The book of Psalms is the most quoted book of the Old Testament, by New Testament teachers and authors (at least 70 times – Isaiah being second with 55).

 

Title: The Hebrew title is, ‘Sepher Tehillium', or ‘Book of Praises'. The Greek title is, ‘Psalmoi' , which means, ‘Poems Sung to the Accompaniment of Musical Instruments' .

 

Authors: The Book of Praises was gradually collected and remained untitled due to the extent of the work until after the material was collected. Even though debate continues to this day on the authorship of some of the less than titled Psalms, this is how they break down:

David = 73

Solomon = 2

Wise men, Heman and Ethan = 1 each

Moses = 1

Levitical singers of Asaph and Korah = 23

Anonymous = 49

 

Subject: The breadth of the subject matter is tremendous (probably why it is so widely quoted in the N.T.). Subjects from, joy, war, peace, worship, judgment, Messianic prophecy, praise, and lament, just to name a few.

 

The Psalms provide a fountain of information for the Christian seeking righteousness and its production (explore the first Psalm, as an example). The book explores the full range of the human experience, as it relates to their relationship with God.

The Psalms cover a time frame from the creation through the post exile periods.

 

In many cases, a reader can expect a stated topic, a development of thoughts and emotions on the subject, and a resolution of emotions and the subject at the end.

 

Readers Work: The teaching of the Psalms encapsulate truth by placing objects side by side in comparison. In this case a lesser known or practiced truth is revealed through a more familiar subject. This is a process we are familiar with (from the Greek word, ‘metaphor'), to carry over meaning from one object to another. This is done in such a way as to completely involve the reader emotionally by the familiar image.

Good Reading !