[aron]

What I find interesting is that within 4 generations the Israelite story was transformed. With David's parents' generation, they came under a King (Saul) but the "kingdom" itself was a conception and a hope more than a reality. The Philistines were a real threat. Goliath was a big dude, and he had brothers and cousins. The Israelites and Philistines had been battling for years (see Samson, etc).

With the emergence and ascension of David, victory over all foes was the theme. Then Solomon was the apogee of glory, in appearance. By the time of Solomon's sons, the kingdom was divided.

Why so short? David couldn't handle peace very well. He had "roving eyes", as they say. Solomon couldn't handle prosperity. His many wives turned his heart to foriegn idols. The tree of knowledge, indeed.

What this has to do with the Psalms, for me, is that there really is no truly "righteous man" evidenced there. No one is pure. Solomon said, "teach a youth the way to go and he will follow that path his whole life" (Proverbs 22:6). But Solomon didn't teach his own children, and the kingdom fell apart.

But, if you see these as "the words of Christ", as Paul calls them, and not the words of David or Lemuel or Asaph or Solomon, then suddenly you are not in the earthly plane but the heavenly. You get not the faltering, shadowy aspiration but the full reality. And if you engage the text by singing, shouting, declaring, praying, stamping your feet, lifting your hands, and by "meditating day and night" (Psa 1:2) and making it your own, then it will indeed be "Christ making His home in your heart", and "the word of Christ dwelling in you richly". It will indeed be "Christ in you, the hope of glory."

All of which may sound like Lee's "God's New Testament Economy". But we differ in that Lee said most of the text was simply the word of David, where I suspect that much more of the text is actually the word of Christ. I think we differ greatly in how much Christ was revealed in the text.

Secondly, and of nearly equal importance, is the fact of the stunning fall of the "house of David". It was clearly shown that the Davidic/Solomon line had its glaring flaws, and these contributed to a great schism in the Israelite flock. Similarly, in the NT, with the end of merely the first generation of disciples, you find the aged apostle John writing to the assemblies in Asia and telling them to "repent", just as John the Baptist and Jesus had initiated their ministries a half-century earlier. So to me, trying to replicate the first-century church (i.e. "the normal christian church") is a waste of time. It was as flawed as Solomon's house. Sure, there was glory there, but the flaws were there too, and the cracks were already beginning to appear.

No, the only hope is in Christ. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Peace to all who put their hope in Him.