The book of Psalms shows us that we can express the full spectrum of our emotions to God. He is our ultimate salvation, high and lifted up, the creator of the world, who is worthy to be praised.
#1 - TITLE
The Hebrew title for this book is tehillim which means “Hymns of praise.” The Greek title psalmoi was a translation of a different Hebrew word mizmor which means “songs to be sung to stringed instruments” and it was used in the heading of 57 Psalms.
General Contents
The Psalter now contains 150 psalms, arranged in five books, each concluding with doxology. The LXX has additional psalm at the end, number 151 and divides and numbers some of the psalms differently.
The Psalter is a great collection of smaller collections of psalms without logical arrangement. Some psalm appears twice (14=53; 40:13-17=70; 57: 7-11+60:5-12=108) and etc.
Superscriptions and Notations
The psalms contain a variety of items, such as musical directions, names of tunes, indications of authorship and circumstances of composition (A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son), designations of earlier collections (Asaph, Korah), names of types of compositions (“Mizmor” or “Shir” – song, “Maskil” – didactic poem; “Tehillah” – a hymn or song of praise; “tepillah” – a prayer; “Mikhtam” or “Shiggayon” are of uncertain meaning; “Selah” may mean “musical instrument”
Types
The psalms are classified according to their basic nature and function in worship. The principle types are:
Hymns – songs of praise to YHWH for his greatness as revealed in the creation of the world. They celebrate YHWH as King of the universe and praise his city, Zion. Example: 8;15;24;29;46;48;93;96-99;122.
Laments – by individuals and by the nation, invoking God’s help in time of personal and national disaster and expressing hope of God’s deliverance. Example: 3;4;6;10;22;26;36;39;51;80;90;102;137.
Songs of thanksgiving – offered by individuals and the nation in the temple after receiving some benefit from the hands of God. Example: 30;32;63;65;67;107;111;116;136.
#2 - AUTHORSHIP
No other book of the Bible has as many different authors as does psalms. Seventy-three psalms are attributed to David in the superscriptions and an additional two, Ps. 2 and 95 in the NT.
In addition to the seventy-five by David, twelve are ascribed to Asaph, a priest who headed the service of music.
Ten were by the sons of Korah, a guild of singers and composers and other psalms are ascribed to Solomon, Moses, Heman the Ezrahite and Ethan the Ezrahite.
Fifty of the psalms are anonymous, although some of these are traditionally ascribed to Ezra.
#3 - TYPES OF PSALMS
The book of psalms is a collection of prayers, poems and hymns that focus worshiper’s thought on God in praise and adoration. Parts of the book were used as a hymnal in the worship services of ancient. The book contains 150 individual psalms, which may grouped into following types of categories:
Individual and communal lament psalms, or prayers for God’s deliverance.
Thanksgiving psalms, consisting of praise to God for his gracious acts.
Enthronement psalms, which describes God’s sovereign rule.
Pilgrimage psalms, which sung by worshippers as they travelled to Jerusalem to celebrate Jewish festivals.
Royal psalms, which portrays the reign of earthly king, as well as of the heavenly king of Israel.
Wisdom psalms, which instruct the worshipper in the way of wisdom and righteousness.
Imprecatory psalms, in which the worshipper invokes God’s wrath and judgment against his enemies.
Messianic psalms, which describes the Messiah who would restore Israel and establish everlasting salvation.
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#4 - OUTLINE
PSALM 1-41 – Songs of Deliverance
PSALM 42-72 – Divine Judgment
PSALM 73-89 – National Hymns of Judah
PSALM 90-106 – The Overruling Kingdom
PSALM 107-150 – Anthems of Praise and Thanks giving
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