ENHANCE - 3rd Quarter 2023

Editorial
Christian Friends of Israel
United Kingdom
About us
CFI UK seeks to bless Israel through
practical and moral support, and serve
the Church in teaching about God’s
purposes for Israel and the Hebrew
heritage of our faith.
CFI UK also produce a monthly prayer
letter, a weekly audio Middle East report
and distribute Haverim teaching.
Please contact us for full details of
projects in Israel and the teaching
resources available.
As an educational charity, we carry a
variety of resources relevant to our
purpose. We do not necessarily endorse
every view expressed by our guest
writers or authors.
Encouraging understanding in the
Church of Israel in context of the
Bible, history and today.
Challenging prejudice against Israel
and antisemitism alongside the Jewish
community in the UK.
Assisting cross-culturally in Israel
with charitable projects - medical,
educational and social.
What’s in a name?
ENHANCE means to increase, or further
improve the quality, value, or extent
of, in our instance, Christian friendship
of Israel. It also emphasises that when
God’s faithfulness to Israel is included
and understood by the wider Church, it
truly is ‘faith enhancing.’
ENHANCE Magazine
Published by:
CFI Charitable Trust, PO Box 2687
Eastbourne BN22 7LZ
Tel: 01323 410 810
Email: info@cfi.org.uk
www.cfi.org.uk
Registered Charity, No. 1101899
Registered Office c/o
Caladine, Chantry House, 22 Upperton Road
Eastbourne, BN21 1BF
Company No: 04984515
VAT Registration No: GB678780275
Front cover photo:
Olive Trees at Gethsemane
Jacob Vince
Psalms in sequence
Passover
113 –118
According to Jesus, the
third part of the Bible
begins with and is
named after the Psalms
(see Luke 24:44).
As the Psalms were collected,
they were formed into five books,
replicating the five books of Moses.
The first two books of Psalms
are attributed to David, although
important Psalms in the later
books also bear his name. Unlike
the headings of passages inserted
in most Bibles – some useful,
others downright misleading – the
headings for individual Psalms are
part of the text itself and should be
read as such.
As the name for the third part of
the Bible, Psalms includes poetical
and proverbial texts, it concludes
with the historical books of Esther,
Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah and the
summary book Chronicles, which
interestingly reproduces sections
from the Psalms as well as other
books in Bible. Repetitions in
Scripture are an important means of
emphasising particular truths.
As the Scriptures unfold there are
often summaries, with Chronicles
the supreme summary of the
first three parts of the Bible (Law,
Prophets, Psalms) commencing with
Adam in creation and concluding
with Israel going up to Jerusalem
after exile. Similarly, John’s
gospel is a summary of the whole
Bible (Law, Prophets Psalms, and
Apostles) commencing with Jesus’
existence “in the beginning” (John
1:1) and concluding with his second
coming, twice repeating the phrase,
“until I return” (John 21:21-23).
Within the Psalms, all five books
end with psalms of praise, the final
one, Book Five, ending with five
psalms of praise to God, 146-150,
Psalm 150 being the supreme psalm
of praise, with hardly sufficient
instruments by its close.
Law
119
Ascent
120 –134
So, they are clearly set out in a
particular order. Indeed, within
the apostles’ teaching there is an
indication that the arrangement
of the Psalms into a particular
sequence was known at that time,
seen in one of Paul’s references,
“As it is written in the second Psalm”
(Acts 13:33). We may infer from
this that there was certainly a first
Psalm and given the nature of what
is today known as the first Psalm,
it is difficult to identify a better
candidate with which to begin them.
Reading through the Psalms in
order, and focusing on their use
in a Jewish feast, we find those
read at the service of Passover
numbered Psalms 113-118. Next
in sequence is Psalm 119, which
apart from being the longest, is set
out acrostically with its twenty-two
stanzas representing the twentytwo
Hebrew letters of the alphabet,
aleph to tav (or A-Z).
A similar memory technique is
used in Psalm 145 with its twentytwo
stanzas. An indication of its
memorability is seen in the Book
of Daniel where Nebuchadnezzar
quotes from it as he recognizes the
living God of heaven and earth (see
Daniel 4:34 quoting Psalm 145:13).
However, the important aspect
of Psalm 119 is its entire focus
on the word of God, hence every
letter arranged to form twentytwo
dividers. Prominent are
synonyms for the ‘word,’ such as
‘law’, ‘statutes’, ‘precepts’, ‘decrees’,
found within virtually every
sentence of the poem. After Psalm
119 come the Psalms of Ascent,
titled as such within the text and
numbered Psalms 120-134.
If we look at the sequence of this set
of Psalms, we discover that Psalms
113-118 recall the rescue from Egypt
at Passover, Psalm 119 the law the
Israelites received in the desert after
leaving Egypt and Psalms 120-134
their travelling towards the ascent to
2 ENHANCE • 3 rd Quarter 2023