The Book of Psalms

The Bible Knowledge Commentary (Introduction)

The Psalms are the inspired responses of human hearts to God’s revelation of Himself in law, history, and prophecy (BKC)

Title of the Book

Greek psalmos, translates Hebrew mismor

Signifies “accompanied by stringed instruments”

Word has evolved to mean “song of praise”

Many have titles to indicate this (follow up comment coming), some we make educated guesses

Some Things to Note

Individual psalms, not broken into chapter; thus, Psalm 1, not the 1st chapter of Psalms

That upper case statement before v. 1 is included in the cannon (superscriptions, accepted by Christ as such)

English Standard Version Psalm 3

3 A PSALM OF DAVID, WHEN HE FLED FROM ABSALOM HIS SON.

1  O LORD, how many are my foes!

Many are rising against me;

Numbering in the Jewish Bibles will be different because of this

Many Psalms are linked to historical events: e.g. Psa. 52 with 1 Sam. 22:9

“Selah” likely not part of original writing, added later but quite ancient

Could mean to something related to an intensified singing or “stop and think about that”

May have been assembled over period of time Ps. 72 contains “this concludes the prayers of David” but there are 17 more attributed to him after

Text notes: most of today’s translations based upon the Masoretic text

Structure

Many things to note: pulling a few out (we’ve seen these in our study of Job)

Evocative language/imagery; imagery of the tree in ps. 1

Parallelism e.g. 90:6; may complement or contrast

Types of Psalms

Individual laments (64)

National laments (79)

Thanksgiving (21)

Descriptive praise (33)

Why Study the Psalms?

It is God’s Word

We see the character of God

We see the need for dependence on God

We see the history of God providing for His people.

We see God’s people in their relationships to Him