books in our English Bibles (Law, history, poetry, prophets), the book of Psalms is the second book of the third division C AUTHORS The book of Psalms is commonly spoken of as David’s because he wrote the larger number of individual psalms (seventy-three are ascribed to him in their titles).1 He was known as “the sweet psalmist of Israel” (2 Sam 23:1), and had an extraordinary combination of talents On one occasion he was referred to as being “a skillful musician, a mighty man of valor, a warrior, one prudent in speech, and a handsome man; and the LORD is with him” (1 Sam 16:18; cf Sam 6:5, 15; Chron 16:4-5; Chron 7:6; 29:25; Amos 6:5) Twenty-seven psalms are ascribed to authors other than David They are descendants of Korah, ten; Asaph, twelve; Solomon, two; Ethan, one; Heman, one; and Moses, one Fifty psalms are anonymous However, there is reason to believe that some of these were written by David For example, Psalm is ascribed to David in Acts 4:25 And Psalm seems to be by the same author Also compare Chronicles 16:7-22 with Psalm 105 and Chronicles 16:23-36 with Psalm 96 David also arranged the Temple service of song (1 Chron 25), probably writing much of its music See Chart 70 for the general identi cation of authors of each group of psalms D DATES On the basis of authorship and historical references of some of the psalms, we may conclude that most of the psalms were written over a period of about ve hundred years, between 1000 and 500 by Chart 68 B.C., as shown See Chart 70 for a suggestion as to how the groups of psalms were collected into one unit during Old Testament times Actually, very little is known-about the facts (who, when, why, and so forth) of this collection process.2 E TYPES Because many subjects are treated by the psalms, they have a wide application The psalmist may be reviewing the past (history);3 envisioning the future (prophecy); or re ecting the present (experience) In all of the psalms the writer is responding to the very real fact of a living God and His relation to men Thus, it is not surprising to nd that the outstanding subjects of the psalms have to with God: the person of God, the Son of God, the Word of God, the works of God, and the people of God When classi ed more speci cally as to subject matter and attitude of writing, many types emerge These are the major types:4 Didactic (E.g., Psalms 1,5,7,15,17,50,73,94,101.) Such psalms might be called psalms of formal instruction History (E.g., Psalms 78,105,106,136.) These psalms are almost wholly composed of references to historical events of the nation of Israel A summary of the highlights of practically all of Israel’s history is given in ... to the very real fact of a living God and His relation to men Thus, it is not surprising to nd that the outstanding subjects of the psalms have to with God: the person of God, the Son of God, the. .. by the psalms, they have a wide application The psalmist may be reviewing the past (history);3 envisioning the future (prophecy); or re ecting the present (experience) In all of the psalms the. .. arranged the Temple service of song (1 Chron 25), probably writing much of its music See Chart 70 for the general identi cation of authors of each group of psalms D DATES On the basis of authorship