Jewish apocalyptic ideas also permeate the Psalms. To help demonstrate this, I chose Psalm 85 at random. The beginning verses are remarkably clear: “Lord, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people; you covered all their sin” (vv. 1-2). Here we have an example of what is called “prophetic perfect” language, which describes future events as if they have already been completed to convey the certainty that they will occur. Thus, the psalmist is declaring that God will surely restore Israel, establish Israel in the land, and atone for the nation’s sins. This, of course, was a central feature of Jewish eschatological expectation. Believing in God’s promises to Israel, the psalmist expresses his confidence in Israel’s future fulfillment.
In the meantime, however, Israel continues to fall short and incur God’s judgment. Hence the psalmist intercedes, “Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us!” (v. 4). He questions whether God’s anger toward Israel will last forever (v. 5)—this, of course, is rhetorical. Though Israel does seem to be caught in continual rebellion, the psalmist believes this to be ultimately temporary. Thus, he petitions God for mercy and salvation (v. 7) and resumes declaring and anticipating God’s promises in the final section of the psalm. God will “speak peace to his people, to his saints” (v. 8). He will act in steadfast love and faithfulness, securing righteousness and peace (v. 10-11). God will cleanse Israel of sin and establish the nation in righteousness, so that “glory may dwell in our land” (v. 9) and “our land will yield its increase” (v. 12).
Jewish apocalyptic expectation forms the contextual background for many psalms. One could argue it is the background for all psalms, because the whole point of Israel's faith was to believe in and live for God's promised future for Israel and the nations. This is especially important because the Psalms are notorious for being excessively interpreted as speaking about the personal, individual life of the believer. While we certainly may extrapolate principles—after all, the same God who forgives and restores Israel also forgives and restores us—that does not mean passages that speak about Israel, Jerusalem, Zion, the land, and so on are actually speaking about us. So when Psalm 85 says “you restored the fortunes of Jacob,” it is describing not God’s restorative work in the spiritual life of the individual believer, though God certainly does do that, but God’s restoration of Israel. However, this does not make such passages irrelevant to our lives. They still speak to us, encouraging us to believe in God’s promises and to put our hope in their future fulfillment.