A Study Of The Psalms David Weaks Contents: Lesson 1 – Introduction 2 Lesson 2 – Great Themes in Psalms (1) 7 Lesson 3 – Great Themes in Psalms (2) 11 Lesson 4 – Great Themes in Psalms (3) 16 Lesson 5 – Psalm 1 20 Lesson 6 – Psalm 2 24 Lesson 7 – Psalms 3-7 28 Lesson 8 – Psalm 8 32 Lesson 9 – Psalms 9-14 36 Lesson 10 – Psalm 15 40 Lesson 11 – Psalms 16-21 44 Lesson 12 – Psalm 22 48 Lesson 13 – Psalm 23 53 Lesson 14 – Psalms 24-30 56 Lesson 15 – Psalms 31-34 61 Lesson 16 – Psalms 35-37 65 Lesson 17 - Psalms 38-41 68 Lesson 18 – Psalms 42-45 72 Lesson 19 – Psalms 46-49 76 Lesson 20 – Psalms 50-51 80 Lesson 21 – Psalms 52-58 83 Lesson 22 – Psalms 60-64 90 Lesson 23 – Psalms 65-66 94 Lesson 24 – Psalms 67-70 96 Lesson 25 – Psalms 71-72 99 Lesson 26 – Psalms 73-76 102 Lesson 27 – Psalms 77-78 106 Lesson 28 – Psalms 79-82 110 Lesson 29 – Psalms 83-87 114 Lesson 30 – Psalms 88-89 118 Lesson 31 – Psalms 90-94 121 Lesson 32 – Psalms 95-99 125 Lesson 33 – Psalms 100-103 129 Lesson 34 – Psalms 104-107 133 Lesson 35 – Psalms 108-110 139 Lesson 36 – Psalms 111-114 142 Lesson 37 – Psalms 115-118 146 Lesson 38 – Psalm 119 150 Lesson 39 – Psalms 120-128 158 Lesson 40 – Psalms 129-134 163 Lesson 41 – Psalms 135-136 166 Lesson 42 – Psalms 137-138 169 Lesson 43 – Psalms 139-141 172 Lesson 44 – Psalms 142-144 175 Lesson 45 – Psalms 145-150 178 1 A Study of Psalms Lesson 1 Introduction To Psalms The word psalms in Hebrew literally means praises . That is the title of the book as it was known to the Hebrews: " Praises ," or " The Book of Praises ." In the book of Psalms, the praises which came from the hearts of faithful men were poured out to God. Also included in the one hundred and fifty chapters of Psalms there are prayers, requests, meditations, repentance (Psalm 51), and thanksgivings, all aimed toward God. Authorship : The Book of Psalms had numerous human writers, David being the most prolific of them. A large number of the psalms are known to have been written by David (Some scholars think as many as half of the psalms were written by him. The number attributed to Him varies from sixty-eight, to seventy- three, to eighty-eight psalms, depending on who you ask.). It is hard to nail down an exact number that David may have written, because many of the psalms may have been attributed to him rather than having been written by him. Many times, when David is the known author, he stated the occasion or purpose for writing a psalm. • Psalm 3:1 - Written when David fled from his son Absalom. • Psalm 56:1 - States that David wrote the psalm when the Philistines took him in Gath. • Psalm 52:1 - David wrote this psalm on the occasion when Doeg the Edomite exposed David to Saul as hiding in the house of Ahimelech. • Psalm 57:1 - David wrote this psalm when he fled from Saul and hid in a cave. • Psalm 60:1 - Was written when David fought against Mesopotamia and Syria, and when Joab slew twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt. Other writers of the psalms include someone named Asaph , who wrote twelve psalms (Psalms 50, 73-83). The sons of Korah are attributed with authorship of ten psalms (Psalms 42, 44-49, 84, 85, 87). Two are attributed to Solomon (Psalms 72, 127), one to Ethan the Ezrahite (Psalms 89), one to Heman the Ezrahite (Psalms 88), one to Moses (Psalm 90), and nearly fifty have no known author. Inspiration Of the Psalms : The psalms were written with pen and ink by men, but God is the author of them all. Peter said so: " Men and brethren, this scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus " (Acts 1:16, citing Psalm 41:9). Jesus, likewise, attributed David's psalms to inspiration: " He said to them, 'How then does David in the Spirit call Him Lord, saying: The Lord said to my Lord, sit at My right hand, Till I make your enemies your footstool'? " (Matthew 22:43-44, citing Psalm 110:1). Even David said that he was inspired of God: " The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue " (2 Samuel 23:2). 