MESSIAH PRAYERS – Psalms 41 & 72 – 5-10-26

Working through history's greatest hymnal one Psalm at a time, we may not realize or remember the bigger picture of how the collection is organized. Mirroring the Books of Moses, the psalter is also a 'Pentateuch'. The psalms are arranged in five books beginning with songs 1 through 41, followed by book two: 42-72, book three: 73-89, book four: 90-106, and finally book five: 107-150. Each final song of books 1-4 closes with a doxology verse proclaiming: "Blessed be the Lord..." Finally the crescendo and universal call to worship is proclaimed in the final Psalm (150:6) "..Let everything that has breath. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! closing book 5. In our overview messages on the Psalter, let us consider closing themes from each set of songs and the big picture message they proclaim summarizing history's greatest hymnal. (Today we consider the first 2 examples. These will be followed in our next Psalm sermon with the same headings and 3 further points: COVENANTAL, INTERCESSION, EXILE INTERCESSION, AND WORSHIP