Over the past three weeks, I’ve studied each of the 150 psalms. Each weekday, I’ve summarized 10 psalms, identifying Book of Mormon connections for 67 of the psalms. Some of these represent clear allusions, such as Jacob 4:15-17 referencing Psalm 118:22. Others involve Book of Mormon authors using phrases that are unique to specific psalms or using similar imagery.
In all of these cases, I could point back to a specific psalm. But there are also themes that appear throughout the psalms which play an important role in the Book of Mormon. Today, in this final Psalm post of the series, I’d like to highlight some of those psalmic themes.
1. Tender Mercies
The phrase “tender mercies” appears ten times in psalms, always applied to God (Psalm 25:6; 40:11; 51:1; 69:16; 77:9; 79:8; 103:4; 119:77, 156; 145:9). Nephi ends the first chapter of the Book of Mormon with the following thesis statement for his writings: “I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance” (1 Nephi 1:20), particularly echoing Psalm 145:9: “His tender mercies are over all his works.” His father Lehi pleads with God during his dream to have mercy on him “according to the multitude of his tender mercies” (1 Nephi 8:8), matching Psalm 51:1 and 69:16. Moroni also uses “the multitude of his tender mercies” when he describes the Jaredites’ response to their arrival in the promised land (Ether 6:12).
2. Hazards of Pit-Digging
A common theme in psalms is either a plea or a prophecy that those who have tried to trap the psalmist may fall into their own pit or snare (see Psalm 7:15-16; 9:15-16; 35:7-8; 57:6; 141:9-10). In the Book of Mormon, an angel prophesies to Nephi that a great pit, dug by the great and abominable church to trap the followers of the Lamb of God “shall be filled by those who digged it, unto their utter destruction” (1 Nephi 14:3). Nephi later returns to the same imagery, writing, “Every nation which shall war against thee, O house of Israel, shall be turned one against another, and they shall fall into the pit which they digged to ensnare the people of the Lord” (1 Nephi 22:14).
3. Sorrows of Death, Pains of Hell
A common theme in psalms is the feeling of captivity associated with death or hell, and a plea for God to deliver the psalmist. Examples appear in Psalm 18:4-6 (“The sorrows of death compassed me … the sorrows of hell compassed me about.”) and Psalm 116:3-4 (“The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me.”). Other psalms speak of being delivered from death and hell, including Psalm 49:15; 86:13; 116:8, 16.
Book of Mormon authors similarly speak of death and hell as enemies that immobilize us. Jacob speaks of being delivered “from that awful monster … death, and hell” (2 Nephi 9:19). Zeezrom is described as being “encircled about by the pains of hell” (Alma 14:6). Ammon says that the converted Lamanites were “loosed from the pains of hell” (Alma 26:13). And Alma speaks of being “encircled about by the everlasting chains of death” and freed when he cried out to Jesus Christ for mercy (Alma 36:18).
4. Broken Hearts and Contrite Spirits
In Psalm 34:18, David testifies, “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” In a different psalm, he adds, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Psalm 51:17).
This posture before God appears multiple times in the Book of Mormon. Lehi teaches his sons that the Holy Messiah “offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit” (2 Nephi 2:7). Jacob speaks with compassion of “the pure in heart, and the broken heart” (Jacob 2:10). After the death of Jesus Christ, He instructs the descendants of Lehi to replace animal sacrifice with “a broken heart and a contrite spirit,” promising, “whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost” (3 Nephi 9:20). Thereafter, Mormon and Moroni use this phrase to indicate the appropriate attitude for approaching God (see Mormon 2:14; Ether 4:15; Moroni 6:2).
Today I will draw upon psalmic language in my own personal worship. In particular, I will trust in God’s tender mercies, in His perfect justice, and in His power to save. I will approach Him with a broken heart and contrite spirit, trusting His promise to bless me with His Spirit.
Amen brother Tony Andersen amen.