Ethics and Behavior in the Psalms
Adapted from John Richard Sampey, “Psalms, Book of,” The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. http://www.studylight.org/enc/isb/view.cgi?number=T7141
- Ethical Ideals
- Behavior
- Psa 1 contrasts the righteous and wicked
- Psa 15 describes “What Sort of Man, Then, Would the Psalms Acclaim as Good?”
- Psa 131 proclaims humility
- Psa 133 magnifies brotherly love
- Psa 24:4 “a compend of ethics in a single sentence.”
- Speech—see Psa 12; 52; 120
- Ministering to the Needy
- Psa 82, justice
- Psa 41, kindness
- “The Ideal Ruler is both just and beneficent (Psalms 72:2,12-14).”
- Praying against the wicked
- “To be a good lover one must know how to hate.”
- Note:
- “We ought to study the psalms of imprecation in the light of their origin. They are poetry and not prose ... the psalmists pray with God's glory in view” (Ps 139:21).
- “We ought to use the imprecatory psalms in the light of our Lord's teaching. We cannot pronounce curses on our personal enemies.”