Answering the Psalmist's Perplexity: New-Covenant Newness in the Book of Psalms (Volume 62)

New Studies in Biblical Theology #62

by James Hely Hutchinson, D.A. Carson (Series Editor)

"Give thanks to YHWH, for he is good, for his covenant faithfulness endures for ever" (Ps 136:1). There are now numerous models that seek to explain how the biblical covenants relate to one another. In an attempt to evaluate these models, James Hely Hutchinson mines the rich seams of the book of Psalms in this New Studies in Biblical Theology volume. After covering the key data on covenant relationships in Books 1–3 of the psalter, Hutchinson considers the perplexity expressed in the pivotal Psalm 89: in the face of the exile, the promises to David appear to be null and void. The building blocks of the solution lie with the first five books of the Bible, chiefly with the inviolable character of the promises to Abraham. However, if the Abrahamic covenant is to reach fulfilment, the problem of sin must be dealt with once and for all, and a glorious new-covenant regime must be established in which a host of covenants converge in their fulfilment. Central to this regime, which lies beyond the exile, is the eternal rule of David's superior, righteous seed and son who is also a perpetual priest and a suffering servant. Identifying new-covenant newness as "eschatological satisfaction (fulfilment)" and "transcendent inauguration," Hutchinson tackles a range of matters that contribute to our understanding of the contours of redemptive history, with the overall aim to enhance readers' grasp of God's breathtaking salvation plan, ability to handle Scripture aright, and worship of the Master. Addressing key issues in biblical theology, the works comprising New Studies in Biblical Theology are creative attempts to help Christians better understand their Bibles. The NSBT series is edited by D. A. Carson, aiming to simultaneously instruct and to edify, to interact with current scholarship and to point the way ahead.

272 pages, Paperback

Published January 9, 2024

Reviews

[Will Cunningham-Batt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I had the privilege of being asked to read and feedback on this book as part of my studies, where James is one of my lecturers and a good friend and mentor. It was a joy to do so and I’m excited for many people to read and benefit from this wonderful entry into the NSBT series.

On the one hand, the book is trying to answer quite a specific question: what is new about the new covenant according to the book of Psalms? On the other hand, this volume accomplishes much more besides, including exploring the relationship between all the biblical covenants in general, showing how the Psalter tells a rich and coherent story, and supremely, how this books sets forth the hope of a Messianic king.

It’s rigorous, often technical, and the fruit of many decades of thinking - and the summary chapter is worth the price of the book in my view! What I love most is how the book provides an example of the way in which listening carefully to the message of a whole Bible book can bring light to ongoing thorny theological questions. As such, it would be wonderful if ‘Answering the Psalmist’s Perplexity’ breathed fresh air into the sometimes stale debates about how the covenants fit together. Whether it does that or not, it will certainly help many people to read the Psalms more attentively and, as a result, to love the Son of God more deeply.

Psalm 148:14 - He has raised up a horn for his people, praise for all his saints, for the people of Israel who are near to him. Praise the LORD!

[Tim Sheppard · Rating 4 out of 5]

The psalms are beloved as the "songbook of God's people", and rightly so - but it is easy to miss the careful construction of this book of the Bible. Its divinely inspired collection of 150 songs have been arranged in order to raise and address a crucial question: how do the biblical covenants (especially the Davidic and new covenants) relate to one another?

In his book, Hely Hutchinson has set himself to walk through the contours of the psalter and convey this often-ignored message. Having laid out evangelicalism's answers to that question, he begins by establishing that the books of psalms are self-consciously addressing it, and then steps through the psalms (especially the second half) in order to see their glorious answer.

I was very impressed with this extraordinarily ambitious book - in under 200 pages, it covers a huge amount of ground, with careful attention given not only to gathering data, but to communicating the reasons why particular conclusions have been drawn. I was struck by the speed with which it moved, and yet the detail that it covered. It is extremely well-researched, with extensive options for extra reading (though, disappointingly for a monolinguist like myself, much of Hely Hutchinson's other work to which he refers often is written in French!).

It's not an easy read - it is not unusual to read sentences such as "as long as the Sinaitic covenant remains in force, we are exposed to the 'pedagogy of failure' (Ps. 106) pending the recapitulation of Sinaitic-covenant types" (p172) ... (though help is given to understand many of those phrases!). Furthermore, as an academic book, it is lacks the devotional or celebratory reflections on the message that some other NSBT volumes have been able to include. However, to criticise the book on such grounds would surely be a category error; this is intended to be an academic volume, and to contain so much in so few pages was always set to be a challenge.

Assessed against its goal as a book, perhaps I should have given it 5 stars ... but while it is an excellent contribution to the NSBT series, it stops just short of the series' very greatest examples (e.g. on Leviticus or Acts). Nonetheless, if you're eager to explore greater depths to the psalms - oh-so-familiar-and-yet-strikingly-unfamiliar as they are! - then I commend this to you. I'm enormously grateful for the years (decades?) of work that stands behind this volume, and will be returning to it for reference whenever I teach this part of the Bible. As James M. Hamilton rightly said in his own review, "if you can’t get to Belgium to take his class in French, avail yourself of what he has provided for you in this book."

[Ben Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very technical but lots of helpful insights, mainly answering the Q: what is the new about the new covenant according to the Psalms? The answer is found in the convergence of the covenants in Books 4 & 5, which answers the Psalmist's perplexity in Ps 89:49.- 'the fulfilment of the NC depends on the realization of the Davidic Covenant and will manifest itself in the realization of the Abrahamic covenant'. Interesting to read alongside Kingdom through covenant, a position JHH aligns with. Great stuff on structure/flow of the Psalter and the nature of the NC in relation to other covs, but obviously a lot more remains to be said about that! Cue Kingdom through covenant/Progressive covenantalism....

