The Name: If you open your Bible to the very middle, you will be in the book of Psalms.  This book is in the Old Testament in the section called wisdom literature.  It is grouped together with Job, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and Song of Solomon. In Hebrew, the book of Psalms is called tehillum, which means praises.  We get the name Psalms in English from the Greek title of the book, Psalmos.  Psalmos was a translation of the Hebrew word, mizmor, which meant song.

Theme: Psalms is a collection of songs that explore humanity’s relationship to God.  The majority of these songs were written by David both before and after he was king of Israel.  Many were written for the purpose of being used in worship in the temple.  In some ways, these psalms could be compared to our modern hymns, except that the psalms explore a greater variety of the different possible relationships between God and humans in depth while hymnals limit the emotions involved in their content because of a desire to protect God’s reputation.  The psalms have no such boundaries.  There are royal psalms to celebrate kingship, songs of lament that plumb the depths of despair, and psalms of revenge that overflow with deep intense anger.  There are also many, many songs praising God as Creator, Deliverer, Redeemer, Ruler, Shepherd, and Law Giver.

Authors: The book includes 150 songs written over a period of about 800 years with the first one (Psalm 90) written about 1400 B.C. and one of the last ones, if not the last one, written around 600 B.C.  Most of the songs were written by David, but the oldest one was written by Moses.  Other authors are mentioned also, including Asaph, Ethan, Solomon, and Heman.

Organization: Psalms is organized into five books.  When most people read the book of Psalms, the songs seem to be arranged in random order, but in fact, the books of Psalms tell the story of Israel from David’s reign to the return from Babylonian captivity.  Books 1 and 2 tell of the time of King David, which makes sense because most of the songs in these books were written by David himself.  The next two books tell of the dark times as the kingdom divided and first Israel and then Judah were conquered and sent into exile.  The final book celebrates the return from exile and the hope for the future heir of David.

Style: As with modern songs, the psalms were poetry set to music.  Many were meant to be accompanied by specific musical instruments.  The songs are written in the style of Hebrew poetry, so it is helpful to understand how this style differs from modern English poetry.  One characteristic of Hebrew poetry was parallelism, where an idea was stated in one line of the poem and enlarged in the next line(s).  There were actually three different kinds of parallelism.  In one kind, the next line simply restates the same idea in different words.  Another type of parallelism gives the contrasting idea in the next line.  The third form of parallelism in Hebrew poetry uses two or three lines to add more information about the original idea.  One characteristic of poetry that is shared by both ancient Hebrew and modern English is figurative language.  The psalms are full of metaphors, similes, and personifications that need to be examined for the depth of meaning available in the figurative language used.

Application: As with the content of many other books in the Old Testament, the songs of the book of Psalms tend to have a local meaning, a future meaning, and a devotional meaning.  For example, Psalm 22 was written originally by David to put the despair that he was feeling at that time into words.  This same psalm was also predictive of Jesus’ death on the cross.  In addition, this psalm can speak to our hearts today when we are desperate and afraid and see no hope.  Care should be taken when applying future meanings.  A good guide is to see how the inspired writers of the New Testament applied the psalms to their own present and future.  As with all scripture, compare verse to verse and use context to gain true meaning.

Interesting Facts:

• Psalms 41:13, 72:19, 89:52, and 106:48 all have the same kind of ending.  Although they will appear different in the various translations, they basically end with “Amen, blessed be the name of the Lord.”
• Psalm 72:20 claims that it marks the last of the psalms of David although there are some others sprinkled throughout later parts of Psalms.
• Psalm 190 is the longest psalm.
• There are three basic types of songs:  lament, praise, and worship.  However, there are some others that do not fit into these categories, such as the royal psalms.
• Psalm 22 was first written as David’s cry of desperation, but rings in our modern ears as Jesus’ agony on the cross.
• Psalm 51 is King David’s plea for forgiveness and cleansing after Nathan the prophet brought his sin with Bathsheba to light.
• Jesus sang the psalms.  “When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives”  Mark 14:26.
• Jesus used the psalms in conjunction with other parts of the Old Testament to help the disciples understand his incarnation, death, and resurrection. “Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” Luke 24:44.
• There are many Messianic psalms that foretold Jesus’ coming including Psalm 2, which points to Jesus’ incarnation, Psalm 22, which points to the crucifixion, and Psalm 47, which references the ascension. Other Messianic psalms include chapters 8, 16, 40, 41, 45, 68, 69, 78, 97, 102, 110, and 118. There are also allusions to Jesus in other Psalms.
• The psalms are referenced in 14 out of 27 books in the New Testament.

The songs of the book of Psalms are full of joy and fear and anger and devotion and impatience and worship and hope and praise.  Most of all, they are full of the God of Israel, the God of creation, your God.  Let them speak to your heart and open your mind to the beauty of Yahweh in all of His glory.