Did the Psalms Expire at the Cross?

On Facebook, one poster claimed, "Psalms have already been crucified on the cross with Jesus.
====

Jesus twice refers to the Psalms as "law"; once in John 10:34, when his enemies were about to stone him, as "your law", when reminding them of their legal strictions was definitely apropos to his well-being; and once in John 15:25, as "their law" when referring to those who hated him, which again highlighted their hypocrisy. In both cases, Jesus "twists the knife" in that his enemies claim to live by God's law, but in reality violate it; they are violating their own "law", and he uses "their own law" against them.

What Jesus is not doing is declaring that the psalms are part of the Law of Moses. Every Jew in his culture knew there was a definite separation to the scriptures, so that the Law of Moses was different from the Prophets was different from the Psalms:

WEB Luke 24:44 He said to them, “This is what I told you, while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me must be fulfilled.”

In fact, the Hebrew name for what we call "the Old Testament" came from this three-fold division: the "TaNahK" is a pronunciation of the three initials of the Hebrew names for these three sections: Torah (the Law), Nevi'im (the Prophets), and Ketuvim (the Writings (aka the Psalms & like)).

The Tanahk itself testifies that the Law was given at Mt. Sinai and written in a book, finished, to not be added to, and stored with the ark of the covenant. Both the psalms and the prophets were written/compiled hundreds of years later. If the psalms were indeed "the Law", then they must have been written in that book hundreds of years before most of them had been composed. Now *that's* a miracle!

No, the psalms are not "the Law". The establishment of marriage for life, not being "the Law", was not crucified on the cross. The promise to never again drown the earth, not being "the Law", was not crucified on the cross. The promise to Abraham, not being "the Law", was not crucified on the cross. The command to use musical instruments in the temple, not being "the Law", was not crucified on the cross. And the psalms, not being "the Law", were not crucified on the cross.


Originally published at:
https://kentwest.blogspot.com/2018/01/did-psalms-expire-at-cross.html