Treasuring the Psalms, Ian J. Vaillancourt. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023.

Summary: An orientation to both lay readers and churches to how to read and appropriate the Psalms, approaching them canonically, Christologically, and personally.

I will say flat out at the beginning of this review that this is one of the most helpful books for reading the Psalms that I have read. Ian Vaillancourt helps us to both understand the forest, making sense of the canonical form in which the Psalms come to us, and to appreciate the trees, the individual Psalms and how they bear on our lives and how they may be used in Christian worship as prayers of the church.

Vaillancourt begins by orienting us to two key words and three helpful insights. The first of the words is YHWH, translated as “The LORD.” Rather than the impersonal title, he commends using the untranslated name. The second word is hesed, used 130 times in the Psalms, often translated as “steadfast love” which emphasizes both the covenant and relational significance of the word. The three insights are that the Psalms are a book of praises–it’s Hebrew title, Tehillim, literally meaning “praises; that in the words of Luther, the Psalms are a “little Bible” encapsulating the whole of the teaching of scripture; and the Psalms, in the words of Calvin, are an “anatomy of the soul,” capturing the range of human emotion and the human condition.

The three sections of the book approach the Psalms canonically, Christologically, and personally. Canonically, the writer assumes there is intent in how the Psalms are organized as a whole. He urges that we pay attention to adjacent Psalms to see how they may relate thematically. Vaillancourt believes it important to read the superscriptions giving us hints about authors, genre, and context. He explores how Psalm 1 and 2 are “gateway” psalms, leading us into the whole book as the two lenses we use in reading the whole–the torah of YHWH and the anointed king of YHWH. He identifies themes for the five books: books one and two on the weeping king David, book three on exile, book four on YHWH’s rule even when the throne of David does not and book five of a new and better David.

The second part of the book considers what it means to read the psalms Christologically–how they point to Christ and gospel application. He teaches us to place the Psalms on a redemptive history timeline. We’re encouraged to look for promises fulfilled in Christ, typologies, direct prophecy (only Psalm 110) and typological prophecy. New Testament citations or allusions are an important clue and using a Bible that cross references to these is helpful. Before applying the Psalms directly and personally, Vaillancourt argues we need to apply them Christologically.

The third part, then considers how we apply the psalms directly in both personal and corporate settings. He believes imprecatory psalms may only be prayed against Satan and his forces, and that we don’t apply prophetic or typological material about Christ to ourselves. He offers detailed guidance on applying lament psalms of desperation, thanksgiving psalms of deliverance, and psalms of praise.

Vaillancourt illustrates his principles by detailed studies of representative psalms. While offering substantive material based on current biblical scholarship, he avoids deep dives into that scholarship. At places, he will offer brief excurses pointing to more extensive appendices that may be downloaded for free at the InterVarsity Press website for the book.

The author states in the conclusion that he has “written with the goal of equipping them [readers] to dig deeply in the bottomless gold (or treasure!) mine of the Psalms on their own. I believe he has succeeded in provided all the needed equipment and instructions for how to use it. Now, it is our turn to dig!

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