Because of its manifold treasures, the Psalter has been rightly referred to in many complementary ways. It has been called a book of praises (tehilim), a book of prayers, a book of songs of faith, a royal hymnbook, the hymnbook of the church, sacred space, a little Bible (Martin Luther), a great house (Jerome), etc.
It is long overdue to add a new and necessary description for this essential book for the life of the faithful. The Psalter should be viewed as a book for the humble. The proud need not (and won’t!) apply, as they cannot benefit from singing, praying, and/or meditating on it.
While there have been some excellent studies on YHWH’s concern for the poor in the Psalter (the so-called Armentheologie of Johannes Bremmer) and the worshipper’s posture as “poor and needy” within the Psalter’s structure (Kyle C. Dunham), the importance of humility for everyone who approaches this sacred space has not been emphasized.
This essay will demonstrate that humility is a sine qua non for engaging with the Psalter. The argument will start by looking at the key role of the first two psalms in the book. These twin pillars at the entrance of the book call the faithful worshippers to humbly submit to the Torah (Ps 1) and warn the proud and rebellious to be aware of judgment day and to “kiss the son” (Ps 2) in a posture of genuine humility. Thus, at the very beginning of the book, there is this double call to humility, one directed to the faithful, and the other to the rebellious. Without this posture of humility entrance in the sacred space of the Psalter is not possible.
The rest of the essay will provide support from select psalms for this pervasive call to humility. It will demonstrate that the Psalter uses multiple approaches to encourage a humble spirit: prayer/lament makes sense only for the humble (as the powerful proud will take matter in their own hands), the imitation of David as exemplar is the imitation of a humble king (Ps 131), entrance in the presence of the holy King (YHWH) is only possible because of His grace (chesed), and praise is the ultimate expression of humility as it forgets about self and exalts the ultimate power in the universe that can save and provide everlasting hope and joy.