Name
The title “Psalms” is derived from the Greek Septuagint word psalmos. The Hebrew Bible refers to the psalms as “The Book of Praises.”
Author
There is some debate about the authorship of the psalms. However, it is generally accepted that David wrote 73; Moses wrote Psalm 90; Asaph wrote Psalms 50, 73-83; Heman the Ezrahite wrote Psalm 88; Ethan the Ezrahite wrote Psalm 89, and Solomon wrote Psalms 72 and 127.
Genre
Poetry. Psalms are religious musical lyric poetry.
Literary Form
A feature of Hebrew poetry is called parallelism, where one line repeats the meaning of another line. Some common types of parallelism include:
- Synonymous parallelism is when the consecutive lines are similar in thought or unit of measure. (ex. Psalm 120:2)
- Antithetical parallelism is when the consecutive lines are opposite of each other. (ex: Psalm 90:6)
- Emblematic parallelism is when one line metaphorically describes the other. (ex. Psalm 103:13)
- Climactic parallelism is when one phrase is repeated in steps. (ex. Psalm 29:12)
- Synthetic parallelism is when one phrase develops the first. (ex. Psalm 2:6)
Time Frame
The psalms cover a time period of perhaps 1,000 years. The oldest being the psalm that Moses wrote (Psalm 90), and the newest being Psalm 137 written when the Israelites were in captivity in Babylon.
Emphasis
The emphasis of the Psalms corresponds with each of the five books:
- Book 1. The Lord is the source of all blessing for His people.
- Book 2. The people’s ruin and redemption in the latter days.
- Book 3. The Holiness of God in dealing with His people.
- Book 4. The first man’s (Adam) failure, and the whole world under the hand of the second Adam (Jesus).
- Book 5. The divine ways in which man and God are united.
Outline
The Psalms are divided into five books. Each book closes with a doxology.
- Book 1 (Psalms 1-41)
- Book 2 (Psalms 42-72)
- Book 3 (Psalms 73-89)
- Book 4 (Psalms 90-106)
- Book 5 (Psalms 107-150)
