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*This review first appeared in the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society (JETS) Vol. 64, No. 2, June 2021 p.376-78. It is reprinted here with permission.

Christ’s Psalms, Our Psalms: Study Resource. Edited by Peter H. Holtvlüwer. 4 vols. Carman, MB: Reformed Perspective Press, 2020, 1785 pp., $70.00 set (USD).

This four-volume commentary on the Psalms is a serendipitous discovery, written by Canadian Reformed pastors, and is an absolute delight to read.

The introduction to the book of Psalms is 51 pages long, written by Peter Holtvlüwer, the general editor. In it, he first introduces the reader to the Study Re­source; this introduction includes a brief explanation of the work’s Christ-centered focus, the chapter template (more on that below), and a survey of psalm types (gen­res), with a long excursus devoted to the “Imprecatory Psalms.”

Second, Holtvlüwer introduces the reader to the book of Psalms as a whole. Here, he discusses the Psalter’s “general characteristics” (e.g., the five-book struc­ture, sub-groupings, its wisdom flavor, etc.); the Psalter’s story (a helpful survey of contents dependent on Futato’s work, that Psalm 1 introduces the purpose of the book and Psalm 2 its message); psalm titles and authorship (Davidic authorship is accepted); David as Israel’s teacher (i.e., the role he plays as Israel’s shepherd-king); a brief discussion of technical terms; and some comments on the nature and im­portance of the Septuagint. The forty-eight endnotes (three pages) indicate that Holtvlüwer is aware of contemporary scholarly discussions, but he is not fixated on them. The reader will not find extensive interaction with scholarly periodical litera­ture, for example; rather, the endnotes are explanatory in nature or cite standard and reputable works in the field.

The real contribution of the set is the collection of sixteen headings that guide
the commentary on every psalm, a sort of chapter template:

• “Author and Purpose” asks some historical questions about who wrote the psalm and why the author wrote it.
• “Setting” asks questions about the historical context (if known) and any other historical issues the psalm may raise.
• “Type & Structure” is a traditional discussion of genre and a suggested outline.
• “Poetic Elements” offers an analysis of the various literary devices (paral­lelism, acrostic structure) used in the psalm as well as figures of speech (simile, metaphor, synecdoche, merism, etc.). This is a helpful heading since the topic was not discussed in the introduction.
• “Placement within the Psalter” is a most welcome heading because far too many commentaries continue to focus only on literary genre and not liter­ary context and flow of the Psalter’s structure. The commentators regular­ly discuss the psalm’s location in the macro-structure of the Psalter as well as its relationship to adjacent psalms.
• “Key Words” is an explanation of terms of special importance to each psalm. Words in bold are also explained in the Glossary at the end of vol­ume 4.
• “Unusual Words or Expressions” are listed and explained within the con­text of each psalm.
• “Main Message” steps back from the details of the psalm and asks what the author’s basic point is.
• The treatment under “Christ Connection,” despite boasts of being a cen­tral concern, are often restrained; the method appears to be not so much “Let’s find Jesus in this psalm,” but “How should we read this psalm from a New Testament, post-Cross/post-Easter perspective?” So, to take Psalm 46 as an example, the theme of “The LORD of hosts is with us” connects to Jesus as Immanuel (Matt 1:23); the theme of God as “a very present help in trouble” connects with Jesus as our means of approaching God (John 14:6) with confidence (Heb 4:16); finally, the river flowing out of Jerusalem brings to mind the theme of water as spiritual refreshment, as in Revelation 22:1-2, John 4:14 (Jesus at the well with the woman of Sychar), and John 7:38-39.
• “Old Testament Links” mentions any allusions or quotations (in either di­rection) within the OT.
• “New Testament” does the same with the NT; any quotation or clear allu­sion to the psalm is explained, as are any other themes or teaching.
• “Confessional References” is the only heading that may be considered unusual (though still helpful to some readers); here, the authors note any reference to the psalm in the Three Forms of Unity (Belgic Confession, Heidelberg Catechism, and Canons of Dort). “The aim is to point out what doctrine is taught in or supported by the text of the psalm cited in the confession” (p. 11). By my count, only about one third of the psalms actually had any comment here.
• “Scriptural Themes” summarizes any doctrinal contributions the psalm makes to twelve different themes: Creator/Creation; God’s Sovereignty; God’s Kingdom; God’s Covenant (of grace); God’s Grace; God’s Church; Antithesis; Man’s Depravity; Justification; Sanctification; Mission/Outreach; Other.
• “Application” distinguishes between application for the Christian and for the congregation.
• “Questions for Further Study,” which rounds out the headings, helps fa­cilitate a given psalm for Bible study groups.

The benefit of such a rigorous structure is that it helps mitigate the possibility of uneven commentary, which is certainly a possibility when there are sixteen dif­ferent commentators! Moreover, the template helps readers quickly find a specific area of interest.

Volume 4 concludes with a glossary (28 pages), a bibliography (8 pages), a Scripture index, and a Select Subject index, which is really an index to the “Scrip­tural Themes” in heading 13 (above).

Finally, kudos to the publisher! This set of four hardback books, over 1,700 world pages of commentary, is superbly bound and is available from the publisher for the quite affordable price of $70.00 (USD).

John C. Crutchfield, Columbia International University, Columbia, SC