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary: How would God fulfill the promise of an everlasting Davidic throne when the kingship had ended in exile?

Psalm 89 poses an agonizing question. God had promised (Psalm 89:3-4):

You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David my servant,
‘I will establish your line forever
and make your throne firm through all generations.

Yet with the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC, the line of kings had ended and the throne had fallen (Psalm 89:38-39):

But you have rejected, you have spurned,
you have been very angry with your anointed one.
You have renounced the covenant with your servant
and have defiled his crown in the dust.

And so the psalmist asks (v. 46):

How long, Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?
How long will your wrath burn like fire?

This is the psalmist’s perplexity alluded to in the title of this work. How would God keep his covenant, when by exile it appeared null and void? The question is one set against the backdrop of prior covenants with Adam, Noah, Abraham, and at Sinai. And there is the question of whether and how these covenants find fulfillment in the new covenant.

James Hely Hutchinson believes the Psalms have much to contribute to our understanding of a question that spans the whole of scripture. After laying out his approach, Hutchinson reviews the spectrum of covenant-relationships. This spans a continuum of seven positions from Westminster covenantalism to classic dispensationalism.

Then over three chapters, he elaborates how the Psalms reflect the covenant relationships. Chapter three covers Psalms 1-89, setting the stage for the perplexing conclusion of book three of the psalms in Psalm 89. He begins with Psalm 2, key, he believes, in setting a new covenant agenda. Chapter 4 then shows how Book four of the Psalms (90-106) provides building blocks to answer that complexity, particularly in envisioning the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant closely tied to the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant. Chapter five shows how Book five (Psalms 107-150) reflects the outworking of the answer in the convergence of all the covenants and their fulfillment in the new covenant.

Hutchinson proceeds to consider the import of the law for the new-covenant believer. He argues for continuity without seeing the new covenant as a renewal of the Sinaitic legislation. From here he proceeds to summarize his argument and how the covenant relationships answer the Psalmist’s perplexity. He summarizes his argument in twenty-eight statements and evaluates the seven models from Chapter 2, concluding that progressive covenantalism most closely corresponds to his study of the Psalms. Five appendices expand on particular details in his study.

There were several aspects of the work I especially appreciated. One was looking at the Psalms through the ‘hinge point” of the question in Psalm 89. His discussion suggestion a structure to the psalter I had not previously seen. And his discussions of the transitions between books three, four, and five were especially interesting.

At the same time, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. spoke of “the simplicity on the other side of complexity.” In this case, I felt Hutchinson never got to a “simplicity on the other side of perplexity.” His discussion proceeds from one intertextual discussion to the next. The fact that he needed to summarize his argument in 28 statements that he distills into two abstractions (eschatological satisfaction and transcendent inauguration) suggests to me that he never quite got there. I suspect that all but the most acute readers will find the argument in this book difficult to track.

That’s unfortunate, because the big idea of new covenant fulfillment of the prior covenants offers so much in helping the reader of scripture grasp the big story. In this case, I felt we spent so much time looking at all the trees that it was difficult to glimpse the overstory of the whole forest. I hope this author will keep working on unpacking that story.

_____________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

[Alex McEwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This work is a standout addition to an already excellent series. While the series consistently offers valuable insights, it occasionally veers away from direct ministry relevance or accessibility to lay audiences. However, this particular work breaks that pattern by being remarkably accessible to lay readers and had the potential to reshape modern Reformed teaching on the Psalms. This short book might be the final nail in the coffin for the summer series on the Psalms and usher in a new age of serious preaching throughout the entire book.

Too often, we view the Psalms merely as a hymnal found halfway through the Old Testament. Yet, this book convincingly argues for the thematic unity of the Psalms and their connection to the entire canon of Scripture.

From an editorial standpoint, this work stands out as one of the most unique in the NSBT series. While many entries in the series tend to draw from the same scholars and themes, this work provided fresh insights with every turn of the page.

Furthermore, it strikes a perfect balance between being the result of a scholar's lifelong study and remaining accessible to readers without overwhelming them with overly academic language or concepts.

[Michael G · Rating 3 out of 5]

I stopped reading about two thirds the way through. I have given it three stars because the book likely holds material value for a theologian or student. But for the intelligent layman, it is far too dense and convoluted. In a way this is a four-five star book for a theologian and a one-two star book for the intelligent layman.

A pity, because I very much enjoyed a series of weekend talks given by James H-H on the psalms, where it was clear he went to significant effort to make his style more accessible (he had received feedback on this in the past).

Again, continuing the trend of this series being inconsistent in terms of both quality and accessibility.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, though the writing was slightly stilted and not the most elegant (but, English is Hutchinson's second language...which puts occasional awkward syntax into perspective!). The basic argument is that a careful analysis of the Psalter, especially Books 4 and 5, shows a development in new covenant expectations: the coming covenant arrangement will fulfill the preceding covenants but gloriously transcend them. It's a well argued, textually based, and theologically satisfying exploration of the shape of the Psalter and new covenant dynamics.

[Thomas Creedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a tremendous pleasure to work on - with both Carson and Gladd as series editors. Hely Hutchinson weaves together different threads and expertises, from covenantal explorations to the shape of the Psalter.

It'll ruffle some feathers - I was delighted that one Presbyterian potential endorser said they wouldn't endorse it, but it made them think - but I think does something new and interesting for both the series, and Covenant/Psalter studies generally.