Psalms, Theology of

The Book of Psalms is a sizable collection of musical poems and prayers of diverse authorship and form. Psalms are independent literary units that have grown out of, and speak to, a wide range of individual and communal human experience. They differ from prophetic oracles, moral imperatives, or propositional statements of doctrine that presuppose a revelatory flow from God to humans. Psalms, on the other hand, serve to articulate the hope and despair, the faith and fear, the praise and invective of those who express themselves to God in the vicissitudes of life.

Although the canonical psalms are poetic and musical compositions authored by humans as vehicles of expression to and about God, they are nevertheless regarded by believers as inspired by God for use in the community of faith in worship and meditation. This realization highlights the validity and importance of such expression in the life of individual believers as well as the spiritual community of which they are a part. The biblical Psalter has been called the hymnbook of the second temple, but the faithful in every subsequent period of history have found something in its hymns and prayers that resonates with their experience of life lived in relation to God.

The continuing appeal of the canonical psalms bears witness to a feature of their composition that contributes to their ongoing usefulness in public and private worship. Ever since the groundbreaking work by Hermann Gunkel and Sigmund Mowinckel on the literary analysis of the Psalter, most biblical scholars have recognized that psalms may be grouped into definite literary types based both on their distinctive structure and content and on the religious settings in which they would have been employed in ancient Israel. It seems clear that psalms were composed mainly for use on typical, cultic occasions, not as reflections of particular, historical ones. Thus the psalmists crafted their poems in such a way as to ensure their continuing relevance for people in covenant with God.

The understanding that the canonical psalms were composed as generalized expressions suitable for cultic use runs counter to the impression given by certain psalm titles that associate the accompanying psalms with events in the life of King David ( 3 ; 7 ; 18 ; 34 ; 51-52; 54 ; 56-57; 59-60; 63 ; 142 ). Most biblical scholars concede that psalm titles in general, and these links with the Davidic narratives in 1 and 2 Samuel in particular, are not to be attributed to the original authors but probably to postexilic Jewish editors and interpreters. Evidence for the secondary nature of these titles may be deduced from the fact that some of the psalms assigned to David presuppose later historical realities such as the existence of a temple (e.g., 5:7 ; 27:4 ; 65:4 ; 68:29 ; 138:2 ) or the Babylonian exile (e.g., 51:18-19 ; 69:33-36 ). As a matter of fact, the expression ledawid is ambiguous and does not necessarily have anything to do with authorship. It could legitimately be translated "to/for/of/by/in regard to/belonging to David" and be intended to associate a given psalm with this son of Jesse, any Davidic king, or a Davidic collection of psalms. Furthermore, an analysis of the original Hebrew and subsequent daughter versions of Psalms reveals that the titles were subject to variation and expansion during the course of their transmission in postexilic times and beyond, in contrast to the poems themselves whose text remained relatively constant. Clearly, those in antiquity whose task it was to preserve holy writ did not regard these titles to have the same stature as the psalmists' own words. The preceding evidence does nothing to undermine David's reputation as a psalmist nor does it disprove that he composed some of the psalms contained in the canonical Psalter. There is no compelling reason not to take seriously biblical portrayals of him as an accomplished musician and poet ( 1 Sam 16:14-23 ; 2 Sam 1:17-27 ; 3:33-34 ; 23:1-7 ; 2 Chron 29:30 ; Amos 6:5 ). This evidence does, however, highlight the fact that psalm titles cannot be relied upon to elucidate the original context and meaning of biblical psalms.