Introduction to Psalms
The Psalter is the songbook of the people of God in their gathered worship. These songs cover a wide range of experiences and emotions, and give God’s people the words to express these emotions and to bring these experiences before God.
The English title comes from the Greek word psalmos, which translates Hebrew mizmor, “song,” found in many of the Psalm titles and simply translated as “psalm” (e.g., Psalm 3). This Greek name for the book was established by the time of the NT (Luke 20:42; Acts 1:20). The Hebrew name for the book is Tehillim, “Praises,” pointing to the characteristic use of these songs as praises offered to God in public worship.
Many of the psalms have titles that can include liturgical directions, historical notes, and—possibly—the identity of the author.
King David’s name appears in 73 titles, and the NT adds two more (Acts 4:25 for Psalm 2; and Heb. 4:7 for Psalm 95). Other authors include the Sons of Korah (11 psalms), Asaph (12 psalms), Solomon (possibly two psalms), and Moses (one). Other psalms do not identify the author at all.
The book of Psalms is an anthology of individual poems. It is important to remember that these are poems to be sung, and thus are to be read differently than, say, a doctrinal or ethical treatise.
There are several Hebrew words and phrases in the Psalms, such as “Selah” (Ps. 3:2), “The Sheminith” (Psalm 6 title), “Shiggaion” (Psalm 7 title), whose exact meaning is uncertain—which is why the translators have simply transliterated them, as any attempt to translate would be misleading. The ESV footnotes indicate that these are probably terms for musical or liturgical direction.
The standard Hebrew text divides the Psalms into five “books,” perhaps in imitation of the five books of the Pentateuch. The psalm that ends each book finishes with a doxology, and Psalm 150 as a whole is the conclusion both of Book 5 and of the entire Psalter.
A psalm is a hymn of praise intended to be sung to musical accompaniment. The biblical book of Psalms is a collection of 150 of these hymns.
Although each psalm is a unit in itself and not necessarily connected with the psalms before or after it, certain psalms have been grouped together. They may have come from smaller collections that already existed.
In reading Psalms, we should bear in mind that the book is one of poetry, specifically Hebrew poetry. The distinctive style of Hebrew poetry comes not from meter and rhyme as in traditional English poetry, but from the balanced arrangement of words and sentences. We should still seek to understand some of the linguistic characteristics of Hebrew poetry, as this will help us understand better what the poet is saying.
We can easily misinterpret the psalms if we look in too much detail at each line or sentence. We should rather treat the whole verse as a unit.
Daniel Akin - Understanding the Psalms
The Psalms is a collection of worship songs sung to God by the people of Israel with musical accompaniment. The collection of these 150 psalms into one book served as the first hymnbook for God’s people, written and compiled to assist them in their worship of God.
Because many different authors wrote the Psalms, the writing of these sacred songs occurred at different times, spanning a period of about one thousand years.
Psalms is the most quoted Old Testament book in the New Testament. Of the 360 Old Testament quotations or allusions in the New Testament, 112 are from the Psalms.
The psalms contain more messianic prophecies than any other Old Testament book, other than possibly Isaiah.
The Psalms express every human emotion, but, taken up again and again, they never simply leave us as we are. They are strong medicine. They change us. The transformation they effect isn’t to turn our sadness into happiness; they don’t take grieving people and make them annoyingly peppy and optimistic. They never say “Chin up” or “It’s not so bad.” Nor do they tell us why we suffer. Instead, they fix our vision on God’s love for us, and teach us to locate our own pain and longing in God’s eternal drama. They form us into people who can hold the depths of our sorrow with utter honesty even as we hold to the promises of God. - from Prayers in the Night by Tish Harrison Warren