Do you enjoy learning through a good fictional story? Or do you prefer lists, facts and lectures? Recently my wife finished L.M. Montgomery’s novel, Jane of Lantern Hill. She shared a particular insight from the story to which I remarked that I had just read the same idea in Stephen Covey’s, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People! Same insight – two very different authors and writing methods.

(Reading time – 12 mins.)

When we look at the Psalm 24 question and answer sequence in verses 3-4, it’s possible to get a quick list answer and move on. The previous post, The Answer to Question, Part 2, looked at Abraham and Moses’ experiences in ascending the hill of the LORD. In their cases, ascending the hill of the LORD created crises. They needed to self-surrender to remedy their crises. Through Abraham and Moses, we saw righteousness demonstrated not as a completed checklist of actions but by walking through a crisis on the way to complete surrender.

Psalm 15 has the same question and answer sequence as Psalm 24. In between these Psalms, there is a carefully arranged sequence of poems, all written by King David, which tell a story. The story begins with King David, progresses through the line of kings, and finishes with a future King who suffers and eventually unleashes blessings for the whole earth. In her book, The Arrival of the King: The Shape and Story of Psalms 15-24¹, Carissa Quinn suggests that the character and symmetry of these poems relative to each other creates a unified story.

The Short Story

Psalms 16 to 23 tell a story of David and the kings from his line, not in a normal, narrative way, but in a sequence of poems. In Psalm 16, David celebrates the inheritance that God gave him, and how close he feels to God. Psalm 17 is a prayer of David, where he cries out for vindication, God’s presence, and for God to show loyalty to him at a time when his enemies want to kill him. Psalm 18 retells and reflects on the story of how God rescued David from Saul. Psalm 19 is all about the word of God being true, reliable, and good. Psalm 20 is a prayer asking, “God, when the King calls to you, answer him, from your holy mountain.” Similarly in Psalm 21, “May God answer the line of David, from the holy mountain.” Near the centre of the group is the famous Psalm 22, with the opening line, “My God, why have you forsaken me?” The previous poems prepared the way for the moment when the King (Messiah) from the line of David, experiences affliction at the hands of his enemies and cries out to God for help. God answers and the King moves from the lowest pit back up to the heights. King David describes a big worship feast in the temple courts where the suffering servant is going to celebrate what God did to deliver him, because God didn’t despise the afflicted one. Psalm 23 is a retelling of Psalm 22, with different language where the writer goes from the valley to the house of God on the hill of the LORD.²

Cluster and Chiasm

The What a Parade post introduced the Psalm 15 to 24 cluster as having a chiastic structure. A chiasm is a literary technique where a series of ideas is presented and then repeated in reverse order. Quinn suggested that Psalms 15 to 24 form a chiasm that can be visualized as follows:³

A: Psalm 15 – who may enter God’s presence
  B: Psalm 16 –trust and confidence
    C: Psalm 17 – distress and praise
      D: Psalm 18 – the Kings deliverance
        X: Psalm 19 – praising God’s creation and the Torah
      D: Psalms 20–21– the Kings deliverance
    C: Psalm 22 – distress and praise
  B: Psalm 23 –trust and confidence
A: Psalm 24 – who may enter God’s presence

The psalm cluster has a sense of progress, beginning with the question of who may ascend the holy hill (Ps. 15) and finishing with the divine King’s own ascent (Ps. 24).

Another way of visualising the group of poems is picturing a tent-like structure with Psalms 15 and 24 as the sides and Psalm 19 as the centre post. Starting from the outside and working towards the centre, the remaining poems fill in tent structure with Psalms 16 and 18 as the trust bridge, Psalms 17 and 22 as the reality of suffering, and Psalms 18, 20 and 21 as the King’s deliverance.

The Frame (Psalms 15, 24 and 19)

Psalms 15 and 24 pose the question of who may enter God’s presence and respond by describing qualities of the righteous person. Psalm 19, at the centre of the collection, provides a few tips for entering God’s presence. Psalm 19 can be divided into three parts: the beginning (vv. 2-7) is about creation; the centre (vv. 8-11) is about the words of the LORD, or the Torah; and the ending (vv. 12-15) shows God’s forgiveness from sins.

Like the sun, God is glorious (v. 1), and just as the sun moves from one end of the horizon to the other, nothing is hidden from God. The comparison shows that God knows King David’s sin but, in offering forgiveness, God is relentless to deliver the King and his people from their sin so that they can be innocent and blameless before him.

Psalm 19 shows that one may become righteous by aligning themselves with God’s creation and instructions and through the forgiveness of sin by God.

King David is not left to his own devices. The Psalm 43 writer points to the same guides for entering God’s presence, “Send out your light (sun) and truth (instruction) and let them guide me. Let them lead me to your holy mountain, to the place where you live” (v. 3).

The Trust Bridge (Psalms 16 and 23)

Psalms 16 and 23 are poems of confidence and trust – trust in God and security in God’s presence when trouble, even death, is very near. Psalm 16 opens with the call for God’s preservation followed by a declaration of trust. There is confidence in God watching over them (vv. 5-6), and security in God’s guidance and comfort (vv. 7-8). The poem ends with words of life, joy and satisfaction, “You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand” (v. 11).

While Psalm 16 emphasizes King David’s role in his security by calling on God, Psalm 23 emphasizes God’s role in providing that security. At the beginning of Psalm 23, God the Shepherd goes before the writer, and at the end God goes behind in loyal love and pursuit. The loyal love is not something King David has earned but is found in God’s presence – it is relational, not transactional. A central theme in both poems is the presence of God during dark times. Psalm 16 describes this as night (v. 7) while Psalm 23 describes this as “the valley of death-shadow.” In both cases King David declares his confidence or trust in God in those moments.

