Psalms And Accomplishments

In order to understand the context of Psalm 18, one must first understand the book as a whole. The title of the book comes from the Greek word psallo which means “to pluck”, referencing the stringed instruments that normally accompanied the singing of the psalms. The psalms are composed by many people including David, Moses, Solomon, songs of Korah and Asaph. Psalm 18 states that it was written by King David, for which there is no concrete evidence to contradict. However there are some factors that may offer insight into the authorship, which will be spoken on later. The book of Psalms is often divided into five sections: Psalms 1-41, 42-72, 73-89, 90-106, and 107-150. The divide is considered to follow the Pentateuch which is separated in this manner for the temple worship. Each section ends with a doxology which summarizes and gives praise for the Psalms that came before it. Overall, the intent of the book of Psalms is to concentrate and dwell on God.

There are 150 psalms in the Book of Psalms that were written over the span of 800 years. Most of the Psalms written were made to be sung. There are two main genres of Psalms, which are laments and hymns. David is know to have written 73 psalms, Asaph wrote 12, the sons of Korah wrote 11, Solomon wrote 2, Moses wrote 1 and 50 are anonymous . Although 50 were anonymous, David was certainly the author of the majority of the Psalms.

The historical context delivers two distinctly different accounts of the purpose of the hymn. Both David and Solomon stand as the possible writers of Psalm 24 with liturgical intercession remaining the focus. The focus is on the creative nature of YHWH and the unlimited honor and reverence due unto him. The psalmist passionately

Biblical interpretation is an area that leaves historians and students perplexed. There are many questions as to when exactly a certain text was written, whom it was written by, origin of sources, etc. To answer these questions, Christian historians have developed methods in order to make sense of the messages in the bible. In particular, Corrine Carvalho’s Primer on Biblical Methods works to critically explain and interpret scripture so readers feel less skeptical about the legitimacy of the text. These methods include the following: “Source criticism, the reconstruction of written sources an ancient author may have used to compose a text. Form criticism, the way a final author has put a text together. Traditional criticism, the identification of traditions that an author employs in constructing new texts. Historical criticism, the historical circumstances that have led an author to write a given text” (Carvalho, 2009, p. 3); they are encouraged for readers to use throughout the bible. If you look at Psalms, you will find prayers of a poetic nature, almost like a song-like. This writing style often leaves the meaning of its text open for interpretation because it speaks in metaphors, it contains little to no defining statements. Carvalho’s methods can be applied to Psalm 18.

The author is identified on all but thirty-four of the book of Psalms. The authors include, David; Asaph, David's choir leader; Sons of Korah, a family of Levitical musicians; Jeduthun; a Levitical choir leader; Solomon; Moses; The Ezrahite Ethan; Heman. Jewish tradition says Adam wrote Psalm one hundred thirty nine, Melchizedek wrote Psalm one hundred ten, Abraham wrote Psalm eighty-nine, Moses wrote Psalm ninety. The praise Psalms opens up with a call to praise and then has a reason to praise God. Finally, it has a concluding praise.

In Psalms, we see a collection of lyrical poetry, songs and prayers. Many of these were written by King David himself. The book covers almost the entire gamut of human emotion, from sorrow to joy, from doubt to faith.

"Psalm 23" comes from the Christian Bible. It is one of the most famous of these Biblical psalms. The beginning of the poem reads, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want" (line 1). In the poem, the first-person narrator asserts that as long as they believe in God, then they will never be in need. Further, the poem reads, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me" (line 4). This narrator believes completely that no matter what negative issues they may have to deal with in their life, they will be fine because of their faith. The Bible is the written history of the Christian religion and its purpose is both to inspire and instruct people of that faith. The Psalm's purpose is to underscore the potency of the power of belief in Christianity.

According to merriam-webster.com (2015) a Psalmist is very simply put, “a writer of Psalms.” There were many different Psalmists that played an important role in writing the five different books of Psalms. In order to properly analyze a Psalm, one must look at the historical context of the Psalm, the major literacy features of the Psalm and any contemporary expressions that have been used for the Psalm. The Psalm that is being analyzed for this assignment is Psalm 24.

