Who wrote the Psalms? When were they written? What was their inspiration?
(8 min. reading time)
I’m going to start with the facts – the nerdy information you would typically find at the front of a syllabus when starting a new course. The purpose is to provide a general overview and context of the entire book of Psalms.
While the Old Testament books of 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 Kings provide the historical account of David’s life, the book of Psalms shows us David’s heart and the hearts of other poets and songwriters through their songs and praises to God. To get a bigger picture of the Psalms, here are some interesting facts on the content and organization of the largest book in the Bible.
Psalms are the most frequently quoted Old Testament writing in the New Testament and by Jesus.
The word psalm means “praises” in Hebrew, and “to sing” in Greek.
Psalms has multiple authors including: David (73), Solomon (2), Heman, Ethan and Moses (1 each), Levitical singing clans of Asaph (12), Korahites (11), and anonymous (49).
Aside from Psalm 90, authored by Moses, the writing period extends from David and Solomon’s lifetimes to Nehemiah’s rebuilding of the Jerusalem city walls. The Psalms were written over a period of some 500 years.
Psalms is organized into five books, each book with its own doxology.
Book 1 – Psalms 1 to 41
Book 2 – Psalms 42 to 72
Book 3 – Psalms 73 to 89
Book 4 – Psalms 90 to 106
Book 5 – Psalms 107 to 150
While not known for certain, a spirit-led scribe (Ezra 7:10) likely combined Books 4 and 5 with 1 to 3, adding his own inspired composition of Psalm 146 to 150 as the grand finale for the entire book.
For the visual folks, here is a tabular overview of the Psalms. This is as close as I come to making a spreadsheet with Psalms! Which is a shame because as an engineer, I love spreadsheets.
Book One
Book Two
Book Three
Book Four
Book Five
Chapters
1 to 41
42 to 72
73 to 89
90 to 106
107 to 150
Compiled
David
Solomon
Korahites
Likely Ezra
Likely Ezra
Timing
970 BC
930 BC
586 BC
444 BC
444 BC
Theme
Humanity
Deliverance
God’s Sanctuary
God’s Reign
Revelation
Torah
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Theme from Insight for Living Study Bible
Psalms Design
I had previously looked at the Psalms as a random collection of the best poems and songs. Then I watched the Bible Project’s video on the Psalms, and I learned otherwise. While Psalms does represent the best poetry and song material, it is not a random collection. When we look at the Psalms as a whole, we can see an intent and design written all over the collection.
For example, each of the five books ends with a benediction that reads something like, “May the LORD, the God of Israel be blessed forever and ever, amen and amen.” The first two psalms, written anonymously, form an introduction that tell us that
The Book of Psalms is designed to be the prayer book of God’s people as they strive to be faithful to the Torah as they hope and wait for the future Messianic Kingdom
Bible Project
The Psalms conclude with the grand finale of Psalms 146 to 150, a five-part arrangement, each beginning and ending with a “hallelujah.”
Think of the book of Psalms as a symphony with five movements. The symphony begins with the main theme or melody that will be will be sprinkled in all the movements. Each movement presents its own theme, and a common benediction at the end of each movement signals a change to the next movement. Finally there is a crescendo of praise at the end of Book 5 bringing the work to a fitting conclusion. The concept of intentional design is music to my engineering brain.
Speaking of music, another misconception I previously held was that all the Psalms were poems put to music and used as a hymnbook for the Israelites. Thanks again to the Bible Project for pointing me in the right direction. The Israelites wrote a lot of poetry in their history; some were sung by choirs while others were prayed by families at home. The most important and widely read poems were compiled together to be read or sung on special occasions. Therefore, Psalms is not exclusively a hymnbook but a compilation of poems which were used both as spoken prayers and songs.
Psalms as Poetry
Hebrew poetry differs greatly from Western poetry. While the poetry we read is often characterised by rhyme or rhythmic balance, Hebrew poetry was written in a parallelism of thought, whereby succeeding phrases either repeat or in some way develop the original line. This is done in three ways:
Expressing the same thought in different words (synonymous parallelism)
“O Lord, I have so many enemies; so many are against me. (Psalm 3:1)”
Enriching or developing the original thought (synthetic parallelism)
“But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night (Psalm 1:2).
Setting ideas in contrast to one another (antithetic parallelism)
“For the Lord watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction. (Psalm 1:6)”
When reading Psalms, look for the rhythm in the repetition of thought or ideas instead of in rhyming words or rhythmic cadence.
Psalms as Songs
Many of the poems in Psalms possess a lyric or singing quality. In our Bibles we have the lyrics but not the music. We find musical notations either in the heading or within the Psalm itself. For example, the heading “for the director of music” occurs fifty-five times. The reference to the sons of Korah refers to the musicians from this family. Other headings indicate the types of instruments to be used – “with stringed instruments.” The term “selah”, found seventy-one times in the Psalms, may indicate when the worshippers were to pause and praise. They would pause to carefully weigh the meaning of what they have just sung and lift up their hearts in praise to God for his great truths.
The individual Israelites did not have their own personal book of Psalms. Combining words and music was an effective way of placing God’s words into their hearts. And the repeated singing embedded the words so that they would not be occasional visitors but permanent residents in their hearts.
Jesus and the Psalms
Jesus also would have known and sung the Psalms. For example, Luke described the annual pilgrimage that Jesus’ family made to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. Families travelled for days as a company and often sang the pilgrimage psalms, or songs of ascents (Psalms 120 to 134), on their journey. Approximately 1,000 years after their writing, the Israelites still faithfully sang these songs.
Mark records in his gospel that at the end of the Passover meal, “When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” (Mark 14:26, NIV) At this time, the disciples would have sung from one of Psalms 116 to 118, which are referred to as the Hallel – songs that were used as part of the Passover festival.
The apostle Paul encouraged the Colossian believers to,
“let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts”
colossians 3:16
This shows that the Psalms and singing were an active part of the early church’s spiritual enrichment.
Psalms Lens
Understanding that the Psalms were written as a song book and not as a theological letter, historical document or word of prophecy, although parts of each are included in the book, helps us to appreciate the book in the way that it was originally written. The authors of the Psalms were gifted in music and poetry. Their works are not meant so much to be analyzed as to be felt and experienced. In his introduction to the book of Psalms, Charles Swindoll encourages,
“As you read, use your eyes to see the words and your mind to understand God’s revelation, but do not forget to let your heart feel the passion and pulse of each inspired artist.”
Up Next
What goes into song writing? In the next post I will share a conversation with a professional songwriter on the song writing process.
Head and Heart Collide 
3 thoughts on “Psalms for Nerds”