The Book of Psalms: A Collection of Worship Songs and Poems in the Bible, Lecture notes of Music

Download The Book of Psalms: A Collection of Worship Songs and Poems in the Bible and more Lecture notes Music in PDF only on Docsity! 1 POSSIBLE CHRONOLOGICAL STAGES IN THE GROWTH AND COLLECTION OF THE PSALTER BOOK I BOOK II BOOK III BOOK IV BOOK V 41 psalms 1 41 31 psalms 42 72 17 psalms 73 89 17 psalms 90 106 44 psalms 107 150 DOXOLOGY AT THESE VERSES CONCLUDES EACH BOOK 41:13 72:18-19 89:52 106:48 150:6 JEWISH TRADITION ASCRIBES TOPICAL LIKENESS TO PENTATEUCH GENESIS EXODUS LEVITICUS NUMBERS DEUTERONOMY ────AUTHORS ──── mainly (or all) DAVID mainly DAVID and KORAH mainly ASAPH mainly ANONYMOUS mainly DAVID ORIGINAL GROUP BY DAVID BOOKS II AND III ADDED DURING THE REIGNS OF HEZEKIAH AND JOSIAH MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS COMPILED IN TIMES OF EZRA AND NEHEMIAH THE BOOK OF PSALMS “BLESS THE LORD, O MY SOUL, AND FORGET NOT ALL HIS BENEFITS” (103:2) 2 The Book of Psalms I. Book Title The word psalms comes from the Greek word psalmoi. It suggests the idea of a “praise song,” as does the Hebrew word tehillim. It is related to a Hebrew concept which means “the plucking of strings.” It means a song to be sung to the accompaniment of stringed instruments. The Psalms is a collection of worship songs sung to God by the people of Israel with musical accompaniment. The collection of these 150 psalms into one book served as the first hymnbook for God’s people, written and compiled to assist them in their worship of God. At first, because of the wide variety of these songs, this praise book was unnamed, but eventually the ancient Hebrews called it “The Book of Praises,” or simply “Praises.” This title reflects its main purpose──to assist believers in the proper worship of God. II. Human Authors Most biblical books were written by one person, but a few of them have multiple authors. Proverbs is one such example. Psalms is one of the rare books in the Bible that was written by several people, and, therefore it is a joint effort of many authors who wrote from many diverse experiences of life over a time span of almost a thousand years. Familiarity with the varied writers of the Psalms is important. • David, the second king of Israel and “sweet psalmist of Israel” (2 Sam. 23:1 KJV), is the chief author of the Psalms. He is directly credited with writing 73 of the psalms, but the NT affirms his authorship of 2 more. Thus he wrote 75 of the 150 psalms, which is exactly half the Psalms (3-9; 11-32; 34-41; 51-65; 68-70; 86; 101; 103; 108-110; 122; 124; 131; 133; 138-145. Psalm 2 is identified by Acts 4:25 as being written by David, as is Psalm 95 by Hebrews 4:7). • Asaph, a priest who served as the worship leader of ancient Israel, wrote twelve psalms (Ps. 50; 73-83). • The sons of Korah, a guild of singers and composers of music, are credited with writing ten psalms (Pss. 42; 44-49; 84-85; 87). • Solomon, David’s son, the third king of Israel, accounted for two psalms (Pss. 72; 127). • Moses, the great leader of Israel and the Exodus, wrote one psalm (Ps. 90). • Heman, a wise man, musician, an Ezrahite, a son of Korah, and founder of the Korahite choir (2 Chr. 5:12; 35:15), wrote one psalm (Ps. 88). • Ethan, a wise man and Ezrahite, probably a Levitical singer (1 Chr. 6:42; 15:17,19), wrote one psalm (Ps. 89). • Anonymous authors account for the remaining forty-eight psalms. 5 Pentateuch of David” because they are thought to mirror the books of the Law of Moses. These five divisions of the Psalms are as follows: Book I: Psalms 1-41. The first forty-one psalms were probably gathered together during the early days of the Jewish monarchy by either David or Solomon. Book I was basically assigned to David. This first book highlights God’s power in creation (Pss. 8; 19) and is dominated by the themes of sin and redemption. Book II: Psalms 42-72. These thirty-one psalms were collected and assembled at a later time to form Book II, possibly three hundred years after Book I was compiled during the reign of Judah’s king, Hezekiah (c.715-686 B.C.). If so, the “men of Hezekiah,” an active Bible committee that collected many of the proverbs of Solomon (Prov. 25:1), possibly organized these psalms into a literary