Before entering Psalms 15–24, this interlude pauses over one essential word: Messiah. Messiah means Anointed One, the Hebrew word behind the Greek word Christ. From Jacob anointing the stone at Bethel, to priests and kings marked with oil, to Israel’s hope for a Savior, the meaning grows until we meet Jesus, the Anointed One, the Beloved, the Secure Son, and the incarnation of God. This episode introduces Psalms 15–24 as a movement through the Messiah’s identity and life: belonging, trust, testing, Rescue, suffering, shepherding, and glory.
Receive the daily Psalm email here:
Before we enter Psalms 15–24, we pause to ask:
What does Messiah mean?
Messiah means Anointed One.
Christ is the Greek way of saying what Messiah says in Hebrew.
The word begins with the simple, earthy act of anointing: oil poured over a person, place, or object to mark it as belonging to God’s purpose.
One of the earliest and strangest anointing moments comes through Jacob. Running from home, afraid and displaced, Jacob sleeps with a stone under his head. In the night, he dreams of heaven and earth meeting. When he wakes, he says, “Surely YAHWEH is in this place, and I did not know it.” Then he pours oil on the stone.
Before Messiah becomes a title for kings, priests, and the expected Savior, anointing is already connected to this discovery:
God is here.
Heaven and earth are not as far apart as I thought.
A place of fear can become a place of encounter.
In the Psalms, the exact word Messiah is used sparingly, but the Messiah’s identity is everywhere: Anointed, King, Son, Servant, Beloved, Aligned One, Sufferer, Rescued One, Shepherd, King of Glory, Savior.
When these renderings use Beloved, they are listening to the Hebrew resonance in David’s name. David’s name is built from the same three consonants as the word associated with beloved: dalet-vav-dalet. In the unpointed Hebrew text, they share the same consonantal shape. So David’s name can echo as Beloved, not because every part of David’s life perfectly reveals God’s heart, but because the promise of God’s King is carried through David’s line.
Psalms 7–14 introduced the Enemy, the Liar, the Destroyer, the Devourer, and the spoiled human field. Now Psalms 15–24 introduce the Messiah as God’s cosmic response to evil.
The Messiah is the One who can face the Enemy without becoming the Enemy.
The One who can suffer without losing love.
The One who can enter Death-Shadow and still trust the Father.
The One who can carry humanity’s grief without being swallowed by humanity’s violence.
The One who can bring us home.
Psalms 15–24 walk through the Messiah’s identity and life: belonging, trust, testing, cosmic Rescue, trustworthy words, prayer for the King, joy in the King, forsakenness, shepherded presence, and glorious entry.
This is why listening for the Messiah’s voice in the Psalms is so important. We are not trying to force Jesus into ancient prayers. We are learning to hear the prayer book that formed Jesus, and to pray inside the communion Jesus shares with the Father.
The Messiah is not only the object of belief.
He is the secure Son whose prayer becomes our path home.