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A Bible Study in The book of Psalms
By Paul J Goodhall M3JFM
Introduction
To the casual observer the question might be foremost in there mind why bother studying the Psalms? After all some times we sing a few verse’s from one of the psalms during our gospel service. Or when a loved one dies during the funeral service Psalm 23 is often read. If this is your personal experience you could be thinking that for whatever reasons the Psalms have been marginalised. But this is far from the truth The Psalms are for the church today they are just as relevant today as the day they were composed. Some one once said. In the historical books we see God speaking about men. In the prophetical books we see God speaking to men. In the Psalms we see man speaking to God. The Psalms are full of energy, vibrant, full of spiritual food. After all it was Jesus who said men shall not live by bread alone but by the word of God.
It should be noted that it is very evident in the Psalms that the Old Testament saint whatever their experience the key note of worship is praise they are able to praise God in all circumstances. For the Old Testament Saint God’s faithfulness in the past is understood to be his guarantee for his faithfulness in the future. There is also a strong prophetical element in the Psalms, where the writer breaks forth into inspired utterance concerning the coming of God’s Kingdom and of its King the Messiah. To the bible student it comes as no surprise that an exceptional large percentage of the Psalms are quoted in the New Testament.
Who wrote the Psalms? Many of the psalm’s, are anonymous. The authorship of some are doubtful the following are generally recognised as the author
David
Asaph
The son’s of Korah
Solomon
Moses
Ethan
However some bible commentators would add
Zechariah
Heman
Ezra.
A doubtful number are ascribed to Hezekiah and Jeduthun.
The Hebrew Bible divides the Psalm into five books
Book1 begins with Psalm 1
Book 2 begins with Psalm 42
Book 3 begins with Psalm 73
Book 4 begins with Psalm 90
Book 5 begins with Psalm 107
Today one way that the Psalms continue to influence the church is though the large number of hymns they have inspired the following are some well loved examples
O worship the king all glorious above by Sir Robert Grant, Psalm 104
Jesus shall reign where’re the sun by Isaac Watts Psalm 72
The King of love my shepherd is by Sir H W Baker psalm 23
Let us with a gladsome mind by John Milton Psalm 136.
All people that on earth do dwell. In the original metrical psalm the old 100th. By W Kethe published in