

"O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens."

I would argue that Psalm 8 is the praise of Psalm 7. Indeed, now turn to Psalm 9 which begins:

"I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works."

So we have had 5 laments (Pss. 3-7) followed by two hymns of praise (Pss. 8 and 9).

1. "Interpreting the Psalms: Issues and Approach," edited by David Firth and Philip Johnson - 0830828338 - a great introduction to theological and exegetical issues - very current and readable.

2. "Psalms," Interpretation series, Lames L. Mays. 080243155x - EXCELLENT single volume commentary; the focus in this commentary is the big picture, not detailed exegesis. It is a "Preachers" commentary but does not compromise the content and issues surrounding Psalms studies.

3. "The Lord Reigns: A Theological Handbook to the Psalms," James L. Mays. 0664255582 - Theological and exegetical. Most of the Psalms covered in this tome are traditionally "messianic". Very readable.

4. "How To read the Psalms," Tremper Longman. 0877849412. Traditional in approach. Longman gives considerable attention to the nature of Hebrew Poetry. His approach to metaphor follows Aristotle (note: He does not give attention to conceptual metaphor - see below for an additional recommendation).

5. "The Psalms: An Introduction." James L. Crenshaw. 0802808549. Traditional approach to the Psalms - Poetry and some examples along with an introduction to the theological and exegetical issues.

6. Seeing the Psalms: A Theology of Metaphor. William P. Brown. 0664225020. An excellent introduction to the metaphor in the Psalms - this is a dense work, but beneficial to wade through - again, the methodology follow Aristotle's understanding of metaphor - see his "Poetics"

7.The Psalms through Three Thousand Years: Prayerbook of a Cloud of Witnesses. William Holladay. 0800630149 - an excellent treatment on how the Psalter has been approached. Attention is given not simply to the biblical Psalms, but also the ANET and its material. A great resource for church and personal study - this is somewhat critical.

8. Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture, B. Childs. 0800605322. Excellent work on the history and theology of the OT. Attention is given to the inter-textuality the Psalter plays within the OT.

9. An Introduction to the Old Testament: A Canon and Christian Imagination. Walter Brueggemann. Current, readable and reliable. WB engages the current situation of OT studies. The chapters are not long. This is great for the beginner of OT studies.

10. The Art of Biblical Poetry, Robert Alter. 046500430x. Tradition treatment of Hebrew poetry - again, following Aristotle.

11. The Idea of Biblical Poetry: Parallelism and its History. 0801859441. CRITICAL - if you do not read Hebrew, this will be somewhat frustrating. This is one of the standards in the field of biblical poetry.

12. More than Cool Reason: A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor. G. Lakoff anmd M. Turner. 0226468127. This is WONDERFUL - I just finished a course on reading and understanding metaphor, this was one of the primary texts I engaged. In 1980, cognitive linguistics begain working on the nature and meaning of metaphor - its conceptual nature. This is/was one of the ground breaking volumes in the study - a MUST READ for all Bible readers who wish to understand the metaphorical world(s) of the ancient biblical text/world...this book is a break from Aristotle's position in his Poetics.

13. Metaphors we Live by. G. Lakoff and M. Johnson. 0226468011 - following the above, with more detail and explanation. Again, following cognitive linguistics.

14. Metaphor: A practical Introduction. Zoltan Kovecses. 0195145119. Following the above two titles in theory, this book has exercises at the end of each chapter. A very good introduction.

15.Psalms, Vol 1. The NIV Application Commentary. G. Wilson. 0310206359. An excellent, current commentary on Psalms by one of the foremost scholars of our generation. This is a MUST.

Ok, that is enough. I have 200 or so articles as well, but they are not catalogued yet. Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Grace, peace and the hope of the resurrection.

John

Glad you liked it. I often turn to his web site for insights into psalms. I'm working on Ps 127 right now, but he's not that far yet. He's working a Psalms commentary that will hopefully come out within the next couple of years. But it's been slow going for him. His ability with languages is no less than incredible (he taught his Hebrew professor how to use the Latin margin and foot notes in the Hebrew Bible).

Longman & Kidner.

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Kevin Rogers
Sovereign Community Church, PCA
Moncton NB

Bruce Waltke

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Stephen Welch
PCA Teaching Elder
Nova Scotia

IMO Futato's introduction is better than Longman.Amazon.com: Interpreting the Psalms: An...