The Book of Psalms
From J. Sidlow Baxter's book Explore the Book, we quote the following: "[The Book of Psalms] is the poetry of downright reality; and, as 'the body is more than the raiment,' so here, the reality is greater than the poetry which expresses it. Here, too, is strong theology -- not, however, any merely theoretic theology, but the practical theology of vivid human experience; and, as 'the life is more than meat,' so is concrete experience more than abstract doctrine. It is this, fundamentally, which has made the Book of Psalms such a treasure to the godly."
Baxter quotes John Calvin, who said: "This book I am wont to style an anatomy of all parts of the soul; for no one will discover in himself a single feeling whereof the image is not reflected in this mirror. Nay, all griefs, sorrows, fears, doubts, hopes, cares, anxieties -- in short, all those tumultuous agitations wherewith the minds of men are wont to be tossed -- the Holy Ghost hath here represented to the life."
The word "psalm" comes from the Greek word psalmos, meaning " a poem to be sung to a stringed instrument. The Septuagint uses the word psalmoi, which is plural of psalmos. The Hebrew name is Tehillim, which means "praises," or Tephiloth, which is translated as "Prayers."
Hebrew poetry differs from Western verse in many ways. Western poetry is often typified by rhyming words, or parallels of sound and rhythm, or of accent. This, of course, is not true of what is called "Blank Verse," which has a structured meter and length. Rhyme and rhythm are not essential to poetry; a poem does not constitute good poetry merely because of the rhyming of words. True poetry is determined by its contents. In Hebrew poetry, it is not parallelism of sound or rhyme that is important, but parallelism of thought. Traces of rhythm have also been found, however. The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia states: "There is coming to be agreement among Hebrew scholars that the rhythm of Hebrew poetry is largely determined by the number of accented syllables in the line." As far as rhyme is concerned, it is impossible to state positively that it was present or absent since, at the time most psalms were composed, no vowels were used in Hebrew script, so the sound of a word of so many centuries ago cannot be determined retroactively.
Baxter distinguishes three forms of parallels in the psalms: completive, contrastive, and constructive. Examples of completive parallelism are found in Ps. 92:12; 46:1; 19:7; 30:2. Contrasting parallels are found in Ps. 30:5; 32:10; 37:10,11. A sample of constructive parallelism is Ps. 21:1,2. A combination of those elements is also possible, as in Ps. 20:7,8 where we find the constructive and contrasting put together. There are variations in the method of combining, as in Ps. 135:15-19, where the first phrase contrasts with the last, the second with the next to the last, etc. Another term of completive, contrastive, and constructive is synonymous, antithetic, and synthetic parallels.
Baxter quotes John Calvin, who said: "This book I am wont to style an anatomyh of all parts of the soul; for no one will discover in himself a single feeling whereof the image is not reflected in this mirror. Nay, all griefs, sorrows, fears, doubts, hopes, cares, anxieties – in short, all those tumultuous agitations wherewith the minds of men are wont to be tossed – the Holy Ghost hath here represented to the life."
The word "psalm" comes from the Greek word psalmos, meaning "a poem to be sung to a stringed instrument. The Septuagint uses the word psalmoi, which is plural of psalmos. The Hebrew name is Tehillim, which means "praises," or Tephiloth, which is translated as "Prayers." This last word is found in Ps. 72:20, where we read: "This concludes the prayers of David son of Jesse."
In the New Testament, the word "Psalms" is found in Luke 20:42, and Acts 1:20. The Hebrew subscripts of the psalms ascribe 73 of them to David, 12 to Asaph, 12 to the Sons of Korah (that is if we take the title of Ps. 42 to be valid for Ps. 43 also), 1 to Herman the Ezrahite, 1 to Ethan the Ezrahite, and 1 to Moses. This makes a total of 100 psalms. The remaining fifty psalms are anonymous. The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia states about the number of Davidic psalms: "Opinion varies among conservative scholars all the way from 3 or 4 to 44 or 45." It is beyond the scope of our study to go into the authenticity of the subscripts. We will simply accept them as they are stated in the NIV.
The Book of Psalms is divided into five parts:
- Book One – Psalm 1 – 41
- Book Two – Psalm 42 – 72
- Book Three – Psalm 73 – 89
- Book Four – Psalm 90 – 106
- Book Five – Psalm 107 – 150
Some people have seen in this division a parallel with the books of the Pentateuch. The first book deals with man, and is mainly from the hand of David. The second book is also, chiefly, attributed to David as has as the theme the redemption of man. The third book, with Asaph as its main author, is the Leviticus book, and is set against the background of the sanctuary. The fourth book opens with the psalm of Moses and emphasizes the time when all restlessness and wanderings will be finished, and the peoples of the earth will bow before God and His Messiah. The fifth book is the book of thanksgiving and praise. The emphasis is on the word of God and on God's faithfulness.
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