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Why are they called Psalms?
In the original Hebrew text, the book was not named. Although the titles of many individual psalms contained the word “mizmar” (meaning the definition of a melody), indicates that the poem is to be sung, and the accompaniment of a stringed instrument is to be used.
The Greek translation of this term is, “psalmos”, and is the basis for the collective title “Psalmoi” (meaning songs) which is found at the top of most of the manuscripts. From this, the English name “Psalms” is derived.
A modified translation found in a 5th-century manuscript of the Septuagint is “Psalterium” (meaning Harp), from which comes the name “Psalter”, meaning a collection of psalms and prayers intended for liturgical use.
Today, Hebrew literature uses the title “Tehillim” for the collection of poems, prayers, and songs.
The word “Selah” acts as a sign for us to pause and think about the emphasis God places on His promises. “Selah” appears at the end of a verse or paragraph, mostly in Psalms. It is seen as a time for contemplation of the words in the Psalms
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Some uses of the psalms
The word “Selah” acts as a sign for us to pause and think about the emphasis God places on His promises. “Selah” appears at the end of a verse or paragraph, mostly in Psalms. It is seen as a time for contemplation of the words in the Psalms
Psalms 113-118 make up the “Hallel”, which is recited on various holidays.
Individual psalms, as well as selected verses from psalms, are featured in the “Verses of Song” (“Pesukei D’Zimra”) that precede the daily morning service
Seven psalms form the core of the “Kabbalat Shabbat” (Friday night) service.
Verses from Psalms 34 and 99 accompany the procession for taking the Torah out for public reading in the synagogue;
On Shabbat, Psalm 29 is sung when returning the Torah to the ark
Psalm 126 is recited before the grace after meals (“Birkat Hamazon”) on Shabbat and holidays, and Psalm 137 is recited on ordinary days.
The liturgical use of psalms dates back to Temple times; the Talmud records a weekly cycle of psalms to be read in the Temple, which is echoed in today’s morning prayer service.
Many sections of the siddur , or prayer book, include whole psalms or selected verses.
Taken from https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-book-of-psalms
In its present form, the book of Psalms comprises of 150 poems.
It is divided into five books (1–41, 42–72, 73–89, 90–106, 107–150),
This specific numbering follows the Hebrew Bible.
Some other versions of the book of Psalms however contain slight variations, such as conjoined or subdivided psalms/.
It is thought that the fivefold division might mean an impression of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament) suggesting that the book reached its present form through liturgical use.
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The Titles
These titles convey various kinds of information such as
authorship,
dedication,
historical occasion,
liturgical assignment to a worship director,
liturgical instruction (e.g., what kind of song it is, whether it is to have a musical accompaniment,
and what tune to use),
other technical instructions of uncertain meaning due to their great history.
Date can be estimated from authorship
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Authors
From the date, collections can be identified indicating more than 7 different authors.
Commentaries say that King David wrote at least 73 of the 150 Psalms.
The other authors have been identified as: -
Moses, 1 Psalm (Psalm 90)
David, 73 Psalms
Asaph, 3 Psalms (Psalms 50, 73, 83)
Solomon, 2 Psalms (Psalms 72, 127)
Heman, 1 Psalm (Psalm 88)
Ethan, 1 Psalm (Psalm 89)
In addition to these authors, 10 psalms are assigned to “The Sons of Korah”, (Psalms 42, 44-49, 84, 85, 87), though it is thought that they were more likely performers rather that authors. (See the superscription in Psalm 88).
Sixty-one psalms are anonymous.
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Dates
In such a collection of hymns, a widely divergent range of dates is inevitable: from the oldest, the Psalm of Moses (Psalm 90), to a number of postexilic (the period of time psalms, or a period of about one thousand years (1400 – 400 B.C.), to the late sixth or early fifth century B.C. and A.D. 1 (Psalm 126).
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Background
The backdrop for the Psalms is twofold:
(1) The acts of God in creation and history; and
(2) The history of Israel.
Historically, the psalms range in time from before the exile, to the joys of the Jews liberated from Babylon.
The psalms cover a wide spectrum of topics, ranging from heavenly worship to earthly war.
The collected psalms comprise the largest book in the Bible and are the most frequently quoted items from the Old Testament and in the New Testament.
Psalm 117 represents the middle of the Bible, and Psalm 119 is the largest in the entire Bible. Through the ages, the psalms have retained their original primary purpose, and that is to produce the proper praise and worship of God.
Jesus and His disciples used the Psalms to sing hymns. In the New Testament, it tells us in
Matt 26:30 30 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Throughout the years, when God’s people come together, in times of grief or celebration, they sing. The song style and instrumentation changes with time, but singing remains a deeply rooted, fundamental part of the Judeo-Christian heritage.
From the time of the spontaneous choir of former slaves on the far side of the Red Sea to the elaborate professional choirs and orchestras King David assembled among the Levites, singing has been important in Israel as worship became more organized.
Who would have thought a psalm could have made it into our pop charts. But that is exactly what Psalm 137 did, in 1997, when it was sung by Boney M. At that time, I do not think, most of the young people realised that it was a psalm.
When David moved the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem for the first time, he appointed “some of the Levites … to ‘praise the Lord God of Israel”. They used “stringed instruments and cymbals and trumpets” (1 Chron. 16:4-6). He also gave Asaph and his relatives the directive that thanksgiving be sung to God.
