Introduction

The Rev. Dr. Walter E. Keller (1929-2011) earned a master in divinity from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and earned his doctorate from Cambridge University, England. He spent his life in service to God, and to a large degree, this was done through his work as a professor of theology at Valparaiso University, where his goal in teaching was to lead students into a greater knowledge and understanding of the Christian faith. He also served in the pulpit, and any who listened to Walt’s deep, booming bass voice as he read scripture or preached could easily imagine that the words they heard were the words and voice of God.

After his retirement from Valparaiso University, Walter undertook a project to work through the Psalms. Because the Psalms document for us the prayer life of ancient Israel, we might read them from that point of view in order to satisfy our historical curiosity, but the Psalms are also inspired scripture, and are therefore deeply embedded in the piety of Christians. With this in mind, Walter wished for all to understand the Psalms, not only as the great exemplar of the prayer life of out forbearers in Biblical faith, but also as they serve to shape the prayer life of today’s Christians.

In order to assist readers to grow in grace by praying the Psalms, Walter’s commentaries were written from the perspective of the question: How can a Christian pray the Psalms in our times? Rather than writing a treatise, he chose to do this by looking at the Psalms one by one, and with each new instance asking the question anew. His objective was not to produce a fresh translation of the Psalms, but in Walt’s words was “always to provide that kind of understanding which allows a New Testament Christian to pray the Psalm, without doing violence to its original intention.”

Walt began this undertaking at the end of January, 1996, with the Psalm of the week as listed in the Sunday Lectionaries of the Lutheran Book of Worship and Lutheran Worship (often the same, sometimes different). Because this weekly selected Psalm often did not match the liturgical Psalm selected by the Revised Common Lectionary used by his local home church (Immanuel Lutheran Church in Valparaiso, IN), Walt’s weekly Psalm selection soon gravitated toward following the three year cycle of Revised Common Lectionary. The target audience for his work initially was his five children, though long before he had completed the first three year lectionary cycle he understood that he was writing his devotional studies of the Psalms as much for his own sake as for others.

The Lectionaries do not use all the Psalms, and therefore there were many of the Psalms that Walt did not consider for his more detailed devotional studies. However he did write some briefer comments on nearly all the Psalms in conjunction with the “Early Morning Prayer” services held at Immanuel Lutheran Church every Monday through Friday. Walt initiated and led these services as another pet project beginning in 2001. Walt designed the devotional format for this daily service and compiled the weekly worship programs from the inception until shortly before his death in 2011.

In late 2009, I was assisting Walt with the set-up of his new computer and the transfer of data from his old machine. I noted a digital folder named “Psalms” in with various Early Morning Prayer program digital folders, and upon looking at the contents of these files, learned of this treasure of commentary. The file folder contained Walt’s Early Morning Prayer commentary on the Psalms, his Sunday morning Bible Study outlines of several Psalms and the devotional studies written on the Psalms for his family (and later also for other friends and acquaintances). Walt graciously allowed me to make and retain a copy of this digital folder.

After Walter died in 2011, it seemed a fitting tribute to Walt to edit and organize his Psalms commentary work into some sort of cohesive compilation that could benefit others. What follows is the result of this undertaking. I have updated his files through combining commentary written for differing audiences, reformatting, proofreading, minor editing, and in rare occasions, adding my own comments (i.e. Psalm 119). In nearly all instances, I have been diligent to retain the original thoughts and words of Walter Keller.

Included in this compilation are Walter’s detailed devotional studies of sixty-five of the Psalms. In the related .pdf files on the Psalms, those (eighty-five) file names ending with “(for EMP)” contain the briefer comments on the Psalms as written for supplementary observations on the Psalms used in the “Early Morning Prayer” services. For these Psalm files, I have added the text of the Psalm and reformatted the files in an attempt to provide consistency in presentation.

Early in Walt’s writing of his devotional studies on the Psalms, he wrote to his initial audience, his children, seeking feedback and commenting on the work he was doing. I have included this letter below. Although we can no longer respond to his invitation to provide feedback, the letter provides valuable insight into Walt’s thoughts. Further, there should be absolutely no doubt that Walt’s desire that his work would be a blessing to his children extends communally to each of us.


Mark O. Kretzmann
January 4, 2014

Follow

Submissions from 2001

PDF

Psalm 141: A Psalm of David., Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 10, Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 101: Of David. A Psalm, Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 106, Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 107, Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 108: A Song. A Psalm of David., Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 109: To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David., Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 117, Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 11: To the choirmaster. Of David., Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 120: A Song of Ascents, Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 122: A Song of Ascents. Of David., Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 123: A Song of Ascents., Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 124: A Song of Ascents. Of David., Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 125: A Song of Ascents., Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 127: A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon., Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 128: A Song of Ascents, Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 129: A Song of Ascents., Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 12: To the choirmaster: according to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David., Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 131: A Song of Ascents. Of David., Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 132: A Song of Ascents., Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 134: A Song of Ascents., Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 135, Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 136, Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 137, Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 140: To the leader. A Psalm of David, Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 144: Of David, Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 149, Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 17: A Prayer of David, Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 18: To the choirmaster, Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 19: To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David., Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 20: To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David., Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 21: To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 24: A Psalm of David, Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 26: Of David., Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 28: Of David, Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 29: A Psalm of David, Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 34: A Psalm of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away., Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 35: Of David., Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 36: To the choirmaster. Of David, the servant of the LORD., Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 37: Of David, Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 38: A Psalm of David, for the memorial offering., Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 39: To the choirmaster: to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David, Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 3: A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son, Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 42: To the leader. A Maskil of the Korahites., Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 44: To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah., Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 48: A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah., Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 49: To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah., Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 50: A Psalm of Asaph., Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 52: To the choirmaster. A Maskil of David, when Doeg, the Edomite, came and told Saul, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”, Walter E. Keller

PDF

Psalm 53: To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath. A Maskil of David., Walter E. Keller