Hi James and Ellen,
Psalms is an assemblage of five books of 150 poems, songs and chants. There is the thinking that it may have been Ezra who took five separate books of praises and compiled them into a single book which was given the name Tehillim. Tehillim means praises. Because some of the psalm songs were to be accompanied by a harp, Ezra’s book of praises became known as a Psalterion or psaltery. Psaltery suggests an anthology of music that is played on a harp. Psaltery became abridged to Psalter. Psalter then became called Book of Psalms. David is the Book of Psalms chief psalmist. David is known to have scribed at least 73 of the psalms that are in the Book of Psalms. Other known Book of Psalms psalm authors includes Solomon – who is recognized as having scribed at least two of the psalms, Heman and Ethan – two wise Levi tribal clan guys, – who are acknowledged as having scribed at least one of the psalms, Moses – who is known as having ascribed at least one of the psalms and Asaphite and Korahite Levi tribal clan singers – who are documented as having scribed at least 23 of the psalms that are in the Book of Psalms. A clear-cut authentication cannot be made for who scribed 49 of the psalms that are in the Book of Psalms.
Each one of the Book of Psalms songs, poems and chants were scribed with a topic in mind – topics such as affliction, intercessory or penitential prayers, messianic prophecies, God’s unmerited goodness and mercy, praising God and just being thankful. A number of the Book of Psalms songs, poems and chants were scribed didactically for instructing while others were scribed to be historical reminders. Some of the Book of Psalms songs were scribed using ancient melodies – melodies such as ‘The Death of the Son’, ‘The Doe in the Morning’, ‘Do Not Destroy’, ‘The Lily of the Covenant’, ‘A Dove on Distant Oaks’, and ‘Lilies’. Some of the Book of Psalms songs were scribed with musical instructions – such as a song to be accompanied by flutes or stringed instruments or sung in a lower octave. Some of the Book of Psalms songs and chants were scribed to be sung or chanted on special days – such as the Sabbath Day and during the Passover Feast days. Some of the Book of Psalms poems were scribed to express and manifest the author’s exclusive relationship with God. Some of the Book of Psalms songs were scribed simply to magnify God’s name. One of the greatest blessings that is invariably found in reading the psalms – the songs, the poems and the chants that make up the Book of Psalms, is finding hope in the promises that are everywhere in the Book of Psalms and having one’s personal faith affirmed.
Your grandpaa has been intrigued with the different circumstances that David was in when he scribed a psalm song that ultimately became a song in the Book of Psalms. Because David’s dad expected that his kid do shepherd duty with his sheep herds, your grandpaa thinks that David did a lot of alone time reflecting on and enjoying God’s majestic creation. Because David had a God-given ability or talent for scribing songs and for being able to sing what he scribed – with the harp being his music instrument of choice, your grandpaa thinks that David used his alone time under planet Earth’s firmament – which David knew that God had designed, to scribe praise songs that he would sing to God. Your grandpaa thinks that David – years later, while he was sitting next to campfires with his mighty men companions would sing the same songs that he scribed during the times when he was shepherding the sheep that his dad owned. Your grandpaa thinks that even during the years that David did what he had to do to keep from being caught by an insanely jealous king – who was Saul, – with being killed if he was caught, that David never once stopped scribing praise songs to God. Even though David knew that he was next in line to be king over the Israelite people group guys and gals – who are God’s specially chosen guys and gals – because of having Samual anoint him for that honor, David did not use Samuel’s anointing as a reason to blame God for the long, cold nights that he and his cohorts had to spend in dank, dark caves just to be able to remain alive. Your grandpaa is convinced that it was after David found himself finally sitting on a throne as king over the Israelite people group guys and gals that his fellowship with God became less important to him – resulting in David thinking more about himself and in his personal desires than he did about the relationship that he had had with God. David would scribe one of his most poignant psalm songs after God led him to realize how his selfish, compromising act that he had with Bathsheba affected as many lives as it did. Your grandpaa believes that each song, poem and chant in the Book of Psalms was scribed to be communally shared versus having been scribed in hopes of accruing personal fame through having a name recognition attached to the song, poem or chant as what seems to be the case too often today. Your grandpaa rarely finds a ‘worship’ time that is in a church or para-church to be edifying as he senses that the guys and gals who are leading and/or who are singing and/or who are playing an instrument during these ‘worship’ times are doing what they are doing are doing it as performers to entertain versus doing what they are doing to simply thank and praise God. Instead of doing what David did – which was to use words to commune with God while using a harp to do backdrop, self-aggrandizing staged ‘worshipping’ is now the in vogue theatrics in Christ-follower communes.
Psalms