A Study Guide for Psalms

 

I. The Book of Psalms (The Hebrew title means: Songs of Praise)

 

A. Originally five separate books.

1) Book one Psalms 1-41.

 

2) Books two and three collected by Josiah or Hezekiah.

 

3) Books four and five collected at the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.

 

B. Authorship of Psalms.

 

1) Moses wrote 1, Psalm 90.

 

2) David wrote 73, most of book one.

 

3) Asaph wrote 12, Psalms 50,73-83.

 

4) Sons of Korah wrote 9, Psalms 42, 44-49, 84, 87,88.

 

5) Heman the Ezraite wrote 1, Psalm 88.

 

6) Ethan the Ezraite wrote 1, Psalm 89.

 

7) Solomon wrote 1, Psalm 127.

 

C. Date of writing.

1) Earliest Moses Psalm 90

 

2) Last Psalm written no later than 500 B.C. probably Psalm 126, "When the Lord turned

                  again the captivity of Zion."

 

3) Probably put in its finished form around the time of Ezra and Nehemiah about 450 B.C.

 

II. Psalm headings are in our English Bibles right below the Psalm number.

 

A. Most reliable Hebrew texts count them as verse one.

B. They may include terms that difficult to translate, which shows the antiquity of the text.

 

C. Contain historical, biographical, musical information about the Psalm and its writer.

 

III. Types of Psalms.

You will find these words in the heading of the Psalms –there is some debate as to weather these words actually classify a type of Psalm or are just different melodies or perhaps “keys.” We know nothing about ancient Hebrew music. But we do know that the Ancient Greeks had different “modes” to be used for different types of music. From what we know, the ancient string instruments could only play the notes they were tuned to. Think of the big harp. The player simply plucks the string and gets one note from each string. Five and seven stringed harps were common in the ancient world, but if you only have 5 or 7 notes, then you are fairly limited to what you can play. We know that the Greeks used different series of notes called modes to reflect different moods. Songs of celebration where in one mode, songs for the dead were in another, and so on. Perhaps, and only perhaps, the Hebrews did the same thing. Each one of the terms below may have been used to describe how the stringed instruments were to be turned.

 

A. Miszmor- just means Psalm, or hymn of praise (Ps3).

 

B. Maskil- a Psalm that is used for instruction (Ps32).

 

C. Shir- song, generally for a festive occasion (Ps18).

 

D. Tephillah- prayer (Ps17)

 

E. Shiggayon- Seems to come from the Hebrew verb 'to wander,’ and is probably a Psalm that is in an exalted or enthusiastic vein (Ps7).

 

F. Miktam- Here we don't have a clear definition. It may refer to the cover of the ark and therefore be a song of atonement. It may also refer to engraving. This would give the idea of beautiful or finely crafted (Ps16).

G. Selah- some type of musical notation we don't know exactly what it means, but the best guess is some type of pause for a musical interlude. (Ps7:5).

 

IV. Types of prophecy in the Psalms. These types don’t only occur in the Psalms, but

throughout Scripture.

 

A. Direct prophecy- the Psalmist is speaking about some one who could only be the Christ (Ps16:10).

B. Typical prophecy- In a typical prophecy the prophet writes about an event in his own life which points ahead to some similar event in the life of Christ (Ps 41:9).

 

C. Intermediate fulfillment- In these prophecies the prophet writes about at least two future events. One is a partial incomplete fulfillment of the prophecy; the second is the complete fulfillment accomplished by Christ (2Sa 7:1-16).

 

V. Types of poetry in the Psalms.

 

A. Parallelism.

Hebrew Poetry isn’t so much rhyme and rhythm as it is a poetry of ideas. Thoughts are expressed and then repeated, clarified, or exemplified in the following phrases of verses. There are three basic ways this is done:

 

1) Some times you see a progression of thought. Take Psalm 1:1. “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.” Those underlined verbs, walk, stand and sit, show a progression of deepening unbelief. So the same thought is emphasized three different ways.

 

2) Sometimes you see a simple repetition of the same thought. Look at 1:5 “Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.” The point in both

phrases is the same.

 

3) Another way this can be done is through found in the last verse of Psalm one. “For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” There is just one thought there, God will take care of his people. But it is expressed in both a positive and a negative manner.

 

B. Acrostic.

                  Each verse starts with a different letter which spells something or simply goes through the alphabet to give the idea of completeness (Ps 119). If you look at Psalm 119 in your Bible, you will see breaks every few verses with an odd looking character above each section. That is a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Each section starts with a different letter in alphabetical order. A pretty amazing thing, if you think about it.