Friday, March 28, 2008

IDEA: Even though the Psalms were written by people in another day, to people in another day, they can benefit us as Christians today.

PURPOSE: To convince listeners of the benefits of the Psalms.

When people say that they "love the Psalms," what do they mean? People love the Psalms, but they may not mean all of the psalms.

I. The Psalms present some difficulties in studying them.

They deal with metaphor and simile.

What is the difference between a metaphor and a simile?

Metaphor is an implied comparison in contrast to the explicit comparison of a simile.

We deal with metaphor:

One has to think about the intent of the metaphor. In Psalm 59:7, enemies spew out swords from their lips. What does that mean? In Psalm 23, the shepherd and sheep are metaphors. Is the psalmist saying that we should act like sheep or that we should live in a rural setting, avoiding cities? If we're not careful, we can choose the wrong comparison.

We also deal with simile:

Again, we have to think of the image involved and what it makes us imagine and feel. Psalm 131 is an example of simile.