Psalm 145 at Breakfast/Lauds today is where David leads Israel in praise of the Lord. This poem is the first of 6 hymns that close the Psalter like a display of fireworks. The psalm is an acrostic, each parallel line beginning with a consecutive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. One letter (nun) was missing, here.

According to some the book of Psalms is not in the order in which it was written, but rather the Order of the Psalms is prophetic. Psalm 1=1901, Psalm 12=1912, Psalm 44=1944, Psalm 100=2000, Psalm 118=2018 etc If that's true then this year is Psalm 126, (see Dinner/Vespers) which talks about the return of the people of Zion to Israel (which has and is happening). It states 'Those Who Sow in Tears Shall Reap with Joy', indeed the theme of all our readings today is that of God calling us and especially his people the Jews.

The individual Psalms themselves are acclaimed prophetic – especially the ones written by David. David himself on his deathbed declared that they were prophetic:

David, sweet psalmist of Israel:
The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me,
And his word was on my tongue. - 2 Samuel 23:2

When it comes to the order of them, the last few are songs of triumphant praise of God, which would fit nicely with Revelations prophecy since we know who’s going to win in the end. But the facts are apparently, since the Torah was 5 books the Jewish Bible split Psalms into 5 divisions. In addition to this fivefold division the Rabbis have arranged the book in seven portions, one for each day of the week, and pious Israelites repeat the entire book once a week.

Many of the Psalms are prayed rather than just sung. Indeed they are read by the Jews on every important occasion; on the Sabbath and on week-days, on their feasts and fasts, in times of joy and in times of sorrow, in sickness and bereavement, at weddings and at funerals, when in peril on sea and when in danger on land.

Christians also, find ourselves frequently repeating portions of psalms when in trouble (the 23rd Psalm in particular) or in many different situations. Many say Psalms is their favourite book of the Bible, this wonderful part of God’s Word finds an echo in the hearts of men of all nationalities. There is no phase of human experience that does not strike a chord in this song book. Though essentially a Jewish hymn book it has become a precious inheritance for us all. The sinner and the sorrowful the happy and the grateful, we can find in it just what we need to express our situation at any given time. It lays bare to our view the sinful human heart, and shows us God’s solution (yes there are Psalms about the Messiah – Jesus), reason indeed to praise the Lord.