Bible In A Year - Book: Psalms, Book 5

The Psalms is the largest book of the Bible with 150 chapters.  However, this large book is broken up into 5 separate books.  We will be starting with Book 5 in our Bible in a Year program.  Every time we begin a new Book of the Psalms, we will include some information about it.

Author: Various - includes David, Asaph, the Sons of Korah, possibly Solomon, Moses, etc.

Date: 11th century to 6th century BC

Purpose: To express hope in God for salvation, to act as a prayer and song book for the people of God.

The Psalms are certainly not monolithic.  Each Psalm is separate and distinct in its own way.  However, there are some unifying themes and ideas to be found throughout the Psalms that make them easier to categorize.

The name “Psalms” itself comes from the Hebrew word “Mizmor” which is the sound of a plucked instrument like a harp.

Outline of the Psalms

There are 5 books of the Psalms

1. Book 1 - Psalms 1-41 - Intensely personal Psalms of David
2. Book 2 - Psalms 42-72 - Nationalistic and kingdom oriented Psalms, mostly of David
3. Book 3 - Psalms 73-89 - More nationalistic and kingdom oriented Psalms, but rarely of David - more often of other authors like the Sons of Korah
4. Book 4 - Psalms 90-106 - A “grab bag” of anonymous psalms and miscellaneous psalms
5. Book 5 - Psalms 107-150 - Songs of praise, mostly of David again

Reading the Psalms for Next Week

For next week you’re reading Psalms 112 through the first part of Psalm 119.  Be able to answer the following:

1. Is there a sense of nationalism in these Psalms?
2. What stories from the history of Israel show up in the Psalms?
3. Are the majority of these Psalms written in the 1^st person (I, me, we, us), 2^nd person (you, you all), or 3^rd person (they, them)?
4. How many verses are there in Psalm 117?  119?

Image: Hebrew Psalm 119 Thy word is a lamp by bpbp Brian Petersen at Flickr