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No other book of the Bible invites us into an experience as passionate and personal as that of the psalms. Here we find eloquent expression of every human feeling: hope and remorse, joy and sorrow, confidence and fear, humility and anger, certainty and anxiety. The psalms appeal to our emotions and intuition, not solely our intellect, treating the subtleties of life that are often more easily expressed than explained. It is no wonder that the Book of Psalms has been the hymnal and prayer book for generations of God’s people, beginning with ancient Israel and continuing to modern expressions of the church.
These one hundred and fifty “songs sung to the accompaniment of a musical instrument,” which is the meaning of the Greek word from which the Book of Psalms draws its name, invite us to give voice to our inner experiences as we lift our hearts to the Lord.
But Psalms is also more than a hymnbook; it is a guidebook for life. It was intended as a source of wisdom and insight, lighting our journey through a spiritually dark world (Ps. 119:105). The psalms lead us through specific life situations (see “Psalms for Many Occasions” at Ps. 100:1), and several psalms are characteristic of the genre of Wisdom Literature. They give instruction and deal with fundamental issues such as the nature of evil, the meaning of life, and the human struggle to fathom God’s ways. (These wisdom psalms include Ps. 1, 19, 37, 49, 104, 107, 112, 119, 127, 128, 133, 147, and 148.) Other major categories within these songs include royal psalms (see “Human Kings and the Heavenly King” at Ps. 2:7), lamentations (see “Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep” at Ps. 3:5), and songs written to accompany spiritual pilgrimages to the temple at Jerusalem (see “A Song of Ascents” at Ps. 120, heading).
The Book of Psalms was written over a thousand-year span of Israel’s history. One of the earliest psalmists was Moses, who probably wrote Psalm 90 during the Exodus. Seventy-three psalms are preceded by the phrase “of David,” and several of these also include information about the circumstances of their composition, which often occurred during important moments in David’s life. Two sets of psalms were composed by professional guilds of musicians, the Sons of Asaph (see “The Sons of Asaph” at 1 Chr. 25:2) and the Sons of Korah. Other psalms are of other origins, some unknown to us.
Each psalm must be dated individually. Moses wrote around 1400 B.C. Those composed by David would have been produced between 1040 and 971 B.C. The two psalms attributed to Solomon (Ps. 72, 127) date between 971 and 931 B.C., and the latest psalms come from the period after the Exile (mid-fifth century B.C.). Some believe that the Book of Psalms as we now know it did not take final shape until the time of Ezra, when it became the hymnbook of the second temple.
Because psalms were produced by writers from a wide variety of backgrounds, the geography of this book covers the entire world as it was known to the ancient Israelites.
Key Verses in Psalms
• “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the LORD” (Ps. 1:1, 2).
• “The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you” (Ps. 9:9, 10).
• “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer … my strength, in whom I will trust” (Ps. 18:2).
• “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork” (Ps. 19:1).
• “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Ps. 23:1).
• “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God” (Ps. 42:1).
• “Against You, You only, have I sinned” (Ps. 51:4).
• “Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands!” (Ps. 100:1).
• “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps. 119:105).
• “Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain” (Ps. 127:1).
• “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me” (Ps. 139:23, 24).
• “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD” (Ps. 150:6).