With 150 individual psalms, this Book is clearly the longest in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible. It is also one of the most diverse, since the psalms deal with such subjects as God and His creation, war, worship, wisdom, sin, evil, judgment, justice, and the coming of the Messiah. In the original Hebrew manuscripts, this long collection of 150 psalms was divided into five sections: Book 1 - 1-41, Book 2 - 42-72, Book 3 - 73-89, Book 4 - 90-106, Book 5 - 107-150. Each of these major sections closes with a brief prayer of praise.
Scholars are not sure why the Book of Psalms was organized in this manner. One theory is that it was divided into five sections as a sort of parallel to the Pentateuch - the five books of the Old Testament. ( Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy ) But other scholars believe the five sections were different collections of psalms that circulated at different times in Israel's history. These five small collections were finally placed together, they believe, to form the large compilation which we know today as the Book of Psalms.
The second theory does seem to make sense when we examine the content of the psalms themselves. Individual psalms attributed to David appear in all five of these sections of the Book. Within these five sections, different types of psalms also appear. These include songs of thanksgiving, hymns of praise, psalms of repentance and confession, psalm which invoke evil upon one's enemies, messianic psalms, and songs sung by pilgrims as they traveled to Jerusalem to observe one of the great festivals of their faith. Such variety among the psalms within these five sections may indicate they were complete collections within themselves before they were placed with other groups of psalms to form this larger body of material.
But no matter how the present arrangement of the book came about, these individual psalms were clearly inspired by God's Spirit. Through these hymns of praise, we come face to face with our Maker and Redeemer. In the glory of His presence, we are compelled to exclaim along with the psalmist, "Yahweh, our Lord, how great your name throughout the earth!" - Ps. 8:9 -
Most people automatically think of David when they consider the question of who wrote the Book of Psalms. A shepherd boy who rose to become the most famous king of Judah, he was also known as "the sweet psalmist of Israel" - 2Sam. 23:1 - David lived during the most creative age of Hebrew song and poetry. As king, he organized the services of worship in the tabernacle, appointing priests and Levites for the specific purpose of providing songs and music. So it is not surprising that his name should be clearly associated with this beautiful book of praise.
The traditional view that David actually wrote all the psalms that are attributed to him. David's personality and identity are clearly stamped on many of these psalms. For example, Psalm 18 is a psalm of David which sings praises to God as the sovereign Savior. The title indicates it was written after David was delivered "from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul." The same psalm in almost identical wording appears in 2Samuel 22. This passage indicates that David sang this song after the death of Saul and upon his succession to the throne as the new king of Judah.
While it is clear that David wrote many of the individual psalms, he is definitely not the author of the entire collection. Two of the psalms, 72 and 127 are attributed to Solomon, David's son and successor. Psalm 90 is a prayer assigned to Moses. Another group of 12 psalms, 50 and 73-83 is ascribed to the family of Asaph. The sons of Korah wrote 11 psalms, 42, 44-49, 84-85, 87-88. Psalm 88 is attributed to Heman, while Psalm 89 is assigned to Ethan the Ezrahite. With the exception of Solomon and Moses, all these additional authors were priests or Levites who were responsible for providing music for sanctuary worship during David's reign. Fifty of the psalms designate no specific person as author. They were probably written by many different people.
A careful examination of the authorship question, as well as the subject matter covered by the psalms themselves., reveal they span a period of many centuries. The oldest psalm in the collection is probably the prayer of Moses, Psalm 90, a reflection on the frailty of a man as compared to the eternity of God. The latest psalm is probably, Psalm 137, a song of lament clearly written during the days when the Hebrews were being held captive by the Babylonians, from about 586 to 538 B.C.
It is clear that the 150 individual psalms were written by many different people across a period of a thousand years in Israel's history. They must have been complied and put together in their present form by some unknown editor shortly after the Captivity ended about 537 B.C.
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Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
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