Psalms 15, 19 and 24 create a frame around the psalm cluster describing an ideal vision of the righteous one who can dwell in God’s presence. The Psalm 16 and 23 themes of trust and confidence in God form a bridge from the ideal vision of the frame to the real experiences of human suffering described in the next pair of poems (Ps. 17 and 22). Psalms 17 and 22 are laments based on those confident expectations being shaken amid suffering.

The Reality of Suffering (Psalms 17 and 22)

Psalm 17 begins with King David calling to God in distress and outlines his righteousness by describing his motives, speech and actions by the Psalm 15 and 24 checklists. King David then calls on God a second time by describing his vulnerability to the enemies who have surrounded him and declares his dependency on God, asking God to show his loyal love and provide refuge. Here King David shows his trust and confidence in God to deliver him also expressed in Psalms 16 and 23. The third and final call is followed with the confidence that God will arise, confront and deliver him from his enemies.

Psalm 22 opens with the words Jesus quoted in his ultimate suffering on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Psalm 22 also contains three requests to God for help. The first call (vv. 2-3) introduces the theme of abandonment and distance of God, and the writer pleads for God to draw near. In the second call, King David elevates the intensity of his request asking God to not be far (v. 12). His distress is intensified to the point where there is room for nothing else – he feels like he is on the brink of death. King David barely manages a third and final call where he pleads that, not only would God come close, but that He would save him (vv. 20-22).

Something happens between verses 22 and 23 of Psalm 22 where the King David’s attitude makes a 180-degree shift from lament to praise. God answered his petitions and rescued him. Carissa Quinn notes,

“Psalm 22 ends in a completely different place than it began – with people everywhere and from every time praising and feasting, all because of what Yahweh has done in rescuing the afflicted one.”⁴

The themes of suffering and deliverance in Psalms 17 and 22 help in our definition of the word righteousness – it involves trust in God. Psalms 17 and 22 use the language of trust together with righteousness as leading to deliverance from suffering. When combined with trust, righteousness takes on a relational aspect beyond adherence to a moral code.

The King’s Deliverance (Psalms 18, 20 and 21)

The historical context of Psalm 18 is David’s rescue from Saul (2 Samuel 22). Psalm 18 has three main parts. The starting and ending parts mirror one another in describing God’s deliverance of King David from his enemies. The middle part of the poem shifts its focus to the blameless character and loyal relationship between God and King David. God’s character is such that he will show loyal love to rescue and deliver the suffering king.

Psalm 20 also has three parts. At the beginning of the poem, there is a communal plea that God answer or save King David in the day of distress. The poem ends with the community praying that Yahweh would answer them by saving King David. The centre of the poem (v. 6) shifts the focus from prayer for King David to the result of his salvation for the people: joy and victorious celebration.

Psalm 21 has three parts and has the same main idea of Psalm 20 – praise to God for his strength. God’s strength is defined throughout the poem as his blessing of King David in various ways (beginning) and his destruction of King David’s enemies (ending). The middle part focuses on the reciprocal relationship of trust and loyal love between God and King David.

Psalms 20 and 21 are neighbouring psalms and the relationship between the two can be described in terms of request and fulfillment.⁴

In Psalm 20, the community pleads to God for King David’s salvation, and in Psalm 21 the community rejoices in this fulfilled petition. The people’s trust in God’s salvation of the King stands as the central focus of both poems.

Reading Psalms 18, 20, and 21 together shows that righteousness and trust are intertwined. The poems show that the relationship between God and King David was one of mutual faithfulness extending beyond actions to affection. It’s not just obedient actions, but obedience from the heart that God desires.

The Hinge

God’s deliverance of King David at the centre of the entire group of poems provides an additional element to the opening question, “who may ascend the mountain of the LORD?” The question is reframed by the royal psalms (Ps. 18, 20 and 21) as not only “who” but also “how.” The question of “how” is answered by God’s faithful actions on behalf of his faithful King David and the future Messiah. It is through God’s deliverance of his faithful King that all those who seek him will be invited into his presence.⁵

The righteous person who may ascend the hill of the LORD is one who has aligned themselves with God’s created order and his instruction and has been forgiven of their sins by God. Beyond these actions, the person has entered an affectionate and reciprocal relationship with God where they draw near to God in trust and confidence, no matter what the circumstances, and God draws near with his deliverance accomplished through the suffering servant.

We cannot enter God’s presence on our own merits or through our own efforts. God sends out the invitation to come into his presence, and he has provided the way. Like Abraham and Moses, we walk through our own individual crisis of surrendering our hearts to the deliverance provided by the suffering servant so that we can be in God’s presence and enjoy the Garden of Eden relationship for which we were created.

Up Next

I’ll be enjoying summer holidays. In the fall, I’ll continue with Psalm 24 and what it looks like to be in God’s presence.

Notes:

1. Carissa Quinn, The Arrival of the King: The Shape and Story of Psalm 15–24 (Bellingham: Lexham Press, 2023).
2. BibleProject Transcript, The Mountain Series Podcast, Episode 5, November 25, 2024 – Moses, The Intercessor on Mount Sinai        https://bibleproject.com/podcast/moses-intercessor-mount-sinai
3. Quinn, 121.
4. Quinn, 112.
5. Quinn, 151.