unit and added them to Book I. It is also possible that these psalms were collected during the reign of King Josiah (640- 609 B.C.). Interpreters have noted that this second book of psalms focuses upon Israel’s ruin and redemption and thus, can be related to the Book of Exodus. Book III: Psalms 73-89. These seventeen psalms were subsequently compiled into Book III, probably during the same era by the men of Hezekiah as previously mentioned for Book II, or by Josiah, sixteenth ruler of the Southern Kingdom (640-609 B.C.). This third book begins with eleven consecutive psalms written by Asaph, a Levite who led one of the temple choirs (Pss. 73-83), and includes a few songs written by David (Pss. 86; 101; 103). These psalms center primarily upon the holiness of Israel’s sanctuary and coincides with the concern of the Book of Leviticus. Book IV: Psalms 90-106. This cluster of seventeen psalms was collected about two hundred to three hundred years later and added to the first three books, probably during the postexilic days when Israel returned to her land under Ezra (458 B.C.) and Nehemiah (445 B.C.). This division of the Psalms focuses upon Israel’s relapse and recovery in the wilderness, echoing the theme of the Book of Numbers. Appropriately, Book IV begins with Psalm 90, the only psalm written by Moses during Israel’s forty years of wilderness wanderings. This was a severe time of testing recorded in Numbers. Book IV contains the recurring theme of God’s sovereign kingdom which dominates the kingdoms of the nations just as Numbers documents Israel’s relationship to the surrounding nations. Book V: Psalms 107-150. These last forty-four psalms make up Book V. Like Book IV, they were probably collected and added to the Book of Psalms during the postexilic days of Ezra, almost six hundred years after Book I was collated. This fifth book focuses upon the sufficiency of God’s Word (Ps. 119) and the universal praise due to the Lord’s name (Pss. 146-150), much like the Book of Deuteronomy focuses on God and His Word. 6 VII. Unique and Interesting Features of The Psalms • It was the worship hymnal of the Hebrew people. • It is the largest book of the Bible with 150 psalms. • It contains the most chapters of any book of the Bible. Isaiah is 2nd with 66. • Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible with 176 verses. • Psalm 117 is the shortest chapter in the Bible, containing only two verses. • Psalm 117 is also the middle chapter of the Bible, the very center of the 1,189 chapters found in Genesis 1 through Revelation 22. • Psalm 118:8 is the absolute center of the 31, 173 verses contained in the Scripture, the middle verse of the entire Bible. • The LXX has a Psalm 151 but with a notation that it is outside the number. • Psalm 18 is the same as 2 Samuel 22. • Psalms is written by more authors than any other book in the Bible. It is a literary collection from many men such as David, Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon, Moses, Heman, Ethan, and others. • Psalms was a long-term project that was approximately nine hundred to one thousand years in the making, requiring more time for its writing than all the canonical books. • Psalms is the most quoted Old Testament book in the New Testament. Of the 360 Old Testament quotations or allusions in the New Testament, 112 are from the Psalms. 7 • Psalms contains more messianic prophecies than any other Old Testament book, other than possibly Isaiah. It reveals the Messiah as the Son of God (Ps. 2) and son of man (Ps. 8) in his obedience (Ps. 40:6-8), betrayal (Ps. 41:9), crucifixion (Ps. 22), resurrection (Ps. 16), ascension (Ps. 68:18), and enthronement (Ps. 110). • There are duplicate psalms: psalms 14 and 53; 40:13-17 and 70; 60:5-12 and 108. • A number of psalms are acrostic in Hebrew with the first word of each verse or stanza beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet (Pss. 9-10, 25, 34, 37, 119, 145). VIII. An Outline of the Psalm I. Introduction to the Psalms (1-2) Book 1 II. David’s Songs: The “Yahwistic (3-41) Psalter” III. The “Elohistic Psalter” (42-72) Book 2 IV. Psalms of Asaph and Korah (73-89) Book 3 V. Yahweh the King (90-106) Book 4 VI. Psalms of Praise and Pilgrimage (107-145) Book 5 VII. Concluding Praise (145-150)