Are the Psalms only for Israel?

A student in the class sent me this question in an e-mail message. My answer follows.

Q: Psalms (and the Old Testament) were written to/for the Israelites to teach them. Does it mean it was meant to teach only Israel (the People of God)? If not, what principles does one use to evaluate what is meant for only Israel and what is meant for both Israel and other people? And does the application of these teachings to today to be distinguished between the case of believers and non-believers to parallel that of Israel/other people?

A: Psalms (along with the rest of the OT) was originally written, and perhaps we could say primarily written, for Israel. They were God's chosen people with whom he established his covenant. Christians "inherit" the Psalms (along with the rest of the OT) as members of God's new covenant people. We receive God's revelation to the original chosen people as revelation to us in a real, although secondary, fashion. It is therefore written for us as much as, if not more, than to Israel. We do, however, understand it and interpret it differently than they do. This is because of God's final (i.e., completed) revelation to us through Jesus Christ who fulfilled the OT (including the Psalms) and whose acts are recorded in the NT. Thus the completed canon influences the way we deal with the old covenant revelation.

As far as the application of Psalms is concerned, we should probably say that some things are the same and others are different. In other words, there is both continuity and discontinuity. The Psalms lead us to worship God. This hasn't changed. However, there is discontinuity because of what God did in history through Jesus Christ. This influences the interpretation and application of some psalms (particularly the royal psalms — especially the "messianic" ones) more than others.

Whereas we cannot say that there is no application or relevance to non-believers, we cannot say that it is the same for them as it was for Israel or is for Christians. Since the Psalms were written to aid people in worship, their main use is lost to unbelievers since they, by definition, cannot worship God. They may, however, serve as a stimulus to show unbelievers that they need to get to know the God who is truly worthy of worship as creator and redeemer of his people.

Surely much more could be said, but I will leave the answer as I have simply stated it above.