2 The age of the book of Psalms : When was the book of Psalms written? A better question would be: When was the book of Psalms compiled? If we take as fact that the author's named in certain psalms really wrote those chapters, then the time of composition for Psalms was very long. Psalm 90 is attributed to Moses, who lived around 1,500 B.C., while David reigned around 1,000 B.C, and Solomon (Psalm 72, 127) around 950 B.C. Other writers lived much later. So, the time it took to compose the Psalms was well over a thousand years, start to finish. No one knows when the Psalms were compiled into one book, but the book as we know it has existed for many centuries. Type of Literature : Psalms is part of a portion of the Bible known as "wisdom literature." The wisdom literature is often highly figurative and poetic. Several books are included in this section: • Job – An examination of the sufferings of a good man, in which the suffering had no knowable cause or explanation. • Psalms – The Hebrew song book. The psalms are filled with expressions of the heart of man. In the many psalms, the writers describe joy, fear, faith, needs, and thanksgiving. • Proverbs – General expressions of truth which set boundaries for godly living. • Ecclesiastes – A discussion of the whole duty of man – to fear God and keep His commandments. Solomon, seemingly an older, wiser man, speaks as if to a son, telling of his fruitless search for fulfillment without God. • Song of Solomon – An examination of love in Marriage. Some see Song of Solomon as an allegory of the love between God and the Jewish nation. Others believe it is an allegory of the love between Christ and His church. A note on Hebrew poetry . We think of poetry as having the musical qualities of rhyme and meter, but Hebrew poetry has none of these. Rather, it has a rhythm of thought. The writers of Psalms and Proverbs, especially, offer to the reader very important ideas in various combinations of repetition and parallels. Hebrew poetry also used repetitive consonant sounds, and alliteration. Types of Psalms : Synonymous parallels – Two lines say the same or nearly the same thing. For example: • Psalms 3:1 – "Lord, how they have increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me ." • Psalm 7:16 – "His trouble shall return upon his own head, And his violent dealing shall come down on his own crown ." • Psalm 24:1 – "The earth is the Lord's, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein ." • Psalm 24:2 – "For He has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the waters ." 3 Synthetic parallels – The second line or even several succeeding lines state the same idea as the first line, but augments it with more detail: • Psalms 95:3 – "For the Lord is the great God, And the great King above all gods ." o (vs. 4) – "In His hand are the deep places of the earth; The heights of the hills are His also ." o (vs. 5) – "The sea is His, for He made it; And His hands formed the dry land ." • Psalm 14:1 – "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.' They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good ." o (vs. 2) – There is none who understands or seeks God. o (vs. 3) – "They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no not one ." Emblematic parallels – A second line of the parallel uses imagery, usually in the form of a metaphor or a simile, to illustrate what the first line states directly: • Psalms 23:2 – "He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters ." • Psalm 42:1 – "As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. " • Psalm 103:13 – "As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him. " Antithetical parallels – The second line of the parallel appears to contradict the first line, but is really a contrast which emphasizes the truth of the first line • Psalms 1:6 – "For the Lord knows the way of the righteous , But the way of the ungodly shall perish ." (Meaning, he knows the way of the ungodly just as well, and focuses on their evil.) • Psalms 57:6 – "They have prepared a net for my steps ; My soul is bowed down; They have dug a pit before me; Into the midst of it they themselves have fallen . Selah " • Psalm 34:10 – "The young lions lack and suffer hunger ; But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing ." Inverted Parallels – States the same idea in two lines, but reverses the order of the words, for the sake of emphasis. Think of each portion of each line having an assigned letter order: a-b (line one); b-a (line two • Psalm 91:14 - "(A) Because he has set his love upon Me, (B) therefore I will deliver him; (B) I will set him on high, (A) because he has known My name.