Years later, when the elderly David turned the kingship over to Solomon, he designated 4000 Levites to praise the Lord with musical instruments that were made for them (1 Chron. 23:5). In addition, David set more than 300 others to sing (prophesy), worship songs in the temple (1 Chron. 25:1-31).
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How where the Psalms put together?
As we get to know the psalms, we come to realise, that they are not set out in the order in which they were written. The more we think about it, the more we want to understand
Why they are not in order
what happened to cause the order
why are they placed in the order they are?
When I first started to investigate the psalms, I thought they were set out in the order the Jewish Faith used, (like our readings for the Lectionary year A, B, or C).
It seems this is not quite the case, and many famous Ministers and those who lecture on Religious Studies have also attempted to understand it.
For example, why is the oldest psalm(written by Moses), numbered Psalm 90? Looking for an answer has taken me on a quest of reading several books and looking through many websites about the Psalms. Some have been way over my head, some have been interesting, and all of them made me think and value the Psalms more than I did, before I started my study.
The answer to how they were put together. I found was in Ezra.
Ezra was a prophet, priest, and scribe. He helped pull the Jewish people and their faith back together. The people had been exiled; and their religious teachings had begun to drift. Men were marrying women outside the Jewish faith, and they had begun to drift away from their religious laws, rituals and teachings.
The king of Persia said that God had told him to send Ezra to build the temple in Jerusalem again. All the Jews living in Persia went to Jerusalem and began to restore the Temple. The king sent Ezra who was a priest, a teacher of the Law to go with them, and supervise the people in their religion, laws and how to live.
Ezra was a very clever man who talked with God, and he knew the laws, the religious acts.
Ezra sorted out the
• men who had married foreign women,
• he sorted out the first 5 books of the bible that was their Tora,
• the book of psalms he placed into five books, each assigned to one of the books in their
Tora, that formed their daily and celebration worship to God.
I recommend reading the book of Ezra in the Old Testament to understand what Ezra did..
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So what does this mean to us?
Worship: The Book of Psalms was Israel’s hymn book. It contained the individual and collective reasons to praise God, within the nation and to declare His glory to the nations. It is no surprise that the entire book concludes with a final psalm that encourages worshipers to praise God in “church” and in all creation, with all manner of musical instruments, for His acts and His greatness (150:6).
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Theological Themes:
C.S. Lewis underlined an important point.
‘The psalms are poems, and poems intended to be sung; not doctrinal treatises, nor even sermons… They must be read as poems if they are to be understood… Otherwise we shall miss what is in them and think we see what is not.’
What is found in the Psalms are several different theologies and series of theologies. The theology of Psalm 1 is very different from that of Psalm 73 or 88. It said with our ever-evolving world that we live in, that it is doubtful, that we will be able to recover the theology of those who wrote the psalms. They were written by people who experienced good and bad times in their own life and that of their country. That is why when reading through the psalms a certain one will mean something to us. You may find you share what the authors was feeling and how that, speaks out to God in the circumstances you find yourself in.
1. Messianic Psalms are prophetic in the way of the Messiah. They include psalms in which the righteous man’s character is a type of Christ (palms 34:20; 69:4, 9). They foretell Christ’s experience in the world and his human death (22), the existing king’s standards and calling will be fulfilled in Christ, the ultimate King (palms 2, 45, 72), Christ’s work is prophesied with no reference (only 110), or the enthronement of Christ as universal King over the earth is predicted (palms 47, 93, 96 – 99).
2. Psalms of Ascents or Pilgrim Psalms (120 – 134), were sung by pilgrims journeying up to Jerusalem for the three annual feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles.
3. Acrostic Psalms are those in which each verse begins with a consecutive letter of the Hebrew alphabet (Psalms 9, 10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119, 145). Psalm 119 is in a class by itself with eight verses for each letter of their alphabet.
All the music written for the instruments and all the songs written for the choirs came together in what we now call the Book of Psalms, 150 prayers and songs that became the hymn book of the people of God. In fact, many of the words from those psalms found their way into old hymns of the church and are now in modern praise and worship hymns.
It is difficult to get the full effect of how the writers envisaged the psalms, to be sung or read without knowing the melodies. As you read the words in Psalms, imagine; how they must have echoed off the walls of the temple in Jerusalem, then let your hearts and minds join with those across time; in devotion to the one God whose mercy endures forever.
The Psalms are used, at funerals to comfort those who have lost a loved one, and at coronations to welcome new kings and queens, they have also, been read for comfort and joy. As we begin one of the most loved books in the Bible, remember that the Psalms are poetry, they were written by Hebrews in Hebrew Poetry where lines are compressed, and the object is rarely used. Where the word order may vary, this made sentence difficult to translate as they can mean different things. Sometime several English words maybe used in translation for one of the Hebrew words.
People have always found Psalms as old and deary, they have a few favourite ones but dismiss the rest. I wonder if they would change their minds when they understand, what I have just learnt from my exploration about the about the book of Psalms. During my research, my mind has been completely blown away, by what I found. I was direct back to the gospels, and what Jesus said.
In Luke 24:44 “Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled’.
I pray that you may discover a link with their author and find a psalm that speaks to you. remember that God spoke to each one of the men who wrote Psalms, and God spoke to Ezra who put them into the order that we know them.
My research in Psalms, have shown me how God spoke about, the world, how God created it and looked after His People, How God promised a Messiah, The Messiah’s life and death, and the last book is about God’s kingdom on earth. Where all the earth will shout praise to God their creator.
Ezra put back into place the order that the Jewish people should pray. read and worship God. In the meaning column I have put the headings of the meaning I have found for the psalms that they read.
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