An Overview of The Psalms

The Psalms are much more than just 150 of the religious songs of old Israel brought together in book form. They were Divinely inspired in their composition and also in their collection, which, incidentally, was probably the work of Ezra and his helpers. Historically, they range at least from Moses (Psalm 90) to the return from Babylon under Ezra and Nehemiah (Psalms 126 and 127). They were the work of many authors, some completely unknown, and some of whom we know no more than the name (e.g. Heman the Ezrahite (Ps. 88) and Ethan the Ezrahite (Ps. 89) ).

It is evident that the 150 Psalms have been divided into 5 groups, as follows:

  • Ps. 1-41 ending with a Benediction, and a double “Amen”.
  • Ps. 42-72 ending with a Benediction, and a double “Amen”.
  • Ps. 73-89 ending with a Benediction, and a double “Amen”.
  • Ps. 90-106 ending with a Benediction, “Amen”, “Hallelujah”.
  • Ps. 107-150 ending with five “Praise” songs, each beginning and ending “Hallelujah”.

Tradition has it that these five groups were intended to be complementary to the five books of the Pentateuch, thus:

  • Genesis—Group 1 concerning the man.
  • Exodus—Group 2 concerning Israel as a nation.
  • Leviticus—Group 3 concerning the Sanctuary.
  • Numbers—Group 4 concerning Israel and the nations.
  • Deuteronomy—Group 5 concerning God and His Word.

Quite an amount of repetition is evident between the different groups. For example:

  • Ps. 14  in Group 1 is the same as Ps 53 in Group 2, except that Ps. 14 uses “Yahweh” in some instances where Ps. 53 uses “Elohim”.
  • Ps. 40, 13-17 in Group 1 is the same as Ps. 70 in Group 2.
  • Ps. 57, 7-11 plus Ps. 60, 5-12 Group 2 make up Ps. 108 in Group 5.
  • Ps. 105, 1-15 plus Ps. 96 make up the Psalm of David concerning the Ark in 1 Chron. 16, 8­33.

Many of the Psalms, it will be noted, carry a superscription, such as “Michtam of David” (Ps. 16). Students have concluded, however, that many portions of these properly are subscriptions to the preceding Psalm. The reason given for the confusion is that in the ancient Hebrew manuscripts there are no breaks between the Psalms, the only division being a number in the margin. The inscription, therefore, could often relate to the preceding or to the succeeding Psalm. Some could have both a superscription and a subscription. A typical example of a Psalm of this nature is found in Habakkuk 3, as follows:

V.1—”A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigioneth” .

V.2-19 is the Psalm.

V.19—”To the chief singer in my stringed instruments”.

As an instrument of what is involved in this rearrangement we could mention the superscription to Psalm 4 as it appears in the A.V.:

“To the chief musician on Neginoth, a Psalm of David.” It is accepted now that “To the chief musician on Neginoth” is in fact the subscription to Psalm 3, and “A Psalm of David” is the superscription to Psalm 4.

This might appear to be a matter of small moment, but, in fact, it is of great importance in a number of cases to the correct understanding of the Psalms concerned. A complete record of these adjustments can be found in the Companion Bible. There are too many to list here.

Many strange words appear in these inscriptions. The Companion Bible lists the words and their meanings and the following is a brief summary of it’s conclusions:

Aijeleth-Shahar—properly the subscription to Ps. 21. The A.V. margin gives “the hind of the morning”. The C.R. gives “the Day—Dawn”. (Read Ps. 21 and see how fitting it is to have been David’s Coronation hymn—and how easily it projects to the future Coronation of his greater Son at the dawning of the new Day.)

Al Alamoth—properly the subscription to Ps. 45. It means “Relating to Maidens” and it is most appropriate to the subject-matter of that beautiful Psalm.