In conclusion, I learn something new every time I read the Bible, and one verse can change my perspective in life for the better. Psalms is one of my favorite books from the Bible because its gives my motivation but most importantly it brings me peace. Now that this semester is wrapping up and finals coming next week, these verses help me to have more trust in God during

Psalm 29 “Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones, Give unto the Lord glory and strength,” begins the signal to worship. This call to worship in the beginning of the poem flows smoothly into a praise of his power; the praises chiefly refer to “the voice of the Lord” and its attributes, using abundant natural imagery. The catalogue of characteristics is concluded by a quick closing benediction about how the Lord is king forever and how he will bless his people. Psalm 29 was crafted to credit the Lord with an all-powerful, kingly, yet gracious essence.

Psalms is filled with deep emotions and personal turmoil, and cries for help from God, while providing praise on worship during these troubled times. Psalm’s was written primarily by David who is ascribed to have written seventy-three psalms (possibly seventy-five with two unknown psalms are attributed to him in the New Testament). Besides David there were at least six other authors given credit for writing at least one psalm. Asaph who was a Levite and a seer, is credited for writing twelve psalms. The sons of Korah (whose fathers story is found in Numbers 16:28-35) are credited for writing nine psalms. Solomon who was King David’s son as well as his successor to the throne is credited for writing two psalms. Moses is credited for writing Psalm 90, the oldest of the psalms. Heman who was the grandson of Samuel the prophet and a singer not musician, is credited for writing Psalm 88. Ethan the Ezahite was a wise man from the time of Solomon is credited for writing Psalm 89. Besides the authors listed, there are fifty-one psalms written by unknown authors. Due to psalms being written over a vast period of time and multiple authors there is no specific setting

The Book of Psalms is the Book of Prayer. Whoever wants to learn to pray let him pray to David and whoever prays with the psalms, David shall be a teacher for him, how he should pray as a father that shall hold his son's hand to teach him how to write. In the Book of Psalms we know ourselves and the weaknesses and pitfalls that are in us and we find in this travel fall and the advancement of prayers of repentance and thanksgiving and praise. Psalms are filled with many prophecies concerning the incarnation, pain and resurrection of the Lord. It is the greatest witness to the life of the Lord Jesus, so Peter said that David is a prophet (Acts 30: 2).

The authorship of Psalm 119 remains unknown. Most scholars believe the author to be King David because of its Davidic tone and expression. It is also assumed that this Psalm is written over a period of someone’s life, as it shows maturity as the Psalm progresses (Bible hub). Regardless of the identity of the Psalmist, Psalm 119 has very special and unique qualities. Psalm 119 is not only the longest chapter in the book of Psalms, but of the entire Bible. Some believe that since Psalm 119 is the longest chapter of the Bible, it shows the priority of God’s Word to God. (bible.org) Although Psalm 119 is quite a long chapter, it is written in a format that allows the reader to study and follow the structure of the psalm with ease. This specific Psalm is written in the form of an acrostic poem, meaning each section begins with a letter from the alphabet. In this case, each section, made up of eight verses, begin with each of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Thus, the first eight couplets begin with aleph (A), the next eight begin with beth (B), then so forth in the same suit. (bible.org)

The last segment of the Psalm is Moses’ appeal to God for him to return his presence to his people: “Return, O LORD, how long? And let it repent thee concerning thy servants.” Not only should God return, but Moses asks for complete restoration and for God to bless the work of man: “Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

“The psalm begins in a rather unique way, with the psalmist declaring love for God (verse 1). It is much more common for the psalmist to speak of trusting God, seeking refuge in God, or waiting for God.” (Henry). In this commentary the author Matthew Henry brings up a great point about how the Psalm starts off and the significance it holds. The book of Psalms is a poetry formatted book which brings declarations to God through forms of poetry. In this specific psalm the psalmist is describing how God has rescued them from hard times. It states in verse one “He heard my voice: He heard my cry for mercy.” and this is a way of the psalmist to declare the good that God has done in their life. It goes onto say in verse two “Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.” This has significant meaning because it is not only glorifying the goodness of God but it is showing the reader that God can pull you